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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>6i<roii,ai.. It is found however in Xenophon. 



An-angement of the EosHle Armies. 43 

of these arguments^ Parmenio ; but I should feel it a 
disgrace, if, after crossing the Hellespont so easily, this 
brook (for with such an appellation he made light of 
the Granicus) should bar our passage for a moment. I 
consider that this would be in accordance neither with 
the fame of the Macedonians nor with my own eagerness 
for encountering danger. Moreover, I think that the 
Persians will regain courage, as being a match in war 
for Macedonians, since up to the present time they have 
suffered no defeat from me to warrant the fear they 
entertain." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Aeeangement of the Hostile Aemies. 

Having spoken thus, he sent Parmenio to command upon 
the left wing, while he led in person on the right. And 
at the head of the right wing he placed the following 
oflBcers : — Philotas, son of Parmenio, with the cavalry 
Companions, the archers, and the Agrianian javelin-men ; 
and Amyntas, son of Arrhabaeus, with the cavalry carry- 
ing the long pike, the Paeonians, and the squadron of 
Socrates, was posted near Philotas. Close to these were 
posted the Companions who were shield-bearing infantry 
under the command of Nicanor, son of Parmenio. Next 
to these the brigade of Perdiccas, son of Orontes, then 
that of Coenus, son of Polemocrates ; then thatof Craterus,^ 
son of Alexander, and that of Amyntas, son of Andro- 
menes ; finally, the men commanded by Philip, son of 
Amyntas. The first on the left wing were the Thes- 



' Craterus was one of Alexander's best generals. On the death of the 
king he received the government of Macedonia and Greece in conjunc- 
tion with Antipater, whose daughter he married. He fell in battle against 
Eumenes (b.c. 321). 



44 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

salian cavalry, commanded by Galas, son of Harpalus ; ^ 
next to these, the cavalry of the Grecian allies, com- 
manded by Philip, son of Menelaus ; ^ next to these the 
Thracians, commanded by Agatho.^ Close to these were 
the infantry, the brigades of Craterus, Meleager, and 
Philip, reaching as far as the centre of the entire line. 

The Persian cavalry were about 20,000 in number, and 
their infantry, consisting of Grecian mercenaries, fell a 
little short of the same number.* They had extended 
their horse along the bank of the river in a long phalanx, 
and had posted the infantry behind the cavalry, for the 
ground above the bank was steep and commanding. 
They also marshalled dense squadrons of cavalry upon 
that part of the bank where they observed Alexander 
himself advancing against their left wing; for he was 
conspicuous both by the brightness of his arms and by 
the respectful service of his attendants. Both armies 
stood a long time at the margin of the river, keep- 
ing quiet from dread of the result ; and profound silenc6 
was observed on both sides. For the Persians were 
waiting till the Macedonians should step into the water, 
with the intention of attacking them as they emerged. 
Alexander leaped upon his steed, ordering those about 
him to follow, and exhorting them to show themselves 
valiant men. He then commanded Amyntas, son of 
Arrhabaeus, to make the first rush into the river at the 



' Galas was appoinied viceroy of Phrygia. H« oonseq^uently took no 
further part in Alexander's campaigns after this. 

^ Alexander had three generals named Philip, two of whom are men- 
tioned here as sons of Amyntas and Menelaus.. The third was son of 
Machatas, and was left in India as viceroy. 

3 Son of Tyrimmas, was commander of the Odrysian cavalry. See iii. 
12 infra. 

■* Diadorus (xvii. 19) says that the Persian cavalry numbered 10,000, 
and their infantry 100,000. Both these numbers are inaccurate. We 
know from Arrian (chaps. 12 and 13) that the Persian infantry was in- 
ferior in number to that of Alexander. 



Description of the Battle of the Oraidcus. 45 

head of the skirmishing cavalry, the Paeonians, and one 
regiment of infantry ; and in front of these he had placed 
Ptolemy^ son of Philip, in command of the squadron of 
Socrates, which body of men indeed on that day hap- 
pened to have the lead of all the cavalry force. He him- 
self led the right wing with sounding of trumpets, and 
the men raising the war-cry to Bnyalius.^ He entered 
the ford, keeping his line always extended obliquely in 
the direction in which the stream flowed, in order that 
the Persians might not fall upon him on the flank as he 
was emerging from the water, but that he might, as far 
as practicable,^ encounter them with his phalanx. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Desceiption of the Battle of the Geanicus. 

The Persians began the contest by hurling missiles from 
above in the direction where the men of Amyntas and 
Socrates were the first to reach the bank ; some of them 
casting javelins into the river from their commanding 
position on the bank, and others stepping down along 
the flatter parts of it to the very edge of the water. 
Then ensued a violent struggle on the part of the cavalry, 
on the one. side to emerge from the river, and on the 
other to prevent the landing. Prom the Persians there 
was a terrible discharge of darts ; but the Macedonians 
fought with spears. The Macedonians, being far inferior 

1 This is an Homeric name for Mars the war-god. In Homer Ares is 
the Trojan and Enyalius the Grecian war-god. Hence they are men- 
tioned as difiterent in Aristophanes {Pax, 457). See Paley's note on 
Homer {m. 166). As to the practice of shouting the war-cry to Mars 
before battle, see Xenophon (Anab., i. 8, 18 ; v. 2, 14). The Scholiast 
on Thucydides (i. 50) says that the Greeks used to sing two paeans, one 
to Mars before battle, another to Apollo after it. 

* tis &vv<jTbv=wi Svvar6v. Cf. Arrian, iv. 12, 6 ; Xenophon {Anab., i, 8, 
11 ; Bes. Laced., i. 3). 



46 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

in number, suffered severely at the first onset, because they 
were obliged to defend themselves in the river, where 
their footing was unsteady, and where they were below 
the level of their assailants ; whereas the Persians were 
fighting from the top of the bank, which gave them an 
advantage, especially as the best of the Persian horse had 
been posted there. Memnon himself, as well as his sons, 
were running every risk with these ; and the Macedonians 
who first came into conflict with the Persians, though 
they showed great valour, were cut down, except those 
who retreated to Alexander, who was now approaching. 
For the king was already near, leading with him the 
right wing. He made his first assault upon the Persians 
at the place where the whole mass of their horse and 
the leaders themselves were posted ; and around him a 
desperate conflict raged,^ during which one rank of the 
Macedonians after another easily kept on crossing the 
river. Though they fought on horseback, it seemed 
more like an infantry than a cavalry battle; for they 
struggled for the mastery, horses being jammed with 
horses and men with men, the Macedonians striving to 
drive the ,Persians entirely away from the bank and 
to force them into the plain, and the Persians striving to 
obstruct their landing and to push them back again into 
the river. At last Alexander's men began, to gain the 
advantage, both through their superior strength and 
military discipline, and because they fought with spear- 
shafts made of cornel-wood, whereas the Persians used 
only darts. 

Then indeed, Alexander's spear being broken to shivers 
in the conflict, he asked Aretis, one of the royal guards, 
whose duty it was to assist the king to mount his horse, 
for another spear. But this man's spear had also been 



1 £w«(TT5iK« //.ixv- This is a common expression with Arrian, copied 
from Herodotus (i. 74, et passim). 



Defeat of the Persians, 47 

shivered whilst he was in the thickest of the struggle, and 
he was conspicuous fighting with the half of his broken 
spear. Showing this to Alexander, he bade him ask 
some one else for one. Then Demaratus, a man of 
Corinth, one of his personal Companions, gave him his 
own spear ; which he had no sooner taken than seeing 
Mithridates, the son-in-law of Darius, riding far in front 
of the others, and leading with him a body of cavalry 
arranged like a wedge, he rode on in front of the others, 
and hitting at the face of Mithridates with his spear, 
struck him to the ground. But hereupon, Ehoesaces 
rode up to Alexander and hit him on the head with his 
scimitar, breaking off a piece of his helmet. But the 
helmet broke the force of the blow. This man also 
Alexander struck to the ground, hitting him in the 
chest through the breastplate with his lance. And now 
Spithridates from behind had already raised aloft his 
scimitar against the king, when Clitus, son of Dropidas, 
anticipated his blow, and hitting him on the arm, cut it 
off, scimitar and all.^ Meantime the horsemen, as many 
as were able, kept on securing a landing all down the 
river, and were joining Alexander's forces. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Defeat op the Persians. — Loss on Both Sides. 

The Persians themselves, as well as their horses, were 
now being struck on their faces with the lances from 
all sides, and were being repulsed by the cavalry. They 
also received much damage from the light-armed troops 
who were mingled with the cavalry. They first began 
to give way where Alexander himself was braving danger 
in the front. When their centre had given way, the 



' Plutarch {Alex., 16) ; Diodonu (xvii. : 



48 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

horse on both wings were also naturally broken through, 
and took to speedy flight. Of the Persian cavalry only 
about IjOOO were killed ; for Alexander did not pursue 
them far, but turned aside to attack the Greek mercen- 
aries, the main body of whom was still remaining where 
it was posted at first. This they did rather from amaze- 
ment at the unexpected result of the struggle than from 
any steady resolution. Leading the phalanx against 
these, and ordering the cavalry to fall upon them from 
all sides in the midst, he soon cut them up, so that none 
of them escaped except such as might have concealed 
themselves among the dead bodies. About 2,000 were 
taken prisoners.^ The following leaders of the Persians 
also fell, in the battle : Niphates, Petines, Spithridates, 
viceroy of Lydia, Mithrobuzanes, governor of Cappa- 
docia, Mithridates, the son-in-law of Darius, Arbupales, 
son of Darius the son of Artaxerxes, Pharnaces, brother 
of the wife of Darius,* and Onares, commander of the 
auxiliaries. Arsites fled from the battle into Phrygia, 
where he is reported to have committed suicide, because 
he was deemed by the Persians the cause of their defeat 
on that occasion. 

Of the Macedonians, about twenty-five of the Com- 
panions were killed at the first onset ; brazen statues of 
whom were erected at Dium,^ executed by Lysippus,* at 

1 Diodorus (xvii. 21) says that more than 10,000 of the Persian in- 
fantry were killed, and 2,000 eavahry ; and that more than 20,000 were 
made prisoners. 

^ Her name was Statira. 

' An important city in Macedonia on the Thermaic gulf, named after 
a temple of Zeus. 

■• Lysippus of Sicyon was one of the most famous of Greek statuaries. 
None of his works remain, inasmuch as they were all executed in bronze. 
Alexander published an edict that no one should paint his portrait but 
Apelles, and that no one should make a statue of him but Lysippus. 
When MeteUus conquered Macedonia, he removed this group of bronze 
statues to Eome, to decorate his own portico. See Pliny {Nat. Hist., 
xxxiv. 19) ; Velleius Patereulus (i. 11). 



Loss on Both Sides. 49 

Alexander's order. The same statuary also executed a 
statue of Alexander himself, being chosen by him for 
the work in preference to all other artists. Of the other 
cavalry over sixty were slain, and of the infantry, about 
thirty .1 These were buried by Alexander the next day, 
together with their arms and other decorations. To 
their parents and children he granted exemption from 
imposts on agricultural produce, and he relieved them 
from all personal services and' taxes upon property. He 
also exhibited great solicitude in regard to the wounded, 
for he himself visited each man, looked at their wounds, 
and inquired how and in the performance of what duty 
they had received them, allowing them both to speak and 
brag of their own deeds. He also buried the Persian 
commanders and the Greek mercenaries who were killed 
fighting on the side of the enemy. But as many of them 
as he took prisoners he bound in fetters and sent them 
away to Macedonia to till the soil, because, though they 
were Greeks, they were fighting against Greece on behalf 
of the foreigners in opposition to the decrees which the 
Greeks had made in their federal council.^ To Athens 
also he sent 300 suits of Persian armour to be hung up 
in the Acropolis * as a votive ofiering to Athena, and 
ordered this inscription to be fixed over them : " Alex- 
ander, son of Philip, and all the Greeks except the 
Lacedaemonians, present this ofiering from the spoils 
taken from the foreigners, inhabiting Asia." 



' As most of the infantry on the Persian side were Grecian mercenaries, 
frho, according to Plutarch, fought with desperate valour, and, according 
to Arrian himself, all the infantry were killed except 2,000, the riumber 
of Alexander's slain must have been larger than Arrian here states. 

^ At Corinth, B.C. 336. 

^ I'or the fact that the Acropolis of Athens was often called simply 
polis, see Thucydides, ii. 15 ; Xenophon {Anab. vii. 1, 27) ; Antiphun 
(146, 2) ; Aristophanes {Equites, 1093 ; Lynstrata, 758). 



60 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

CHAPTER XVIT. 

Alixandee in Saedis and Bphesus, 

Having appointed Galas to the post of viceroy of the 
territory which had been under the rule of Arsites, and 
having commanded the \nhabjtants to pay to him the 
same tribute which they had paid to Darius, he ordered 
as many of the natives as came down from the mountains 
and surrendered to him to depart to their several abodes. 
He also acquitted the people of Zeleia ^ of blame, because 
he knew they had been compelled to assist the Persians 
in the war. He then despatched Parmenio to occupy 
Dascylium,^ which he easUy performed ; for the garrison 
evacuated it. He himself advanced towards Sardis ; and 
when he was about 70 stades * distant from that city, he 
was met by Mithrines, the commandant of the garrison 
in the Acropolis, accompanied by the most influential of 
the citizens of Sardis. The latter surrendered the city 
into his hands, and Mithrines the fortress and the money 
laid up in it. Alexander encamped near the river Her- 
mus,* which is about twenty stades^ distant from Sardis ; 
but he sent Amyntas, son of Andromenes, to occupy the 
citadel of Sardis.* He took Mithrines with him, treat- 
ing him with honour; and granted the Sardians and 
other Lydians the privilege of enjoying the ancient laws 
of Lydia, and permitted them to be free. He then 
ascended into the citadel, which was garrisoned by the 
Persians. And the position seemed to him a strong one; 
for it was very lofty, precipitous on every side, and 
fenced round by a triple wall. He therefore resolved to 

' A city at the foot of Mount Ida. 

' A city of Bithynia, on the Propontis. * About eight miles. 

* This river flows through Phrygia and Lydia, and falls into the gulf 
of Smyrna. Its present name is Kodus-Chai. See Vergil {Georg., ii. 
137) ; Silius, i. 159 ; Claudian {Eaptm Proierpinae, ii. 67). 

' Nearly two-and-a-half miles. 

' For a description of this fortress, see Herodotus, i. 84. 



Alexander in Sardis and Epliesus. 61 

build a temple to the Olympian Zeus on the hill, and to 
erect an altar in it ; but while he was considering which 
part of the hill was the most suitable site, suddenly a 
winter storm arose, though it was the summer season, 
loud claps of thunder were heard, and rain fell on the 
spot where the palace of the kings of Lydia had stood. 
From this Alexander thought that the deity had revealed 
to him where the temple to Zeus ought to be built ; and 
he gave ordel-s accordingly. He left Pausanias, one of 
the Companions, to be superintendent of the citadel of 
Sardis, Nicias to supervise the collection of the tribute 
and taxes, and Asander, son of Philotas, to be superin- 
tendent of Lydia and the rest of the dominion of Spithri- 
dates, giving him as large a number of cavalry and 
light-armed infantry as seemed suflBcient for present 
emergencies. He also sent Galas and Alexander, son of 
Aeropus, into the country of Memnon,^ in command of 
the Peloponnesians and most of the other Grecian allies,, 
except the Argives, who had been left behind to guard 
the citadel of Sardis. 

Meantime, when the news of the cavalry battle was 
spread abroad, the Grecian mercenaries who formed the 
garrison of Ephesus, seized two of the Bphesian. tri- 
remes and set oflf in flight. They were accompanied 
by Amyntas,^ son of Antiochus, who had fled from 
Alexander out of Macedonia, not because he had received 
any injury from the king, but from ill-will to him, and 
thinking it not unlikely that he should suffer some ill- 
treatment from him (on account of his disloyalty) . On 
the fourth day Alexander arrived at Ephesus, where 
he recalled from exile all the men who had been banished 



1 Memnon had succeeded his brother Mentor as governor for the 
Persian king of the territory near the Hellespont. See D.odoras, xvii. 7. 

' This man took refuge with Darius, and distinguished himself at the 
battle of Issns. See Plutarch {Alex., 20) ; Curtius, iii. 28. He met with 
his death soon after in Egypt. . See Arrian, ii. 6 and IS ; Diod., xvii. 48. 



52 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

from the city on account of their adherence to him ; 
and having broken up the oligarchy, he established a 
democratical form of government there. He also ordered 
the Ephesians to contribute to Artemis ^ all the tribute 
which they were in the habit of paying to the Persians. 
When the people of Ephesus were relieved of their 
dread of the oligarchs, they rushed headlong to kill 
the men who had brought Memnon into the city, as 
also those who had pillaged the temple of Artemis, and 
those who had thrown down the statue of Philip which 
was in the temple, and those who had dug up and carried 
off from the tomb in. the market place the bones of 
Heropythus, the liberator of their city. They also led 
SyrphaXj and his son Pelagon, and the sons of Syrphax's 
brothers out of the temple and stoned them to death. 
But Alexander prevented them making any further quest 
of the rest of the oligarchs for the purpose of wreaking 
their vengeance upon them ; for he knew that if the 
people were not checked, they would kill the innocent 
along with the guilty, some from hatred, and others for 
the sake of seizing their property. At this time Alex-' 
ander gained great popularity both by his general course 
•of action and especially by what he did at Ephesus. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Alexander Marches to Miletos and Occupies the Island 

OP Lade. 
Men now came to him both from Magnesia ^ and Tralles, 

• The temple of Artemis at Ephesus had been burnt down by Hero- 
stratus in the night on which Alexander was born (Oct. 13-14, B.C. 356), 
and at this time was being restored by the joint efforts of the Ionian 
cities. See Strdbo, xiv. 1. Heropythus and Syrphax are not mentioned 
by any other writers. 

" This was the Carian Magnesia, situated on the Lethaeus, a tributary 
of the Maeander. Tralles was on the Budon, another tributary of the 
Maeander. See Juvenal, iii. 70. 



Alexander Marches to Miletus. 63 

offering to surrender those cities ; and to them he sent 
Parmenio, giving him 2,500 infantry from the Grecian 
auxiliaries, an equal number of Macedonians, and about 
200 of the Cavalry Companions. He also sent Lysi- 
machus, sou of Agathocles,i with an equal force to the 
Aeolic cities,^ and to as many of the Ionic cities * as were 
still under the Persians. He was ordered to break up 
the oligarchies everywhere, to set up the democratical 
form of government, to restore their own laws to each 
of the cities, and to remit the tribute which they were 
accustomed to pay to the foreigners. But Alexander 
himself remained behind at Bphesus, where he offered a 
sacrifice to Artemis and conducted a procession in her 
honour with the whole of his army fully armed and 
marshalled for battle.* 

Oa the following day he took the rest of his infantry, 
the archers, the Agrianians, the Thracian cavalry, the 
royal squadron of the Companions, and three other 
squadrons in addition, and set out for Miletus. At his 
first assault he captured that which was called the outer 
city ; for the garrison had evacuated it. There he en- 
camped and resolved to blockade the inner city; for 
Hegesistratus, to whom the king Darius had entrusted 
the command of the garrison in Miletus, kept on sending 

^ Lysimachus was of mean origin, his father having been a serf in 
Sicily. He was one of Alexander's confidential body-guards, and on the 
death of the great king obtained Thrace as his portion of the dis- 
membered empire. In conjunction with Seleuous he won the battle of 
Ipsus, by which he obtained a great part of Asia Minor. He ultimately 
acquired aU the European dominions of Alexander in addition to Asia 
Minor ; but in his eightieth year he was defeated and slain by Seleuous 
at the battle of Corns, b.c. 281. Sintenis was the first to substitute 
Lysimachus for Antimachus, the reading of the MSS. Cf. vi. 28 infra. 

^ Eleven in number. See Herodotus, i. 149-151. 

2 Thirteen in number, of which Miletus and Ephesus were the chief in 
importance. 

•* For the celebrated interview of Alexander with Apelles at Ephesus, 
fcee Aelian (Varla Historia, ii. 3). 



54 The Anabasis of Alexandtr. 

letters before this to Alexander, oflfering to surrender 
Miletus to him. But then, having regained his courage 
from the fact that the Persian fleet was not far off, he 
made up his mind to preserve the city for Darius. But 
Nicanor, the commander of the Grecian fleet, anticipated 
the Persians by sailing into the port of Miletus three 
days before they approached; and with 160 ships he 
anchored at the island of Lade, which lies near Miletus.^ 
The Persian ships arriving too late, and the admirals 
discovering that Nicanor had occupied the anchorage 
at Lade before them, they took mooriiigs near Mount 
Mycale.^ Alexander had forestalled them in seizing the 
island, not only by mooring his ships near it, but also by 
transporting into it the Thracians and about 4,000 of the 
other auxiliary troops. The ships of the foreigners were 
about 400 in number. 

Notwithstanding the superiority of the Persian fleet, 
Parmenio advised Alexander to fight a sea-battle, ex- 
pecting that the Greeks would be victorious with their 
fleet both for other reasons and especially because an 
omen from the deity made him confident of the result ; 
for an eagle had been seen sitting ijpon the shore, 
opposite the sterns of Alexander's ships. ^ He also 
urged that if they won the battle, they would reap a 
igreat advantage from it in regard to their main object in 
' "the war ; and if they were beaten, their defeat would not 
be of any great moment ; for even as it was, the Persians 
held the sovereignty of the sea. He added that he was 
willing to go on board the fleet himself and to share the 
danger. However, Alexander replied that Parmenio was 

• Cf. Herodotm, vi. 7. Here the Persians destroyed the Ionic fleet, 
B.C. 497. 

' Famous for the yiotory won near it by Leotjchides and Xanthippus 
over the Persians, b.o. 479. 

^ CI. Vergil (4encid, vi. 3). Obvertunt pelago proras. See Conington's 
nots. 



Siege and Capture of Miletus. 55 

mistaken in his judgment, and did not explain the sign 
according to probability. For it would be rash for him 
with a few ships to fight a battle against a fleet far more 
numerous than his own, and with his unpractised naval 
force to contend against the disciplined fleet of the 
Cyprians and Phoenicians. Besides, he did not wish to 
deliver over to the foreigners on so unstable an element 
the advantage which the Macedonians derived from their 
skill and courage; and if they were beaten in the sea- 
battle, th^ir defeat would be no small hindrance to their 
final success in the war, both for other reasons, and 
especially because the Greeks, being animated with 
courage at the news of his naval defeat, would attempt to 
efiect a revolution. Taking all these things into con- 
sideration, he declared that he did not think that it was 
a suitable time for fighting a sea-battle; and for his 
part, he expounded the divine omen in a different way. 
He admitted that the eagle was in his favour ; but as it 
was seen sitting on the land, it seemed to him rather to 
be a sign that he should get the mastery over the Persian 
fleet by defeating their army on land. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

SiKGE AND CaPTUEE OP MiLETUS. 

At this time Glaucippus, one of the most notable men in 
Miletus, was sent out to Alexander by the people and 
the Grecian mercenaries, to whom rather than to the 
citizens the town had been entrusted, to tell him that 
the Milesians were willing to make their walls and 
harbours ^ free to him and the Persians in common ; and 
on these terms to demand that he should raise the siege. 
But Alexander ordered Glaucippus to depart without 
delay into the city, and tell the citizens to prepare for 



1 Strabo (xiv. 1) says that Miletus had four harbours. 



56 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

a battle at daybreak. He then stationed bis military- 
engines near tbe wall, and having in a short time partly 
broken and partly shaken down a large piece of it, he 
led his army near, that the men might enter wherever 
the wall had been thrown down or shaken. The Persians 
from Mycale were following close ^ npon them and could 
almost see their friends and allies being besieged. In 
the meantime, Nicanor, observing from Lade Alexander's 
commencement of the attack, began to sail into the 
harbour of Miletus, rowing along the shore; and mooring 
his triremes as close as possible together, with their 
prows facing the enemy, across the narrowest part of the 
mouth of the harbour, he shut off the Persian fleet from 
the port and made it impossible for the Persians to give 
succour to the Milesians. Then the Macedonians from all 
sides pressed close npon the citizens and the Grecian 
mercenaries, who took to flight ; some of them, casting 
themselves into the sea, floated along. upon their shields 
with the hollow upwards to an unnamed islet which 
lies near the city; others getting into their skiffs and 
hastening to get the start of the Macedonian triremes, 
were captured by them at the mouth of the harbour. 
But the majority of them were slain in the city itself. 
As soon as Alexander had got possession of the city, he 
sailed against- those who had fled for refuge into the 
island; ordering the men to carry ladders upon the 
prows of the triremes, with the intention of effecting a 
landing along the cliffs of the island, as one would mount 
a wall. But when he saw that the men on the island 
were resolved to run every risk, he was moved with pity 
for them, because they appeared to him both brave and 
loyal ; wherefore he made a, truce with them on the 
condition that they would serve as his soldiers. These 



' i^oiMpToivTwv. This word ie rare in prose. See Homer {Iliad, 
viii. 191) ; Apollonius Bhodius, i. 201. 



Siege and Capture of Miletus. 57 

ecian mercenaries were about 300 in number. He 
ewise pardoned all the citizens of Miletus who had 
aped death in the capture of the city, and he granted 
sm their freedom. 

The foreigners used to start from Mycale every day 
i sail up to the Grecian fleet, hoping to induce them to 
:ept the challenge and come forth to a battle; but 
•ing the night they used to moor their vessels near 
cale, which was an inconvenient station, because they 
re under the necessity of fetching water fi-om the 
uth of the river Maeander, a great way off.^ Alexander 
irded the harbour of Miletus with his ships, in order 
prevent the foreigners from forcing an entrance; and at 
same time he sent Philotas to Mycale in command of 
cavalry and three regiments of infantry, with instruc- 
is to prevent the men in the ships from landing. Ac- 
dingly, they, being through the scarcity of fresh water 
I of the other necessaries of life as good as besieged 
their ships, sailed away to Samos; where furnishing 
mselves with food, they sailed back again to Miletus, 
jy then drew up most of their ships in front of the 
hour on the deep sea, with the hope that they might 
lome way or other induce the Macedonians to come 
into the open sea. Five of their ships sailed into 
roadstead which lay between the island of Lade and 
camp, expecting to surprise Alexander's ships while 
)ty of their crews ; for they had ascertained that the 
ors for the most part were dispersed from the ships, 
le to gather fuel, others to collect provisions, and 
3rs being arranged in foraging parties.^ And indeed 
appened that a number of the sailors were absent ; 
as soon as Alexander observed the five Persian ships 
ing towards him, he manned ten ships with the sailors 

tliletus lay nearly ten miles south of the mouth of the Maeander. 
L similar stratagem was used by Lysander at Aegospotami, b.c. 405. 
Cenophon (Hellenics, ii. 1). 



58 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

who happened to be at hand, and sent them with all 
speed against them with orders to attack prow to prow. 
No sooner did the men in the five Persian ships see the 
Macedonians bearing up against them, contrary to their 
expectation, than they immediately tacked about, though 
far off, and fled to the rest of their fleet. However, the 
ship of the lassians,^ not being a fast sailer, was captured 
in the flight, men and all; but the other four succeeded in 
escaping to their own triremes. After this the Persians 
sailed away from Miletus without effecting anything. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Siege of Halicaknassus. — Abortive Attack on 
Mtndus. 

AiEXANDEE now resolvcd to disband his fleet, partly from 
lack of money at the time, and partly because he saw 
that his own fleet was not a match in battle for that of 
the Persians. On this account he was unwilling to run 
the risk of losing even a part of his armament. Besides, 
he considered, that now he was occupying Asia with his 
land force, he would no longer be in need of a fleet ; 
and that he would be able to break 'up that of the 
Persians, if he captured the maritime cities ; since they 
would neither have any ports from which they could 
recruit their crews, nor any harbour in Asia to which 
they could bring their ships. Thus he explained the omen 
of the eagle to signify that he should get the mastery 
over the enemy's ships by his land force. After doing 
this, he set forth into Caria,^ because it was reported 

' lassus was a city in Caria on the lassian Gulf, founded by the Argives 
and further colonized by the Milesians. 

2 Caria formed the south-west angle of Asia Minor. The Greeks 
asserted that the Carians were emigrants from Crete. We learn from 
Xhuoydides and Herodotus that they entered the service of foreign 
rulers. They formed the body-guard of queen Athaliah, who had usurped 
the throne and stood in need of foreign mercenaries. The word translated 



Abortive Attack on Myndus. 59 

that a considerable force, both of foreigners and of Grecian 
auxiliaries, had collected in Halicarnassus.^ Having 
taken all the cities between Miletus and Halicarnassus 
as soon as he approached them, he encamped near the 
latter city, at a distance from it of about five stades,^ as 
if he expected a long siege. For the natural position of 
the place made it strong ; and wherever there seemed to 
be any deficiency in security, it had been entirely supplied 
long before by Memnon, who was there in person, having 
now been proclaimed by Darius governor of lower Asia 
and commander of the entire fleet. Many Grecian mer- 
cenary soldiers had been left in the city, as well as many 
Persian troops ; the triremes also were moored in the 
harbour, so that the sailors might reader him valuable 
aid in the operations. On the first day of the siege, 
while Alexander was leading his men up to the wall in 
the direction of the gate leading towards Mylasa,^ the 
men in the city made a sortie, and a skirmish took place ; 
but Alexander's men making a rush upon them repulsed 
them with ease, and shut them up in the city. A few 
days after this, the king took the shield-bearing guards, 
the Cavalry Companions, the infantry regiments of Amyn- 
tas, Perdiccas and Meleager, and in addition to these the 
archers and Agrianians, and went round to the part of 
the city which is in the direction of Myndus, both for the 
purpose of inspecting the wall, to see if it happened to be 
more easy to be assaulted there than elsewhere ; and at 
the same time to see if he could get hold of Myndus * by 

in our Bible in 2 Kings xi. 4, 19 as captains, ought to be rendered 
Carians. See Fuerst's Hebrew Lexicon, sub voce *p3. 

' Now called Budrum. It was the birthplace of the historians 
Herodotus and Dionysius. 

^ Little more than haU a mile. 

' Now called Melasso, a city of Caria, about ten miles from the Gulf of 
lassus. 

< A colony of Troezen, on the western extremity of the same peninsula 
on which stood Halicarnassus. 



60 The Anabasis of Alexander, 

a sudden and secret attack. For he thought that if 
Myndus were his own, it would be no small help in the 
siege of Halicarnassus ; moreoverj an ofiFer to surrender 
had been made by the Myndians if he would approach 
the town secretly, under the cover of night. About mid- 
night, therefore, he approached the wall, according to 
the plan agreed on ; but as no sign of surrender was 
made by the men within, and though he had with him no 
military engines or ladders, inasmuch as he had not set 
out to besiege the town, but to receive it on surrender, 
he nevertheless led the Macedonian phalanx near and 
ordered them to undermine the wall. They threw down 
one of the towers, which, however, in its fall did not 
make a breach in the wall. Bat the men in the city 
stoutly defending themselves, and at the same time many 
from Halicarnassus having already eome to their aid by 
sea, made it impossible for Alexander to capture Myndus 
by surprise or sudden assault. Wherefore he returned 
without accomplishing any of the plans for which he had 
set out, and devoted himself once more to the siege of 
Halicarnassus. 

In the first place he filled up with earth the ditch 
which the enemy had dug in front of the city, about 
thirty cubits wide and fifteen deepj so that it might 
be easy to bring forward the towers, from which he 
intended to discharge missiles against the defemders of 
the wall ; and. that he might bring up the other engines 
with which he was planning to batter the wall down. 
He easily filled up the ditch, and the towers were then 
brought forward. But the men in Halicarnassus maide a 
sally by night with the design of setting fire both to the 
towers and the other engines which had been broHght 
up to the wall, or were nearly brought up to it. They 
were, however, easily repelled and shut up again withia 
the walls by the Macedonians who were guarding the 
engines, and by others who were aroused by the noise of 



Siege of Halicamassus. 61 

the struggle and who came to their aid. Neoptolemus, 
the brother of Arrhabaeus, son of Amyntas, one of those 
who had deserted to Darius, was killed, with about 170 
others of the enemy. Of Alexander's soldiers sixteen 
were killed and 300 wounded ; for the sally being made 
in the night, they were less able to guard themselves 
from being wounded. 



CHAPTBE XXI. 

Siege op HALicAENissus. 

A FEW days after this, two Macedonian hoplites of the 
brigade of Perdiccas, living in the same tent and being 
messmates, happened in the course of conversation each 
to be extolling himself and his own exploits. Hence a 
quarrel arose between them as to which of them was the 
braver, and, being somewhat inflamed with wine, they 
agreed to arm themselvesi and of their own accord go 
and assault the wall facing the citadel, which for the most 
part was turned towards Mylasa. This they did rather 
to make- a display of their own valour than to engage in 
a dangerous conflict with the enemy. Some of the men 
in the city, however, perceiving that there were only two 
of them, and that they were approaching the wall incon- 
siderately, rushed out upon them; but they slew those 
who came near, and hurled darts at those who stood at a 
distance. At last, however, they were overmatched both 
by the number of their assailants and the disadvantage 
of their own position; for the enemy made the attack 
upon them, and threw darts at them from a higher level.^ 
Meanwhile some other men from the brigade of Perdiccas, 
and others from Halicamassus, rushed out against each 

' Diodorus (xvii. 25) says that this incident occurred in the night, 
which is scarcely probable. Compare the conduct of the two centurions 
Palfio and Varenus in the country of the Nertii. Caesar (Gallic War, v. 44). 



62 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

other ; and a sharp dontest ensued near the wall. Those 
who had made the sally from the city were driven back, 
and again shut up within the gates by the Macedonians. 
The city also narrowly escaped capture ; for the walls at 
that time were not under strict guard, and two towers, 
with the whole intermediate space, having already fallen 
to the ground, would have offered an easy entrance within 
the wall to the army, if the whole of it had undertaken 
the task. The third tower, which had been thoroughly 
shaken, would likewise have been easily thrown down if 
it had been undermined ; but the enemy easily succeeded 
in building inside a crescent-shaped brick wall to take 
the place of the one which had fallen. This they were 
able to do so quickly because of the multitude of hands 
at their disposal. On the following day Alexander 
brought his engines up to this wall also ; and the men in 
the city made another sally to set them on fire. A part 
of the wicker-work shed near the wall and a piece of one 
of the wooden towers were burnt, but the rest were 
protected by Philotas and Hellanicus, to whom the 
charge of them had been committed. But as soon as 
those who were making the sally saw Alexander, the 
men who had come out to render aid by holding torches 
threw them away, and the majority of them cast away 
their arms and fled within the walls of the city. Then at 
first they had the advantage from the nature of their 
position, which was commanding on account of its 
height ; for not only did they cast missiles right in front 
against the men who were guarding the engines, but also 
from the towers which alone had been left standing at 
each end of the battered-down wall, they were able to 
cast them against the sides, and almost against the backs, 
of those who were assaulting the wall which had just 
been built in place of the ruined one.^ 

' Compare the sieges of Avaricum, Gergovia, and Alesia by Caesar (Gallic 
IVar, lib. vii.) ; and that of Saguntnm by Hannibal. See Livy, xxi. 7-15. 



Siege of Halicarnassus. 63 

CHAPTEE XXII. 

Siege op Halicaenassds. 

A few days after this, when Alexander again brouglit 
his military engines up to the inner brick wall, and was 
himself superintending the work, a sortie in mass was 
made from the city, some advancing by the breach in^ 
the wall, where Alexander himself was posted, others by 
the triple gate, where the Macedonians did not at all 
expect them. The first party cast torches and other I 
combustibles at the engines, in order to set them on fire | 
and to defy the engineers excessively. But when the i 
men around Alexander attacked them vigorously, hurling ' 
great stones with the engines from the towers, and/ 
launching darts at them, they were easily put to rout 
and fled into the city ; and as a great number of them 
had sallied forth and great audacity had been exhibited 
in the fight, no small slaughter of them took place. For 
some of them were slain fighting hand-to-hand with the 
Macedonians, others were killed near the ruins of the 
wall,^ because the breach was too narrow for such a 
multitude to pass through, and the fragments of the 
wall made it difficult for them to scale it. The second 
party, which sallied forth by the triple gate, was met by 
Ptolemy,^ one of the royal body-guards, who had with 
him the regiments of Addaeus and Timander and some 
of the light-armed troops. These soldiers by themselves 
easily put the men of the city to rout ; but as the latter 
in their retreat were fleeing over a narrow bridge which 
had been made over the ditch, they had the misfortune 
to break it down by the weight of their multitude. 
Many of them fell into .the ditch, some of whom were 

' This use of i/j,<pl with the Dative, is poetical. The Attic writers use 
Tepl with the Accusative. Cf. ii. 3, 8 ; iii. 30, 1. 

" There were at least four generals in Alexander's army of this name. 
The one here mentioned was probably not the famous son of Lagus. 



64 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

trampled to death by their own coraradeSj and othera 
were killed by the Macedonian weapons from above. A 
very great slaughter was also made at the very gates, 
because they were shut before the proper time in a state 
of panic. For the enemy, being afraid that the Mace- 
donians, who were close upon the fugitives, would rush 
in with them, shut many of their friends out, who were 
slain by the Macedonians near the very walls. The city 
narrowly escaped capture ; indeed it would have been 
taken, had not Alexander called back his army, to see if 
some friendly sign of surrender would be made by the 
Halicarnassians ; for he was still desirous of saving their 
city. . Of the men in the city about one thousand were 
slain ; and of Alexander's men about forty, among whom 
were Ptolemy, one of the king's body-guards, Clearchus, 
a captain of the archers, Addaeus, who had the command 
of a thousand infantry, and other Macedonians of no 
mean position.^ 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Desteuction op Halicaenassus. — Ada, Queen of Caria. 

Then Orontobates and Mepinon, the commanders of the 
Persians, met and decided from the state of affairs that 
they could nob hold out long against the siege, seeing 
that part of the wall had already fallen down and part 
had been battered and weakened, and that many of their 

1 DiodoTus (xvii. 25-27) gives a very different account of the last 
struggle of the besieged in Halicaruassus. When the leaders saw that 
they must eventually succumb, they made a last desperate effort to 
destroy Alexander's military engines. Ephialtes, the eminent Athenian 
exile, headed the sally, which vfas effected by troops simultaneously 
issuing from all the gates at daybreak. The advanced guard of the 
Macedonians, consisting of young troops, vrere put to rout ; but the 
veterans of Philip restored the battle under a man named Atharrias. 
Ephialtes was slain, and his men driven back into the city. 



Destruction of Halicarnassus. 65 

soldiers had either perished in the sorties or been 
wounded and disabled. Taking these things into con- 
sideration^ about the second watch of the night they s.et 
fire to the wooden tower which they had themselves 
built to resist the enemy's military engines, and to the 
magazines in which their weapons were stored. They 
also cast fire into the houses near the wall ; and others 
were burned by the flames, which were carried with great 
fury from the magazines and the tower by the wind 
bearing in that direction. Some of the enemy then 
withdrew to the stronghold in the island (called Arcon- 
nesus), and others to another fortress called Salmacis» 
When this was reported to Alexander by some deserters 
from the incendiaries, and he himself could see the 
raging fire, though the occurrence took place about 
* midnight, yet he led out the Macedonians and slew those- 
who were still engaged in setting fire to the city. But 
he issued orders to preserve all the Halicarnassians who 
should be taken in their houses. As soon as the day- 
light appeared he could discern the strongholds which 
the Persians and the Grecian mercenaries had occupied; 
but he decided not to besiege them, considering that he 
would meet with no small delay beleaguering them, from 
the nature of their position, and moreover thinking that 
they would be of little importance to him now that he 
had captured the whole city. 

Wherefore, burying the dead in the night, he ordered, 
the men who had been placed in charge of the military 
engines to convey them to Tralles. He himself marched 
into Phrygia, after razing the city to the ground, and 
leaving 3,000 Grecian infantry and 200 cavalry as a 
guard both of this place and of the rest of Oaria, under 
the command of Ptolemy. He appointed Ada to act 
as his viceroy of the whole of Caria.^ This queen was 

1 Hecatomnus, king of Oaria, left three sons, Mausolus, Hidrieus, and 



66 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

daughter of Hecatomnus and wife of Hidrieus, who, 
though he was her brother, lived with her in wedlock, 
according to the custom of the Carians. When Hidrieus 
was dying, he confided the administration of affairs to 
her, for it had been a custom in Asia, ever since the 
time of Semiramis, even for women to rule men. But 
Pixodarus expelled her from the rule, and seized the 
administration of affairs himself. On the death of 
Pixodarus, his son-in-law Orontobates was sent by the 
king of the Persians to rule over the Oarians. Ada 
retained Alinda alone, the strongest place in Caria ; and 
when Alexander invaded Caria she went to meet him, 
offering to surrender Alinda to him, and adopting him 
as her son.^ Alexander confided Alinda to her, and did 
not think the title of son unworthy of his acceptance ; 
moreover, when he had captured Halicarnassus and be- 
come master of the rest of Caria, he granted her the 
privilege of ruling over the whole country. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Al/BXANDEE IN LtCIA AND PaMPHYLIA. 

Some of the Macedonians who served in Alexander's 
army had married just before he undertook the expedi- 
tion. He thought that he ought not to treat these men 
with neglect, and therefore sent them back from Caria 
to spend the winter in Macedonia with their wives. He 
placed them under the command of Ptolemy, son of 
Seleucus, one of the royal body-guards, and of the two 

Pixodarus ; and two daughters, Artejnisia and Ada. Artemisia married 
Mausolus, and Ada married Hidrieus. All these children succeeded their 
father in the sovereignty, Pixodarus being the last surviving son. 

• Amyntas, king of Macedonia, grandfather of Alexander the Great, 
adopted the celebrated Athenian general Iphicrates, in gratitude to 
him as the preserver of Macedonia. See Aesohines {De Falsa Legatione, 
pp. 243, 250). 



Alexander in Lycia and Pamphylia. 67 

generals Coenus, son of PolemocrafceSj and Meleager, son 
of Neoptolemus, because they were also newly married. 
He gave these officers instructions to levy as many horse 
and foot soldiers as they could from the country, when 
they returned to him and brought back the men who 
had been sent away with them. By this act more than 
by any other Alexander acquired popularity among the 
Macedonians. He also sent Cleander, son of Polemo- 
crates, to levy soldiers in Peloponnesus,^ and Parmenio to 
Sardis, giving him the command of a regiment of the 
Cavalry Companions, the Thessalian cavalry, and the rest 
of the Grecian allies. He ordered him to take the 
wagons to Sardis and to advance from that place into 
Phrygia. 

He himself marched towards Lycia and Pamphylia, 
in ordfer to gain command of the coast-land, and by that 
means render the enemy's fleet useless. 1!he first place 
on his route was Hyparna, a strong position, having a 
garrison of Grecian mercenaries ; but he took it at the 
first assault, and allowed the Greeks to depart from 
the citadel under a truce. Then he invaded Lycia and 
brought over the Telmissians by capitulation ; and cross- 
ing the river Xanthus, the cities of Pinara, Xanthus, ' 
Patara, and about thirty other smaller towns were sur- 
rendered to him.' Having accomplished this, though it 
was now the very depth of winter, he invaded the land 
called Milyas,* which is a part of Great Phrygia, but at 
that time paid tribute to Lycia, according to an arrange- 
ment made by the Great King. Hither came envoys 

' See Arrian, ii. 20 infra. 

^ The Marmarians alone defended their city with desperate valour. 
They finally set fire to it, and escaped through the Macedonian camp to 
the mountains. See Diodorus (xtu. 28). As to Xanthus the river, see 
Homer (Iliad, ii. 877; vi. 172) ; Horace (Carm., iv. 6, 26). 

' Lycia was originally called Milyasj but the name was afterwards 
applied to the high table in the north of Lycia, extending into Pisidia. 
See Herodotus, i. 173. 



68 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

from the Phaselites/ to treat for his friendship, and to 
crown him with a golden crown; and the majority of the 
maritime Lycians also sent heralds to him as ambassadors 
to treat for the same object. He ordered the Phaselites 
and Lycians to surrender their cities to those who were 
despatched by him to receive them ; and they were all 
surrendered. He soon afterwards arrived himself at 
Phaselis, and helped the men of that city to capture a 
strong fort which had been constfucted by the Pisidians 
to overawe the country ; and sallying forth from which 
those barbarians used to inflict much damage upon the 
Phaselites who tilled the land.' 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Treason of At.bxandbRj Son of Aeeopcts. 

While the king was still near Phaselis he received in- 
formation that Alexander, son of Aeropus, who was not 
only one of the Companions, but also at that time com- 
mander of the Thessalian horse, was conspiring against 
him. This Alexander was brother of Heromenes and 
Arrhabaeus, who had taken part in the. murder of Philip.' 
At that time King Alexander pardoned him, though he 

' Phaselis was a seaport of Lyoia on the Gulf of PamphyHa. It is 
now called Tekrova. 

2 He also crowned with garlands the statue of Theodeotes the rhetori- 
cian, which the people of Phaselis, his native city, had erected to his 
memory. This man was a friend and pupil of Aristotle, the tutor of 
Alexander. See Plutarch (Life of Alex., 17) ; Aristotle (Nicom. Ethics, 
vii. 7). 

3 Philip was murdered by Pausanias. Three only of his reputed 
accomplices are known by name, and they were Alexander, Heromenes, 
and Arrhabaeus, sons of Aeropus. The two latter were put to death ; but 
the first named was not only spared, but advanced to high military 
command for being the first to salute Alexander as king. Compare 
Gurtius (vii. 1) ; Justin (xi. 2). Alexander was accused by some of for- 
giving his father's murderers. Probably the reference was to his kind 
treatment of Olympias and this Alexander. See Curtius, vi. 43. 



Treason of Alexander, Son of Aeropus. 69 

was accused of complicity with thenij because after 
Philip's death he was among the first of his friends to 
come to him, and, helping him on with his breastplate, 
accompanied him to the palace. The king afterwards 
showed him honour at his court, sent him as general into 
Thrace ; and when Galas the commander of the Thessalian 
horse was sent away to a viceroyalty^ he was appointed 
to succeed that general. The details of the conspiracy 
were reported as follows : When Amyntas deserted to 
Darius,^ he conveyed to him certain messages and a 
letter from this Alexander. Darius then sent Sisines, 
one of his own faithful Persian courtiers, down to the 
sea-coast, under pretence of going to Atizyes, viceroy of 
Phrygia, but really to communicate with this Alexander, 
and to give him pledges, that if he would kill king 
Alexander, Darius would appoint him king of Macedonia, 
and would give him 1,000 talents of gold^ in addition to 
the kingdom. But Sisines, being captured by Parmenio, 
told him the real object of his mission. Parmenio sent 
him immediately under guard to the king, who obtained 
the same intelligence from him. The king then, having 
collected his friends, proposed to them as a subject for 
deliberation what decision he ought to make in regard 
to this Alexander. The Companions thought that for- 
merly he had not resolved wisely in confiding the best 
part of his cavalry to a faithless man, and that now it 
was advisable to put him out ' of the way as speedily as 
possible, before he became even more popular among the 
Thessalians and should try to eff'eot some revolutionary 
plan with their aid. Moreover they were terrified by a 
certain divine portent. For, while Alexander the king 
was still besieging Halicarnassus, it is said that he was 



* That of the Hellespontine Phrygia. See chap. xvii. supra. 
- See chap. xvii. supra. 
3 Nearly £250,000. 



70 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

once taking rest at mid-day, when a swallow flew 
about over his head loudly twittering, and perched now 
on this side of his couch and now on that, chirping more 
noisily than usual. On account of his fatigue he could 
not be roused from sleep, but being disquieted by the 
sound he brushed her away gently with his hand. But 
though struck she was so far from trying to escape, ih&t 
she perched upon the very head of the king, and did 
not desist until he was wide awake. Thinking the affair 
of the swallow of no trivial import, he communicated it 
to a soothsayer, Aristander the Telmissian,^ who told 
him that it signified a plot formed by one of his friends. 
He said it also signified that the plot would be dis- 
covered, because the swallow was a bird fond of man's 
society and well disposed to him as well as more loqua- 
cious than any other bird. Therefore, comparing this 
with the depositions of the Persian, the king sent 
Amphoterus, son of Alexander and brother of Craterus 
to Parmenio ; and with him he sent ,some Pergaeans to 
show him the way. Amphoterus, putting on a native 
dress, so that he should not be recognised on the road, 
reached Parmenio by stealth. He did not carry a letter 
from Alexander, because it did not appear to the king 
advisable to write openly about' such a matter ; but he 
reported the message entrusted to him byword of mouth. 
Consequently this Alexander was arrested and kept 
under guard. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Alexander in Pamphtlia. — Capture op Aspendds 
AND Side. 

Alexander then, moving from Phaselis, sent part of 
his army to Perga through the mountains, where the 



' See chap. xi. supra. 



Capture of Aspendus and Side. 71 

Thracians had levelled a road for him by a route which 
was otherwise difficult and long. But he himself led his 
own brigade by the beach along the sea, where there is 
no route, except when the north wind blows. But if the 
south wind prevails it is impossible to journey along the 
beach. At that time, after a strong south wind, the 
north winds blew, and rendered his passage easy and 
quick, not without the divine intervention, as both he 
and his men interpreted. ^ As he was advancing from 
Perga, he was met on the road by envoys from the 
Aspendians * with full powers, who offered to surrender 
their city, but begged him not lead a garrison into it. 
Having gained their request in regard to the garrison, 
they went back ; but he ordered them to give him fifty 
talents* as pay for his army, as well as the horses which 
they were rearing as tribute to Darius. Having agreed 
with him about the money, and having likewise promised 
to hand over the horses, they departed. 

Alexander then marched to Side,* the inhabitants of 
which were Cymaeans from Cyme, in Aeolis. These 
people give the following account of themselves, saying 
that their ancestors starting from Cyme, arrived in that 
country, and disembarked to found a settlement. They 
immediately forgot the G;recia,n language, and forthwith 
began to utter a foreign speech,, not, indeed, that of the 

' Compare Plutarch (Alex., 17). Just as the historians of Alexander 
afBrmed that iixe sea near Pamphylia providientially made way for him, 
so the people of Thapsaous, when they saw the army of Cyrus cross the 
Euphrates on foot, said that the river made way for him to come and 
take the sceptre (Xen., Anab., i. 4). So also the inhabitants prostrated 
themselves before LuouUus when the same river subsided and allowed 
his army to cross (Plutarch, Lucullus, chap. xxiv.). There was the 
game omen in the reign of Tiberius, when Vitellius, with a- Boman army, 
crossed the Euphrates to restore Tiridates to the throne of Parthia 
(Tacitus, Annals, vi. 37). Cf. Strabo, xiv. 3. 

^ Aspendus was on the Eurymadon. 

3 About f 12,0Q0. 

•* Side was on the coast of PamphyHa, a little west of the liver Melae. 



72 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

neighbouring barbarians, but a speech peculiar to them- 
selves, which had never before existed. From that time 
the Sidetans used to speak a foreign language unlike 
that of the neighbouring nations. Having left a garrison 
in Side, Alexander advanced to Syllium,i ^ strong place, 
containing a garrison' of Grecian mercenaries as well as 
of native barbarians themselves. But he was unable to 
take Syllium ofifhand by a sudden assault, for he was 
informed on his march that the Aspendians refused to 
perform any of their agreements, and would neither 
deliver the horses to those who were sent to receive 
them, nor pay the money; but that they had collected 
their property out of the fields into the city, shut their 
gates against his men, and were repairing their walls 
where they had become dilapidated. Hearing this, he 
marched off to Aspendus. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Alexajjdeb in Pheygia and Pisidia. 

The greater part of Aspendus had been built upon a 
strong and precipitous rock, at the very foot of which 
flows the river Burymedon ^ ; but round the rock, on the 
low ground, were many of the citizens' houses, sur- 
rounded by a small wall. As soon as they ascertained 
that Alexander was approaching, the inhabitants 
deserted the wall and the houses situated on the low 
ground, which they thought they were unable to protect ; 
and they fled in a body to the rock. When he arrived 
with his forces, he passed within the deserted wall and 

' Sjllium was about five miles from the coast, between Aspendus and 
Side. 

' This river is celebrated for the double victory of Cimon the Athenian 
over the Persians, in b.o. 466. See Smith's Greece, p. 252 ; Grote, 
vol. V. p. 163, 



Alexander in Phrygia and Pisidia. 73 

took up his quarters in the houses which had been 
abandoned by the Aspendians. When these saw that 
Alexander himself had come, contrary to their expecta- 
tion, and that his camp was encircling them on all sides, 
they sent envoys to him, entreating him to form an 
agreement with them on the former terms. Alexander, 
consideripg the strength of the place, and how unpre- 
pared he was to undertake a long siege, entered into an 
agreement with them, though not on the same terms as 
before. For he ordered them to give him their most 
influential men as hostages, to hand over the horses 
which they had formerly agreed to give him, to pay 
100 talents instead of fifty, to obey the viceroy appointed 
by him, and to pay an annual tribute to the Macedonians. 
Moreover he directed an inquiry to be held about the 
land which they were accused of holding by force, 
though it belonged of right to their 'neighbours. 

When all these concessions had been made to him, he 
marched away to Perga, and thence set out for Phrygia, 
his route leading him past the city of Termessus. The 
people of this city are foreigners, of the Pisidian race, 
inhabiting a very lofty place, precipitous on every side ; 
so that the road to the city is a difficult one. For a 
mountain stretches from the city as far as the road, 
where it suddenly stops short ; and over against it rises 
another mountain, no less precipitous. These mountains 
form gates, as it were, upon the road ; and it is possible 
for those who occupy these eminences even with a small 
guard to render the passage impracticable. On this 
occasion the Termissians had come out in a body, and 
were occupying both the mountains; seeing which, 
Alexander ordered the Macedonians to encamp there, 
armed as they were, imagining that the Termissians 
would not remain in a body when they saw theni 
bivouacking, but that most of them would withdraw into 
their city, which was near, leaving upon the mountains 



74 The Anahasis of Alexander. 

only sufficient men to form a guard. And it turned out 
just as he conjectured; for most of them retired, and 
only a guard remained. He forthwith took the archers, 
the regiments of javelin-throwers, and the lighter 
hoplites, and led them against those who were guarding 
the pass. When these were attacked with missiles, they 
did not stand their ground, but abandoned the position. 
Alexander then passed through the defile, and encamped 
near the city. 



CHAPTER XXYIIL 

Opeeations in Pisidia. 

While he was there, ambassadors came to him from the 
Belgians, who are also Pisidian barbarians, inhabiting a 
large city, and being warlike. Because they happened 
to be inveterate enemies to the Termessians they had 
despatched this embassy to Alexander, to treat for his 
friendship. He made a treaty with them, and from this 
tiine found them faithful allies in all his proceedings. 
Despairing of being able to capture Termessus without a 
great loss of time, he marched on to Sagalassus. This 
was also a large city, inhabited likewise by Pisidians ; 
and though all the Pisidians are warlike, the men of this 
city were deemed the most so. On this occasion they 
had occupied the hill in front of the city, because it was 
no less strong than the walls, from which to attack the 
enemy ; and there they were awaiting him. But Alex- 
ander drew up the phalanx of Macedonians in the follow- 
ing way : on the right wing, where he had himself taken 
up his position, he held the shield-bearing guards, and 
next to these he extended the foot Companions as far as 
the left wing, in the order that each of the generals had 
precedence in the array that day. On the left wing he 
stationed Amyntas, son of Arrhabaeus, as commander. 



Operaiions in Pisidia. 75 

In front of the right wing were posted the archers and 
AgrianianSj and in front of the left wing the Thracian 
javelin-throwers under the command of Sitalces. But 
the cavalry were no use to him in a place so rough and 
unfavourable. The Termessians also had come to the 
aid of the Pisidians, and arrayed themselves with them. 
Alexander had already made an attack upon the mountain 
which the Pisidians were occupying, advancing up the 
most abrupt part of the ascent, when the barbarians 
from an ambuscade attacked him on both wings, in a 
place where it was very easy for themselves to advance, 
but where the route was very diflScult for their enemy. 
The archers, who were the first to approach, were put to 
rout, inasmuch as they were insufficiently armed; but 
the Agrianians stood their ground, for the Macedonian 
phalanx was already drawing near, at the head of which 
Alexander himself was seen. When th« battle became a 
hand-to-hand one, though the barbarians were destitute 
of armour, they rushed against the Macedonian hoplites, 
and fell wounded on all sides. Then, indeed, they gave 
way, after about 500 of them had been killed. As they 
were nimble and well-acquainted with the locality, they 
effected their retreat without difficulty ; whereas the 
Macedonians, on account of the heaviness of their arms 
and their ignorance of the roads, durst not pursue them 
vigorously. Alexander therefore held off from the 
fugitives, and took their city by storm- Of those with 
him. Oleander, the general of the archers, and about 
twenty others were slain. Alexander then marched 
against the rest of the Pisidians, and took some of their 
strongholds by storm ; others he won over to him by 
granting them terms of capitulation, 



76 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

chapter' XXIX. 

Alexander in Phrtgia. 

Thence he went into Phrygia, passing by the lake called 
Ascania/ in which salt is naturally concreted. The 
natives use this salt, and do not need the sea at all for 
this article. On the fifth day of his march, he arrived at 
Celaenae,^ in which city there was a fortified rock, pre-" 
cipitous on all sides. This citadel was o'ccupied by the 
viceroy of Phrygia with a garrison of 1,000 Carians and 
100 Grecian mercenaries. These men despatched ambas- 
sadors to Alexander, promising to surrender the place to 
him, if succour did not reach them by a day which had 
been agreed upon with them, naming the day.^ This 
arrangement seemed to Alexander more advantageous 
than to besiege the fortified rock, which was inaccessible 
on all sides to attack. At Celaenae he left a garrison of 
1,500 soldiers. Remaining here ten days, he appointed 
Antigonus, son of Philip,* viceroy of Phrygia, placed 
Balacrus, son of Amyntas ^ as general over the Grecian 
allies in place of Antigonus, and then directed his march 
to Gordium.^ He sent an order to Parmenio to meet 

' This lake is mentioned by Herodotus (vii. 30), as being near the city 
of Anava. It is now called Burdur. 

^ Here Cyrus the Younger reviewed his Grecian forces and found them 
to be 11,000 hoplites and 2,000 peltasts. Here that prince had a palace 
and park, in which rose the river Maeander, close to the source of the' 
Marsyas. See Xenophon (Andb., i. 2) ; compare Gurtiui (iii. 1). 

3 Curtius (iii. 1) says they made a truce with Alexander for sixty days. 

* Antigonus, called the One-eyed, was father of Demetrius Poliorcetes. 
On the division of Alexander's empire he received Phrygia, Lyoia, and 
Pamphylia. He eventually acquired the whole of Asia Minor ; but was 
defeated and slain at the battle of Ipsus by the allied forces of Cassander, 
Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleuous (b.o. 301). When he was slain ha 
was in his eighty-first year. 

' Balacrus was left by Alexander to command in Egypt. See Arrian 
(iii. 5). 

8 The capital of the old Phrygian kings. It was rebuUt in the time of 
Augustus, and called Juliopolis. 



Alexander in Phrygia. 77 

him there with the forces under his comiuand ; an order 
which that general obeyed. The newly-married men 
also, who had been despatched to Macedonia, now arrived 
at Gordium, and with them another army which had 
been levied, and put under the command of Ptolemy, son 
of Seleucus,^ Coenus, son of Polemocrates, and Mele- 
ager, son of Neoptolemus. This army consisted of 3,000 
Macedonian foot-soldiers and 300 horse-soldiers, 200 
Thessalian cavalry, and 150 Eleans under the command 
of Alcias the Elean. 

Gordium is in the Phrygia which lies near the 
Hellespont, and is situated upon the river Sangarius, 
which takes its rise in Phrygia, but, flowing through 
the land of the Bithynian Thracians, falls into the Euxine 
Sea. Here an embassy reached Alexander from the 
Athenians, beseeching him to release to them the Athen- 
ian prisoners who had been captured at the river 
Granicus, fighting for the Persians, and were then in 
Macedonia serving in chains with the two thousand 
others captured in that battle. The envoys departed 
without obtaining their request on behalf of the prisoners 
for the present. For Alexander did not think it safe, 
whilst the war against the Persian was still going on, to 
relax in the slightest degree the terror with which' he 
inspired the Greeks, who did not deem it unbecoming 
for them to serve as soldiers on behalf of the foreigners 
against Greece. However, he replied that whenever his 
present enterprise had been successfully achieved, they 
might then come as ambassadors to treat on behalf of 
the same persons.^ 



^ This Ptolemy was killed at the battle of Ibsus {Arrian, ii. 110). 

^ We learn from Curtius (iv. 34) that Alexander released these prisoners 
at the request of ambassadors from Athens, who met him in Syria after 
his return from Egypt. 



BOOK II. 



CHAPTER I. 

CaPTUEE of MlTYLENE BT THE PkESIANS. DeATH OP 

Memnon. 

Soon after this, Memnon, whom King Darius had ap- 
pointed commander of the whole fleet and of the entire 
sea-coast, with the design of moving the seat of war into 
Macedonia and Greece, acquired possession of Chios, 
wl^ich was surrendered to him by treachery. Thence 
he sailed to Lesbos and brought over to his side all 
the cities of the island,^ except Mitylene, the inhabitants 
of which did not submit to him. When he had gained 
these cities over, he turn fed his attention to Mitylene; 
and walling off the city from the rest of the island by 
constructing a double stockade from sea to sea, he easily 
got the mastery on the land side by building five camps. 
A part of his fleet guarded their harbour, and, intercept- 
ing the ships passing by, he kept the rest of his fleet as 
a guard off Sigrium,^ the headland of Lesbos, where is 
the best landing-place for trading vessels from Chios, 
Geraestus,* and Malea.* By this means he deprived the 
Mitylenaeans of all hope of succour by sea. But mean- 

* The other oities of Lesbos were Methymna, Antissa, Eresus, and 
Pyrrha. 

" Now called Cape Sigri, the west point of tlie island. 
' The southern point of Euboea, now called Cape Mandili. Of. Homer 
{Odyss., iii. 177). 

* The south-eastern point of Laoonia, now called Cape Malia di St. 
Angelo. It was dreaded by ancient mariners : see Homer [Odyssey, ix. 
80) ; Ovid {Armies, ii. 16, 24) ; Vergil (Aeneid, v. 193). There was a say- 
ing ; — MoX^os Si Kti/M^as iiriXiiBov rCiv olKaSe [Straio, Yiii. p. 250). 

78 



J.'M 



Death of Memnon. 79 

time be himself fell ill and died, and his death at that 
crisis , was exceedingly injurious to the king's interests. 
Nevertheless Autophradates, and Pharnabazns, son of 
Artabazus, prosecuted the siege with vigour. To the 
latter indeed, Memnon, when dying, had entrusted his 
command, as he was his sister's son, till Darius should 
come to some decision on the matter. The Mitylenaeans, 
therefore, being excluded from the land, and being 
blockaded on the sea by many ships lying at anchor, 
sent to Pharnabazus and came to the following agree- 
ment : — That the auxiliary troops which had come to 
their aid from Alexander should depart, that the citizens 
should demolish the pillars on which the treaty made by 
them with Alexander was inscribed,^ that they should 
become allies of Darius on the terms of the peace which 
was made with King Darius in the time of Antalcidas,^ 
and that their exiles should return from banishment on 
condition of receiving back half the property which they 
possessed when they were banished. Upon these terms 
the compact was made between the Mitylenaeans and 
the Persians. But as soon as Pharnabazus and Auto- 
phradates once got within the city, they introduced a 
garrison with Lycomedes, a Ehodian, as its commandant. 
They also appointed Diogenes, one of the exiles, to be 
despot of the city, and exacted money from the Mityle- 
naeans, taking parb of it by violence for themselves from 
the wealthy citizens, and laying the rest as a tax upon 
the community. 

1 In aooordanee with the convention of Corinth. Compare next 
chapter. For the pillars compare Herodotus (ii. 102, 106) ; Thucydides 
V. 18, 47, 5G) ; Aristophanes {Achamians, 727; Ljsistrata, 513). 

^ This treaty was concluded by the Spartans with the king of Persia, 
B.C. 387. It was designed to break up the Athenian supremacy. It 
• stipulated that all the Grecian colonies in Asia were to be given to the 
Persian king ; the Athenians- were to retain only Imbros, Lesbos, and 
Scyros ; and all the other Grecian cities were to be autonomous. See 
Xenophon {Hellenics, iv. 8 ; v. 1). 



80 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

CHAPTER II. 

The Persians Capture Tenedtjs. — Thet are Defeated 

AT Sea. 
After accomplishing this, Pharnabazus sailed to Lycia, 
taking with him the Grecian mercenaries ; but Autophra- 
dates sailed to the other islands. Meantime Darius sent 
Thymondas, son of Mentor,* down to the maritime dis- 
tricts, to take over the Grecian auxiliaries from Pharna- 
hazus and to lead them up to him ; and to tell Pharna- 
bazus that he was to be the ruler of all that Memnon 
had ruled. So Pharnabazus handed over to him the 
Grecian auxiliaries and then sailed to join Autophra- 
dates and the fleet. When they met, they despatched 
Datames, a Persian, with ten ships to the islands called 
Cyclades,* whilst they with 100 sailed to Tenedus.^ 
Having sailed into the harbour of Tenedus which is 
called Boreus, they sent a message to the inhabitants, 
commanding them to demolish the pillars on which the 
treaty made by them with Alexander and the Greeks was 
inscribed, and to observe in regard to Darius the terms 
of the peace which they had ratified with the king of 
Persia in the time of Antalcidas. The Tenedians pre- 
ferred to be on terms of amity with Alexander and the 
Greeks ; but in the present crisis it seemed impossible 
to save themselves except by yielding to the Persians, 
since Hegelochus, who had been commissioned by Alex- 
ander to collect another naval force, had not yet gathered 
so large a fleet as to warrant them in expecting any 
speedy succour from him. Accordingly Pharnabazus 
made the Tenedians comply with his demands rather 
from fear than good-will. 

' Cf. ii. 13 infra. 

' " Cyclades ideo sio appellatae, quod omnes ambiunt Delon partu 
deorum insignem."— ^mmianu», xxii. 8, 2. Cf. Horace {Carm.,i. 14, 19 ; 
iii. 28, 14). 

3 Cf. Vergil (Aeneid, ii. 21). 



The Persians Defeated at Sea. 81 

Meantime Proteas, son of Andronicus, by command of 
Antipater,^ succeeded in collecting ships of war from 
Euboea and the Peloponnese, so that there might be 
some protection both for the islands and for Greece 
itself, if the foreigners attacked them by sea, as it was 
reported they intended to do. Learning that Datames 
with ten ships was moored near Siphnas,* Proteas set 
out by night with fifteen from Chalcis on the Euripus/ 
and approaching the island of Cythnus * at dawn, he 
spent the day there in order to get more certain informa- 
tion of the movements of the ten ships, resolving at the 
same time to fall upon the Phoenicians by night, when 
he would be likely to strike them with greater terror. 
Having discovered with certainty that Datames was 
moored with his ships at Siphnus, he sailed thither while 
it was still dark, and just at the very dawn fell upon 
them when they least expected it, and captured eight of 
the ships, men and all. But Datames, with the other 
two triremes, escaped by stealth at the beginning of the 
attack made by the ships with Proteas, and reached the 
rest of the Persian fleet in safety. 



' The regent of Macedonia and Greece during Alexander's absence. 

^ One of the Oyclades, a little to the north-east of Melos. It was 
noted for the low morahty of its inhabitants. See Aristophanes {Frag- 
ment, 558 ; on the authority of Suidas). 

' Buripus properly means any narrow sea, where the ebb and flow of 
the tide is violent. The name was especially applied to the strait between 
Boeotia and Euboea, where the ancients asserted the sea ebbed and flowed 
seven times in the day (Strabo, ix. 1). Modern observers have noticed 
these extraordinary tides. The present name of the island, Negropont, 
is the Italian name formed from Egripo, the modern corruption of 
Euripus. Cf . Cicero, pro Muraena, xvii. :— Quod {return, quern Euripum 
tot motus, tantas, tarn varias habere putatis agitationes fluctuum, 
quantas perturbationes et quantos aestus habet ratio comitiorum. 
Aristotle, Ethica Nicomachea, ix. 6 : — tuv toioijtuiv yap ixiva ri, ^ovKiiiara, 
KoX oi fierafipet &<rirep 'EVpi'iros. 

* One of the Oyclades, about half-way between Attica and Siphnus. 



82 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

CHAPTER in. 

AliEXANDEE AT GOEDIUM. 

When Alexander arrived at Gordium, he was seized with 
an ardent desire to go up into the citadel, which con- 
tained the palace of Gordius aad his son Midas. He was 
also desirous of seeing the wagon of Gordius and the 
cord which bound the yoke to the wagon. There was a 
great deal of talk about this wagon among the neigh- 
bouring population. It was said that Gordius was a 
poor man among the ancient Phrygians, who had a small 
piece of land to till, and two yoke of oxen. He used 
one of these in ploughing and the other to draw the 
wagon. On one occasion, while he was ploughing, an 
eagle settled upon the yoke,^ and remained sitting there 
until the time came for unyoking the oxen. Being 
alarmed at the sight, he went to the Telmissian sooth- 
sayers to consult them about the sign from the deity ; 
for the Telmissians were skilful in interpreting the mean- 
ing of Divine manifestations, and the power of divination 
has been bestowed not only upon the men, but also upon 
their wives and children from generation to generation. 
When Gordius was driving his wagon near a certain 
village of the Telmissians, he met a maiden fetching 
water from the spring, and to her he related how the 
sign of the eagle had appeared to him. As she herself 
was of the prophetic race, she instructed him to returji 
to the very spot and offer sacrifice to Zeus the king. 
Gordius requested her to accompany him and direct him 
how to perform the sacrifice. He offered the sacrifice in 
the way the girl suggested, and afterwards married her. 
A son was born to them named Midas, who, when he 
arrived at the age of maturity, was both handsome and 
valiant. At this time the Phrygians were harassed by 

' iiriTT^vai, a poetical form for i7riirTi<rSat. 



Alexander at Oordium. 83 

civil discordj and consulting the oracle, they were told 
that a wagon would bring them a king, who would put 
an end to their discord.^ "While they were still deliber- 
ating about this very matter, Midas arrived with his 
father and mother, and stopped near the assembly with 
the very wagon in question. They, interpreting the 
oracular response to refer to him, decided that this was 
the person whom the god told them the wagon would 
bring. They therefore appointed Midas king ; and he, 
putting an end to their discord, dedicated his father's 
wagon in the citadel as a thank-offering to Zeus the 
king for sending the eagle. In addition to this the 
following report was current concerning the wagon, that 
whosoever could loosen the cord with which the yoke of 
the wagon was tied, was destined to be the ruler of Asia. , 
The cord was made of cornel bark, and neither end nor 
beginning to it could be seen. It is said by some that 
when Alexander could find out no way to loosen the cord 
and yet was unwilling to allow it to remain unloosened, 
lest it should exercise some disturbing influence uponj 
the multitude, he struck the cord with his sword and cut 
it through, saying that it had been untied by him. But 
Aristobulus says that he pulled out the pin of the wagon- 
pole, which was a wooden peg driven right through it, 
holding the cord together. Having done this, he drew 
out the yoke from the wagon-pole. How Alexander 
performed the feat in connection with this cord, I can- 
not affirm with confidence. At any rate both he andu 
his troops departed from the wagon as if the oracular 
prediction concerning the untying of the cord had been, 
fulfilled. Moreover, that very night, the thunder and 
- lightning were signs from heaven of its fulfilment ; and 
for this reason Alexander offered sacrifice on the follow- 
ing day to the gods who had revealed the^ signs and 



' Cf. Justin, xi. 7. 



84 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

assured him -tkat tte cord had been untied in a proper 
way.^ 



CHAPTER IV. 

Conquest of Oappabocia.. — Alexanbee's Illness at 
Taesus. 
The next day he sent out to Ancyra ^ in Galatia, where 
he was met by an embassy from the Paphlagonians, 
offering to surrender their nation to him and to enter 
into an alliance with him; but they requested him not 
to invade their land with his forces. He therefore com- 
manded them to submit to the authority of Galas, the 
viceroy of Phrygia. Marching thence into Cappadocia, 
he subjugated all that part of it which lies on this side of 
the river Halys/ and much of that which lies beyond it. 
Having appointed Sabiotas viceroy of Cappadocia, he 
advanced to the Gates of Cilicia/ and when he arrived at 
the Camp of Cyrus, who (went) with Xenophon,' and saw 
that the Gates were occupied by strong guards, he left 
Parmenio there with the regiments of infantry which 
were more heavily armed; and about the first watch, 
taking the shield-bearing guards, the archers, and the 
Agrianians, he advanced by night to the Gates, in 
order to fall upon the guards when they least expected 
it. However, his advance was not unobserved ; but his 

' Cf. Curtius, iii. 2 (Zumpt's edition) ; Plutarch (Alexander, 18). 

^ Now caEed Angora. In the time of Alexander the country was 
named Great Phrygia, the term Galatia being afterwards applied to it, 
from the fact that it was conquered by the Gauls in the 3rd century B.C. 

' Now called Kizil-Irmak, i.e. the Bed Eiver. It is the largest river in 
Asia Minor, and separated the empires of Persia and Lydia, until the 
conquest of the latter by Cyrus. 

* The chief pass over the Taurus between Cappadoeia and Cilioia. It 
is more than 3,600 feet above the sea-level. Its modern name is Golek- 
Boghaz. Cf. Curtim, ui. 9-11. It is called Tauri Pylae by Cicero 
(Epistolae ad Atticum, v. 20, 2). 

* See Xenophon (Anabasis, i. 2, 20, 21). 



Alexander's -Jllness at Tarsus. 85 

\ 
\ 

boldness served him equally well, for the guards, per- 
ceiving that Alexander was advancing in person, deserted 
their post and set off in flight. At dawn next day he 
passed through the Gpates with all his forces and de- 
scended into Cilicia.^ Here he was informed that Arsa- 
mes had previously intended to preserve Tarsus for the 
Persians ; but when he heard that Alexander had already 
passed through the Gates, he resolved to abandon the 
city J and that the Tarsians were therefore afraid he 
would turn to plunder their city and afterwards evacuate 
it. Hearing this, Alexander led his cavalry and the 
lightest of his light infantry to Tarsus with a forced 
march ; consequently Arsames, hearing of his start, fled 
with speed from Tarsus to King Darius without inflicting 
any injury upon the city. 

Alexander now fell ill from the toils he had under- 
gone, according to the account of Aristobulus ; but other 
authors say that while he was very hot and in profuse 
perspiration he leaped into the river Oydnus ^ and swam, 
being eager to bathe in its water. This river flows 
through the midst of the city ; and as its source is in 
mount Taurus and it flows through a clean district, it is 
\cold and its- water is clear. Alexander therefote was 
seized with convulsions, accompanied with high fever 
and continuous sleeplessness. None of the physicians 
thought he was likely to sur^dve,^ except Philip, an 



■ ' CurJius (iii. 11)' says, that Alexander wondeced at his own good fortune, 
when he observed how easily Aisames might have blocked up the pass. 
Cyrus the Younger was equally fortunate in finding, this impregnable 
pass abandoned by Syennesis, king of Cilicia. See Xenophon (Anabasis, 
i. 2, 21). 

' Now called Tersoos-Chai: See Gwrtius, iii. 12 ; Justin, xi. 8 ; and 
Lucian [De Domo, i.). At Tarsus the emperor Julian was buried. See 
Ammiamis, zxv. 10, 5. 

' Probably none of the physicians would venture to prescribe, for feai 
of being hdd responsible for his death, which seemed likely to ensue. 
Nine years after, when Hephaestion died of fever at Ecbatana, Alexander 



86 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

•Acarnanian, a physician in attendance on the king, and 
very much trusted by him in medical matters, who also 
-enjoyed a great reputation in the army in general 
affairs. This man wished to administer a purgative 
draught to Alexander, and the king ordered him to 
administer it. While Philip was pi-eparing the cup, a 
letter was given to the king from Parmenio, warning 
him to beware of Philip ; for he heard that the physician 
had been bribed by Darius to poison Alexander with 
medicine. But he, having read the letter, and still 
holding it in his hand, took the cup which contained 
the medicine and gave Philip the letter to read. While 
Philip was reading the news from Parmenio, Alexander 
drank the potion. It was at once evident to the king 
that the physician was acting honourably in giving the 
medicine, for he was not alarmed at the letter, but only 
so much the more exhorted the king to obey all the other 
prescriptions which he might give, promising that his 
life would be saved if he obeyed his instructions. Alex- 
ander was purged by the draught, and his illness then 
took a favourable turn. He afterwards proved to Philip 
that he was a faithful friend to him ; and to the rest of 
those a;bout he proved that he had perfect confidence in 
his friends by refusing to entertain any suspicion of their 
fidelity ; and at the same time he showed that he could 
meet death with dauntless courage.^ 

caused the physician who had attended him to he crucified. See Arrian, 
vii. 14 ; Plutarch {Alexander, 72). 

' Cf. Curtius, iii. 14-16 ; Diodorus, x^vii. 31 ; Justin, 3d. 8 ; Plutarch 
{Alex., 19). The barharous conduct of Alexander towards Philotas four 
years after, when contrasted with his noble confidence in Philip, shows 
the bad effect of his unparalleled success, upon his moral character. 



Alexander at the Tomb of Sardanajpalus. 87 

CHAPTER Y, 

Alexandeb at the Tomb of Saedanapalus. — Peoceed- 

INQS m OiLICIA. 

Aptee this he sent Parmenio to the other Gates which 
separate the land of the Cilicians from that of the As- 
syriansj in order to capture them before the enemy could 
do so, and to guard the pass.^ He gave him the allied 
infantry, the Grecian mercenaries, the Thracians who 
were under the command of Sitalces, and the Theasalian 
cavalry. He afterwards marched from Tarsus, and on 
the first day arrived at the city of Anchialus.^ Accord- 
ing to report, this city was founded by Sardanapalus the 
Assyrian;* and both from the circumference and from 
the foundations of the walls it is evident that a large 
city had been founded and that it had .reached a great 
pitch of power. Also near the wall of Anchialus was the 
monument of Sardanap$,lus, upon the top of which stood 
the statue of that king with the hands joined to each 
■ other just as they are joined for clapping.* An inscrip- 
tion had been placed upon it in Assyrian characters,' 
which the Assyrians asserted to be in metre. The mean- 
ing which the words expressed was this :: — " Sardanapa- 
lus, son of Anacyndaraxas, built Anchialus and TarSus 
in one day ; but do thou, stranger, eat, drink, and 

1 This pass was called the Syrian Gates, lying between the shore of 
the Gnlf of Issus and Mount Amanus. Cyrus the Youilger was six days 
marching from Tarsus through this pass. See Xenophon {Anah., i. 4). 
The Greeks often gave the name of Assyria to the country usually called 
by them Syria. The Hebrew name for it is Aram (high-land). Cf. 
Cicero {ad Diversoi, xv. 4, 4) ; Diod,, xiv. 21. 

^ A city of CUicia on the coast, a Little west of the mouth of the Cydnus. 

^ Said to have been the last of the Assyrian kings. 

* Cf . Strabo (xiv. 5) for a description of this statue. 

' This was, doubtless, the arrow-headed writing which has been de- 
ciphered by Sir Henry Bawlinson. Cf. Herodotus, iv. 87 ; Thucydides, 
iv. 50. 



88 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

play, since all other human things are not worth this ! " 
referring, as in a riddle, to the empty sound which the 
hands make in clapping. It was also said that the word 
translated pla/y had been expressed by a more lewd one 
in the Assyrian language. 

From Anchialus Alexander went to Soli,^ into which 
city he introduced a garrison, and imposed upon the 
inhabitants a fine of 200 talents of silver,^ because they 
were more inclined to favour the Persians than himself. 
Then, having taken three regiments of Macedonian in- 
fantry, all the archers, and the Agrianians, he marched 
away thence against the Cilicians, who were holding the 
mountains ; and in seven days in all, having expelled 
some by force, and having brought the rest over by 
composition,, he marched back to Soli. Here he ascer- 
tained that Ptolemy and Asander ^ had gained the mastery 
over Orontobates the Persian who was guarding the 
citadel of Halicamassus, and was also holding Myndus, 
Caunus, Thera, and Callipolis.* Cos and Triopium " also 
had been brought into subjection. They wrote to inform 
him that Orontobates had been worsted in a great battle j 
that about 700. of his infantry and 50 of his cavalry had 
been killed, and not less than 1,000 taken prisoners. In 
Soli Alexander offered sacrifice to Asclepius,^ conducting 

' Now called Mezetlu. It was a Bhodian colony on the coast of Cilicia, 
between the rivers Cydnus and Lamus. It was afterwards re-named 
. Fompeiopolis. The birthplace of Philemon, Aratus, and Chiysippus. 

" About £49,000. 

^ Asander was a nephew of Parmenio. He afterwards brought a re- 
inforcement to Alexander from Greece (Arrian, iv. 7). After the king's 
death he obtained the rule of Caria, but joining the party of Ptolemy 
and Gassander, he was defeated by Antigonus, b.c. 313. 

* These were Carian cities. 

° Cos, the birthplace of ApeUes and Hippocrates, is one of the group 
of islands called Sporades, off the coast of Oaria. Triopium is the pro- 
montory terminating the peninsula of Cnidus, the south-west headland 
of Asia MinOT, Cf. Tilullue, ii. 3, 57 ; Fropertius, i. 2, 1 ; ii. 1, 5 ; Hero- 
dotus, i. 174. 

° Called by the Bomans, Aesculapius. He was the god of the medical 



Alexander Advances to Myriandrus. 89 

a procession of the entire army, celebrating a torcli race, 
and superintending a gymnastic and musical contest. He 
granted the Solians the privilege of a democratical con- 
stitution ; and then marched away to Tarsus, despatching 
the cavalry under Philotas to march through the Aleian 
plain to the river Pyramus.^ But he himself with the 
infantry and the royal sqaiadron of cavalry came to 
Magarsus, where he offered sacrifice to the Magarsian 
Athena. Thence he marched to Mallus, where he 
rendered to Amphilochus the sacrificial honours due to 
a hero.^ He also arrested those who were creating a 
sedition among the citizens,, and thus put a stop to it. 
He remitted the tribute which they were paying to King 
Darius, because the Malliotes were a colony of the Ar- 
gives, and he himself claimed to have sprung from Argos, 
being a descendant of Heracles. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Alexander Advances to Mteiandeu&. — Daeius 
Marches against him. 

While he was still at Mallus, he was informed that Darius 
was encamped with all his forces at Sochi, a place in the 
land of Assyria, distant about two days' march from the 
Assyrian Gates. ^ Then indeed he collected the Com- 
panions and told them what was reported about Darius 

art, and no doubt Alexander saorifiteed to him, and celebrated the games, 
in gratitude for his recovery from the feyer he had had. at Tarsus. 

' This plain is mentioned in Homer, vi. 201 ; Herodotus, vi. 95. The 
large river Pyramus, now called Jihan, falls into the sea near MaUus. 

* Mallus was said to have been founded by Amphilochus after the 
fall of Troy. This hero was the son of Amphiarans, the great prophet 
of Argos, whom Zeus is said to have made immortal. Magarsus, of 
Megarsa, was the port of Mallus. The difference of meaning between 
eietv and ivayl^eiv is seen from Herodotus, ii. 44; Plutarch (Moralia, 
ii. p. 857 D). 

' Usually called the Syrian Gates. See chap. v. note ' supra. 



90 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

and his army. They urged him to lead them on as they 
were, without delay. At that time be commended them, 
and broke up the conference ; but next day he led them 
forward against Darius and the Persians. On the second 
day he passed through the Gates and encamped near the 
city of Myriandrus ; ^ but in the night a heavy tempest 
and a violent storm of wind and rain occurred which 
detained him in his camp. Darius, on the other hand, 
had been spending a long time with his army, having 
chosen a plain in the land of Assyria which stretches 
out in every direction, suitable for the immense size of 
his army and convenient for the evolutions of cavalry. 
Amyntas, son of Antiochus, the deserter from Alexander, 
advised him not to abandon this position, because there 
was plenty of room for the great multitude of the Persians 
and for the vast quantity of their baggage. So Darius 
remained. But as Alexander made a long stay at Tarsus 
on account of his illness, and not a short one at Soli, 
where he offered sacrifice and conducted his army in 
procession, and moreover spent some time in marching 
against the Oilician mountaineers, Darius was induced 
to swerve from his resolution., He was also not unwilling 
to be led to form whatever decision was most agreeable 
to his own wishes; and being influenced by those who 
gave him the advice which they thought would be pleasant 
to him, without consideration of its utility (for kings will 
always have associates to give them bad advice),^ he came 
to the conclusion that Alexander was no longer desirous 
of advancing further, but was shrinking from an encounter 
on learning that Darius himself was marching against 
him. On all sides they were urging him on, asserting 
that he would trample down the army of the Macedonians 

1 A oity on the Gulf of Issub, being a settlement of the Phoenicians. 
Herodotus (iv. 38) calls the gulf the Myiiandric Gulf. Cf. Xenophon 
(Andb., i. 4). 

" Cf. Arrian, vii. 29 ; Curtius, viii. 17. 



Darius at Issus. 91 

■ with his cavahy.i Nevertheless, Amyutas, at any rate, 
confidently affirmed that Alexander would certainly come 
to any place where he heard Darius might be ; and he ex- 
horted him by all means to stay where he was. But the 
worse advice, because at the immediate time it was more 
pleasant to hear, prevailed ; moreover he was led by some 
divine influence into that locality where he derived little 
advantage from his cavalry and from the sheer number 
of his men, javelins and bows, and where he could not even 
exhibit the mere magnificence of his army, but surren- 
dered to Alexander and his troops an easy victory. For 
it was already decreed by fate that the Persians should 
be deprived of the rule of Asia by the Macedonians, just 
as the Medes had been deprived of it by the Persians, 
and still earlier the Assyrians by the Medes. 



CHAPTER YII. 

Dabitjs at Issus. — Alexander's Speech to his Aemt. 

Darius crossed the mountain range by what are called the 
Amanic Gates, and advancing towards Issus, came without 
being noticed to the rear of Alexander.^ Having reached 
Issus, he captured as many of the Macedonians as had 

' Aeschines tells us in his speech against ' Ctesiphon (p. 552), that the 
anti-Macedonian statesmen at Athens at this time receiyed letters from 
their friends, stating that Alexander was caught and pinned Up in Cilioia. 
He says Demosthenes went about shomng these letters and boasting of 
the news. Josephus {Antiquities of the Jews, xi. 7, 3) says that " not only 
Sanballat at Samaria but all those that were in Asia also were persuaded 
that the Macedonians would not so much as come to a battle with the 
Persians, on account of their multitude." 

* There are two passes by which the eastern countries are entered 
from Cilicia ; one on the south, near the sea, leads into Syria. The 
other pass lies more to the north, and leads to the country near the 
Euphrates. The latter was called the Amanic, and the former the Syrian 
gate. Alexander had just passed through the Syrian gate in order to 
march against Darius, at the very time that Darius was descending into 



92 The Anabasis of Alexamder. 

been left behind there on account of illness. These he 
cruelly mutilated and slew. Next day he proceeded to the 
river Pinarus. As soon as Alexander heard that Darius 
was in his rear, because the news did not seem to him trust- 
worthy, he embarked some of the Companions in a ship 
with thirty oars, and sent them back, to Issus, to observe 
whether the report was true.. The men who sailed in the 
thirty-oared ship, discovered the Persians encamped there 
more easily, because the sea in this part takes the form 
of a bay. They therefore brought back word to Alexander 
that Darius was at hand. Alexander then called together 
the generals, the commanders of cavalry, and the leaders 
of the Grecian allies,, and exhorted them to take courage 
from the dangers which, they had already surmounted, 
asserting that the struggle would be between themselves 
who had been previously victorious and a foe who had 
already been beaten ; and that the deity was acting the 
part of general on their behalf better than himself, by 
putting it into the mind of Darius to move his forces 
from the spacious plain and shut them up in a narrow 
place, where there was sufficient room, for them to deepen 
their phalanx by marching from front to rear, but where 
their vast multitude would be useless- to their enemy in 
battle. He added that their foes were similar to them 
neither in strength nor in courage |. for the Macedonians, 
who had long been practised in warlike toils accompanied 
with danger, were coming into close conflict with Persians 
and Medes, men who had become enervated by a long 
course of luxurious ease i and, to crown all, they, being 
freemen, were abouit to engage in battle with, men who 
were slkves. Hfe said, moreover, that the Greeks who 
were in the two armies would not be fighting for the 

Cilioia % the Amanio gate, and oeonpying Issus with his advanced guard.. 
Alexander, ■who, had reached Myriandrus in Syria, made a countermarch 
to. meet Darius. Blutaroh {Alex., 20) says that thej missed each other 
in the night,. whickis quite a mistake 



Alexander's Speech to His Army. 93 

same objects ; for those with Darius were braving danger 
for pay, and that pay not high ; whereas, those on their 
side were voluntarily defending the interests of Greece. 
Again, of foreigners, the Thracians, Paeonians, lUyrians, 
and Agrianians, who were the most robust and warlike 
of men in Europe, were about to be arrayed against the 
most sluggish and effeminate races of Asia. In addition 
to all this, Alexander was commanding in the field against 
Darius. These things he enumerated as evidences of 
their superiority in the struggle ; and then he began to 
point out the great rewards they would win from the 
danger to be incurred. For he told them that on that 
occasion they would overcome, not merely the viceroys of 
Darius, nor the cavalry drawn up at the Granicus, nor 
the 20,000 Grecian mercenaries, but would overcome all 
the available forces of the Persians and Medes, as well 
as all the other races subject to them dwelling in Asia, 
and the Great King present in person. After this con- 
flict nothing would be left for them to do, except to take 
possession of all Asia, and to put an end to their many 
labours. In addition to this, he reminded them of their 
brilliant achievements in their collective capacity^ in 
days gone by ; and if any man had individually performed 
any distinguished feat of valour from love of glory, he 
mentioned him by name in commendation of the deed.^ 
He then recapitulated as modestly as possible his own 
daring deeds in the various battles. He is also said to 
have reminded them of Xenophon and the ten thousand 
men who accompanied him, asserting that the latter were 
in no way comparable with them either in number or in 
general excellence. Besides, they had had with them 
neither Thessalian, Boeotian, Peloponnesian, Macedonian, 
or Thracian horsemen, nor any of the other cavalry which 
was in the Macedonian army ; nor had they any archers 

1 Of. Sallust {Catilina, 59) ; Caesar {Bell. Gall., ii. 35). 



94 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

or slingers except a few Cretans and Ehodians, and even 
these were got ready by Xenophon on the spur of the 
moment in the very crisis of danger.^ And yet even 
these put the king and all his forces to rout close to 
Babylon* itself, and succeeded in reaching the Euxine 
Sea after defeating all the races which lay in their way 
as they were marching down thither. He also adduced 
whatever other arguments were suitable for a great 
commander to use in order to encourage brave men in 
such a critical moment before the perils of battle. They 
urged him to lead them against the foe without delay, 
coming from all sides to grasp the king's right hand, 
and encouraging him by their promises. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

AeEANGEMENT 01 THE HoSTILE AeMIES. 

Alexander then ordered his soldiers to take their dinner, 
and having sent a few of his horsemen and archers 
forward to the Gates to reconnoitre the road in the rear, 
he took the whole of his army and marched in the night 
to occupy the pass again. When about midnight he had 
again got possession of it, he caused the army to rest the 
remainder of the night there upon the rocks, havin 
posted vigilant sentries. At the approach of dawn he 
began to descend from the pass along the road ; and as 
long as the space was narrow everywhere, he led his 
army in column, but when the mountains parted so as to 
leave a plain between them, he kept on opening out the 
column into the phalanx, marching one line of heavy 

' See Xenophon (Anab., iii. 3). 

2 At Cunaxa. Xenophon (ii. 2, 6) does not mention the name of the 
place where the battle was fought, but says that he was informed it was 
only 360 stadia (about 40 mUes) from Eabylon. We get the name Cunaxa 
from Plutarch {Life of Artaxerxes, o. 8), who says it was 500 stadia 
(about 68 miles) from Babylon. 

/ 



Arrangement of the Hostile Armies. 95 

armed infantry after another up into line towards the 
mountain on the right and towards the sea on the left. 
Up to this time his cavalry had been ranged behind the 
infantry ; but when they advanced into the open country, 
he began to draw up his army in order of battle. First, 
upon the right wing near the mountain he placed his 
infantry guard and the shield-bearers, under the com- 
mand of Nicanor, son of Parmenio; next to these the 
regiment of Ooenus, and close to them that of Perdiccas. 
These troops were posted as far as the middle of the 
heavy-armed infantry to one beginning from the right. 
On the left wing first stood the regiment of Amyntas, 
then that of Ptolemy, and close to this that of Meleager. 
The infantry on the left had been placed under the com- 
mand of Oraterus ; but Parmenio held the chief direction 
of the "whole left wing. This general had been ordered 
not to abandon the sea, so that they might not be sur- 
rounded by the foreigners, who were likely to outflank 
them on all sides by their superior numbers.^ 

But as soon as Darius was certified of Alexander's 
approach for battle, he conveyed about 30,000 of his 
cavalry and with them 20,000 of his light-armed infantry 
across the river Pinarus, in order that he might be able 
to draw up the rest of his forces with ease. Of the heavy 
armed infantry, he placed first the 30,000 Greek mer- 
cenaries to oppose the phalanx of the Macedonians, and 
on both sides of these he placed 60,000 of the men called 
Oardaces,^ who were also heavy-armed infantry.^ For 

' Callistheties the historian, who accompanied Alexander into Asia, 
states that the breadth of the plain between the mountain and the sea 
was not more than fourteen stadia, or a little more thaji one English 
mile and a half. See Polybius, zii. 17. 

^ These seem to have been foreign mercenaries. See Polybius, v. 79, 
82 ; Strabo, xv. 3. Hesychius says that they were not a nation, but 
foreigners serving for pay. 

' Callisthenes — as quoted in Polybim, xii. 18 — reckoned the Grecian 
mercenaries of Darius at 30,000, and the cavalry at 30,000. Airian 



96 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

the place where they were posted was able to contain 
only this number in a single phalanx.^ He also posted 
20j000 men near the mountain on their left and facing 
Alexander's right. Some of these troops were also in 
the rear of Alexander's army; for the mountain near 
which they were posted in one part sloped a great way 
back and formed a sort of bay, like a bay in the sea, and 
afterwards bending forwards caused the men who had 
been posted at the foot of it to be behind Alexander's 
right wing. The remaining multitude of Darius's light- 
armed and heavy-armed infantry was marshalled by 
nations to an unserviceable depth and placed behind the 
Grecian mercenaries and the Persian army arranged in 
phalanx. The whole of the army with Darius was said 
to number about 600,000 fighting men.^ 

As Alexander advanced, he found that the ground 
spread out a little in breadth, and he accordingly brought 
up his horsemen, both those called Companions, and the 
Thessalians as well as the Macedonians, and posted them 
with himself on the right wing. The Peloponnesians 
and the rest of the allied force of Greeks he sent to 



enumerates 90,000 heavy-armed, not including the oavaby. Yet Polybius 
tries to prove that there was not room even for the 60,000 troops men- 
tioned by CalliBtheneB, 

1 " The depth of this single phalanx is not given, nor do we know 
the exact width of the ground which it occupied. Assuming a depth of 
sixteen, and one pace in breadth to each soldier, 4,000 men would stand 
in the breadth of a stadium of 250 paces ; and therefore 80,000 men in 
a breadth of twenty stadia. Assuming a depth of twenty-six, 6,500 
men would stand in the breadth of the stadium, and therefore 90,000 in 
a total breadth of 14 stadia, which is that given by Kallisthenes. Mr. 
Kinneir states that the breadth between Mount Amanus and the sea 
varies between one and a halt mile and three miles." — Grote. 

' Diodorm (xvii. 31), and Plutarch (Alea:., 18), give the same number; 
but Justin (xi. 9) says the Persians numbered 400,000 infantry and 
100,000 cavalry. It took five days for them to cross the Euphrates, over 
bridges of boats (Gurtius, m. 17). The money alone of the king required 
600 mules and 300 camels to convey it {Gurtius, iii. 8). 



Alexander Changes the Disposition of His Forces. 97 

Parmenio on the left. When Darius had marshalled 
his phalanx, by a pre-concerted signal he recalled the 
cavalry which he had posted in front of the river' for the 
express purpose of rendering the arranging of his army 
easy. Most of these he placed on the right wing near 
the sea facing Parmenio ; because here the ground was 
more suitable for the evolutions of cavalry. A certain 
part of them also he led up to the mountain towards the 
left. Bat when they were seen to be useless there on 
account of the narrowness of the ground, he ordered most 
of these also to ride round to the right wing and join 
their comrades there. Darius himself occupied the centre 
of the whole army, inasmuch as it was the custom for the 
kings of Persia to take up that position, the reason of 
which arrangement has been recorded by Xeuophon, son 
of Gryllus.^ 



CHAPTER IX. 

Alexandbe Changes the Disposition of his Forces. 

Meantime when Alexander perceived that nearly all the 
Persian cavalry had changed their ground and gone to 
his left towards the sea, and that on his side only the 
Peloponnesians and the rest of the Grecian cavalry were 
posted there, he sent the Thessalian cavalry thither with 
speed, ordering them not to ride along before the front 
of the whole array, lest they should be seen by the 
enemy to be shifting their ground, but to proceed by 
stealth in the rear of the phalanx.^ In front of the 
cavalry on the right, he posted the lancers under the 
command of Protomachus, and the Paeonians under that 
of Aristo ; and of the infantry, the archers under the 
direction of Antiochus, and the Agrianians under that of 



1 Cf. Arrian, iii. 11 ; and Xenophon {Anah., i. 8, 21, 22). 

2 See Donaldson's New Cratylus, sect. 178. 

H 



98 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Attains. Some of the cavalry and archers also he drew 
up so as to form an angle with the centre ^ towards the 
mountain which was in the rear; so on the right his 
phalanx had been drawn up separated into two wings, 
the one fronting Darius and the main body of Persians 
beyond the river, and the other facing those who had 
been posted at the mountain in their rear. On the left 
wing the infantiiiy consisting o£ the Cretan archers and 
the Thracians under command of Sitalces were posted 
in front ;. and before these the cavalry towards the left. 
The Grecian mercenaries were d^awn up as a reserve for 
all of them. When he perceived that the phalanx to- 
wards the right was too thin, and it seemed likely that 
the Persians would outflank him here considerably, he 
ordered two squadrons of the Companion savalry, viz. the 
Anthemusian,^ of which Peroedas, son of Menestheus, was 
captain, and that which was called Leugaean, under the 
command of Pantordanus, son of Cleander, to proceed 
from the centre to the right without being seen. Having 
also marched the archers,, part of the Agrianians and of 
the Grecian mercenaries up along his right in the front, 
he extended his phalanx beyond the wing of the Persians. 
But when those who- had been posted upon- the mountain 
did not descend, a charge was made by a few of the 
Agrianians and archers at Alexander's order. By which 
they were easily put to the rout from the foot of the 
mountain. As they fled to the summit he decided that 
he could make use of the raen who had been drawn up to 
keep thesein check, to fill up the ranks of his phalanx. 



'■ Cf. Xenophon [Gyropaedia, vii. 1, 6). 

' In describing the battle of Arbela, Arrian mentions eight distinct 
squadrons of Macedonian heavy cavalry, which was known by the name 
of the Companions. Among the squadrons several, if not all, were 
named after partiaular towns or districts of Macedonia, as here, An- 
themus, and Leuge. We also find mention of the squadrons of Bottiaea, 
Amphipolis, and Apollonia. See also Arrianf.i. 2 ; i. 12 ; iii. 11. 



Battle of Issus. 99 

He thought it quite sufficient to post 300 horsemen to 
watch the men on the mountain. 



CHAPTER X. 

Battle of Issua. 
Having thus marshalled his men^ he caused them to rest 
for some time, and then led them forward', as he thought 
the enemy's approach was very slow. For Darius was 
no longer leading the foreigners^ against him, as he had 
arranged them at first, but he remained in his position, 
upon the bank of the river, which was in many parts steep 
and precipitous ; and in certain places, where it seemed 
more easy to ascend, he extended a stockade along it. By 
this it was at once evident to Alexander's men that 
Darius had become cowed in spirit.^ But when the 
armies at length met in conflict, Alexander rode about in 
every direction to exhort his troops to show their valour; 
mentioning with befitting epithets the names, not only of 
the generals, but also those of the captains of cavalry and 
infantry, and of the Grecian mercenaries as many as were 
more distinguished either by rank or merit. From all 
sides arose a shout not to delay but to attack the enemy. 
At first he still led them on in close array with measured 
step, although he had the forces of Darius already in full 
view, lest by a more hasty march any part of the phalanx 
should fluctuate from the line ^ and get separated from 
the rest. But when they came within range of darts, 
Alexander himself and those around him being posted on 
the right wing, advanced first- into the river with a run, 
— ^ . 

' Tif -yviiiiTi SeSovKufiLlvos. An expression imitated from Thucydides, 
iv. 34 ; compare Arrian, iii. 11 ; v. 19 ; vi. 16, where the same words 
are used of Porus and the Indians. 

' Kv/i^pav TTji (piiXayyos. An expression imitated from Xenophon 
(Anab., i. 8, 18). It is praised by Demetrius (De Elocutione, 84). Kruger 
reads iKKVfirjvav. Cf. Plutarch (Pompey, 69). 



100 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

in order to alarm the Persians by the rapidity of their on- 
set, and by coming sooner to close conflict to receive little 
damage from the archers. And it turned out just as Alex- 
ander had conjectured ; for as soon as J;he battle became 
a hand-to-hand one, the part of the Persian army stationed 
on the left wing was put to rout ; and here Alexander 
and his men won a brilliant victory. But the Grecian 
mercenaries serving under Darius attacked the Mace- 
donians at the point where they saw their phalanx 
especially disordered. For the Macedonian phalanx had 
been broken and disjoined towards the right wing; 
because Alexander had charged into the river with eager- 
ness, and engaging in a hand-to-hand conflict was already 
driving back the Persians posted there ; but the Mace- 
donians in the centre did not execute their task with equal 
speed; and finding many parts of the bank steep and 
precipitous, they were unable to preserve the front of the 
phalanx in the same line. Here then the struggle was 
desperate ; the aim of the Grecian mercenaries of Darius 
being to push the Macedonians back into the river, and 
regain the victory, though their own forces were already 
flying; the aim of the Macedonians being not to fall 
short of Alexander's good-fortune, which was already 
tmanifest, and not to tarnish the glory of the phalanx, 
which up to that time had been commonly asserted to be 
invincible. Moreover the feeling of rivalry which existed 
between the Grecian and Macedonian races inspired each 
side in the conflict. Here fell Ptolemy, son of Seleucus, 
after proving, himself a valiant man, besides about one 
hundred and twenty other Macedonians of no mean 
repute.^ 



1 Cmtim (iii. 29) says that on Alexander's side 504 were wounded, 
and 182 kiUed. Diodorm (xvii. 36) says, that 450 Macedonians were 
killed. Jmtin (xi. 9) states that 280 were slain. 



Defeat and Fliglit of Darius. 101 

CHAPTER XI. 

Defeat and Flight of Darius. 

Hereupon the regiments on the right wing, perceiving 
that the Persians opposed to them had already been put 
to rout, wheeled round towards the Grecian mercenaries 
of Darius and their own hard-pressed detachment. Hav- 
ing driven the Greeks away from the river, they extended 
their phalanx beyond the Persian army on the side which 
had been broken ; and attacking the Greeks on the flank, 
were already beginning to cut them up. However the 
Persian cavalry which had been posted opposite the 
Thessalians did not remain on the other side of the river - 
during the struggle, but came through the water and 
made a vigorous attack upon the Thessalian squadrons.-^ 
In this plape a fierce cavalry battle ensued ; for the Per- 
sians did not give way until they perceived that Darius 
had fled and the Grecian mercenaries had been cut up by 
the phalanx and severed from them. Then at last the 
flight of all the Persians was plainly visible. Their 
horses suffered much injury in the retreat, because the 
riders ^ were heavily armed ; and the horsemen themselves, 
being so many in number and retreating in panic terror 
without any regard to order along narrow roads, were 
trampled on and injured no less by each other than by the 
pursuing enemy. The Thessalians also followed them up 
with vigour, so that no fewer of the cavalry than of the 
infantry ^ were slaughtered in the flight. 

But as soon as the left wing of Darius was terrified and 

' Polybius, who lived nearly three centuries before Arrian, oensnrea 
Callisthenes for asserting that the Persian cavalry crossed the river 
Pinarus and attacked the Thessalians. Np doubt Arrian received this 
information from the lost works of Ptolemy and Aristobulus (Poly., xii. 18). 

2 &ii^&Trjs is the poetical form of dva'pirvs, the word used by Xenophon, 
Plato, and other Attic writers. The latter is found only once in Arrian 
(III. xiii. 5). 

' ij T&v veiuv is Martin's emendation for fi us ■irel;uv. 



102 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

routed by Alexander, and the Persian king perceived that 
this part of his army was severed from the rest, without 
any further delay he began to flee in his chariot along 
with the first, just as he was.^ He was conveyed safely 
in the chariot as long as he met with level ground in his 
flight ; but when he lighted upon ravines and other rough 
ground, he left the chariot there, divesting himself of his 
shield and Median mantle. He even left his bow in the 
chariot ; and mounting a horse continued his flight. The 
night, which came on soon after, alone rescued him from 
being captured by Alexander; ^ for as long as there was 
daylight the latter kept up the pursuit at full speed. But 
when it began to grow dark and the ground before the 
feet became invisible, he turned back again to the camp, 
after capturing the chariot of Darius with the shield, the 
Median mantle, and the bow in it.^ For his pursuit had 

' Curtius (iii. 27) and* Dioionts (xvii. 34) give a graphic description 
of a direct charge made by Alexander upon Darius, and a sanguinary 
conflict between Alexander's body-guard and the Persian nobles, in 
which the Great King's horses were wounded and became unmanageable, 
whereupon Darius got out, mounted a horse, and fled. We learn from 
Plutarch (Alex., 20) that Chares affirmed Alexander came into hand- 
to-hand conflict with Darius, and that he received a wound in the thigh 
from that king's sword. Plutarch says that Alexander wrote to Anti- 
pater that he had been wounded in the thigh with a dagger, but did not 
say by whom. He also wrote that nothing serious had resulted from the 
wound. The account of Arrian is far the most trustworthy. Callis- 
thenes stated that Alexander made a direct attack upon Darius (Poly- 
bius, xii. 22). We know from Xenophon that the Persian kings were in 
the habit of occupying the centre, and that Cyrus directed Clearehus to 
make the attack against the person of his brother Artaxerxes at the battle 
of Cunaxa. Polybius seems to have been ignorant of this custom of the 
Persian kings when he wrote his criticism on the statement of Callisthenes. 

2 d^eftero. On this word see Donaldson {New Cratylus, sect. 315). Cf. 
Aeschylus (Persae, 428) ; Thucydides (iv. 134) ; Xenophon [Hellenics, i. 
2, 16). 

' The victories of the Greeks and Macedonians over the Persians were 
materially aided by the pusillanimity of Xerxes and Darius. Compare 
the conduct of Xerxes at Salamis (Herodotus, viii. 97; Aeschylus, Persae, 
465-470, with Mr. Paley's note) and that of Darius at Arbela (Arrian, 
iii. 14). 



Defeat a/iid Flight of Darius. ' 103 

been too slow for him to overtake Darius, because, though 
he wheeled round at the first breaking asunder of the 
phalanx, yet he did not turn to pursue him until he 
observed that the Grecian mercenaries and the Persian 
cavalry had been driven away from the river. 

Of the Persians were killed Arsames, Rheomithres, and 
Atizyes who had commanded the cavalry at the Granicus. 
Sabaces, viceroy of Egypt, and Bubaces, one of the Persian 
dignitaries, were also killed, besides about 100,000 of the 
private soldiers, among them being more than 10,000 
cavalry.! So great was the slaughter that Ptolemy, son 
of Lagus, who then accompanied Alexander, says that the 
men who were with them pursuing Darius, coming in the 
pursuit to a ravine, filled it up with the corpses and so 
passed over it. The camp of Darius was taken forthwith 
at the first assault, containing his mother, his wife, — who 
was also his sister, — and his infant son.^ His two 
daughters, and a few . other women, wives of Persian 
peers,^ who were in attendance upon them, were likewise 
captured. For the other Persians happened to have 
despatched their womea along with the rest of their 
property to Damascus ; * because Darius had sent to that 
city the greater part of his money and all the other things 
which the Great King was in the habit of taking with him 
as necessary for his luxurious mode of living, even though 

' Diodorus (xvii. 36) and Curtius (iii. 29) agree with Arriau as to the 
number of slain in the army of Darius. Plutarch {Alex., 20) gives the 
number as 110,000. 

^ Justin (xi. 9) agrees with Arrian, that the wife of Darius was also his 
sister. Grote speaks of the mother, wife, and sister of Darius being cap- 
tured, which is an error. Diodorus (xvii. 38) and Curtius (iii. 29) say 
that the son was about six years of age. 

' Cf. Xenophon {Cyropaedia,a. X, 3; vii, 5, 85). 

' Damascus, — the Hebrew name of which is Dammesek, — a very ancient 
city in Syria, at the foot of the Antilibanus, at an elevation of 220 feet 
above the sea, in a spacious and fertile plain about 30 miles in diameter, 
which is watered by three rivers, two of which are called in the Bible 
Abaua and Pharpar. It has StiU a population of 150,000. The emperor 
Jnlian, in one of his letters, calls it " the Bye of all the East." 



104 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

he was going on a military expedition. The consequence 
wa,s, that in the camp no more than 3,000 talents^ were 
captured; and soon after, the money in Damascus was, 
also seized by Parmenio, who was despatched thither for 
that very purpose. Such was the result of this famous 
battle (which was fought) in the month Maimaoterion, 
when Nicostratus was archon of the Athenians.^ 



CHAPTER XII. 
Kind Treatment or Daeius's Family. 
The next day, Alexander, though suffering from a wound 
which he had received in the thigh from a sword, visited 
the wounded, and having collected the bodies of the slain, 
he gave them a splendid burial with all his forces most 
brilliantly marshalled in order of battle. He also spoke 
with eulogy to those whom he himself had recognised 
performing any gallant deed in the battle, and also to 
those whose exploits he had learnt by report fully corro- 
borated. He likewise honoured each of them individually 
with a gift of money in proportion to his desert.^ He 
then appointed Balacrus, son of Nicanor, one of the royal 
body-guards, viceroy of Cilicia ; and in his place among 
the body-guards he chose Menes, son of Dionysias. In 
the room of Ptolemy, son of Seleucus, who had been 
killed in the battle, he appointed Polysperchon, son of 
Simmias, to the command of a brigade. He remitted to 
the Solians the fifty talents * which were still due of the 
money imposed on them as a fine, and he gave them back 
their hostages. 

1 About £730,000. 

2 B.C. 333 ; end of October or beginning of November. 

' Alexander erected three altars on the bank of the Pinarus, to Zeus, 
Heracles, and Athena (Curtius, iii. 33). Cicero, who was proconsul of 
Cilicia, speaks of " the altars of Alexander at the foot of Amanus," and 
says that he encamped there four days (Epistolae ad Diversos, xv. 4). 

■• About £12,000. 



Kind Treatment of Darius's Family. 105 

Nor did. lie treat the mother, wife, and children of 
Darius with neglect ; for some of those who have written 
Alexander's history say that on the very night in which 
he returned from the pursuit of Darius, entering the 
Persian king's tent, which had been selected for his use, 
he heard the lamentation of women and other noise of a 
similar kind not far from the tent. Inquiring therefore 
who the women were, and why they were in a tent so near, 
he was answered by some one as follows : — " king, the 
mother, wife, and children of Darius are lamenting for him 
as slain, since they have been informed that thou hast his 
bow and his royal mantle, and that his shield has been 
brought back." When Alexander heard this, he sent 
Leonnatus,^ one of his Companions, to them, with injunc- 
tions to tell them : — " Darius is still alive ; in his flight 
he left his arms and mantle in the chariot ; and these are 
the only things of his that Alexander has." Leonnatus 
entered the tent apd told them the news about Darius, 
saying, moreover, that Alexander would allow them to 
retain the state and retinue befitting their royal rank, as 
well as the title of queens; for he had not undertaken 
the war against Darius from a feeling of hatred, but he 
had conducted it in a legitimate manner for the empire 
of Asia. Such are the statements of Ptolemy and Aris- 
tobulus. ^ But there is another report, to the effect that 
on the following day Alexander himself went into the 
tent, accompanied alone by Hephaestion one of his Com- 
panions. The mother of Darius,* being in doubt which 



' This distinguished general saved Alexander's life in India, in the 
assault on the city of the Mallians. After the king's death, he received 
the rule of the lesser or Hellespontine Phrygia. He' was defeated 
And slain by the Athenians under Antiphilus, against whom he was 
fighting in alliance with Antipater, B.o. 323. See Diodorui, xviii. 14, 15 ; 
Plutarch (Phocion, 25). 

* Compare Diodorus, xvii. 37, 38 ; Curtius, iii. 29-32. 

' Named Sisygambis. 



106 The Anahasis of Alexander. 

of them was the king (for they had both arrayed them- 
selves in the same style of dress), went up to Hephaes- 
tion, because he appeared to her the taller of the two, 
and prostrated herself before him. But when he drew 
back, and one of her attendants pointed out Alexander, 
saying he was the king, she was ashamed of her mistake, 
and was going to retire. But the king told her she had 
made no mistake, for Hephaestion was also an Alexander. 
This I record neither being sure of its truth nor thinking 
it altogether unreliable. If it really occurred, I commend 
Alexander for his compassionate treatment of the women, 
and the confidence he felt in his companion, and the 
honour bestowed on him ; but if it merely seems pro- 
bable to historians that Alexander would have acted 
and spoken thus, even for this reason I think him worthy 
of commendation.^ 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Flight of Macedonian Deseetees into Egypt. — Pro- 
ceedings OF Agis, King op Sparta. — Alexander 
OCCUPIES Phoenicia. 

Darius fled through the night with a few attendants ; but 
in the daytime, picking up as he went along the Persians 
and Grecian mercenaries who had come safely out of 
the battle, he had in all 4,000 men under his command. 

' In a letter written by Alexander to Parmenio, an extract from which 
is preserved by Plutarch {Alex., 22), he says that he never saw nor enter- 
tained the desire of seeing the wife of Darius, who was said to be the 
most beautiful woman in Asia ; and that he would not allow himself to 
listen to those who spoke about her beauty. Cf. Ammianus (xxiv. 4, 27), 
speaking of Julian : " Ex virginibus autem, quae speciosae sunt captae, 
ut . in Perside, ubi f eminarum pulchritudo excellit, nee contrectare 
aliquam voluit, nee videre : Alexandrum imitatus et Africanum, qui haec 
deolinabant, ne frangeretur cupiditate, qui se invictos a laboribus ubique 
praestiterunt." 



Flight of Macedonian Deserters into Egypt. 107 

He tten made a forced march towards the city of Thap- 
sacus^ and the river Euphrates/ iu order to pat that 
river as soon as possible between himself and Alex- 
ander. But Amyntas son of Antiochus, Thymondas son 
of Mentor, Aristomedes the Pheraean, and Bianor the 
Acarnanian, all being deserters, fled without delay from 
the posts assigned them in the battle, with about 8,000 
soldiers under their command, and passing through the 
mountains, they arrived at Tripolis in Phoenicia.^ There 



' Thapsacus is understood to be identical with the city called Tiphsaoh 
(passage) in 1 Kings iv. 24; which is there said to have been the eastern 
boundary of Solomon's empire. It is generally supposed that the modern 
Deir occupies the site of the ancient Thapsacus ; but it has been discovered 
that the only ford in this part of the river is at Suriyeh, 165 miles above 
Deir. This was probably the site of Thapsacus. From the time of 
Seleucus Nicator the city was called Amphipolis {Pliny, v. 21). See 
Stephanus of Byzantium, sub voce Amphipolis. Cf . Xenophon {Anabasis, 
i.4, 11). 

2 The Euphrates is the largest river of western Asia, and rises in the 
mountains of Armenia. It unites with the Tigris, and after a course of 
1,780 miles flows into the Persian Gulf. It is navigable by boats 
for 1,200 miles. The annual inundation, caused by the melting 
of the snow in the mountains of Armenia, takes place in the month 
of May. The Euphrates, Tigris, and Eulaeus had formerly three 
separate outlets into the Persian Gulf; but the three now unite 
in a single stream, which is called Shat-el-Arab, The Hebrew 
name for the river which the Greeks called Euphrates, was Perath (rapid 
stream). It is called in the Bible, the Great River, and the River 
(Gen. XV. 18 ; Exod. xxiii. 31 ; et passim). In Jeremiah xiii. 4-7, the word 
Perath stands for Ephrath, another name for Bethlehem ; in our Bible 
it is mis-tianslated. See Fiirst's Hebrew Lexicon. 

^ The term Genaan was applied to the lowland plain from Aradus to 
Gaza. The northern portion, from Aradus to Carmel, is known to as 
under its Grecian name of Phoenicia, which is probably derived front 
the Greek phoinix (a palm-tree), which grew abundantly in the country, 
and was the emblem of some of its towns. Others derive it from another 
Greek word phoinix (red dye), which formed one of its most important 
manufactures. The Phoenicians applied the term Cenaan to their land 
in contrast to the highlands to the west, which they called Aram (high- 
land), the Hebrew name for Syria. The country of Phoenicia was 120 
miles long and with an average breadth of 12 miles, never exceeding 30 
miles. The chief cities of Phoenicia were Tyre, Sidon, Aradus, Byhlus, 



108 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

they seized tke ships which had been hauled up on shore 
in which they had previously been transported from 
Lesbos ; they launched as many of these vessel as they 
thought sufficient to convey them, and the rest they burnt 
there in the docks, in order not to supply their enemy 
with the means of quickly pursuing them. They fled 

Berytus, Tripolis, and Aooho or Ptolemais. Its eeBtral position between 
the eastern and western countries, early developed its commercial power, 
and its intercourse with foreign nations at an early period produced an 
advanced state of civilization and refinement. The Phoenicians were a 
Semitic nation like the Israelites ; and their language bears a remarkable 
affinity with the Hebrew, as is seen by fragments of the Carthaginian 
language preserved in Plautus. In an inscription discovered at Marseilles 
in 1845, out of 94 words 74 were found in the Hebrew Bible. The 
Phoenicians were asserted by the Greeks to have communicated to them 
the knowledge of letters ; and this statement is corroborated by the 
similarity of the Hebrew and ancient Greek letters. Their colonies 
spread from Cyprus to Crete and the Cyclades, thence to Euboea, Greece, 
and Thrace. The coasts of Asia Minor and Bithynia were dotted with 
their settlements, and they carried their commerce into the Black Sea. 
They also had colonies in SicUy, Sardinia, Iviea, and Spain, where they 
founded Cadiz. The northern coast of Africa was lined with their 
colonies, the most flourishing of ^hioh was Carthage, which rose to be" 
one of the great powers of the world. Strabo says that they had 300 
colonies on the western coast of Africa. They visited the coasts of Eng- 
land for tin ; and thus, to quote the words of Humboldt, " the Tyrian flag 
waved at the same time in Britain and the India Ocean." Herodotus 
(iv. 42, 43) says that under the patronage of Neoho, king of Egypt, they 
circumnavigated Africa ; but he states that he does not believe it was a 
fact. The reason which he assigns for his disbelief is, that the naviga- 
tors alleged that the sun was on their right hand, which is the strongest 
argument in favour of the truth of their statement. In Isaiah xxiii. XI, 
Phoenicia is called Cenaan, where the English Bible has erroneously, 
the merchant city. In the Bible the word Genaanim is frequently used 
for merchants, because the Phoenicians were the principal commercial 
people of antiquity (Jobxli. 6; Prov. xxxi. 24; IsaiaJi xxiii. 8 ; Hos. xii. 
7 ; Zeph. i. 2 ; Zeoh. xiv. 21). Tripolis consisted of three distinct cities, 
600 feet apart, each having its own walls, but all united in a common 
constitution with one place of assembly. These cities were colonies re- 
spectively of Sidon, Tyre, and Aradus. Tripolis was a flourishing port 
on a headland whioh is a spur of Lebanon. It is now called Tripoli, 
and is stiU a large town. See Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Classical 
Geography. 



Proceedings of Agis, King of Sparta. 109 

first to Cyprus/ thence to Egypt ; where Amyntas 
shortly after, meddliag in political disputes, was killed by 
the natives. 

Meantime Pharnabazus and Autophradates were staying 
near Chios j then having established a garrison in this 
island they despatched some of their ships to Cos and 
Halicarnassus, and with 100 of their best sailing vessels 
they pat to sea themselves and landed at Siphnus. And 
Agis, king of the Lacedaemonians,^ came to them with 
one trireme, both to ask for money to carry on the war, 
and also to urge them to send with him into the Pelo- 
ponnese as large a force both naval and military as they 
could. At that very time news reached them of the 
battle which had been fought at Issus; and being 
alarmed at the report, Pharnabazus started off to Chios 
with twelve triremes and 1,500 Grecian mercenaries, for 
fear that the Chiana might attempt to effect a revolution 
when they received the news of the Persian defeat. Agis, 
having received from Autophradates thirty talents of 
silver * and ten triremes, despatched Hippias to lead these 

' The oldest towns in Cyprus, — Citium, Amathus, and Paphus, — were 
Phoenician oolouies. These were afterwards eclipsed by the Greek 
colonies, Salamis, Soli, and New Paphus. In Hebrew the island is 
called Geth, and the inhabitants Oittim. Gesenius says, that upon a 
Sidonian coin Ceth in Cyprus, which the Greeks called Citium, is de- 
scribed as a Sidonian colony. Diodorus (xvi. 42) says there were nine 
kings in Cyprus. It is probable that the kings of the Hittites mentioned 
in 1 Kings x. 29, were from Cyprus. Also the Hittite women whom 
Solomon married were probably Cyprians (1 Kings xi. 1). The kinga of 
the Hittites of whom the Syrians were afraid were also Cypriotes (2 Kings 
Tii. 6) ; and the land of the Hittites mentioned in Judges i. 26, probably 
means Cyprus. Josephus, Eusebius, and Jerome understand these 
passages to refer to Cyprus. In Isaiah xxiii. 1, the land of Cittim refers 
to Cyprus, which belonged to Tyre, the revolt of which the prophet 
announced. This revolt is confirmed by Menander {Josephus, ix. 
14, 9). 

^ Agis III. was ultimately defeated and slain by Antipater, b.o. 330. 
See Curtius, vi. 1 and 2 ; Grote's Greece, vol. xii. pp. 102-106. 

3 About £7,300. 



110 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

ships to his brother Agesilaus at Taenarum,^ ordering him 
also to instruct Agesilaus to give full pay to the sailors 
and then to sail as quickly as possible to Crete/ in order 
to set things in order there. For a time he himself re- 
mained there among the islands, but afterwards joined 
Autophradates at Halicamassus.* 

Alexander appointed Menon, son of Cerdimmas, viceroy 
of Ooele- Syria/ giving him the cavalry of the Grecian 



' Now Cape Matapau. Cf. Propertim, iii. 2, 11 ; Tibullus, in. 3, 13 ; 
Homer {Hymn to Apollo, 411). 

^ The Cretans were very early civilized and powerfnl, for we read in 
Homer of their 100 cities. Before the Trojan war lived the famous king 
Minos, who is said to have given laws to Crete, and to have been the 
first potentate who possessed a navy, with which he suppressed piracy 
in the Aegean Sea. The Cretans gradually degenerated, so that we find 
in the New Testament St. Paul quoting from their own poet, Epi- 
menides : "Always liars and beasts are the Cretans, and inwardly sluggish " 
(Titus i. 12). The lying propensity of the Cretans is proved from the 
fact that the verb to Gretize, was used in Greek with the meaning " to 
speak falsely." In Hebrew, Crete is called Caphtor (cypress). It is men- 
tioned in Jer. xlvii. 4. It was the native land of a tribe of Philistines 
called Caphtorim (Gen. i. 14; Deut. ii. 28 ; 1 Chron. i. 12). The fact 
that the FhUistineB came partly from Crete is also affirmed in Amos ix. 
7. Another branch of the Philistines came from Casloach in Egypt. 
The Caphtorim emigrated originally from Egypt to Crete, from which 
island they were probably driven by the Greeks. Tacitus asserts that 
the inhabitants of Palestine came from Crete {Historiae, v. 2) ; and the 
early name of Gaza was Minoa, after the famous king of Crete. Another 
Hebrew name for Crete is' Cereth, whence the inhabitants were called 
Cerethim. They are mentioned in Ezek. xxv. 16, and Zeph. ii. 5 ; 
where the Septuagint and the Syriao have Cretans. We find the Philis- 
tines, who were partly emigrants from Crete, called Cerethim in 1 Sam. 
XXX. 14. From among these Cerethim and Philistines David chose his 
body-guard, which was composed of men skilled in shooting and slinging 
(2 Sam. viii. 18, xv. 18, xx. 7, 23; 1 Kings i. 38, 44 ; 1 Chron. xviii. 17). 

' From Diodorus (xvii. 48) it appears that Agis went personally to 
Crete, and compelled most of the cities to join the Persian side. We 
also learn that the deputies of the Greeks assembled at the Isthmian 
games at Corinth sent an embassy to Alexander to congratulate him 
on his victory at Issus, and to present him with a golden wreath. (See 
also Curtius, iv. 22.) 

* Coele-Syria, or Hollow Syria, is, in its more limited sense, the country 



Darius' s Letter, and Alexander's Reply. Ill 

allies to guard the country. He then went in person 
towards Phoenicia ; and on the march he was met by 
Strato, son of Gerostratus, king of the Aradians and of 
the people living near Aradus.^ Bat Gerostratus him- 
self was serving in the fleet with Autophradates, as were 
also the other kings both of the Phoenicians and the 
Cyprians. When Strato fell in with Alexander, he placed 
a golden crown upon his head, promising to surrender to 
him both the island of Aradus and the great and pros- 
perous city of Marathus, situated on the mainland right 
opposite Aradus ; also Sigon, the city of Mariamme, and 
all the other places under his own dominion and that of 
his father. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

DaEIUS's LlTTEE, AND AlEXANDER's RbPLT. 

While Alexander was still in Marathus, ambassadors 
came bringing a letter from Darius, entreating him to 
give up to their king his mother, wife, and children. 
They were also instructed to support this petition by 
word of mouth. The letter pointed out to him that 

between the ranges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus, in which Damascus 
and Baalbek are situated ; in its wider meaning, it comprises the whole 
of Northern Syria, in opposition to- the countries of Phoenicia and 
Palestine. 

' Aradus is an island lying two or three miles from the mainland of 
Phoenicia. According to Strabo, a State was founded in it by refugees 
from Sidon. For a long time the island was independent, under its own 
kings ; and even after it fell under the sway of the Macedonian kings of 
Syria, and subsequently under that of the Eomans, it retained a great 
deal of its commercial prosperity. Aradus appears in Hebrew under the 
form Arvad. It is evident from Ezek. xxvii. 8, 11, that its inhabitants 
were skilful sailors and brave warriors. They sent out colonies to Aradus 
south of Carmel, the island of Aradus near Crete, and the islands in the 
Persian gulf. The present name of this island is Ruad. The Aradians 
inhabited the mainland opposite the island, as well as the island 
itself. 



112 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

friendship and alliance had subsisted between Philip and 
Artaxerxes ; ' and that when Arses, son of Artaxerxes, 
ascended the throne, Philip was the first to practise in- 
justice towards him, though he had suffered no injury 
from the Persians. Alexander also, from the time when 
Darius began to reign over the Persians, had not sent 
any one to him to confirm the friendship and alliance 
which had so long existed, but had crossed over into 
Asia with his army and had inflicted much injury upon 
the Persians. For this reason he had come down in 
person, to defend his country and to preserve the empire 
of his fathers. As to the battle, it had been decided as 
seemed . good to some one of the gods. And now he, 
a king, begged his captured wife, mother, and children 
from a king ; and he wished to form a friendship with 
him and become his ally. For this purpose he requested 
Alexander to send men to him with Meniscus and Arsimas, 
the messengers who came from the Persians, to receive 
pledges of fidelity from him and to give them on behalf 
of Alexandei:. 

To this Alexander wrote a reply, and sent Thersippua 
with the men who had come from Darius, with instruc- 
tions to give the letter to Darius, but not to converse 
about anything. Alexander's letter ran thus : " Your 
ancestors came into Macedonia and the rest of Greece 
and treated us ill, without any previous injury from us. I, 
having been appointed commander-in-chief of the Greeks, 
and wishing to take revenge on the Persians, crossed 
over into Asia, hostilities being begun by you. For 
you sent aid to the Perinthiansj* whd were dealing un- 
justly with my father; and Ochus sent forces into Thrace, 
which was under our rule. My father was killed by 



' Artaxerxes Ochus reigned b.o. 359-338. 

' Perinthus was a Samian colony on the Propontis. For the siege 
by Philip, see Diodorus, xvi. 74-76. 



^y 



Darius' s Letter, and Alexander's Reply. 113 

conspirators wliom you instigated, as you have yourself 
boasted to all in your letters ; ^ and after slaying Arses, 
as well as Bagoas, and unjustly seizing the throne con- 
trary 'to the law of the Persians/ aind ruling your subjects 
unjustly, you sent unfriendly letters about me to the 
Greeks, urging them to wage war with me. You have 
also despatched money to the Lacedaemonians, and cer- 
tain other Greeks ; but none of the States received it, 
except the Lacedaemonians.^ As your agents destroyed 
my friends, and were striving to dissolve the league which 
I had formed aniong the Greeks, I took the field against 
you, because you were the party who commenced the 
hostility. Since I have vanquished your generals and 
viceroys in the previous battle, and now yourself and 
your forces in like manner, I am, by the gift of the gods, in 
possession of your land. As many of the men who fought 
in your army as were not killed in the battle, but fled to 
me for refuge, I am protecting ; and they are with me, not 
against their own will, but they are serving in my army 
as volunteers. Come to me therefore, since I am lord of 

^ Impartial historians deny that Philip's murderers were bribed ; they 
committed the murder from private resentment. 

2 Oohus was poisoned about b.o. 338, by the eunuch Bagoas, who 
placed upon the throne Arses, one of the king's sons, killing all the rest. 
Cf. Aeliau {Varia Historia, yi. 8). Two years afterwards, Bagoas put 
Arses and all his children to death ; thus leaving no direct heir of the 
regal family alive. He then placed upon the throne one of his adhe- 
rents, named Darius Codomaunus, a descendant of one of the brothers of 
Artaxerxes Mnemon. Bagoas soon afterwards tried to poison this Darius ; 
but the latter, discovering his treachery, forced him to drink the deadly 
draught himself (Diod., xvii. 5 ; Justin., x. 3). From Arrian, Hi. 19, we 
learn that Bistanes, a son of Ochus, was alive after the battle of 
Arbela. 

' Aeschines, in his speech against Ctesiphon (p. 634), asserts that Darius 
sent 300 talents to Athens, that the Athenians refused them, and that 
Demosthenes took them, reserving 70 talents for his own private use. 
Deinarchus repeats this statement in his speech against Demosthenes, 
(pp. 9-14). If Demosthenes had really acted thus, it is strange Alexander 
knew nothing about it. 

I 



■'114 The Anabasis of Alixander. 

all Asia ; but if you are afraid you may sufifer any harah 
treatment from me in case you come to me, send some of 
your friends to receive pledges of safety from me. Come 
to me then, and ask for your mother, wife, and children, 
and anything else you wish. For whatever you ask for 
you will receive ; and nothing shall be denied you. But 
for the future, whenever you send to me, send to me as 
the iking of Asia, and do not address to me your wishes 
as to an equal ; but if you are in need of anything, speak 
to me as to the man who is lord of all your territories. If 
you act otherwise, I shall deliberate concerning you as 
an evil-doer ; and if you dispute my right to the king- 
dom,, stay and fight another battle for it ; but do not run 
away. For wherever you may be, I intend to march 
against you." This is the letter which he sent to Darius. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Alexandeb's Treatment op the Captdbed Greek Am- 
bassadors. — Submission op Btblus and Sidon. 

When Alexander ascertained that all the money which 
Darius had sent oflf to Damascus with Cophen, son of 
Artabazus, was captured, and also that the Persians who 
had been left in charge of it, as well as the rest of the 
royal property, were taken prisoners, he ordered Par- 
menio to take the treasure back to Damascus, and there 
guard it.^ When he also ascertained that the Grecian 
ambassadors who had reached Darius before the battle 
had likewise been captured, he ordered them to be sent 
to him.^ They were Euthycles, a Spartan ; Thessaliscus, 

' This statement of Arrian is confirmed by Curtius (ill. 34), who says 
that Parmenio captured the treasure, not in the city, but from fugitives 
who were conveying it away. 

' In giving the names of the captured Grecian envoys, Curtius (iii. 36) 
seems to have confounded this with a future occasion, mentioned in 
Arrian (iii. 24). 



The Submission of Byhlus and Sidon. 115 

son of Ismenias, and Dionysodorus, a victor in the 
Olympic games, Thebans ; and Iphicrates, son of Iphi- 
crates the general, an Athenian.^ When these men came 
to Alexander, he immediately released Thessaliscus and 
Dionysodorus, though they were Thebans, partly out of 
compassion for Thebes, and partly because they seemed 
to have acted in a pardonable manner. For their native 
city had been reduced to slavery by the Macedonians, 
and they were trying to find whatever succour they could 
for themselves and perhaps also for their native city from 
Darius and the Persians. Thinking thus compassionately 
about both of them, he released them, saying that he 
dismissed Thessaliscus individually out of respect for his 
pedigree, for he belonged to the ranks of the distinguished 
men of Thebes. Dionysodorus also he released because 
he had been conqueror at the Olympic games ; and he 
kept Iphricrates in attendance on himself as long as he 
lived, treating him with special honour both from friend- 
ship to the city of Athens and from recollection of his 
father's glory. When he died soon after from sickness, 
he sent his bones back to his relations at Athens. But 
Buthycles at first he kept in custody, though without 
fetters, both because he- was a Lacedaemonian of a city 
at that time openly and eminently hostile to him, and 
because in the man as an individual he could find nothing 
to warrant his pardon. Afterwards, when he met with 
great success, he released even this man also. 

He set out from Marathus and took possession of 
Byblus' on terms of capitulation, as he did also of 



1 The great Iphioratea had been adopted by Alexander's grandfather, 
as is stated in a note on Book I. chap. 23. 

2 Byblua is said by Straho (xvi. 2) to have been situated on a height 
not far from the sea. It was reported to be the oldest city in the world. 
It possessed a considerable extent of territory, including Berytus, and 
was an independent State for a long period, the last king being deposed 
by Pompey. On a Byblus coin of Alexander's time appears the name 



116 . The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Sidon,^ the inhabitants of which spontaneously invited 
him from hatred of the Persians and Darius.^ Thence 
he advanced towards Tyre ;* ambassadors from which city, 

Einel, which is the king Enylus mentioned by Arrian (ii. 20). Byblns 
was the chief seat of the worship of Adonis, or Thammuz, who was 
supposed to have been born there. In the Bible it appears under its 
Hebrew name Gebal (mountain-district). The inhabitants of Gebal are 
said in Ezek. zxvii. 9 to have been skilled in building ships. In Josh, 
xiii. 5 the northern boundary of the Holy Land is said to reach as far 
as the laud of the Giblite,'ox inhabitant of Gebal. In 1 Kings v. 18 the 
word translated in our Bible sUme-squarers ought to be rendered Giblitet. 
The Arabs stiU call the place JebaU. Cf. Milton (Paradise Lost, viii. 18). 

' Sidon, or in Hebrew Tsidon (fortress), is called in Gen. x. 15, 19 the 
firstborn son of Canaan, i.e. it was the first city founded by the Oanaan- 
ites or Phoenicians. It lay about twenty miles south of Tyre, on a small 
promontory two miles south of the river Bostremus. We read in Homer 
that it was famous for its embroidered robes and metal utensils, and 
from other ancient writers we find that it manufactured glass and linen 
and also prepared dye's. Before the time of David it fell under the rule 
of Tyre ; but when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, invaded Phoenicia, it 
revolted from Tyre and submitted to the invader. It was governed by 
its own kings under the Babylonian and Persian empires ; and under 
the latter power it reached its highest prosperity, surpassing Tyre in 
wealth and importance. In the expedition of Xerxes against Greece, the 
Sidonians furnished the best ships in the whole fleet, and their king 
obtained the highest place under Xerxes in the council. But they re- 
volted against Ochns, king of Persia, and being betrayed to bim by their 
own king Tennes, they burnt their city and ships. It is said that 40,000 
persons perished in the fire and by the sword, B.C. 351. (Diodorus, xvi. 
43-45). No doubt this barbarous treatment of Ochus induced the Sidon- 
ians to take the side of Alexander. The city was already built and 
again flourishing when that king appeared on the scene. Near the site 
of the ancient city is the present town of Saida, with a population of 
about 5,000. Cf. Homer [Iliad, vi. 289 ; xxiii. 741) ; Lvean, iii. 217. 

' At Sidon, Alexander deposed the reigning king Strato, a friend of the 
Persians ; and a poor man, named Abdalonymns, distantly related to the 
regal family, was put into his place (Curtim, iv. 3, 4). Diodorus (xvii. 
47) tells the same story, but appUes it to Tyre, probably by mistake. 

3 The Hebrew name for Tyre is Tsor (rock). In Isa. xxiii. 4 it is 
called the fortress of the sea ; and in ver. 8, " Tsor, the crowning one," 
because Tyre gave rulers to the Phoenician cities and ooloniee. Valuable 
information about the power, trade, and customs of Tyre is derived from 
Ezek. xxvi-xxviii. ; and we learn the fact that she employed mercenaries 
like her colony Carthage (Ezek. zxvii. 10, 11). In the classical writers 



The Worship of Hercules in Tyre. 117 

despatched by the commonwealth, met him on the march, 
announcing that the Tyrians had decided to do whatever 
he might command.^ He commended both the city and 
its ambassadors, and ordered them to return and tell the 
Tyrians that he wished to enter their city and oflFer sacri- 
fice to Heracles. The son of the king of the Tyrians was 
one of the ambassadors, and the others were conspicuous 
men in Tyre; but the king Azemilcus " himself was sailing 
with Autophradates. 



CHAPTBE XVI. 

The Woeship oi Hercules in Tyee. — The Tyeuns 
Refuse to Admit Alexandee. 

The reason of this demand was, that in Tyre there existed 
a temple of Heracles/ the most ancient of all those which 
are mentioned in history. It was not dedicated to the 
Argive Heracles, the son of Alcmena; for this Heracles 
was. honoured in Tyre many generations before Cadmus 
set out from Phoenicia and occupied Thebes, and before 
Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, was born, from whom 
Dionysus, the son of Zeus, was born. This Dionysus 

the name ia corrupted into Tyrus, and sometimes into Sarra. Tyre was 
unsuccessfully besieged for five years by Shalmaneser. It was also be- 
sieged for thirteen years by Nebuchadnezzar, and in the end an alliance 
was formed, by which the Tyrians retained their own king as a vassal of 
the king of Babylon. This arrangement was continued under the kings 
of Persia. 

^ Curtius (iv. 7) tells us that the envoys also brought to Alexander a 
golden wreath, together with abundant supplies for his army. 

^ This king must have brought home his ships for the defence of Tyre, 
for he was in the city when it was captured. See chap. 24. 

' The Phoenician god Melkarth (lord of the city), whom the Syrians 
called Baal (lord), was supposed to be identical with the Grecian Heracles, 
or Hercules, who was the mythical ancestor of the Macedonian kings. 
Curtius (iv. 7) tells us that Alexander affirmed he had been ordered by 
an oracle to sacrifice in Tyre to Heracles. Gesenius informs us that a 
Maltese inscription identifies the Tyrian Melkarth with Heracles. 



118 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

would be third from Cadmus, being a contemporary of 
Labdacus, son of Polydorus, the son of Cadmus ; and the 
Argive Heracles lived about the time of Oedipus, son of 
Laius.i The Egyptians also worshipped another Heracles, 
not the one which either the Tyrians or Greeks worship. 
But Herodotus says that the Egyptians considered 
Heracles to be one of the twelve gods,^ just as the 
Athenians worshipped a different Dionysus, who was the 
son of Zeus and Core ; and the mystic chant called 
lacchus was sung to this Dionysus, not to the Theban. 
So also I think that the Heracles honoured in Tartessus* 
by the Iberians, where are certain pillars named after 
Heracles, is the Tyrian Heracles ; for Tartessus was a 
colony of the PhcEnicians, and the temple to Heracles 
there was built and the sacrifices offered after the usage 
of the Phoenicians. Hecataeus the historian* says Gery- 
ones, against whom the Argive Heracles was despatched 
by Eurystheus to drive his oxen away and bring them 
to Mycenae, had nothing to do with the land of the 
Iberians ; ^ nor was Heracles despatched to any island 



' Who was the son of Labdacus. 

^ See Herodotus, ii. 43, 44. 

' The district comprising all the south-west of Spain outside the pillars 
of Heracles, or Straits of Gibraltar, was called Tartessis, of which the 
chief city was Tartessus. Here the Phoenicians planted colonies, one of 
which still remains under the name of Cadiz. The Bomans called the 
district Baetica, from the principal river, the Baetis or GuadalquiTir. 
The Hebrew name for this region is Tarshish, of which Tartessus is the 
Greek form. Tarshish was the station for the Phoenician trade with the 
West, which extended as far as Cornwall. The Tyrians fetched from this 
locality silver, iron, lead, tin, and gold (Isa. xxiii. 1, 6, 10, Ixvi. 19 ; Jer. 
X. 9 ; Ezek. xxyii. 12, xxxviii. 13). Martial, Seneca, and Avienus, the 
first two of whom were Spaniards, understood Tartessus to stand for the 
south- west of Spain' and Portugal. The word Tarshish probably means 
sea-coast, from the Sanscrit tarischa, the sea. Ovid (Met., xiv. 416) ; 
Martial, viii. 28 ; Siliiis, xiii. 673. 

* Of MUetus. Herodotus knew his writings well, but they have not 
come down to us. See Herod, (ii. 143 ; v. 36 and 125). 

' The Iberians were originally called Tibarenes, or Tibari. They dwelt 



The Tyrians Refuse to Admit Alexander. 119 

called Erythia ^ outside the Great Sea ; but that Geryones 
was king of the mainland (Bpirus) around Ambracia * and. 
the Amphilochiansj that Heracles drove the oxen from 
this Epirus, and that this was deemed no mean task. I 
know that to the present time this part of the mainland is 
rich in pasture land and rears a very fine breed of oxen ; 
and I do not think it beyond the bounds of probability that 
the fame of the oxen from Epirus, and the name of the 
king of Bpirus, Geryones, had reached Eurystheus. But 
I do not think that Eurystheus would know the name of 
the king of the Iberians, who were the remotest nation 
in Europe, or whether a fine breed of oxen grazed in their 
land, unless some one, by introducing Hera into the ac- 
count, as herself giving these commands to Heracles 
through Eurystheus, wished, by means of the fable, to 
disguise the incredibility of the tale. 

To this Tyrian Heracles, Alexander said he wished to 
offer sacrifice. But when this message was brought to 
Tyre by the ambassadors, the people passed a decree to 
obey any other command of Alexander, but not to admit 
into the city any Persian or Macedonian ; thinking that 
under the existing' circumstances, this was the most 
specious answer, and that it would be the safest course 
for them to pursue in reference to the issue of the war, 
which was still uncertain.^ When the answer from Tyre 

on the east of the Black Sea, and west of Colchis, whence they emigrated 
to Spain. This nation is called Tubal in the Hebrew Bible ; in Isa.' , 
Ixvi. 19 the Iberians of western Europe are referred to. 

1 An island near Cadiz, now called Leon. Cf. Hesipd (Theogonia, . 
287-294) ; Herodotus, iv. 8. 

2 Now called Arta. 

' Arrian omits to mention that the Tyrians pointed out to him that 
his wish to sacrifice to Hercules might be gratified without entering their 
city, since at Palaetyrus, on the mainland, separated from Tyre only by 
a narrow strait, was a temple of that deity more ancient than that in 
Tyre. See Curtius, iv. 7 ; Justin, xi. 10. We learn from Arrian, i. 18, 
that when Alexander offered sacrifice to the Ephesian Diana he marched 
to the temple with his whole army in battle array. No doubt it was 



120 The Anabasis of .Alexander. 

was brought to Alexander, he sent the ambassadors back 
in a rage. He then summoned a council of his Com- 
panions and the leaders of his army, together with the 
captains of infantry and cavalry, and spoke as follows : — 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Speech op Albxandbe to his Officers. 

" Feiends and allies, I see that an expedition to Egypt 
will not be safe for us, so long as the Persians retain the 
sovereignty of the sea ; nor is it a safe course, both for 
other reasons, and especially looking at the state of 
matters in Greece, for us to pursue Darius, leaving in 
our rear the city of Tyre itself in doubtful allegiance, 
and Egypt and Cyprus in the occupation of the Persians. 
1 am apprehensive lest while we advance with our forces 
towards Babylon and in pursuit of Darius, the Persians 
should again forsooth conquer the maritime districts, and 
transfer the war into Greece with a larger army, con- 
sidering that the Lacedaemonians are now waging war 
against us without disguise, and the city of Athens is 
restrained for the present rather by fear than by any 
good-will towards ns. But if Tyre were captured, the 
whole of Phoenicia would be in our possession, and the 
fleet of the Phoenicians, which is the most numerous and 
the best in the Persian navy, would in all probability 
come over to us. For the Phoenician sailors and marines 
will not put to sea in order to incur danger on behalf of 
others, when their own cities are occupied by us. After 
this, Cyprus will either yield to us without delay, or will 
be captured with ease at the mere arrival of a naval 
force J and then navigating the sea with the ships from 
Macedonia in conjunction with those of the Phoenicians, 

this kind of thing the Tyrians objected to. Alexander actually did the 
game at Tyre tlf ter its capture. (See chapter 24.) 



Siege of Tyre. 121 

Cyprus at the same time coming over to us, we shall 
acquire the absolute sovereignty of the sea, and at the 
same time an expedition into Egypt will become an easy 
matter for us. After we have brought Egypt into sub- 
jection, no anxiety about Greece and our own land will 
any longer remain, and we shall be able to undertake the 
expedition to Babylon with safety in regard to affairs at 
home, and at the same time with greater reputation, in 
consequence of having cut off from the Persian empire 
all the maritime provinces and all the land this side of 
the Euphrates." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Siege op Ttee. — Consteuction of a Mole pbom the 
Mainland to the Island. 

By this speech he easily persuaded his officers to make 
an attempt upon Tyre. Moreover he was encouraged by 
a divine admonition, for that very night in his sleep ^ he 
seemed to be approaching the Tyrian walls, and Heracles 
seemed to take him by the right hand and lead him up 
into the city. This was interpreted by Aristander ' to 
mean that Tyre would be taken with labour, because the 
deeds of Heracles were accomplished with labour. Cer- 
tainly, the siege of Tyre appeared to be a great enter- 
prise ; for the city was an island ' and fortified all round 
with lofty walls. Moreover naval operations seemed at 
that time more favourable to the Tyrians, both because 
the Persians still possessed the sovereignty of the sea 
and many ships were still remaining with the citizens 
themselves. However, as these arguments of his had 

' For this use of Mirnov, cf. Homer (Iliad, ii. 56) ; Aristophanes 
{Wasps, 1218). 

' Cf. Arrian, i. 11 and 25 supra. 

' The island was about half a mile from the mainland, and about a 
mile in length. 



122 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

prevailed, lie resolved to construct a mole from tte main- 
land to the city.^ The place is a narrow strait full of 
pools ; and the part of it near the mainland is shallow 
water and muddy, but the part near the city itself, where 
was the deepest part of the channel, was the depth of 
about three fathoms. But there was an abundant supply 
of stones and wood, which they put on the top of the 
stones.** Stakes were easily fixed down firmly in the 
mud, which itself served as a cement to the stones to 
hold them firm. The zeal of the Macedonians in the 
work was great, and it was increased by the presence of 
Alexander himself, who took, the lead^ in everything, 
now rousing the men to exertion by speech, and now by 
presents of money, lightening the labour of those who 
were toiling more than their fellows from the desire of 
gaining praise for their exertions. As long as the mole 
was being constructed near the mainland, the work made 
easy and rapid progress, as the material was poured into a 
small depth of water^.and there was no one to hinder them ; 
but when they beg^^n to approach the deeper water, and 
at the same time came near the city itself, they suffered 
severely, being assailed with missiles from the walls, which 
were lofty, inasmuch as they had been expressly equipped 
for work rather than for fighting. Moreover, as the 
Tyrians still retained command of the sea, they kept on 
sailing with their triremes to various parts of the mole, 
and made it impossible in many places for the Macedon- 
ians to pour in the material. But the latter erected two 
towers upon the mole, which they had now projected 
over a long stretch of sea, and upon these towers they 
placed engines of war. Skins and prepared hides served 

' We learn from Diodorus (x-vii. 40) that the breadth of this mole was 
about 200 feet. 

' Curtius (iv. 10) says that the timber was procured from Lebanon, and 
the stones from Old Tyre on the mainland. 

^ Cf. Polyaenus (iy. 3). 



The Siege of Tyre. 123 

as coverings in front of them, to prevent them being 
struck by fire-bearing missiles from the wall, and at the 
same time to be a screen against arrows to those who 
were working. It was likewise intended that the 
Tyrians who might sail near to injure the men engaged 
in the construction of the mole should not retire easily, 
being assailed by missiles from the towers. , 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Siege op Ttee. 
BoT to counteract this the Tyrians adopted the following 
contrivance. They filled a vessel, which had been used 
for transporting horses, with dry twigs and other com- 
bustible wood, fixed two masts on the prow, and fenced 
it round in the form of a circle as large as possible, so 
that the enclosure might contain as much chaff and as 
many torches as possible. Moreover they- placed upon 
this vessel quantities of pitch, brimstone, and whatever 
else was calculated to foment a great flame.^ They also 
stretched out a double yard-arm upon each mast ; and 
from these they hung caldrons into which they had 
poured or cast materials likely to kindle flame which 
would extend to a great distance. They then put ballast 
into the stern, in order to raise the prow aloft, the vessel 
being weighed down abaft.^ Then watching for a wind 
bearing towards the mole, they fastened the vessel to 
some triremes which towed it before the breeze. As 
soon as they approached the mole and the towers, they 
threw fire among the wood, and at the same time ran 
the vessel, with the triremes,, aground as violently as 
possible, dashing against the end of the mole. The men 

■ Cf. CsBsar {Bell. Gall.,\ni 24) — ^reliquasque res, quibus ignis excitari 
potest, fundebant. Kruger has unnecessarily altered iirl raihri into ir 
airiiv (i.e. vpifpav). 

' Curtius (iv. 12) says that the stern was loaded with stones and sand. 



124 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

in the vessel easily swam away, as soon as it was set on 
fire. A great flame soon caught the towers ; and the 
yard-arms being twisted round poured out into the fire 
the materials that had been prepared for kindling the 
flame. The men also in the triremes tarrying near the 
mole kept on shooting arrows into the towers, so that 
it was not safe for men to approach in order to bring 
materials to quench the fire. Upon this, when the 
towers had already caught fire, many men hastened from 
the city, and embarking in light vessels, and striking 
against various parts of the mole, easily tore down the 
stockade which had been placed in front of it for protec- 
tion, and burnt up all the engines of war which the fire 
from the vessel did not reach.^ But Alexander began to 
construct a wider mole from the mainland, capable of 
containing more towers; and he ordered the engine- 
makers to prepare fresh engines. While this was being 
performed, he took the shield-bearing guards and the 
Agrianians and set out to Sidon, to collect there all the 
triremes he could ; since it was evident that the success- 
ful conclusion of the siege would be much more difficult 
to attain, so long as the Tyrians retained the superiority 
at sea.' 

CHAPTEE XX. 

Ttee Bbsikgkd by Sea as well as Land. 

Abotjt this time Gerostratus, King of Aradus, and Enylus, 
King of Byblus, ascertaining that their cities were in the 
possession of Alexander, deserted Autophradates and 
the fleet under his command, and came to Alexander 

' Diodorus (xvii. 42) and Curtim (iv. 12) say that a great tempest 
helped to demolish the palisade. 

2 We learn from Josephus {Antiquities of the Jews, ix, 14), on the 
authority of Menander, that when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, four 
centuries before Alexander's time, besieged Tyre, the other Phoenicians 
supplied him with ships in like manner. 



Tyre Besieged hy Sea as well as Land. 125 

with their naval force, accompanied by the Sidonian 
triremes ; so that about eighty Phoenician ships joined 
him. About the same time triremes also came to him 
from Ehodes, both the one called Peripolus} and with it 
nine others. From Soli and Mallus also came three, and 
from Lycia ten; from Macedonia also a ship with fifty 
oars, in which sailed Proteas, son of Andronicus.* Not 
long after, too, the kings of Cyprus put into Sidon with 
about one hundred and twenty ships, when they heard 
of the defeat of Darius at Issus, and were terrified, be- 
cause the whole of Phoenicia was already in the possession 
of Alexander. To all of these Alexander granted in- 
demnity for their previous conduct, because they seemed 
to have joined the Persian fleet rather by necessity than 
by their own choice. While the engines of war were 
being constructed for him, and the ships were being 
fitted up for a naval attack on the city and for the trial 
of a sea-battle, he took some squadrons of cavalry, the 
Agrianians and archers, and made an expedition into the 
range of mountains called Anti-Libanus.^ Having sub- 
dued some of the mountaineers by force, and dpawn 
others over to him by terms of capitulation, he returned 
to Sidon in ten days.* Here he found Oleander, son of 
Polemocrates, just arrived from Peloponnesus, having 
4,000 Grecian mercenaries with him.^ 

' This was a state vessel, or gnardship, similar to the Paralus and 
Salaminia at Athens. See Alciphron, Bk. I. Epistle 11, with Bergler's 
note. • 

^ See Arrian, ii. 2 supra; 

' Gurtivx (iv. 11) says that abont thirty of the Macedonians collecting 
timber in Lebanon were killed by a party of wild Arabs, and that a few 
were also captured by them. Lebanon is a Hebrew word meaning white, 
like Alpes. It was so called on account of its white cUfCs, just as Britain 
is called by Aristotle, Albion, the Celtic for white. 

■* Plutarch (Life of Alexander, 24) gives us, on the authority of Chares, 
some details of daring valour on the parti of Alexander in this expedition. 

* Cleauder was put to death by Alexander for oppression in exercising 
his duties as governor of Media. See Arrian, vi. 27 infra. 



126 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

When his fleet had been arranged in due order, he 
embarked upon the decks as many of his shield-bearing 
guards as seemed sufficient for his enterprise, unless a 
sea-battle were to be fought rather by breaking the 
enemy's line ^ than by a close convict. He then started 
from Sidon and sailed towards Tyre with his ships 
arranged in proper order, himself being on the right 
wing which stretched out seaward ; and with him were 
the kings of the Cyprians, and all those of the Phoenicians 
except Pnytagoras, who with Craterus was commanding 
the left wing of the whole line. The Tyrians had 
previously resolved to fight a sea-battle, if Alexander 
should sail against them by sea. But' then with surprise 
they beheld the vast multitude of his ships ; for they 
had not yet learnt that- Alexander had all the ships of 
the Cyprians and Phoenicians. At the same time they 
were surprised to see that he was sailing against them 
with his fleet arranged in due order; for Alexander's 
fleet a little before it came near the city, tarried for a 
while out in the open sea, with the view of provoking the 
Tyrians to come out to a battle ; but afterwards, as the 
enemy did not put out to sea against them, though they 
were thus arranged in line, they advanced to the attack 
with a great dashing of oars. Seeing this, the Tyrians 
decided not to fight a battle at sea, but closely blocked 
up the passage for ships with as many triremes as the 
mouths of their harbour would contain, and guarded it, 
so that the enemy's fleet might not find an anchorage in 
ajiy of the harbours. 

As the Tyrians did not put out to sea against him, 
Alexander sailed near the city, but resolved not to try 
to force an entrance into the harbour towards Sidon on 
account of the narrowness of its mouth ; and at the same 



' In regard to this manoeuvre, see Herodotus, yi. 12 ; Thucydides, i. 49, 
with Arnold's note. 



Siege of Tyre. 127 

time because he saw that the entrance had been blocked 
up with many triremes having their prows turned to- 
wards him. But the Phoenicians fell upon the three tri- 
remes moored furthest out at the mouth of the harbour, 
and attacking them prow to prow, succeeded in sinking 
them. However, the men in the ships easily swam off 
to the land which was friendly to them. Then, indeed, 
Alexander moored his ships along the shore not far from 
the mole which had been made, where there appeared to 
be shelter from the winds ; and on the following day he 
ordered the Cyprians with their ships and their admiral 
Andromachus to moor near the city opposite the harbour 
which faces towards Sidon, and the Phoenicians opposite 
the harbour which looks towards Egypt, situated on the 
other side of bhe mole, where also was his own tent. 



CHAPTER ZXI. 

Siege op Tyee. 

He had now collected many engineers both from Cyprus 
and the whole of Phoenicia, and many engines of war 
had been constructed,^ some upon the mole, others upon 
vessels used for transporting horses, which he brought 
with him from Sidon, and others upon the triremes 
which were not fast sailers. When all the preparations 
had been completed they brought up the engines of war 
along the mole that had been made and also began to 
shoot from ships moored near various parts of the wall 
and making trial of its strength. The Tyrians erected! 
wooden towers on their battlements opposite the mole; 
from which they might annoy the enemy; and ifi 
the engines of war were brought near any other part, 
they defended themselves with missiles and shot at 

' avfiTreTiiyfi4iiai : — "In the best authors iriiniya, is used as the perf. 
pass, of TTTiyvv/u " {Liddell d: Scott). Cf. v. 12, 4 ; 24, 4, infra. 



128 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

the very ships with fire-bearing arrows, so that they 
deterred the Macedonians from approaching the wall.' 
Their walls opposite the mole were about one hundred 
and fifty feet high, with a breadth in proportion, and 
constructed with large stones imbedded in gypsum. It 
was not easy for the horse-transports and the triremes 
of the Macedonians, which were conveying the engines 
of war up to the wall, to approach the city, because a 
great quantity of stones hurled forward into the sea pre- 
vented their near assault. These stones Alexander deter- 
mined to drag out of the sea; but this was a work 
accomplished with great diflBculty, since it was performed 
from ships and not from the firm" earth; especially as the 
Tyrians, covering their ships with mail, brought them 
alongside the anchors of the triremes, and cutting the 
cables of the anchors underneath, made anchoring im- 
possible for the enemy's ships. But Alexander covered 
many thirty- oared vessels with mail in the same way, 
and placed them athwart in front of the anchors, so that 
the assault of the ships was repelled by them. But, 
notwithstanding this, divers under the sea secretly cut 
their cables. The Macedonians then used chains to their 
anchors instead of cables, and let them down so that the 
divers could do no more harm. Then, fastening slip- 
knots to the stones, they dragged them out of the sea 
from the mole ; and having raised them aloft with cranes, 
they discharged them into deep water, where they were 
no longer likely to do injury by being hurled forward. 
The ships now easily approached the part of the wall 
where it had been made clear of the stones which had 
been hurled forward. The Tyrians being now reduced 
to great straits on all sides, resolved to make an attack 
on the Cyprian ships, which were moored opposite the 
harbour turned towards Sidon. For a long time they 
spread sails across the mouth of the harbour, in order 
that the filling of the triremes might not be discernible ; 



''W^' 



Siege of Tyre. 129 

and about the middle of the day, when the sailors were 
scattered in quest of necessaries, and when Alexander 
usually retired from the fleet to his tent on the other 
side of the city, they filled three quinqueremes, an equal 
number of quadriremes and seven triremes with the most 
expert complement of rowers possible, and with the best- 
armed men adapted for fighting from the decks, together 
with the men most daring in naval contests. At first 
they rowed out slowly and quietly in single file, moving 
forward the handles of their oars without any signal from 
the men who give the time to the rowers ^ ; but when 
they were already tacking against the Cyprians, and were 
near enough to be seen, then indeed with a loud shout 
and encouragement to each other, and at the same time 
with impetuous rowing, they commenced the attack. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Siege of Tyre. — Naval Defeat oi the Tyrians. 

It happened on that day that Alexander went away to 
his tent, but after a short time returned to his ships, not 
tarrying according to his usual custom. The Tyrians 
fell all of a sudden upon the ships lying at their moor- 
ings, finding some entirely empty and others being filled 
with diflSculty from the men who happened to be present 
at the very time of the noise and attack. At the first 
onset they at once sank the qninquereme of the king 
Pnytagoras, that of Androcles the Amathusiau ' and that 
of Pasicrates the Curian ; ^ and they shattered the other 
ships by pushing them ashore. But when Alexander 

' Cf. Plautus (Mercator, iv. 2, 5), hortator remigum. 

* Amathus was a town on the south ooast of Cyprus. It is now called 
Limasol. Cf. Herodotus, v. 104^115 ; Taoitas {Ann., iii. 62j ; Veigil 
(Aeneid, x. 51). 

^ Curium was also a town on the south coast of Cyprus. 



130 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

perceived the sailing out of the Tyrian triremes, he 
ordered most of the ships under his command to be 
manned and to take position at the mouth of the harbour, 
so that the rest of the Tyrian ships might not sail out. 
He then took the quinqueremes which he had and about 
five of the triremes, which were manned by him in haste 
before the rest were ready, and sailed round the city 
against the Tyrians who had sailed out of the harbour. 
The men on the wall, perceiving the enemy^s attack and 
observing that Alexander himself was in the fleet, began 
to shout to those in their own ships, urging them to 
return ; but as their shouts were not audible, on account 
of the noise of those' who were engaged in the action, 
they exhorted them to retreat by various kinds of signals. 
At last after a long time, perceiving the impending 
attack of Alexander's fleet, they tacked about and began 
to flee into the harbour ; and a few of their ships 
succeeded in escaping, but Alexander's vessels assaulted 
the greater number, and rendered some of them unfit for 
sailing ; and a quinquereme and a quadrireme were 
captured at the very mouth of the harbour. But the 
slaughter of the marines was not great; for when they 
perceived that their ships were in possession of the 
enemy, they swam off without difficulty into the harbour. 
As the Tyrians could no longer derive any aid from their 
ships, the Macedonians now brought up their military 
engines to the wall itself. Those which were brought 
near the city along the mole, did no damage worth 
mentioning on account of the strength of the wall there. 
Others brought up some of the ships conveying military 
engines opposite the part of the city turned towards 
Sidon. But when even there they met with no success, 
Alexander passed round to the wall projecting towards 
the south wind and towards Egypt, and tested the 
strength of the works everywhere. Here first a large 
piece of the wall was thoroughly shaken, and a part of 



Siege of Tyre. 131 

it was even broken and thrown down. Then indeed for 
a short time he tried to make an assault to the extent of 
throwing a bridge upon the part of the wall where a 
breach had been made. But the Tyrians without much 
difficulty beat the Macedonians back. 



CHAPTER XX'II. 

Siege of Ttks. 

The third day after this, having waited for a calm sea, 
after encouraging the leaders of the regiments for the 
action, he led the ships containing the military engines 
up to the city. In the first place he shook down a large 
piece of the wallj and when the breach appeared to be 
sufficiently wide, he ordered the vessels conveying the 
military engines to retire, and brought up two others, 
which carried his bridges, which he intended to throw 
upon the breach in the wall. The shield-bearing guards 
occupied one of these vessels, which he had put under 
the command of Admetus ; and the other was occupied 
by the regiment of Coenus, called the feot Companions. 
Alexander himself, with the shield-bearing guards, in- 
tended to scale the wall where it might be practicable. 
He ordered some of his triremes to sail against both of 
the harbours, to see if by any means they could force 
an entrance when the Tyrians' had turned themselves 
to oppose him. He also ordered those of his triremes 
which contained the missiles to be hurled from engines, 
or which were carrying archers upon deck, to sail right 
round the wall and to put in where it was practicable, 
and to take up position within shooting range, until it 
became impossible to put in, so that the Tyrians, being 
shot at from all quarters, might become distracted, and 
not know whither to turn in their distress. When 
Alexander's ships drew close to the city and the bridges 



132 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

were thrown from them upon the wall, the shield-bearing 
guards mounted valiantly along these upon the wall; for 
their captain, Admetus, proved himself brave on that 
occasion, and Alexander accompanied them, both as a 
courageous participant in the action itself, and as a 
witness of brilliant and dangerous feats of valour per- 
formed by others. The first part of the wall that was 
captured was where Alexander had posted himself; the 
Tyrians being easily beaten back from it, as soon as the 
Macedonians found firm footing, and at the same time 
a way of entrance not abrupt on every side. Admetus 
was the first to mount the wall ; but while cheering on 
his men to mount, he was struck with a spear and died 
on the spot. 

After him, Alexander with the Companions got posses- 
sion of the wall ^ ; and when some of the towers and the 
parts of the wall between them were in his hands, 
he advanced through the battlements to the royal palace, 
because the descent into the city that way seemed the 
easiest. 



OHAPTBE XXIV. 

Capture of Tteb. 

To return to the fleet, the Phoenicians posted opposite 
the harbour looking towards Egypt, facing which they 
happened to be moored, forcing their way and bursting 
the bars asunder, shattered the ships in the harbour, 
attacking some of them in deep water and driving others 
ashore. The Cyprians also sailed into the other harbour 
looking towards Sidon; which had no bar across it, and 
made a speedy capture of the city on that side. The 
main body of the Tyrians deserted the wall when they 

' Viodoriis (xvii. 45) says, that after Admetus was killed, Alexander 
recalled bis men from the assault that night, but renewed it next day. 



Capture of Tyre. 133 

saw it in the enemy's possession j and rallying opposite 
what was called the chapel of Agenor,^ they there turned 
round to resist the Macedonians. Against these Alexan- 
der advanced with his shield-bearing guards, destroyed 
the men who fought there, and pursued those who fled. 
Great was the slaughter also made both by those who 
were now occupying the city from the harbour and by the 
regiment of Coenus, which had also entered it. For the 
Macedonians were now for the most part advancing full 
of rage, being angry both at the length of the siege and 
also because the Tyrians, having captured some of their 
men sailing from Sidon, had conveyed them to the top 
of their wall, so that the deed might be visible from the 
camp, and after slaughtering them, had cast their bodies 
into the sea. About 8,000 of the Tyrians were killed ; 
and of the Macedonians, besides Admetus, who had 
proved himself a valiant man, being the first to scale the 
wall, twenty of the shield-bearing guards were killed in 
the assault on that occasion. In the whole siege about 
400 Macedonians were slain. Alexander gave an amnesty 
to all those who fled for refuge into the temple of Hera- 
cles ; among them being most of the Tyrian magistrates, 
including the king Azemilcus, as well as certain envoys 
from the Carthaginians, who had cpme to their mother-city 
to attend the sacrifice in honour of Heracles, according 
to an ancient custom.^ The rest of the prisoners were 
reduced to slavery ; all the Tyrians and mercenary troops, 
to the number of about 30,000, who had been captured, 

' Agenor, tlte father of Cadmus, was the reputed founder of Tyre and 
Sidon. See Gurtius, iv. 19. 

" The Tyrians had been encouraged in their resistance by the promise 
of aid from their colony Carthage. But the Carthaginians excused 
themselves on the ground of their own difficulties in contending with the 
Greeks. The Tyrians however despatched their women, children, and 
old men to Carthage for safety. See Diodonis, xvii. 40, 41 ; Gurtius, iv. 
8 and 15. We learn from Diod., xx. 14, that the Carthaginians were in 
the habit of sending to the Tyrian Hercules the tenth of their revenues. 



134 The Anabasis of Alexamder. 

being sold.^ Alexander then offered sacrifice to Heracles, 
and conducted a procession in honour of that deity with 
all his soldiers fully armed. The ships also took part 
in this religious procession in honour of Heracles. He 
moreover held a gymnastic contest in the temple, and 
celebrated a torch race. The military engine, also, with 
which the wall had been battered down, was brought 
into the temple and dedicated as a thank-offering ; and 
the Tyrian ship sacred to Heracles, which had been cap- 
tured in the naval attack, was likewise dedicated to the 
god. An inscription was placed on it, either composed 
by Alexander himself or by some one else ; but as it is 
not worthy of recollection, I have not deemed it worth 
while to describe it. Thus then was Tyre captured in 
the month Hecatombaion, when Anicetus was archon at 
Athens.^ 



CHAPTER XXV. 

The Offees of Daeius Rejected. — Batis, Goveenor of 
Gaza, Refuses to Submit. 

While Alexander was ?till occupied by the siege of 
Tyre, ambassadors came to him from Darius, announcing 
that he would give him ten thousand talents * in exchange 
for his mother, wife, and children ; that all the territory 
west of the river Euphrates, as far as the Grecian Sea, 
should be Alexander's; and proposing that he should 
marry the daughter of Darius, and become his friend and 

' Diodorus (xvii. 46) and Curlius (iv. 19) state that 2,000 Tyrians who 
had escaped the massacre were hanged on the sea-shore by Alexander's 
order. 

^ The end o£ July and beginning of August b.c. 332. Diodorus (xvii. 
46) tells us that the siege lasted seven months. See also Curtius (iv. 20) 
and Plutarch {Life of Alexander, 24). We find from Strabo (zvi. 2) that 
Tyre again became a flourishing city. 

'About £2,440,000. 



Batis, Governor of Gaza, Befuses to Submit. 135 

ally.^ When these proposals were announced in a 
conference of tlie Companions, Parmenio is said to have 
told Alexander^ that if he were Alexander he should be 
delighted to put an end to the war on these terms, and 
incur no further hazard of success. Alexander is said to 
have replied, So would he also do, if he were Parmenio, 
but as he was Alexander he repliefd to Darius as he did. 
For he said that he was neither in want of money from 
Darius, nor would he receive a parb of his territory 
instead of the whole ; for that all his money and territory 
were his ; and that if he wished to marry the daughter of 
Darius, he would marry her, even though Darius refused 
her to him. He commanded Darius to come to him if 
he wished to experience any generous treatment from 
him. When Darius heard this answer, he despaired of 
coming to terms with Alexander, and began to make 
fresh preparations for war. 

Alexander now resolved to make an expedition into 
Egypt. All the other parts of what was called Palestine 
Syria ^ had already yielded to him ; but a certain eunuch, 
named Batis, who was in possession of the city of Gaza, 
paid no heed to him; but procuring Arabian mercenaries, 
and having been long employed in laying up sufficient 
food for a long siege, he resolved not to admit Alexander 
into the city, feeling confident that the place could never 
be taken by storm. 

' Diodorus (xvii. 54) puts the arrival of this embassy after Alexander's 
conquest of Egypt. Curtius (iv. 21) says that the name of the daughter 
whom Darius offered to Alexander was Statira. 

2 The term Palestine is derived from PelesJieth, the name given in 
Hebrew to the coast district in the south-west of Palestine, the inhabi- 
tants of which were called Pelishtim, or Philistines. As this tract of 
country lay directly between Phoenicia and Egypt, it became known to 
the Greeks sooner than the rest of the Holy Land, and they called it 
Syria Palaestine. The name was gradually extended until it became the 
usual one for all the Holy Land among Greek and Latin writers. An 
interesting account of Alexander's visit to Jerusalem and his dealings 
with. th& Jews is found in Josephus (Antiquities, xi. 8). 



136 Tlie Anabasis of Alexander. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Siege op Gaza. 

Gaza is about twenty stades from the sea ; ^ the approach 
to it is sandy and over heavy soil, and the sea near the 
city everywhere shallow. The city of Gaza ^ was large, 
and had been built upon a lofty mound, around which a 
strong wall had been carried. It is the last city the 
traveller meets with going from Phoenicia to Egypt, 
being situated on the edge of the desert. When Alexan- 
der arrived near the city, on the first day he encamped 
at the spot where the wall seemed to him most easy to 
assail, and ordered his military engines to be constructed. 
But the engineers expressed the opinion that it was not 
possible to capture the wall by force, on account of the 
height of the mound. However, the more impracticable 
it seemed to be, the more resolutely Alexander deter- 
mined that it must be captured. For he said that the 
action would strike the enemy with great alarm from its 
being contrary to their expectation ; whereas his failure 
to capture the place would redound to. his disgrace when 
mentioned either to the Greeks or to Darius. He there- 
ibre resolved to construct a mound right round the city, 
so as to be able to bring his military engines up to the 
walls from the artificial mound which had been raised to 
the same level with them. The mound was constructed 
especially over against the southern wall of the city, 
where it appeared easiest to make an assault. When he 



' Nearly two miles and a half. Strabo (xvi. 2) says that the city was 
only seven stades from the sea. 

2 Gaza is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Azzah (fortress). Its 
position on the border of Egypt and Palestine has given it importance 
from the earliest times. It was one of the five cities of the Philistiaes ; 
and retained its own king till a late period, as we learn from Zeohariah 
ix. 5. It was the scene of a battle between Eichard I. and the Saracens. 
It is now called Guzzeh, with a population of 15,000. 



S(^eof Gaza. 137 

thought that the mound had be'oli'T^apeverii "thg proper 
level with the walls, the Macedonians placed their military 
engines upon it, and brought them close to the wall of 
Gaza. At this time while Alexander was offering sacri- 
fice, and, crowned with a garland, was about to com- 
mence the first sacred rite according to custom, a certain 
carnivorous bird, flying over the altar, let a stone which 
it was carrying with its claws fall upon his head. Alex- 
ander asked Aristander, the soothsayer,^ what this omen 
meant. He replied : " O king, thou wilt indeed capture 
the city, but thou must take care of thyself on this day." 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Capture of Gaza. 

When Alexander heard this, he kept himself for a time 
near the military engines, out of the reach of missiles. 
But when a vigorous sortie was made from the city, >and 
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<ppiKvia, imitated from Homer {Iliad, iv. 282). Cf. Vergil [Aeneid, 
X. 178, horrentibus hastis) ; Livy, xliv. 41 (horrendis hastis). 

" Gurtius (iv. 58, 59) and Diodorus (xvii. 60) describe quite an Homeric 
battle, Darius hurling a spear at Alexander, and Alexander hurling his at 
Barius and killing his charioteer. They say that the Persians mistook 
the fall of the Charioteer for that of the king, and fled, carrying Darius 
with them. 

' Curtius (iv. 59) and Diodorus (xvii. 60) say that so thick a cloud of 
dust was raised by the mighty mass of fugitives, that nothing could be 
clearly distinguished, and that thus the Macedonians lost the track of 
Darius. The noise of the shouting and the cracking of whips served as 
guides to the pursuers. 

* Sisygambis, the mother of Darius, whom these Persians were espe- 
cially anxious to liberate from the olistody of the Macedonians, refused to 
go with them. See Diodorus and Curtius. 



168 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

foreign prisoners also assisted them by falling upon the 
Macedonians in the midst of the action. But the com- 
manders of the men who had been posted as a reserve 
to the first phalanx, learning what was taking place, 
quickly moved from the position which they had been 
ordered to take, and coming upon the Persians in the 
raar, killed many of them there collected round the 
baggage. But the rest of them gave way and fled. The 
Persians on the right wing, who had not yet become 
aware of the flight of Darius, rode round Alexander's 
left wing and attacked Parmenio in flank.^ 



CHAPTER XV. 

Defeat of the Peesians and Pursuit of Daeius. 

At this juncture, while the Macedonians were doubtful 
as to the result of the battle, Parmenio sent a messenger 
to Alexander in haste, to tell him that their side was 
in a critical position and that he must send him aid.^ 
When this news was brought to Alexander, he imme- 
diately turned back again from the pursuit, and wheeling 
round with the Companion cavalry, led them with great 
speed against the right wing of the foreigners. In the 
first place he assaulted the fleeing cavalry of the enemy, 
the Parthians, some of the Indians, and the most nu- 
merous and the bravest division of the Persians. Then 
ensued the most obstinately contested cavalry fight in 
the whole engagement. For being drawn up by squad- 
rons as it were, the foreigners wheeled round and falling 
on Alexander's men face to face, they no longer relied 

' Arrian does not say much about this yigoroua charge of Mazaeus, the 
commander of the Persian right wing. See Curtius (iv. 60) ; Diodorus 
(xvii. 60). 

" We learn from Diodorus and Curtius that Parmenio had driven 
Mazaeus back before Alexander's arrival. 



Defeat \if the Persians and Pursuit of Darius. 169 

on the hurling of javelins or the dexterous deploying of 
horses, as is the common practice in cavalry battles, but 
every one on his own account strove eagerly to break 
through what stood in his way, as if this were their only 
means of safety. They struck and were struck without 
quarter, as if they were no longer struggling to secure 
the victory for another, but were contending for their 
own personal safety. Here about sixty of Alexander's 
Companions fell; and Hephaestion himself, as well as 
Ooenus and Menidas, was wounded. But even these 
troops were overcome by Alexander; and as many of 
them as could force their way through his ranks fled 
with all their mighb. And now Alexander had nearly 
come into conflict with the enemy's right wing, but in 
the meantime the Thessalian cavalry in a splendid 
struggle, had not fallen short of Alexander's success 
in the engagement. For the foreigners on the right 
wing were already beginning to fly when he came on 
the scene of conflict ; so that he wheeled round again 
and started off in pursuit of Darius once more, keeping 
up the chase as long as there was daylight. Parmenio's 
brigade also followed in pursuit of those who were 
opposed to them. But Alexander crossed the river 
Lycus ^ and pitched his camp there, to give his men and 
horses a little rest ; while Parmenio seized the Persian 
camp with their baggage, elephants, and camels. After 
giving his horsemen rest until midnight, Alexander 
again advanced by a forced march towards Arbela, with 
the hope of seizing Darius there, together with his money 
and the rest of his royal property. He reached Arbela 
the next day, having pursued altogether about 600 stades 
from the battle-field.^ But as Darius went on fleeing 

^ The Lyons, now called the Great Zab, is a tributary of the Tigris. 
Xenophon calls it Zabatus (Anab., ii. 5). The Greek Lycus is a transla- 
tion of the Syrian Zaha (wolf). 

2 About sixty-nine miles. Cf. Strabo (xvi. 1, 3). 



170 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

without taking any rest, ^ he did not find him at Arbela. 
However the money and all the other property were 
captured, as was also the chariot of Dariua. His spear 
and bow were likewise taken, as had been the case after 
the battle of Issus.^ Of Alexander's men about 100 
were killed, and more than 1,000 of his horses were lost 
either from wounds or from fatigue in the pursuit, nearly 
half of them belonging to the Companion cavalry. Of 
the foreigners there were said to have been about 
300,000 slain, and far more were taken prisoners than 
were killed.^ The elephants and all the chariots which 
had not been destroyed in the battle were also captured. 
Such was the result of this battle, which was fought in 
the archonship of Aristophanes at Athens, in the month 
Pyanepsion ; * and thus Aristander's prediction was 
accomplished, that Alexander would both fight a battle 
and gain a victory in the same month in which the 
moon was seen to be eclipsed.^ 



CHAPTER XVI. -" 

Escape of Darius into Media. — March of Alexander 
TO Babylon and Susa. 

Immediately after the battle, Darius marched through 
the mountains of Armenia towards Media, accompanied 
in his flight by the Bactrian cavalry, as they had then 
been posted with him in the battle ; also by those 
Persians who were called the king's kinsmen, and by 

' iXiviaai. This is an lonio word used by Herodotus (viii. 71, etc.), 
and rarely in Attic poets and later prose 'writers. 

^ See Arrian, ii. 11 supra. 

' Cwtim (iv. 63) says that 40,000 of the Persians were slain, and that 
less than 300 Macedonians were killed. Diodonts (xvii. 61) states that 
more than 90,000 Persians and 500 Macedonians were elain. 

* September 331 b.o. Cf. Plutarch {Alex., 31). 

' For this prediction, see iii. 7 supra. 



Escape of Darius info Media. 171 

a few of fhe men called apple-bearers.^ About 2,000 of 
his Grecian mercenaries also accompanied him in his 
flight, under the command of Paron the Phocian, and 
Glaucus the Aetolian. He fled towards Media for this 
reason, because he thought Alexander would take the 
road to Susa and Babylon immediately after the battle, 
inasmuch as the whole of -that country was inhabited 
and the road was not difficult for the transit of baggage ; 
and besides Babylon and Susa appeared to be the prizes 
of the war ; whereas the road towards Media was by no 
means easy for the march of a large army. In this con- 
jecture Darius was mistaken; for when Alexander started 
from Arbela, he advanced straight towards Babylon; 
and when he was now not far from that city, he drew 
up his army in order of battle and marched forward. 
The Babylonians came out to meet him in mass, with 
their priests and rulers, each of whom individually 
brought gifts, and offered to surrender their city, citadel, 
and money.^ Entering the city, he commanded the 
Babylonians to rebuild all the temples which Xerxes 
had destroyed, and especially that of Belus, whom the 
Babylonians venerate more than any other god.* He 
then appointed Mazaeus viceroy of the Babylonians, 
Apollodorus the Amphipolitan general of the soldiers 
who were left behind with Mazaeus, and Asolepiodorus, 
son of Philo, collector of the revenue. He also sent 
Mithrines, who had surrendered to him the citadel of 
Sardis, down into Armenia to be viceroy there.* Here 

' As to the biusmen and apple-bearers, see iii. 11 supra. 

=" Diodorus (xvii. 63) and Gwtiws (v. 6) state that from the treasure 
captured in Babylon, Alexander distributed to each Macedonian horseman 
about £24, to each of the Grecian horsemen £20, to each of the Mace- 
donian infantry £8, and to the allied infantry two months' pay. 

' Belus, or Bel, the supreme deity of the Babylonians, was identical 
with the Syrian Baal. The signification of the name is mighty. Of. 
Herodotus (i. 181) ; Diodorus (ii. 9) ; Strabo (xvi. 1). 

■* See i. 17 supra. 



172 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

also lie met with the Ohaldaeans ; and whatever they 
directed in regard to the religious rites of Babylon he 
performed, and in particular he offered sacrifice to Belus 
according to their instructions.^ He then marched away 
to Susa ^; and on the way he was met by the son of the 
viceroy of the Susians, ^ and a man bearing a letter from 
Philoxenus, whom he had despatched to Susa directly 
after the battle. In the letter Philoxenus had written 
that the Susians had surrendered their city to him, and 
that all the money was safe for Alexander. In twenty 
days the king arrived at Susa from Babylon j and enter- 
ing the city he took possession of the money, which 
amounted to 50,000 talents, as well as the rest of the 
royal property.* Many other things were also captured 

' The Chaldees appear in Hebrew under the name of Casdim, ■who 
seem to have originally dwelt in Carduchia, the northern part of Assyria. 
The Assyrians transported these rude mountaineers to the plains of 
Babylonia (Isa. xxiii. 13). The name of Casdim, or Chaldees, was applied 
to the inhabitants of Mesopotamia (Gen. xi. 28) ; the inhabitants of the 
Arabian desert in the vicinity of Edom (Job i. 17) ; those who dwelt near 
the river Chaboras (Ezek. i. 3 ; xi. 24) ; and the priestly caste who had 
settled at a Very early period in Babylon, as we are informed by Diodorus 
and Eusebius. Herodotus says that these priests were dedicated to 
BelQS. It is proved by inscriptions that the ancient language was re- 
tained as a learned and religious literature. This is probably what is 
meant in Daniel i. 4 by "the book and tongue of the Casdim." Cf. 
Diodorus (ii. 29-31) ; Ptolemy (v. 20, 3) ; and Cicero (De Divinatione, i. 1). 
See Fiirst's Hebrew Lexicon, sub voce IK'S. 

2 In the Bible this city is called Shusban. Near it was the fortress of 
Shushan, called in our Bible the Palace (Neb. i. 2 ; Esth. ii. 8). Susa 
was situated on the Choaspes, a river remarkable for the excellence of its 
water, a fact referred to by Tibullus (iv. 1, 140) and by Milton (Paradise 
Reg., iii. 288). The name Shushan is derived from the Persian word for 
lily, which grew abundantly in the vicinity. The ruins of the palace 
mentioned in Esther i. have recently been explored, and were found to 
consist of an immense hall, the roof of which was supported by a central 
group of thirty-six pillars arranged in the form of a square. This was 
flanked by three porticoes, each containing two rows of six pillars. Cf, 
Strabo (xv. 7, 28). 

* The name of the viceroy was Abulites (Curtius, v. 8). 

■* If these were Attic talents, the amount would be, equivalent to 



March of Alexander to Babylon and Susa. 173 

there, which Xerxes brought with him from Greece, 
especially the brazen statues of Harmodius and Aristo- 
geiton.i These Alexander sent back to the Athenians, 
and they are now standing at Athens in the Oeramicus, 
where we go up into the Acropolis, ^ right opposite the 
temple of Rhea, the mother of the gods, not far from the' 
altar of the Eudanemi. Whoever has been initiated in the 
mysteries of the two goddesses * at Eleusis, knows the 
altar of Budanemus which is upon the plain. At Susa 
Alexander offered sacrifice after the custom of his fathers, 
and celebrated a torch race and a gymnastic contest ; 
and then, leaving Abulites, a Persian, as viceroy of 
Susiana, Mazarus, one of his Companions, as commander 
of the garrison in the citadel of Susa, and Archelaiis, son 
of Theodorus, as general, he advanced towards the land 
of the Persians. He also sent Menes down to the sea, 
as governor of Syria, Phoenicia, and Cilicia, giving 
him 3,000 talents of silver* to convey to the sea, with 
orders to despatch as many of them to Antipater as he 
might need to carry on the war against the Lacedae- 
monians. ^ There also Amyntas, son of Andromenes, 
reached him with the forced which he was leading from 

£11,600,000 ; but if they were Babylonian or Aeginetan talents, they were 
ectual to £19,000,000. Of. Plataroh (Alex., 36, 37) ; Jmtin (xi. 14) ; and 
Curtius (v. 8). Diodonts (xvii. 66) tells us that 40,000 talents were of 
uncoined gold and silver, and 9,000 talents of gold bearing the efiSgy of 
Dariua. 

' Of. Arrian (vii. 19) ; Pausanias (i. 8, 5) ; Pliny [Nat. Hist., xxxiv. 9) ; 
Valerius Maximus (ii. 10, 1). For Harmodiua and Aristogeiton see 
Thucydides, vi. 56-58. 

^ Polis meant in early times a particular part of Athens, viz. the 
citadel, usually called the Acropolis. Of. Aristophanes {Lysistrata, 245 
et passim). 

' Demeter and Persephone. 

" About £730,000. 

* Antipater had been left by Alexander regent of Macedonia. Agis III., 
king of Sparta, refused to acknowledge Alexander's hegemony, and after 
a hard struggle was defeated and slain by Antipater at Megalopolis, 
B.C. 330. See Diodorm, xvii. 63 ; Curtius, vi. 1 and 2. 



1 74 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Macedonia^; of whom Alexander placed the horsemen 
in the ranks of the. Companion cavalry, and the foot he 
added to the various regiments of infantry, arranging 
each according to nationalities. He also established two 
companies in each squadron of cavalry, whereas before 
this time companies did not exist in the cavalry ; and 
over them he set as captains those of the Companions 
who were pre-eminent for merit. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

StrBJUGATTON OF THE UxiANS. 

He now set out from Susa, and, crossing the river 
Pasitigris,^ invaded the couhtry of the Uxians. Some 
of these people who inhabit the plains were under the 
rule of the viceroy of the Persians, and on this occasion 
surrendered to Alexander ; but those who are called the 
mountaineers were not in subjection to the Persians, and 
at this time sent word to Alexander that they would not 
permit him to march with his forces into Persis, unless 
they received from him as much as they were in the ha;bit 
of receiving from the king of the Persians for the passage 
through their mountains.* He sent the messengers back 
with instructions to come to the defiles, the possession of 
which made them think that the passage into Persis was 
in their power, promising them that they should there 
' receive from him the prescribed toll. He then took the 
royal body-guards, the shield-bearing infantry, and 8,000 
men from the rest of his army, and, under the guidance 
of the Susians, marched by night along a different road 
from the frequented one. Advancing by a route rough 

' According to Curtius (v. 6) these forces amounted to nearly 15,000 
men. Amyntas also brought with him fifty sons of the chief laen in 
Macedonia, who wished to serve, as royal pages. Cf. Diodorus, xvii. 64. 

' A riydr flowing through Susiana, formed by the junction of the 
Eulaeus and Coprates. 

' Cf. Strabo, XY. 3. 



Subjugation of the JJxians. - 175 

and difficult, on tlie same day lie fell upon the villages 
of the Uxians, where he captured much booty and killed 
many of the people while still in their beds ; but others 
escaped into the mountains. He then made a forced march 
to the defiles, where the Uxians resolved to meet him in 
mass in order to receive the prescribed toll. But he 
had already previously despatched Craterus to seize the 
heights, to which he thought the Uxians would retire if 
they were repelled by force ; and he himself went , with 
great celerity, and got possession of the pass before their 
arrival. He then drew up his men in battle array, and 
led them from the higher and more commanding position 
against the barbarians. They, being alarmed at Alexan- 
der's celerity, and finding themselves deprived by strata- 
gem^ of the position in which they had especially 
confided, took to flight without ever coming to close 
combat. Some of them were killed by Alexander's men 
in their flight, and many lost their lives by falling over 
the precipices along the road ; but most of them fled up 
into the mountains for refuge, and falling in with Crate- 
rus, were destroyed by his men. Having received these 
gifts of honour * from Alexander, they with difficulty, 
after much entreaty, procured from him the privilege of 
retaining possession of their own land on condition of 
paying him an annual tribute. Ptolemy, son of Lagus, 
says that the mother of Darius,^ on their behalf, entreated 
Alexander to grant them the privilege of inhabiting the 
land. The tribute agreed upon was a hundred horses, 
five hundred oxen, and 30,000 sheep a year; for the 
Uxians had no money, nor was their country fit for till- 
age ; but most of them were shepherds and herdsmen. 

' irXeoveicToififvoi, with dative, defrauded of. Cf. Demosthenes, 1035, 26. 
' yipa. An Homeric expreesion. 
' Named Siaygambis {Curtius, t. 11). 



1 76 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Defeat of Aeiobaezanes and Captuee of Peesepolis. 

Aptee this, Alexander despatched Parmenio with the 
baggage, the Thessalian cavalry, the Grecian allies, the 
mercenary auxiliaries, and the rest of the more heavily 
armed soldiers, to march into Persis along the carriage 
road leading into that country. He himself took the 
Macedonian infantry, the Companion cavalry, the light 
cavalry used for skirmishing, the Agrianians, and the 
archerSj and made a forced march through the mountains. 
But when he arrived at the Persian Gates, he found 
that Ariobarzanes, the viceroy of Persis, with 40,000 
infantry and 700 cavalry, had built a wall across the 
pass, and had pitched his camp there near the wall to 
block Alexander's passage. Then indeed he pitched his 
camp there; but next day he marshalled his army, and led 
it up to the wall. When it was evident that it would be 
difficult to capture it on account of the rugged nature of 
the ground, and as many of his men were being wounded, 
the enemy assailing them with missiles from engines of 
war placed upon higher ground, which gave them an 
advantage over their assailants, he retreated to his camp. 
He was informed by the prisoners that they could lead 
him round by another route, so that he might get to the 
other end of the pass ; but when he ascertained that this 
road was rough and narrow, he left Craterus there at the 
camp with his own brigade and that of Meleager, as well 
as a few archers and 500 cavalry, with orders that when 
he perceived he had got right round and was approaching 
the camp of the Persians (which he could easily per- 
ceive, because the trumpets would give him the signal), 
he should then assault the wall. Alexander advanced by 
night, and travelling about 100 stades, he took the 
shield-bearing guards, the brigade of Perdiccas, the 
lightest armed of the archers, the Agrianians, the royal 



Defeat of Arioharzanes and Capture of Persepolis. 177 

squadron of cavalry Companions, and one regiment of 
cavalry besides these, containing four companies; and 
wheeling round with these troops, he marched towards 
the pass in the direction the prisoners led him. He 
ordered Amyntas, PhilotaSj and Ooenus to lead the rest 
of the army towards the plain, and to make a bridge over 
the river ^ which one mast cross to go into Persis. He 
himself went by a route difficult and rough, along which 
he nevertheless marched for the most part at. full speed. 
Falling upon the first guard of the barbarians before 
daylight,^ he destroyed them, and so he did most of the 
second ; but the majority of the third guard escaped, 
not indeed by fleeing into the camp of Ariobarzanes, but 
into the mountains as they were, being seized with a 
sudden' panic. Consequently he fell upon the enemy's 
camp at the approach of dawn without being observed. 
At the very time he began to assault the trench, the 
trumpets gave the signal to Craterus, who at once 
attacked the advanced fortification. The enemy then, 
being in a state of confusion from being attacked on all 
sides, fled without coming to close conflict; but they 
were hemmed in on all hands, Alexander pressing upon 
them in one direction and the men of Craterus running 
up in another. Therefore most of them were compelled 
to wheel round and flee into the fortifications, which 
were already in the hands of the Macedonians. For 
Alexander, expecting the very thing which really oc- 
curred, had left Ptolemy there with three thousand 
infantry; so that most of the barbarians were cut to 
pieces by the Macedonians at close quarters. Others 
perished in the terrible flight which ensued, hurling 
themselves over the precipices; but Ariobarzanes him- 



' This waa the Araxes. See Strabo, xv. 3. 

' Notice the use of the adverb vplii with the genitive, instead of the 
preposition irpo. Cf. Pindar (Pythia, iv. 76) irply Upas. 

N 



178 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

self, with a few horsemen, escaped into the moun- 
tains.^ 

Alexander now marched back with all speed to the 
river, and finding the bridge already constructed over it, 
he easily crossed with his army.^ Thence he again con- 
tinued his march to Persepolis, so that he arrived before 
the guards of the city could pillage the treasury.* He 
also captured the money which was at Pasargadae * in 
the treasury of the first Cyrus, and appointed Phrasaortes, 
son of Rheomithres, viceroy over the Persians. He burnt 
down the Persian palace, though Parmenio advised him 
to preserve it, for many reasons, and especially because 
it was'' not well to destroy what was now his own pro- 
perty, and because the men of Asia would not by this 
course of action be induced to come over to him, think- 
ing that he himself had decided not to retain the rule of 
Asia, but only to conquer it and depart. But Alexander 
said that he wished to take vengeance on the Persians, 
in retaliation for their deeds in the invasion of Greece, 
when they razed Athens to the ground and burnt down 
the temples. He also desired to punish the Persians for 



' Curtius (v. 16) says tliat Ariobarzanes after a bloody contest got away 
tbrough the Macedonian lines, with about 40 horsemen and 5,000 foot, 
and made for Persepolis. Being shut out of that fortress, he was over- 
taken and slain with all his companions. Cf. Diodorus (zvii. 68). 

2 Diodorus (xvii. 69) and Justin (xi. 14) state that on approaching 
Persepolis, Alexander met 800 Grecian captives, mutilated by loss of arms, 
legs, eyes, ears, or other members. Curtius (v. 17-19) says there were 
4,000 of them, Alexander offered to send these men home, with means 
of future support ; but they preferred to remain in Persis. The king 
gave them money, clothing, cattle, and land. 

3 Diodorus (xvii. 71) and Curtius (v. 20) both state that the amount of 
treasure captured at Persepolis was 120,000 talents, or £27,600,000. In his 
own letter Alexander stated that there was suflBioient treasure and valuable 
property to load 10,000 mule carts and 6,000 camels (Plutarch, Alex., 37). 
Curtius tells us that 6,000 talents were captured at Pasargadae. 

* Pasargadae was the old capital of Persia, foimded by Cyrus ; but its 
place was afterwards taken by Persepolis. 



Darius Pursued into Media and Parthia. 179 

all the other injuries they had done the Greeks. But 
Alexander does not seem to me to have acted on this 
occasion with prudence j nor do I think that this was 
any retributive penalty at all on the ancient Persians.^ 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Daeius Pursued into Media and Paethia. 

ArTBE bringing these matters to a successful issue, he 
advanced to,wards Media ; for he ascectained that Darius 
was there. Now Darius had formed the resolution, if 
Alexander remained at Susa or Babylon, to stay there 
among the Mpdes, in order to see if any change of policy 
were made by Alexander. But if the latter marched 
against him, he resolved to proceed into the interior 
towards Parthia and Hyrcania, as far as Bactria, laying 
waste all the land and making it impossible for Alexander 
to advance any further. He therefore sent the women 
and the rest of the property which he still retained, to- 
gether with the covered carriages, to what were called 
the Caspian Gates ** ; but he himself stayed at Bcbatana,^ 

' Diodorus (xvii. 70, 71) and Gurtius (v. 20, 22) say that Alexander 
delivered Persepolis to his soldiers to pillage, and that he ordered a 
general massacre of the inhahitants. These authors agree with Plutarch 
{Alex., 38) in asserting that in a drunken revel he was instigated by the 
courtesan Thais to set fire to the palace, and accompanied her to com- 
mence the act of destruction. See Dryden's famous ode. But Arrian's 
account establishes the fact that the fire was the result of a deliberate 
plan. As regards the massacre, Plutarch (37) expressly states that 
Alexander wrote home that he ordered it from motives of policy. 

2 This was the principal pass through the Elburz mountains from 
Media into Hyrcania and Parthia. 

' This was the capital of Media, called in Chaldee Achmetha (Ezra 
vi. 2). The present city of Hamadan is on the same site. It is situated 
at the foot of Mount Orontes, and was used by the Persian and Parthian 
kings as their summer residence. It was surrounded by seven walls, 
each overtopping the one before it, from the outer to the inner, crowned 
with battlements of different colours. Its citadel was used as a royal 



ISO The Anabasis of Alexander. 

with the forces which had been collected from those who 
were at hand. Hearing this, Alexander advanced towards 
Media, and invading the land of the Paraetacae,i he 
subdued it, and appointed Oxathres, son of Abulites, the 
former viceroy of Susa, to rule as viceroy. Being in- 
formed on the march that Darius had determined to meet 
him for battle, and to try the fortune of war again (for 
the Scythians and Cadusians had come to him as allies), 
he ordered that the beasts of burden, with their guards 
and the rest of the baggage, should follow ; and taking 
the rest of his army, he led it in order of battle, and on 
the twelfth day arrived in Media. There he ascertained 
that the forces of Darius were not fit for battle, and that 
his allies, the Oadusians and Scythians, had not arrived ; 
but that he had resolved to flee. He therefore marched 
on with still greater speed ; and when he was only three 
days' journey from Bcbatana, he was met by Bistanes, 
son of Ochus, who reigned over the Persians before 
Darius. This man announced that Darius had fled five 
days before, taking with him 7,000 talents of money ^ 
from the Medes, and an army of 3,000 cavalry and 6,000 
infantry. 

When Alexander reached Bcbatana, he sent the Thes- 
salian cavalry and the other Grecian allies back to the 
sea, paying them the full hire which had been stipulated, 
and making them an additional donation from himself of 
2,000 talents. He issued an order that if any man of 
his own accord wished still to continue to serve for hire 
with him, he should enlist ; and those who enlisted in 
his service were not a few. He then ordered Bpocillus, 

treasury. Below it stood a splendid palace, with silver tiles, and adorned 
with waiuscotiugB, capitals, and entablatures of gold and silver. These 
treasures, to the value of 4,000 talents, were coined into money by 
Antiochus the Great of Syria. See Herodotus, i. 98 ; Polybius, x. 27. 

^ This tribe lived in the mountains between Media and Fersis. 

2 £1,700,000. 



March Through the Caspian Oates. 181 

son of Polyeides, to conduct the rest down to the sea, 
taking other cavalry as a guard for them, since the 
Thessalians sold their horses there. He also sent word 
to Menes to take upon himself the duty of seeing that 
they were conveyed in triremes to Buboea, when they 
arrived at the sea.^ He instructed Partnenio to deposit 
the money which was being conveyed from Persis in the 
citadel at Ecbatana, and to hand it over to the charge of 
Harpalus ; ^ for he had left this man over the money 
with a guard of 6,000 Macedonians and a few horsemen 
and light-armed infantry to take care of it. He told 
Parmenio himself to take the Grecian mercenaries, the 
Thracians, and all the other horsemen except the Com- 
panion cavalry, and march by the land of the Cadusians 
into Hyrcania. He also sent word to Clitus, the com- 
mander of the royal squadron of cavalry, who had been 
left behind at Susa ill, that when he arrived at Ecbatana 
from Susa he should take the Macedonians who had been 
left there in charge of the money, and go in the direction 
of Parthia, where also he himself intended soon to arrive. 



CHAPTER XX. 

March theouqh the Caspian Gates. 

Then taking the Companion cavalry, the light cavalry 
nsed for skirmishing, the Greek mercenary cavalry, under 
the command of Erigyius, the Macedonian phalanx, 
except the men who had been placed in charge of the 
money, the archers, and the Agrianians, he marched 
against Darius. In the forced march which he made, 
many of his soldiers were left behind, worn out with 

' Curtius (v. 23) says that 6,000 Grecian mercenaries under Plato the 
Athenian met Alexander in Media, haying marched up from CiUeia. 

2 Diodorus (xvii. 80) says that the amount of treasure deposited at 
Ecbatana was 180,000 talents or £41,400,000. 



182 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

fatigue, and many of the horses died. He nevertheless 
pressed on, and on the eleventh day arrived at Rhagae.^ 
This place is distant from the Caspian Gates one day's 
journey to one marching as Alexander did. But Darius 
had already passed through this defile before Alexander 
came up, though many of those who were his companions 
in flight deserted him on the way and retired ta their 
own abodes. Many also surrendered to Alexander. 
The latter now gave up the hope of capturing Darius by 
close pursuit, and remained there five days to give his 
troops repose. He appointed Oxodates a Persian, who 
had the ill fortune to be arrested by Darius and shut up 
at Susa, to the office of viceroy of Media ; for this treat- 
ment was an inducement to Alexander to rely on his 
fidelity. He then marched towards Parthia; and on the 
first day encamped near the Caspian Gates, which he 
passed through on the second day as far as the country 
was inhabited.^ Hearing that the country further on 
was desert, he resolved to procure a stock of proyisions 
from the place where he was encamped, and accordingly 
sent Coenus out on a foraging expedition with the cavalry 
and a small body of infantry. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Daeius is Assassinated by Bessus. 

At this time Bagistanes, one of the Babylonian niobles, 
came to him from the camp of Darius, accompanied by 
Antibelus, one of the sons of Mazaeus. These men 
informed him that Nabarzanes, the commander of the 
cavalry which accompanied Darius in his flight, Bessns, 

' A large city in the extreme north of Media, mentioned in the Book 
of Tobit. It was famous in the Middle Ages under the name of Bai. 
The ruins of Bai lie south-east of Teheran. 

^ (ffre generally means until. In its present use of. ii. 11 supra, fore 
liiv ipaos fiv. 



Darius is Assassinated by Bessus. 183 

viceroy of Bacfcria, and Barsaentes, viceroy of the Ara- 
chotians and Drangians,^ had jointly arrested the king. 
When Alexander heard this, he marched with still 
greater speed than ever, taking with him only the 
Companions and the skirmishing cavalry, as well as some 
of the foot-soldiers selected as the strongest and lightest 
men. He did not even wait for Coenus to return from 
the foraging expedition; but placed Oraterus over the 
men left behind, with instructions to follow in short 
marches. His own men took with them nothing but 
their arms and provisions for two days. After marching 
the whole night and till noon of the next day, he gave 
his army a short rest, then went on again all night, and 
when day began to break reached the camp from which 
Bagistanes had set out to meet him; but he did not 
catch the enemy. However, in regard to Darius, he 
ascertained that he had been arrested and was being 
conveyed in a covered carriage ^ ; that Bessus possessed 
the command instead of Darius, and had been nominated 
leader by the Bactrian cavalry and all the other barba- 
rians who were companions of Darius in his flight, except 
Artabazus arid his sons, together with the Grecian 
mercenaries, who still remained faithful to Darius; but 
they, not being able to prevent what was being done, had 
turned aside their march from the public thoroughfare 
and were marching towards the mountains by them- 
selves, refusing to take part with Bessus and his ad- 
herents in their enterprise. He also learnt that those 
who had arrested Darius had come to the decision to 



' The Drangians lived in a part of Ariana west of Arachosia. 

' Justin (xi. 15) and Curtius (v. 34) state ^that Darius was bojand in 
chains of gold. The former says that the name of the place was Thara 
ia Parthia, where the king was arrested. Probably these chains were 
those worn by the king or his nobles, according to the Persian custom. 
This is the only sentence in Arrian where irepl suffers anastrophe, coming 
after the noun. 



184 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

surrender him to Alexander, and to procure some advan- 
tage for themselves, if they should find that Alexander 
was pursuing them ; but if they should learn that he had 
gone back again, they had resolved to collect as large 
an army as they could and to preserve the rule for the 
commonwealth. He also ascertained that for the present 
Bessus held the supreme command, both on account 
of his relationship to Darius and because the war was 
being carried on in his viceregal province. Hearing this, 
Alexander thought it was advisable to pursue with all 
his might ; and though his men and horses were already 
quite fatigued by the incessant severity of their labours, 
he nevertheless proceeded, and, travelling a long way all 
through the night and the next day till noon, arrived at 
a certain village, where th'ose who were leading Darius 
had encamped the day before. Hearing there that the 
barbarians had decided to continue their march by night, 
he inquired of the natives if they knew any shorter road 
to the fugitives. They said they did know one, but that 
it ran through a country which was desert through lack 
of water. He nevertheless ordered them to show him 
this way, and perceiving that the infantry could not keep 
up with him if he marched at full speed, he caused 500 
of the cavalry to dismount from, their horses j and select- 
ing the officers of the infantry and the best of the other 
foot-soldiers, he ordered them to mount the horses 
armed just as they were. He also directed Nicanor, the 
commander of the shield-bearing guards, and Attains, 
commander of the Agrianians, to lead their men who 
were left behind, by the same route which Bessus had 
taken, having equipped them as lightly as possible ; and 
he ordered that the rest of the infantry should follow in 
regular marching order. He himself began to march 
in the afternoon, and led the way with great rapidity.^ 

' Plutarch {Alex., 42) says that Alexander rode 3,300 stades, or about 



Reflections on the Fate of Darius. 185 

Having travelled 400 stades in the night, he came upon 
the barbarians just before daybreak, going along without 
any order and unarmed ; so that few of them rushed to 
defend themselves, but most of them, as soon as they saw 
Alexander himself, took to flight without even coming 
to blows. A few of those who turned to resist being 
killed, the rest of these also took to flight. Up to this 
time BessQS and his adherents were still conveying 
Darius with them in a covered carriage; but when'' 
Alexander was already close upon their heels Nabarzanes 
and Barsaentes wounded him and left him there, and 
with 600 horsemen took to flight. Darius died from his 
wounds soon after, before Alexander had seen him.^ 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Reflections on the Fate op Daeius. 

Aleiandee sent the body of Darius into Persis, with 
orders that it should be buried in the royal sepulchre, in 
the same way as the other Persian kings before him 
had been buried.^ He then proclaimed Amminaspes, a 
Parthian, viceroy over the Parthians and Hyrcanians. 
This man was one of those who with Mazaces had sur- 
rendered Egypt to Alexander. He also appointed Tle- 
polemus, son of Pythophanes, one of the Companions, 
to guard his interests in Parthia and Hyrcania. Such 
was the end of Darius, in the archonship of Aristophon 
at Athens, in the month Hecatombaion.* This king was 

400 miles, in eleven days. In the next chapter he says that only sixty 
of his men were able to keep up with him in the pursuit. 

' Curtius (v. 2t-38) gives very ample details of what occurred during 
the last days of Darius. Cf. Diodorus (xvii. 73) ; Justin (xi. 15). 

2 The Persian kings were buried at Persepolis. See Diodorus, xvii. 71. 
Plutarch (Alex., 43) says that Alexander sent the corpse of Darius to his 
mother. 

3 In the year B.C. 330, the first of Hecatombaion fell on the first of 
July. 



186 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

a man pre-eminently effeminate and lacking in self- 
reliance in military enterprises; but as to civil matters 
he never exhibited any disposition to indulge in arbitrary 
conduct; nor indeed was it in his power to exhibit it. 
For it happened that he was involved in a war with the 
Macedonians and Greeks at the very time he succeeded 
to the regal power'; and consequently it was no longer 
possible for him to act the tyrant towards his subjectSj 
even if he had been so inclined, standing as he did in 
greaiter danger than they. As long as he lived, one 
misfortune after another was accumulated upon him ; nor 
did he experience any cessation of calamity from the 
time when he first succeeded to the rule. At the begin- 
ning of his reign the cavalry defeat was sustained by 
his viceroys at the Granicus, and forthwith Ionia 
Aeolis, both the Phrygias, Lydia, and all Caria* except 
Halicarnassus were occupied by his foe; soon after, 
Halicarnassus also was captured, as well as all the littoral 
as far as Gilicia. Then came his own discomfiture at 
Issus, where he saw his mother, wife, and children taken 
prisoners. Upon this Phoenicia and the whole of Egypt 
were lost ; and then at Arbela he himself fled disgrace- 
fully among the first, and lost a very vast army composed 
of all the nations of his empire. After this, wandering 
as an exile from his own dominions, he died after being 



' Darius came to the throne B.o. 336. 

2 In 2 Kings xi. 4, 19 the word translated captains in our Bible is 
Garim, the Carians. These men formed the body-guard of the usurper 
AthaUah, who stood in need of foreign mercenaries. Dayid had a body- 
guard of Philistines and Cretans. The Carians served as mercenaries 
throughout the ancient world, as we learn from Thucydides, i. 8 ; Herodotus, 
i. 171 ; ii. 162 ; T. Ill ; Strabo, xiv. 2. The Lydians appear in the Bible 
under the name of Lud (Isa. Ixvi. 19). Herodotxui (i. 94) gives an ac- 
count of the colonization of Umbria by the Lydians, from which sprung 
the state of the Etruscans. Hence Vergil {Aeneid, ii. 782) speaks of the 
" Lydius Tybris." See also Aeneid, viii. 479; Horace {Satires, i. 6, 1) ; 
Tacitus (Annals, iy. 55) ; Dionysius {Archaeologia Bomana, i. 28). 



Expedition into : By rcania, 187 

betrayed by his personal attendants to the worst treat- 
ment possiblSj being at the same time king and a prisoner 
ignominiously led in chains ; and at last he perished 
through a conspiracy formed of those most intimately 
acquainted with him. Such were the misfortunes that 
befell Darius in his life-time; but after his death he 
received a royal burial ; his children received from 
Alexander a princely rearing and edncation, just as if 
their father had still been king ; and Alexander himself 
became his son-in-law.^ When he died he was about 
fifty years of age. 



CHAPTEB XXIII. 

Expedition into Htrcania. 

Alexander now took the soldiers who had been left 
behind in his pursuit and advanced into Hyrcania/ which 
is the country lying on the left of the road leading to 
Bactra.* On one side it is bounded by lofty mountains 
densely covered with wood, and on the other it is a plain 
stretching as far as the Great Sea* in this part of the 
world. He led his army by this route, because he 
ascertained that the Grecian mercenaries serving under 
Darius had succeeded in escaping by it into the moun- 
tains of Tapuria j at the same time he resolved to subdue 
the Tapurians themselves. Having divided his army 
into three parts, he himself led the way by the shortest 
and most difiicult route, at the head of the most numer- 
ous and at the same time the lightest division of his 

1 He married Barsine, eldest daughter of Darius (Arrian, vii. 4 infra). 
She was also called Arsinoe and Stateira. 

' According to Gurtius (vi. 6-10) the soldiers were very desirous of 
returning home ; but Alexander made an harangue and induced them to 
advance into Hyrcania. 

' The modern Batkh. 

■* The Caspian. 



188 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

forces. He despatolied Oraterus at the head of his own 
brigade and that of Amyntas, some of the archers, and 
a few of the cavalry against the Tapurians ; and he 
ordered Erigyius to take the Grecian mercenaries and 
the rest of the cavalry, and lead the way by the public 
thoroughfare, though it was longer, conducting the 
waggons, the baggage, and the crowd of camp-followers. 
After crossing the first mountains, and encamping there, 
he took the shield-bearing guards together with the 
lightest men in the Macedonian phalanx and some of 
the archers, and went along a road difficult and hard to 
travel upon, leaving guards for the roads wherever he 
thought there was any peril, so that the barbarians who 
held the mountains might not at those points fall upon 
the men who were following. Having passed through 
the defiles with his archers, he encamped in the plain 
near a small river ^ ; and while he was here, Nabarzanes, 
the commander of Darius's cavalry, Phrataphernes, the 
viceroy of Hyrcania and Parthia, and the other most 
distinguished of the Persians in attendance on Darius, 
arrived and surrendered themselves. After waiting four 
days in the camp, he took up those who had been left 
behind on the march, all of them advancing in safety 
except the Agrianians, who, while guarding the rear, 
were attacked by the barbarian mountaineers. But these 
soon drew off when they got the worst of it in the 
skirmish. Starting from this place, he advanced into 
Hyrcania as far as Zadracarta, the capital of the Hyr- 
canians. In this place ^ he was rejoined by Oraterus, who 
had not succeeded in falling in with the Grecian mercen- 
aries of Darius J but he had thoroughly traversed the 
whole country, gaining over part of it by force and the 
other part by the voluntary capitulation of the inhabit- 

' Diodorus (xvii. 75) calls this river Stiboetis ; Cmtius (vi. 10) calls it 
Ziobetis. 
^ Kriiger has ivraCBa instead of ii/ roirip. 



Expedition Against the Mardians. 189 

ants. Brigyius also arrived here with the baggage and 
waggons ; and soon after Artabazus ^ came to Alexander 
with three of his sons, Cophen, Ariobarzanes, and 
Arsames, accompanied by Autophradates, viceroy of 
Tapuria, and envoys from the Grecian mercenaries in 
the service of Darius. To Autophradates he restored 
his viceregal oEBce ; but Artabazus and his sons he kepjfc 
near himself in a position of honour, both on account of 
their fidelity to Darius and because they were among 
the first nobles of Persia. To the envoys from^ the 
Greeks, begging him to make a truce with them on 
behalf of the whole mercenary force, he replied that he 
would not make any agreement with them ; because they 
were acting with great guilt in serving as soldiers on 
the side of the barbarians against Greece, in contraven- 
tion of the resolution of the Greeks. He commanded 
them to come in a body and surrender, leaving it to him 
to treat them as he pleased, or .to preserve themselves 
as best they could. The envoys said that they yielded 
both themselves and their comrades to Alexander, and 
urged him to send some one with them to act as their 
leader, so that they might be conducted to him with 
safety. They said they were 1,500 in nurober. Accord- 
ingly he sent Andronicus, son of Agerrhus, and Artabazus 
to them. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Expedition against the Maedians. 

He then marched forward against the Mardians ^ taking 
with him the shield-bearing guards, the archers, the 



' Curtiui (vi. 14) says Artabazus had nine sons, one of whom, 
Pharnabazus, was th* admiral of the Persian fleet. See Arrian (ii. 1 ; 
ii. 2 ; iii. 2 supra). 

3 Cf. Curtius, yi. 16. 



190 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Agrianians, the brigades of Ooenus and Amyntas, half of 
the Companion cavalry, and the horse-lancers; for he had 
now a troop of horse-lancers. Traversing the greater 
part of the land of the Mardians, he killed many of them 
in their flight, some indeed having turned to defend 
themselves; and many were taken prisoners. No one 
for a long ' time had invaded their land in a hostile 
manner, not only on account of its ruggedness, but also 
because the people were poor, and besides being poor 
were warlike. Therefore they never feared that Alex- 
ander would attack them, especially as he had already 
advanced, further than their country. For this reason 
they were caught more easily off their guard. Many 
of them, however, escaped into the mountains, which 
in their land are very lofty and craggy, thinking that 
Alexander would not penetrate to these at any rate. 
But when he was approaching them even here, they sent 
envoys to surrender both the people and their land to 
him. He pardoned them, and appointed Autophradates, 
whom he had also recently placed over the Tapurians, 
viceroy over them. Returning to the camp, from which 
he had started to invade the country of the Mardians, he 
found that the Grecian mercenaries of Darius had arrived, 
accompanied by the envoys from the Lacedaemonians 
who were on an embassy to king Darius. The names 
of these men were, Callicratidas, Pausippus, Monimus, 
Onomas, and Dropides, a man from Athens. These were 
arrested and kept under guard; but he released the 
envoys from the Sinopeans,^ because these people had 
no share in the commonwealth of the Greeks; and as 
they were in subjection to the Persians, they did not 
seem to be doing anything unreasonable in going on an 
embassy to their own king. He also released the rest of 



' Sinope was a prosperous colony of Miletus on the Euziue. It is still 
called Sinoub. It was the birthplace of Diogenes. 



March to Bactra. ' 191 

the Greeks who were serving for pay with the Persians 
before the peace and alliance which had been made by 
the Greeks with the Macedonians. He likewise released 
Heraclides, the ambassador from the Ohalcedonians ^ to 
Darius. The rest he ordered to serve in his army for the 
same pay as they had received from the Persian king, 
putting them under the command of Andronicus, who 
had led them, and had evidently been taking prudent 
measures to save the lives of the men. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

March to Bactea. — Bbssus Aided by Satibaezanes. 

Hating settled these affairs, he marched to Zadracarta, 
the largest city of Hyrcania, where also was the seat of 
the Hyrcanian government. Tarrying here fifteen days, 
he offered sacrifice to the gods according to his custom, 
and celebrated a gymnastic contest, after which he 
began his march towards Parthiaj thence to the con- 
fines of Areia^ and to Susia, a city in that province, 
where Satibarzanes, the viceroy of the Areians, came to 
meet him. To this man he restored his viceregal dignity, 
and with him sent Anaxippus, one of the Companions, to 
whom he gave forty horse-lancers so that he might be 
able to station them as guards of the localities, in order 
that the Areians might not be injured by the army in 
its march through their land. At this time came to 
him some Persians, who informed him that Bessus had 
assumed the erect tiara ^ and was wearing the Persian 

' Chaloedon was a. colony of Megara, situated on the Propontia at the 
entrance of the Bosporus, nearly opposite Byzantium. 

'' Areia occupied -what is now the east part of Khorasan, and the west 
and north-west of Afghanistan. Susia is the modem Tus. 

' Compare the words of Tissaphernes to Clearohua (Xenophon, Ana- 
basis, ii. 6) : " Though the king is the only man who can wear the tiara 



192 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

dresa,^ calling himself Artaxerxes instead of Bessus, and 
asserting that he was king of Asia. They said he had 
in attendance upon him the Persians who had escaped 
into Bactra and many of the Bactrians themselves ; and 
that he was expecting the Scythians also to come to him 
as allies. Alexander, having now all his forces together, 
went towards Bactra, where Philip son of Menelaiis came 
to him out of Media with the Greek mercenary cavalry 
which were under his own command, those of the Thes- 
salians who had volunteered to remain, and the men of 
Andromachus. Nicauor, the son of Parmenio, the com- 
mander of the shield-bearing guards, had already died 
of disease. While Alexander was on his way to Bactra, 
he was informed that Satibarzanes, viceroy of Areia, had 
killed Anaxippus and the horse-lancers who were with 
him, had armed the Areians and collected them in the 
city of Artacoana, which was the capital of that nation. 
It was also said that he had resolved, as soon as he 
ascertained that Alexander had advanced, to leave that 
place and go with his forces to Bessus, with the in- 
tention of joining that prince in an attack upon the 
Macedonians, wherever a chance might occur. When 
he received this news, he stopped the march towards 
Bactra, and taking with him the Companion cavalry, the 
horse-lancers, the archers, the Agrianians and the regi- 
ments of Amyntas and C.oenus, and leaving the rest of 



erect upon his head, I shall be able to wear mine erect upon my heart in , 
full confidence, when you are in my service." Of. Curtius (iii. 8) ; Aris- 
tophanes (Birds, 487). The cap of the ordinary Persians was low, loose, 
and clinging about the head in folds ; whereas that of the king was high 
and erect above the head. From Xenophon {Cyropaedia, viii. 3, 13) we 
learn that the Persian king's, vest was of a purple colour, half mixed with 
white, and that no one else was allowed to wear this mixture of white. 
He had loose trousers of a scarlet colour, and a robe entirely piurple. Cf. 
also Strdbo (xv. 3), where the tiara is said to be in the shape of a tower ; 
and Seneca (De Benejiciis, vi. 31) ; Ammianus, xvui. 8, 5. 
1 See Xenophon (Anab., i. 2, 27 ; Cyropaedia, viii. 3) ; Curtius (iii. 8). 



Philotas and Parmenio put to Death. 193 

his forces there under the command of Craterus, he 
made a forced march against Satibarzanes and the 
Areians ; and having travelled 600 stades in two days 
came near Artacoana. Satibarzanes, however, no sooner 
perceived that Alexander was near, than being struck 
with terror at the quickness of his arrival, he took to 
flight with a few Areian horsemen. For he was deserted 
by the majority of his soldiers in his flight, when they 
also learned that Alexander was at hand. The latter 
made rapid marches in pursuit of the enemy, killed some 
of the men whom he discovered to be guilty of the revolt 
and who at that time had left their villages, fleeing, some 
one way, some another; and others of them he sold into 
slavery. He then proclaimed Arsames, a Persian, viceroy 
over the Areians. Being now joined by the men who 
had been left behind with Oraterus, he marched into the 
land of the Zarangaeans,^ and reached the place where 
their seat of government was. But Barsaentes, who at 
that time had possession of the land, being one of those 
who had fallen upon Darius in his flight, learning that 
Alexander was approaching, fled to the Indians who live 
this side of the river Indus. But they arrested him and 
sent him back to Alexander, by whom he was put to 
death on account of his guilty conduct towards Darius. 



OHAPTBE XXVI. 
Philotas and Paemenio put to Death. 
Here also Alexander discovered the conspiracy of 
Philotas, soti of Parmenio. Ptolemy and Aristobiilus 
say that it had already been reported to him before in 
Egypt^ ; but that it did not appear to him credible, both 

' These people are also called Drangians. Theylivedwest of Aiaohosia 
in Diangiana. 

" Aecording to Plutarch (Alex., 48, 49) Alexander suborned Antigone, 
the mistress oi Philotas, to reveal his secret conversation. 





194 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

on account of the long- existing friendsliip between them, 
the honour which he publicly conferred upon his father 
Parmenio, and the .confidence he reposed in Philotaa 
himself. Ptolemy, son of Lagns,, says that Philotas was 
brought before the MacedonianSj^ that Alexander ve- 
hemently accused him, and that he defended himself 
from the charges. He says also that the divulgfers* of 
the plot came forward and convicted him and his accom- 
plices both by other clear proofs and especially because 
Philotas himself confessed that he had heard of a certain 
conspiracy which was being formed against Alexander. 
He was convicted of having said nothing to the king 
about this plot, though he visited the royal tent twice a 
day.® He and all the others who had taken part with 
him in the conspiracy were killed by the Macedonians 
with their javelins :* and Polydamas, one of the Com- 
panions, was despatched to Parmenio, carrying letters 
from Alexander to the generals in Media, Oleander, 
Sitalces, and Menidas, who had been placed over the 
army commanded by Parmenio. By these men Parmenio 
was put to death, perhaps because Alexander deemed it 
incredible that Philotas should conspire against him and 
Parmenio not participate in his son's plan ; or perhaps, 
he thought that even if he had no share in it, he would 
now be a dangerous man if he survived, after the king 
had violently made away with his son. Moreover he was 
held in very great respect both by Alexander himself 
and by all the army, having great influence not only 
among the Macedonian troops but also among the 



1 Of. Gurtim, yi. 32. 

" The word iiri/itivvr-^s is found nowhere else in any Greek anther. 

' Full details of the conspiracy and trial of Philotas are given hy 
Curtius (vi. 25-44). 

* Arrian says nothing about Philotas being put to the torture ; but 
this fast is asserted with ample details by Plutarch {Alex., 49) ; Diodorut 
(xvii. 80) ; Curtive (vi. 42, 43) ; and JusHn (xii. 5). 



Treatment of Amyntas. 195 

Grecian auxiliaries, whom lie often used to command 
according to Alexander's order, both in his own turn and 
out of his turn, with his sovereign's approbation and 
satisfaction.^ 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Teeatment of AmrNTAs. — The Aeiaspians. 

They also say that about the same time Amyntas, son 
of Andromenes, was brought to trial, together with his 
brothers Polemo, Attains, and Simmias, on the charge 
of being accessory to the conspiracy against Alexander, 
on account of their trust in Philotas and their intimate 
friendship with him. The belief in their participation 
in the plot was strengthened among the mass of men by 
the fact that when Philotas was arrested, Polemo, one 
of the brothers of Amyntas, fled to the enemy. But 
Amyntas with his other two brothers stayed to await 
the trial, and defended himself so vigorously among the 
Macedonians that he was declared innocent of the charge. 
As soon as he was acquitted in the assembly, he de- 
manded that permission should be given him to go to 
his brother and bring him back to Alexander. To this 
the Macedonians acceded ; so he went away and on the 
same day brought Polemo back. On this account he 
now seemed free from guilt much more than ' before. 
But soon after, as he was besieging a certain village, he 
was shot with an arrow and died of the wound; so that 
he derived no other advantage from his acquittal except 
that of dying with an unsullied reputation.^ 

Alexander appointed two commanders over the Com- 
panion cavalry, Hephaestion, son of Amyntor, and Clitus, 

' Pull partioulars of the murder of Parmenio are given by Ourtius 
(vii. 7-9). 
" For the trial of Amyntas, of. Curtius, vii. 2-6. 



196 Ths Anabasis of Alexander. 

son of Dropidas, diYiding the brigade of the Companions 
into two parts, because he did not wish any one of his 
friends to have the sole command of so many horsemen, 
especially as they were the best of all his cavalry, both 
in public estimation and in martial discipline.-' He 
now arrived in the land of the people formerly called 
Ariaspians, but afterwards named Euergetae, because 
they assisted Cyrus, son of Oambyses, in his invasion of 
Scythia.' Alexander treated these people, whose an- 
cestors had been serviceable to Cyrus, with honour ; and 
when he ascertained that the men not only enjoyed a form 
of government unlike that of the other barbarians in that 
part of the world, but laid claim to justice equally with 
the best of the Greeks, he set them free, and gave them 
besides as much of the adjacent country as they asked 
for themselves ; but they did not ask for much. Here 
he offered sacrifice to Apollo, and arrested Demetrius, 
one of his confidential b6dy-guards, on suspicion of 
having been implicated with Philotas in the conspiracy. 
Ptolemy, son of Lagus, was appointed to the post vacated 
by Demetrius. 

CHAPTER XXYIII. 

Alexander Grosses the Hindu-Koosh. 

After the transaction of this business, he advanced 
against Bactra and Bessus, reducing the Drangians and 
Gadrosians' to subjection on his march. He also re- 

* Alexander also formed a separate ooliort of the men who were pro- 
nounced sympathisers with Parmenio, and this cohort afterwards greatly 
distinguished itself. See Biodorus, xvii. 80 ; Curtius, vii. 10 ; Justin, 
xii. 5. 

' The Ariaspians inhabited the south part of Drangiana on the bor- 
ders of Gadrosia. The river Etymander, now known as the Hilmend, 
flowed through their territories. Cf. Curtius, yii. 11 ; Biodorus, xvii. 81. 

' Gadrosia was the furthest province of the Persian empire on the 
south-east It comprised the south-east part of Beloochistan. 



Alexander Crosses the Hindu-Eoosh. 197 

duced the Arachotians to subjection and appointed 
Menon viceroy over them. He then reached the Indians, 
who inhabit the land bordering on that of the Aracho- 
tians. All these nations he reached marching through 
deep snow and his soldiers experiencing scarcity of pro- 
visions and severe hardship. Learning that the Areians 
had again revolted, in consequence of Satibarzanes in- 
vading their land with 2,000 cavalry, which he had 
received from Bessus, he despatched against them Arta- 
bazus the Persian with Erigyius and Caranus two of the 
Companions, also ordering Phrataphernea, viceroy of the 
Parthians, to assist them in attacking the Areians. An 
obstinately contested battle then took place between the 
troops of Erigyius and Caranus and those of Satibarzanes ; 
nor did the barbarians give way until Satibarzanes, en- 
countering Erigyius, was struck in the face with a spear 
and killed. Then the barbarians gave way and fled with 
headlong speed. 

Meantime Alexander was leading his army towards 
Mount Caucasus,^ where he founded a city and named it 
Alexandreia.^ Having offered sacrifice here to the gods 
to whom it was his custom to sacrifice, he crossed Mount 
Caucasus, after appointing Proexes, a Persian, viceroy 
over the land, and leaving Neiloxenus son of Satyrus, 
one of the Companions, with an army as superintendent. 
According to the account of Aristobulus, Mount Caucasus 
is as lofty as any in Asia, and most of it is bare, at any 
rate in that part where Alexander crossed it. This 
range of mountains stretches out so far that they say 
even that Mount Taurus, which forms the boundary of 
Cilicia and Pamphylia, springs from it, as do other great 

1 This was not the range usually so called, but what was known as 
the Indian Caucasus, the proper name being Paropanisus. It is now 
called Hindu-Koosh. 

' This city was probably on the site of Beghram, twenty-fiye miles 
north-east of Cabul. See Grote's Greece, vol. xii. oh. 94. 



198 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

ranges which have been distinguished from the Caucasus 
by various names according to the position of each, 
Aristobulus says that in this part of the Caucasus nothing 
grew except terebinth trees and silphium ;^ notwith- 
standing which, it was inhabited by many people, and 
many sheep and oxen graze there; because sheep are 
very fond of silphium. For if a sheep smells it even 
from a distance, it runs to it and feeds upon the flower. 
They also dig up the root, which is devoured by the 
sheep. For this reason in Gyrene,^ some drive their 
flocks as far as possible away from the places where 
their silphium is growing; others even enclose the place 
with a fence, so that even if the sheep should approach 
it they would not be able to get within the enclosure. 
For the silphium is very valuable to the Cyrenaeans. 

Bessus, accompanied by the Persians who had taken 
part with him in the seizure of Darius, and by 7,000 of 
the Bactrians themselves and the Daans who dwelt on 
this side the Tanais,* was laying waste the country at the 
foot of Mount Caucasus, in order to prevent Alexander 
from marching any further, both by the desolation of the 
land between the enemy and himself and by the lack of 
provisions. But none the less did Alexander keep up 
the march, though with difficulty, both on account of 
the deep snow and from the want of necessaries; but 
yet he persevered in his journey. When Bessus was 
informed that Alexander was now not far off, he crossed 



1 There are two kinds of silphium oi laserpitium, the Cyrenaic, and 
the Persian. The latter is usually called asafoetida. See Herodotus 
(iv. 169) ; Pliny (Ristoria Naturalis, xix. 15 ; xxiii. 48) ; Aelian (Varia 
Sistoria, xii. 37) ; Aristophanes (Plutus, 925) ; Plautus {Eud., iii. 2, 16) ; 
Catullus (vii. laserpitiferis Gyrenis). 

" Gyrene was a colony founded by Battus from Thera, an island colo- 
nized by the Spartans. The territory of Gyrenaica is now a part of 
Tripoli. Gf. Pindar (Pt/fh., iv. 457) ; Herodotus (iv. 159-205) 

^ This Tanais was usually called Jaxartes, now Sir, flowing into the 
sea of Aral. 



Conquest of Bactrim. ' 199 

the river Oxus,^ and having burnt the boats upon which 
he had crossed, he withdrew to Nautaca* in the land of 
Sogdiana. He was followed by Spitamenes and Oxyartes, 
with the cavalry from Sogdiana, as well as by the Daans 
from the Tanais. But the Bactrian cavalry, perceiving 
that , Bessus had resolved to take to flight, all dispersed 
in various directions to their own abodes. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Conquest of Bactria, and PuitsuiT of Bessus across 
THE Oxus. 

Alexander now arrived at Drapsaca, and having there 
given his army a rest, he marched to Aornus and Bactra, 
which are the largest cities in the land of the Bactrians. 
These he took at the first assault ; and left a garrison 
in the citadel of Aornus, over which he placed Archelaiis 
son of Androcles, one of the Companions. He appointed 
Artabazus the Persian, viceroy over the rest of the 
Bactrians, who were easily reduced to submission. Then 
he marched towards the river Oxus, which flows from 
mount Caucasus, and is the largest of all the rivers in 
Asia which Alexander and his army reached, except the 
Indian rivers ; but the Indian rivers are the largest in 
the world. The Oxus discharges its water into the great 
sea which is near Hyrcania. When he attempted to 
cross the river It appeared altogether impassable; for 
its breadth was about six stades, and its depth was much 
greater than the proportion of its breadth. The bed of 
the river was sandy, and the stream so rapid, that stakes 
fixed deep into the bottom were easily rooted up from 

^ The Oxus, now called Jihoun or Amou, flows into the sea of Aral, 
but formerly flowed into the Caspian. 

^ Some think this town stood where Naksheh now is, and others think 
it was at Kesch. 



200 The Anahasis of Alexander. 

the earth by the mere force of the current, inasmuch as 
they could not be securely fixed in the sand. Besides 
this, there was a scarcity of timber in the locality, and 
he thought it would take a long time and cause great 
delay, if they brought from a distance the materials 
needful for making a bridge over the river. Therefore 
he collected the skins which the soldiers used for tent- 
coverings, and ordered them to be filled with chaff as 
dry as possible, and tied and stitched tightly together, 
so that the water might not penetrate into them.^ When 
these were filled and stitched together, they were sufiB- 
cient to convey the army across in five days. But 
before he crossed the river, he selected the oldest of the 
Macedonians, who were now unfit for military service, 
and such of the Thessalians as had volunteered to remain 
in the aripy, and sent them back home. He then dis- 
patched Stasanor, one 6f the Companions, into the land 
of the Areians, with instructions to arrest Arsames, the 
viceroy of that people, because he thought him dis- 
affected, and to assume the office of viceroy of Areia 
himself. 

After passing over the river Oxus, he made a forced 
march to the place where he heard that Bessus was with 
his forces ; but at this time messengers reached him from 
Spitamenes and Dataphernes, to announce that they 
would arrest Bessus and hand him over to Alexander 
if he would send to them a small army and a commander 
for it j since even at that very time they were holding 
him under guard, though they had not bound him with 
fetters. When Alexander heard this, he gave his army 
rest, and marched more slowly than before. But he 
despatched Ptolemy, son of Lagus, at the head of three 
troops of the Companion cavalry and all the horse-lancers, 
and of the infantry, the brigade of Philotas, one regiment 

' Cf. Xenophon, Anab., i. 5, 10. 



Capture of Bessus. 201 

of. 1,000 shield-bearing guards, all the Agrianians, and 
half the archers, with orders to make a forced march to 
Spitamenes and Dataphernes. Ptolemy went according 
to his instructions,, and completing ten days' march in 
four days, arrived at the camp where on the preceding 
day the barbarians under Spitamenes had bivouacked. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

OaPTUEE op BESSrS.^ExPLOITS IN SOGDIANA. 

Here Ptolemy learned that Spitamenes and Dataphernes 
were not firmly resolved about the betrayal of Bessus. 
He therefore left the infantry behind with orders to 
follow him in regular order, and advanced with the 
cavalry till he arrived at a certain village, where Bessus 
was with a few soldiers j for Spitamenes and his party 
had already retired from thence, being ashamed to 
betray Bessus themselves. Ptolemy posted his cavalry 
right round the village, which was enclosed by a wall 
supplied with gates. He then issued a proclamation to 
the barbarians in the village, that they would be allowed 
to depart uninjured if they surrendered Bessus to him. 
They accordingly admitted Ptolemy and his men into 
the village. He then seized Bessus and departed ; but 
sent a messenger on before to ask Alexander how he 
was to conduct Bessus into his presence. Alexander 
ordered him to bind the prisoner naked in a wooden 
collar, and thus to lead him and place him on the right- 
hand side of the road along which he was about to 
march with the army. Thus did Ptolemy. When 
Alexander saw Bessus, he caused his chariot to stop, 
and asked him, for what reason he had in the first place 
arrested Darius, his own king, who was also his kinsman 
and benefactor, and then led him as a prisoner in chains, 
and at last killed him ? Bessus said that he was not the 



202 The Anabasis of Alexander, 

only person wlio had decided to do this, but that it was 
the joint act of those who were at the time in attendance 
upon Darius, with the view of procuring safety for them- 
selves from Alexander. For this Alexander ordered that 
he should be scourged, and that the herald should repeat 
the very same reproaches which he had himself made 
to Bessus in his inquiry. After being thus disgracefully 
tortured, he was sent away to Bactra to be put to death. 
Such is the account given by Ptolemy in relation to 
Bessus ; but Aristobulus says that Spitamenes and Data- 
phernes brought Bessus to Ptolemy, and having bound 
him naked in a wooden collar betrayed him to Alexander.^ 
Alexander supplied his cavalry with horses from that 
district, for many of his own horses had perished in the 
passage of the Caucasus and in the march to and from the 
Oxus. He then led his army to Maracanda,^ which is 
the capital of the land of the Sogdianians. Thence he 
advanced to the river Tanais. This river, which Aris- 
tobulus says the neighbouring barbarians call by a 
different name, Jaxartes, has its source, like the Oxus, 
in mount Caucasus, and also discharges itself into the 
Hyrcanian Sea.'^ It must be a different Tanais from that 
of which Herodotus the historian speaks, saying that it 
is the eighth of the Scythian rivers, that it flows out 
of a great lake in which it originates, and discharges 
itself into a still larger lake, called the Maeotis.* There 
are some who make this Tanais the boundary of Europe 



1 Curtius (vii. 24) follows the aoconnt of Aristobulus, and so does 
Diodorm (xvii. 83) in the main. Cf. Aelian [Varia Historia, xii. 37). 

^ The modern Samaroand. 

8 Arriau and Strabo are wrong in stating that the J&,xartea rises in the 
Caucasus, or Hiudu-Koosh. It springs from the Comedae Montes, now 
called Moussour. It does not flow into the Hyrcanian, or Caspian Sea 
but into the Sea of Aral. It is about 900 miles long. 

■* The river Tanais, of which Herodotus speaks (iv. 45, 57), is the Don ; 
and the Lake Maeotis, is the Sea of Azov. Cf. Strabo (vii. cc. 3 and 4). 



Exploits in Sogdiana. 203 

and Asia, saying that the Palus Maeotis> 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 (<m with the 
infinitive. Cf. Arrian, ii. 1, 3 ; v. 16, 1. 

' See Bk. iii. ch. 29 supra. ° See Bk. iii. eh. 19 stpra. 



Treatment of Bessus. 217 

the money sent with Menes.^ At this time also arrived 
Asander and Nearchus at the head of an army of Grecian 
mercenaries.^ Asclepiodorus, viceroy of Syria, and Menes 
the dqputy also arrived from the sea, at the head of 
another ariily. Then Alexander gathered a conference 
of those who were then at hand, and led Bessus in before 
them. Having accused hitn of the betrayal of Darius, he 
ordered his nose and ears to be cut off, and that he 
should be taken to Ecbatana to be put to death there in 
the council of the Medes and Persians.* I do not com- 
mend this excessive punishment; on the contrary, I 
consider that the mutilation of the prominent features of 
the body is a barbaric * custom, and I agree with those 
who say that Alexander was induced to indulge his 
desire of emulating the Median and Persian wealth and 
to treat his subjects as inferior beings according to the 
custoni of the foreign kings. Nor do I by any means 
commend him for changing the Macedonian style of dress 
which his fathers had adopted, for the Median one,^ being 
as he was a descendant of Heracles.® Besides, he was not 

1 See Bk. iii. ch. 16 supra. 

' Curtim (vii. 40) says that the reinforcement was 19,000 men. 

' Cf. Plutarch (Alex., 43) ; Diodorus (xvii. 83). * I.e. non-Hellenic. 

* Cf. biodorus, xvii. 77 ; Justin., xii. 3. We learn from Plutarch (Alex., 
45), that he did not assume the tiaia of the Persian kings. Cf. Arrian, 
vii. 9 ; vii. 29 infra. The Medio robe was a long silken garment reaching 
to the feet, and falling round the body in many deep folds. 

^ Caranus, a descendant of Temenus, king of Argos, is said to have 
settled in Macedonia, and to have become the founder of the dynasty of 
Macedonian kings. Temenus was a descendant of Heracles. Cf. ii. 5 ; 
iv. 10. One of the chief causes of disgust which the Greeks felt at the 
conduct of Pausanias, the conqueror at Plataea, was, that he adopted the 
Persian attire. " This pedigree from Temenus and Hercules may be 
suspicious ; yet it was allowed, after a strict inquiry by the judges of the 
Olympic games (Herodotus, v. 22), at a time when the Macedonian kings 
were obscure and unpopular in Greece. When the Achaean league de- 
clared against PhUip, it was thought decent that the deputies of Argos 
should retire (T. Liv., xxxii. 22)."— Gibbon. Cf. Herodotus, viii. 137 ; 
Thucydides, ii. 99, 100 ; v. 80. 



218 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

ashamed to exchange the head-dress which he the con- 
queror had so long worn, for that of the conquered 
Persians. None of these things do I commend ; but I 
consider Alexander's great achievements prove, if any- 
thing can, that supposing a man to have a vigorous bodily- 
constitution, to be illustrious in descent, and to be even 
more successful in war than Alexander himself; even 
supposing he could sail right round Libya as well as Asia, 
and hold them both in subjection as Alexander indeed 
designed ; even if he could add the possession of Europe 
to that of Asia and Libya ; all these things would be no 
furtherance to such a man's happiness, unless at the same 
time he possess the power of self-control, though he has 
performed the great deeds which have been supposed. 



CHAPTER Vin. 

The Mukdee of Olitus. 

Here also I shall give an account of the tragic fate of 
Clitus, son of Dropidas, and of Alexander's mishap in 
regard to it. Though it occurred a little while after 
this, it will not be out place here. The Macedonians 
kept a day sacred to Dionysus, and on that day Alexander 
used to offer sacrifice to him every year. But they say 
that on this occasion he was neglectful of Dionysus,^ and 
sacrificed to the Diosciiri'' instead ; for he had resolved 
to offer sacrifice to those deities for some reason or other. 
When the drinking-party on this occasion had already 
gone on too long (for Alexander had now made innova- 
tions even in regard to drinking, by imitating the custom 
of foreigners), and in the midst of the carouse a discus- 
sion had arisen about the Dioscuri, how their procreation 

' Of. Curtius, viii. 6. 

' The sons of Jove, Castor and Pollux. i'irt4>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<n\ 
imvToin SX]7 aiaua,. 

2 The other names of Dionysus were : Bacchus, Bromius, Evius, 
lacchus, Lenaeus, Lyaens. The Bomans called him Liber. 

^ Curtius (viii. 36) says that the Macedonians celebrated Bacchanalia 
for the space of ten days on this mountain. 

^ The 1st aor. pass. i(rx^6iiv is found only in Arrian and Plutarch. 
Cf. vii. 22, 2 infra. 



Passage of the Indus. 269 

CHAPTER III. 

Inceedulitt of Eratosthenes. — Passage op the Indus. 
Ant one who receives these stories may believe or dis- 
believe them as he pleases. But I do not altogether 
agree with Eratosthenes the Cyrenaean,-^ who says that 
everything which was attidbuted to the divine agency by 
the Macedonians was really said to gratify Alexander by 
their excessive eulogy. For he says that the Macedon- 
ians, seeing a cavern in the land of the Para^amisadians,^ 
and hearing a certain legend which was current among 
the natives, or themselves forming a conjecture, spread 
the report that this forsooth was the cave where Pro- 
metheus had been bound, that an eagle frequented it 
to feast on his inward parts, that when Heracles arrived 
there he killed the eagle and set Prometheus free from 
his bonds. He also says that by their account the 
Macedonians transferred Mount Caucasus from the 
Euxine Sea to the eastern parts of the earth, and the 
land of the Parapamisadians to that of the Indians ; * 
calling what was really Mount Parapaniisus by the name 
of Caucasus, in order to enhance Alexander's glory, 
seeing that he forsooth had gone over the Caucasus. 
He adds, that when they saw in India itself some oxen 
marked with the brand of a club, they concluded from 
this that Heracles had penetrated into India. Eratos- 
thenes also disbelieves the similar tale of the wandering 
of Dionysus. Let me leave the stories about these 
matters undecided as far as I am concerned. 

When Alexander arrived at the river Indus, he found 
a bridge made over it by Hephaestion, and two thirty- 

' The celebrated Geographer and Mathematician, who was born b.o. 
276 and died about B.C. 196. His principal work was one on geography, 
which was of great use to Strabo. None of his works are extant. He 
was made president of the Alexandrian library, b.o. 236. 

2 Of. Arrian (Indica, v. 11). 

' The earliest mention of India which has descended to our times is in 
Aeschylus (Suj)pHce«, 284). 



270 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

oared galleys, besides many smaller craft.^ He more- 
over found that 200 talents of silver/ 3,000 oxen, above 
10,000 sbeep for sacrificial victims, and thirty elephants 
had arrived as gifts from Taxiles the Indian ; 700 Indian 
horsemen also arrived from Taxiles as a reinforcement, 
and that prince sent word that he would surrender to 
him the city of Taxila,* the largest town between the 
rivers Indus and Hydaspes.* Alexander there offered 
sacrifice to the gods to whom he was in the habit of 
sacrificing, and celebrated a gymnastic and horse contest 
near the river. The sacrifices were favourable to his 
crossing. 

CHAPTER IV. 

DlQEESSION ABOUT InDIA. 

The following are statements about the river Indus 
which are quite unquestionable, and therefore let me 
record them. The Indus is the largest of all the rivers 
in Asia and Europe, except the Ganges,^ which is also 
an Indian river. It takes its rise on this side mount 
Parapamisus, or Caucasus, and discharges its water into 
the Great Sea which lies near India in the direction of 
the south wind. It has two mouths, both of which 
outlets are full of shallow pools like the fi.ve outlets of 
the Ister (or Danube).* It forms a Delta in the land of 

' Arrian frequently uses the louio and old Attic word, <rfuKp6s. 

^ About £480,000. 

' Alexander probably crossed the Indus near Attock. The exact site 
of Taxila cannot be fixed. 

^ The Hydaspes is now called Jelnm, one of the five great tributaries 
of the Indus. 

' Herodotus considered the Danube the largest river in the world as 
known to him, and the Dnieper the largest of aU rivers except the 
Danube and the Nile. See Herodotus, iv. 48-53. 

' " Amnis Danubius sexaginta navigabiles paene recipiens fluvios, 
Beptem ostiis erumpit in mare. Quorum primum est Peuce insula supra 
dicta, ut interpretata sunt vocabula Graeco sermone, secundum Naracu- 



Digression about India. 271 

tlie Indians resembling that of Egypt i; and this is 
called Pattala in the Indian language. The Hydaspes, 
Acesines, Hydraotes, and Hyphasis are also Indian 
rivers/ and far exceed the other rivers of Asia in size ; 
but they are not only smaller but much smaller than the 
Indus, just as that river itself is smaller than the Ganges. 
Indeed Ctesias^ says (if any one thinks his evidence to be 
depended upon), that where the Indus is narrowest, its 
banks are forty stades apart; where it is broadest, 100 
stades ; and most of it is the mean between these 
breadths.* This river Indus Alexander crossed at day- 
break with his army into the country of the Indians ; 
concerning whom, in this history I have described 
neither what laws they enjoy, nor what strange animals 
their land produces, nor how many and what sort of fish 
and water-monsters are produced by the Indus, Hydas- 
pes. Granges, or the other rivers of India. Nor have I 
described the ants which dig up the gold for them,' nor 
the guardian griffins, nor any of the other tales that have 
been composed rather to amuse than to be received as 

stoma, tertium Calonstoma, quartum Pseudostoma : nam Boreonatoma 
ae deinde Sthenostoma longe minora sunt caeteris : septimmn ingens te 
palustri specie nigrum." — Ammianus (xxii. 8, 44). Pliny (iv. 24) says 
that the Danube has six mouths, the names of which he gives. 

' The Indus does not rise in the Parapamisus, but in the Himalayas. 
It has two principal mouths, but there are a number of smaller ones. 
Ptolemy said there were seven. The Delta is between 70 and 80 miles 
broad. " Delta, a triquetrae Utterae forma hoc vocabulo signatius 
adpeUata." — Ammianus, xxii. 15. 

^ The territory included by the Indus and its four affluents is now 
called Punjab, a Persian word raeardng Jive rivers. 

' Ctesias was the Greek physician of Artaxerxes Mnemon. He wrote 
a history of Persia and a book on India. His works are only preserved 
in meagre abridgement by Photius. Aristotle says that he was false and 
untrustworthy {Hist, of Animals, vui. 27 ; De Generatione Animalium, 
ii. 2). Subsequent research has proved Ctesias to be wrong and Herodotus 
generally right in the many statements in which they are at variance. 

* The fact is, that the Indus is nowhere more than 20 stades, or 2i 
miles broad. 

' See Strabo, xv. 1 ; xvi. 4 ; Herod. , iii. 102, with Dean Blakesley's note. 



272 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

the relation of facts j since the falsity of the strange 
stories which have been fabricated about India cannot be 
exposed by any one.^ However, Alexander and those who 
served in his army exposed the falsity of most of these 
tales ; bnt there were even some of these very men who 
fabricated other stories. They proved that the Indians 
whom Alexander visited with his army, and he visited 
many tribes of them, were destitute of gold ; and also 
that they were by no means luxurious in their mode of 
living. Moreover, they discovered that they were tall in 
stature, in fact as tall as any men throughout Asia, most 
of them being five cubits in height, or a little less. They 
were blacker than the rest of men, except the Ethio- 
pians ^ ; and in war they were far the bravest of all 
the races inhabiting Asia at that time. For I cannot 
with any justice compare the race of the ancient Persians 
with those of India, though at the head of the former 
Cyrus, son of Cambyses, set out and deprived the Medes 
of the empire of Asia, and subdued many other races 
partly by force and partly by voluntary surrender on 
their own part. For at that time the Persians were a 
.poor people and inhabitants of a rugged land, having 
laws and customs very similar to the . Laconian disci- 
pline.* Nor am I able with certainty to conjecture 
whether the defeat sustained by the Persians in the 
Scythian land was due to the difficult nature of the 
country invaded or to some other error on the part of 
Cyrus, or whether the Persians were really inferior in 
warlike matters to the Scythians of that district. 



' ovSaii-dv is the Ionic form for oiMvuv. 

' The Greek name A.Wi.o<j/ means sun-burnt. The Hebrew name for 
Aethiopia is Gush (black). In ancient Egyptian inscriptions it is called 
Keesh. It is the country now called Abyssinia. Aethiopas vicini sideris 
vapore torreri, adustisque similes gigni, barba et capUlo vibrato, non est 
dubium. {Pliny, ii. 80). 

3 Cf. Xenophon (Cyiopaedia, vii. 5, 67). 



Mountains and Rivers of Asia. 273 

CHAPTER V. 

Mountains and Rivers op Asia. 
But of the Indians I shall treat in a distinct work,^ 
giving the most credible accounts which were compiled 
by those who accompanied Alexander in his expedition, 
as well as by Nearchus/ who sailed right round the Great 
Sea which is near India. Then I shall add what has been 
compiled by Megasthenes^ and Eratosthenes, two men 
of distinguished authority. I shall describe the customs 
peculiar to the Indians and the strange animals which 
are produced in the country, as well as the voyage itself 
in the external sea. But now let me describe so much 
only as appears to me sufficient to explain Alexander's 
achievements. Mount Taurus divides Asia, beginning 
from Mycale, the mountain which lies opposite the island 
of Samos; then, cutting through the country of the 
Pamphylians and Cilicians, it extends into Armenia. 
From this, country it stretches into Media and through the 
land of the Parthians and Chorasmians. In Bactria it 
unites with mount Parapamisus, which the Macedonians 
who served in Alexander's army called Caucasus, in order, 
as it is said, to enhance their king's glory ; asserting that 
he went even beyond the Caucasus with his victorious arms. 
Perhaps it is a fact that this mountain range is a con- 
tinuation of the other Caucasus in Scythia, as the Taurus* 
is of the same. For this reason I have on a previous 
occasion called this range Caucasus, and by the same 

' Called tlie Indica, a valuable little work in the Ionic dialect, still 
existing. ' Nearchus left an account of his voyage, which is 

not now extant. Arrian made use of it in writing the Indica. See 
that work, chapters xvii. to Ixiii. 

' Megasthenes was sent with the Plataean Deimachus, by Seleuous 
Nicator, the king of Syria and one of Alexander's generals, as ambas- 
sador to Saudraootus, king of the country near the Ganges. He wrote 
a very valuable account of India in four books. 

'' Taurus is from the old root tor meaning high, another form of which 
is dor. Hence Dorians =highlanders. 



274 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

name I shall continue to call it in the future. This 
Caucasus extends as far as the Great Sea which lies in 
the direction of India and the East. Of the rivers in 
Asia worth consideration which take their rise from the 
Taurus and Caucasus, some have their course turned 
towards the north, discharging themselves either into 
the lake Maeotis,^ or into the sea called Hyrcanian, 
which in reality is a gulf of the Great Sea.^ Others flow 
tcfwards the south, namely, the Euphrates, Tigres, Indus, 
Hydaspes, Acesines, Hydraotes, Hyphasis, and all those 
that lie between these and the river Ganges. All these 
either discharge their water into the sea, or disappear 
by pouring themselves out into marshes, as the river 
Euphrates ^ does. 

' CHAPTER VI. 

Geneeal Description of India. 

Whoever arranges the position of Asia in such a way 
that it is divided by the Taurus and the Caucasus from 
the west wind to the east wind, will find that these two 
very large divisions are made by the Taurus itself, one of 
which is inclined towards the south and the south wind, 
and the other towards the north and the north wind. 
Southern Asia again may he divid-ed into four parts, of 
which Eratosthenes and Megasthen«s make India the 

1 The ancient geographers thought that the Jaxartes bifurcated, part 
o£ it forming the Tanais, or Don, and flowing into the lake Maeotis, or 
Sea of Azov ; and the other part falling into the Hyrcanian, or Caspian 
Sea. The Jaxartes and Oxua flow into the Sea of Aral, but the ancients 
thought that they fell into the Caspian, as there is indeed evidence to 
prove that they once did. Hyrcania is the Greek form of the old 
Persian Virlc&na, that is Wolf's Land,. It is now called Gurg^n. 

^ Herodotus (i. 203) states decidedly that the Caspian is an inland sea. 
Straibo (xi. 1), following Eratosthenes, says that it is a gulf of the 
Northern Ocean. 

3 The Euphrates, after its junction with the Tigres, flows through the 
marshes of Lamlum, where its current moves less than a mile an hour. 



General Description of loidia. 275 

largest. The latter author lived with Sibyrtius,^ the 
viceroy of Arachosia^ and says that he frequently visited 
Sandracotus, king of the Indians.^ These authors say 
that the smallest of the four parts is that which is 
bounded by the river Euphrates and extends to our 
inland sea. The other two lying between the rivers 
Euphrates and Indus are scarcely worthy to be compared 
with India^ if they were joined together. They say that 
India is bounded towards the east and the east wind as 
far as the south by the Great Sea, towards the north by 
mount Caucasus, as far as its junction with the Taurus ; 
and that the river Indus cuts it off towards the west and 
the north-west wind, as far as the Great Sea. The 
greater part of it is a plain, which, as they conjecture, 
has been formed by the alluvial deposits of the rivers; 
just as the plains in the rest of the earth lying near the 
sea are for the most part due to the alluvial action of the 
rivers taken singly. Consequently, the names by which 
the countries are called were attached in ancient times 
to the rivers. For instance, a certain plain was called 
after the Hermus, which rises in the country of Asia 
from the mountain of Mother Dindymene,* and after 
flowing past the Aeolian city of Smyrna discharges its 
water into the sea. Another Lydian plain is named 
after the Cayster, a Lydian river ; another from the 
Caicus in Mysia ; and the Oarian plain, extending as far 
as the Ionian city of Miletus, is named from the 
Maeander. Both Herodotus and Hecataeus* the his- 

' Cf. Arrian, vi. 27 infra. 

^ Probably the Chaudragupta of the Sanscrit writers. He conquered 
from the Macedonians the Punjab and the country as far as the Hindu- 
Koosh. He reigned about 310 b.o. 

' Mount Dindymus, now called Murad Dagh, was sacred to Cybele, 
the mother of the gods, who was hence called Dindymene. 

* Hecataeus of Miletus died about b.o. 476. He wrote a work tipon 
Geography, and another on History. His works were well known to 
Herodotus but only fragments suiTive. 



276 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

torians (unless the work about the Egyptian country 
is by another person^ and not by Hecataeus) in like 
manner call Egypt a gift of the river ' j and Herodotus 
has shown by no uncertain proofs that such is the case ^ ; 
so that even the country itself perhaps received its name 
from the river. For that the river which both the 
Egyptians and men outside Egypt now name the Nile, 
was in ancient times called Aegyptus, Homer is sufficient 
to prove; since he says that Menelaus stationed his ships 
at the outlet of the river Aegyptus.^ If therefore single 
rivers by themselves, and those not large ones, are 
sufficient to form an extensive tract of country, while 
flowing forward into the sea, since they carry down slime 
and mud from the higher districts whence they derive 
their sources, surely it is unbecoming to exhibit in- 
credulity about India, how it has come to pass that most 
of it is a plain, which has been formed by the alluvial 
deposits of its rivers. For if the Hermus, the Cayster, 
the Caicus, the Maeander, and all the other *■ rivers of 
Asia which discharge their waters into the midland sea 
were all put together, they would not be worthy of 
comparison for volume of water with one of the Indian 
rivers. Not only do I mean the Ganges, which is the 
largest, and with which neither the water of the Egyptian 
Nile nor the Ister flowing through Europe is worthy to 
compare; but if all those rivers were mingled together 
they would not even then become equal to the river 
Indus, which is a large river as soon as it issues from 
its springs, and after receiving fifteen rivers,^ all larger 
than those in the province of Asia, discharges its water 

^ See Herodotus, ii. 5. ^ See Herodotus, ii. 10-34. 

' See Homer's OdysSey, iv. 477, 581. In Hebrew the name for Egypt 
is Mitsraim (dark-red). In form the word is dual, evidently in reference 
to the division of the country by the Nile. The native name was Chem, 
meaning Mack, probably on account of the blackness of the alluvial soil. 

* dWoc is Abioht's reading instead of toXKoI. 

' Airian, in his Indica, chap. 4, gives the names of these rivers. 



Method of Bridging Bivers. 277 

into the sea, retaining its own name and absorbing those 
of its tributaries. Let these remarks which I have made 
about India sufl5ce for the present, and let the rest be 
reserved for my " Description of India." 



CHAPTER VII. \ 

Method op Beidgins Rivers. \ 

How Alexander constructed his bridge over the river' 
Indus, is explained neither by Aristobulus nor Ptolemy, 
authors whom I usually follow ; nor am I able to form 
a decided opinion whether the passage was bridged with 
boats, as the Hellespont was by Xerxes and the Bosporus 
and the Ister were by Darius,^ or whether he made a 
continuous bridge over the river. To me it seems pro- 
bable that the bridge was made of- boats ; for the depth 
of the water would not have admitted of the construction 
of a regular bridge, nor could so enormous a work have 
been completed in so short a time.^ If the passage was 
bridged with boats, I cannot decide whether the vessels 
being fastened together with ropes and moored in a row 
were sufficient to form the bridge, as Herodotus the 
Halicarnassian says the Hellespont was bridged, or 
whether the work was effected in the way in which the 
bridge upon the Ister and that upon the Celtic Rhine ^ 
are made by the Romans, and in the way in which they 
bridged the Euphrates and Tigres, as often as necessity 

' See Herodotus, vii. 33-36; iv. 83, 97, 138-141. Bosportis = Oxford. 
The name was applied to the Straits of Constantinople, and also to those 
of Yenikale, the former being called the Thraoian and the latter the Cim- 
merian Bosporus. Cf. Aeschylus {From., 734). Ad Bosporos duos, vel 
bubuB meabili transitu ; unde nomen ambobus [Pliny, vi. 1). 

^ Diodorus (xvii. 86) says that Alexander crossed on a bridge of boats. 
Cf. Strabo, p. 698 ; Gurtius, viii. 34. 

3 There was another river called Ehenus, a tributary of the Po, now 
called the Beno. It was called Bhenus Bononiensis, being near Bononia 
or Bologna. 



278 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

compelled them. However, as I know myself, the 
Eomans find the quickest way of making a bridge to 
be with vessels ; and this method I shall on the present 
occasion explain, because it is worth describing. At a 
preconcerted signal they let the vessels loose down the 
stream, not with their prows forward, but as if back-i 
ing water.^ As might naturally be expected, the stream 
carries them down, but a skiff furnished witli oars holds 
them back, until it settles them in the place assigned 
to them. Then pyramidal wicker-baskets made of willow, 
full of unhewn stones, are let down into the water from 
the prow of each vessel, in order to hold it up against 
the force of the stream. As soon as any one of these 
vessels has been held fast, another is in the same way 
moored with its prow against the stream, distant from 
the first as far as is consistent with their supporting 
what is put upon them. On both of them are placed 
pieces of timber with sharp ends projecting out, on 
which cross-planks are placed to bind them together; 
and so proceeds the work through all the vessels which 
are required to bridge the river. At each end of this 
bridge firmly fixed gangways are thrown forward, ^ so 
that the approach may be safer for the horses and beasts 
of burden, pnd at the same time to serve as a bond 
to the bridge. In a short time the whole is finished 
with a great noise and bustle ; but yet discipline is not 
relaxed while the work is going on. In each vessel the 
exhortations of the overseers to the men, or their censures 
of sluggishness, neither prevent the orders being heard 
nor impede the rapidity of the work.^ 

' al Trpifivav Kpovd/nvai. For this nautical term compare Thucydides, 
1. 51 ; Herodotus, viii. 84 ; Diodorus, xi. 18 ; Aristophanes, Wasps, 399. 
Kard. fiovv is Kriiger's reading for the usual xari Trdpov. 

2 The explanation of this passage given in LiddeU and Scott's Lexicon, 
sub voce (cXr^aJ, is evidently incorrect, as there is nothing about a chariot 
in the original. ^ Compare the description of CKsar's 

bridge over the Bhine {Gallic War, iv. 17). 



March from the Indus to the Hydaspes. 279 

CHAPTER YIII. 

March from the Indus to thb Htdaspbs. 

This has been tlie method of constructing brfdges, 
practised by the Romans from olden times ; but how- 
Alexander laid a bridge over the river Indus I cannot 
say, because those who served in his army have said' 
nothing about it. But I should think that the bridge 
was made as near as possible as I have describedj or 
if it were effected by some other contrivance so let it be. 
When Alexander had crossed to the other side of the 
river Indus, he again offered sacrifice there, according 
to his custom.^ Then starting from the Indus, he 
arrived at Taxila, a large and prosperous city, in fact 
the largest of those situated between the rivers Indus 
and Hydaspes. He was received in a friendly manner 
by Taxiles, the governor of the city, and by the Indians 
of that place ; and he added to their territory as much 
of the adjacent country as they asked for. Thither also 
came to him envoys from Abisares, king of the moun- 
taineer Indians, the embassy including the brother of 
Abisares as well as the other most notable men. Other 
envoys also came from Doxareus, the chief of the pro- 
vince, bringing gifts with them. Here again at TaxHa, 
Alexander offered the sacrifices which were customary 
for him to offer, and celebrated a gymnastic and eques- 
trian contest. Having appointed Philip, son of Machatas, 
viceroy of the Indians of that district, he left a garrison 
in Taxila, as well as the soldiers who were invalided by 
sickness, and then marched towards the river Hydaspes. 

' The place where Alexander crossed the Indus was probably at its 
junction with the Copheu or Cabul river, near Attoek. Before he crossed 
he gave his army a rest of thirty days, as we learn from Diodorus, xvii. 
86. From the same passage we learn that a certain king named Aphrices 
with an army of 20,000 men and 15 elephants, was killed by his own men 
and his army joined Alexander. 



280 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

For he was informed that Porus,i with the whole of his 
army was on the other side of that river, having deter- 
mined either to prevent him from making the passage, 
or to attack him while crossing. When Alexander 
ascertained this, he sent Coenus, son of Polemocrates, 
back to the river Indus, with instructions to cut in 
pieces all the vessels which he had prepared for the 
passage of that river, and to bring them to the river 
Hydaspes. Coenus cut the vessels in pieces and con- 
veyed them thither, the smaller ones being cut into two 
parts, and the thirty-oared galleys into three. The 
sections were conveyed upon waggons, as far as the bank 
of the Hydaspes; and there the vessels were fixed 
together again, ' and seen as a fleet upon that river. 
Alexander took the forces which he had when he arrived 
at Taxila, and the 5,000 Indians under the command 
of Taxiles and the chiefs of that district, and marched 
towards the same river. 



CHAPTER IX. 

POEUS OBSTRUCTS AlEXAHDEE's PaSSAGE. 

Alexandbe encamped on the bank of the Hydaspes, atid 
Poras was seen with all his army and his large troop of 
elephants lining the opposite bank.^ He remained to 
guard the passage at the place where he saw Alexander 
had encamped ; and sent guards to all the other parts 
of the river which were easily fordable, placing officers 
over each detachment, being resolved to obstruct the 
passage of the Macedonians. When Alexander saw this, 

' The kingdom of Porus lay between the Hydaspes and Acesines, the 
district now called Bari-doab with Lahore as capital. It was conquered 
by Lords Hardinge and Gongh in 1849. 

^ Diodorus (xvii. 87) says that Porus had more than 50,000 infantry, 
about 3,000 cavalry, more than 1,000 chariots, and 130 elephants. 
Curtius (viii. 44) says he had about 30,000 infantry, BOO chariots, and 
85 elephants. 



Porus Obstructs Alexander's Passage. 281 

lie thought it advisable to move his army in various 
directions, to distract the attention of Porus, and render 
him uncertain what to do. Dividing his army into many 
parts, he led some of his troops now in one direction 
and now in another, at one time ravaging the enemy's 
country, at another looking out for a place where the 
river might appear easier for him to ford it. The rest 
of his troops he entrusted^ to his different generals, and 
sent them about in many directions. He also conveyed 
corn from all quarters into his camp from the land on 
this side the Hydaspes, so that it might be evident to 
Porus that he had, resolved to remain quiet near the 
bank until the water of the river subsided in the winter, 
and afforded him a passage in many places. As his 
vessels were sailing up and down the river, and skins 
were being filled with hay, and the whole bank appeared 
to be covered in one place with cavalry and in another 
with infantry, Porus was not allowed to keep at rest, 
or to bring his preparations together from all sides to 
any one- point if he selected this as suitable for the 
defence of the passage. Besides a,t this season all the 
Indian rivers were flowing with swollen and turbid 
waters and with rapid currents ; for it was the time of 
year when the sun is wont to turn towards the summer 
solstice.^ At this season incessant and heavy rain falls 
in India ; and the snows on the Caucasus, whence most 
of the rivers have their sources, melt and swell their 
streams to a great degree. But in the winter they again 
subside, become small and clear, and are fordable in 
certain places, with the exception of the Indus, Ganges, 
and perhaps one or two others. At any rate the 
Hydaspes becomes fordable. 

' ^TTir/i^^as is Kriiger's reading instead of iTirA^as. 

^ About the month of May. See chap. 12 infra ; also Gurtius, viii. 
45, 46. Strabo (xv. 1) quotes from Aristobulus describing the rainy 
season at the time of Alexander's battle with Porus at the Hydaspes. 



282 I'he Anabasis of Alexander. 

CHAPTER X. 

Alexander a»d Poeus at the Hydaspes. 

Alexander therefore spread a report that he would wait 
for that season of the year, if his passage was obstructed 
at the present time ; but yet all the time he was waiting 
in ambush to see whether by rapidity of movement he 
could steal a passage anywhere without being observed. 
But he perceived that it was impossible for him to cross 
at the place where Porus himself had encamped near 
the bank of the Hydaspes, not only on account of the 
multitude of his elephants, but also because his large 
army, arranged in order of battle and splendidly accoutred, 
was ready to attack his men as they emerged from the 
water. Moreover he thought that his horses would not 
be willing to mount the opposite bank, because the 
elephants would at once fall upon them and frighten 
them both by their aspect and trumpeting ; nor even 
before that would they remain upon the inflated hides 
during the passage of the river ; but when they looked 
across and saw the elephants they would become frantic 
and leap into the water. He therefore resolved to steal 
a crossing by the following manoeuvre : — In the night 
he led most of his cavalry along the bank in various 
directions, making a clamour and raising the battle-cry 
in honour of Enyalius.^ Every kind of noise was raised, 
as if they were making all the preparations necessary 
for crossing the river. Porus also marched along the 
river at the head of his elephants opposite the places where 
the clamour was heard, and Alexander thus gradually got 
him into the habit of leading his men along opposite the 
noise. But when this occurred frequently, and there 
was merely a clamour and a raising of the battle-cry, 
Porus no longer continued to move about to meet the 

' Of. Arrian, i. 14 supra. 



Alexander's Stratagem to Qet Across. 283 

expected advance of the cavalry ; but perceiving that 
his fear had been' groundless,^ he kept his position in 
the camp. However he posted his scouts at many places 
along the bank. When Alexander had brought it about 
that the mind of Porus no longer entertained any fear 
of his nocturnal attempts, he devised the following 
stratagem. 



CHAPTER XI, 

Alexander's Steatahem to Get Acboss. 

Theke was in the bank of the' Hydaspes, a projecting 
headland, where the river makes a remarkable bend. It 
was densely covered by a grove,'' containing all sorts of 
trees ; and over against it in the river was an island 
full of trees and without a foot-track, on account of its 
being uninhabited. Perceiving that this island was 
right in front of the headland, and that both the spots 
were woody and adapted to conceal his attempt to cross 
the river, he resolved to convey his army over at this 
place. The headland and island were 150 stades distant 
from his great camp.^ Along the whole of the bank, 
he posted sentries, separated as far as was consistent 
with keeping each other in sight, and easily hearing 
when any order should be sent along from any quarter. 
From all sides also during many nights clamours were 
raised and fires were burnt. But when he had made up 
his mind to undertake the passage of the river, he openly 
prepared his measures for crossing opposite the camp. 
Craterus had been left behind at the camp with his own 
division of cavalry, and the horsemen from the Aracho- 
tians and Parapamisadians, as well as the brigades of 
Alcetas and Polysperchon from the phalanx of the 

' dXXA Kevdv is Krviger's reading, instead of dXV ^Keivov. ^ 

2 £K(Tu is Abicht's reading for etSei. ^ About 17 miles. 



284 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Macedonian infantry, together with the chiefs of the 
Indians dwelling this side of the Hyphasis, who had with 
them 5,000 men. He gave Craterus orders not to cross 
the river before Porus moved ofE with his forces against 
them, or before he ascertained that Porus was in flight 
and that they were victorious.^ " If however," said he, 
" Porus should take only a part of his army and march 
against me, and leave the other part with the elephants 
in his camp, in that case do thou also remain in thy 
present position. But if he leads all his elephants with 
him against me, and a part of the rest of his army is 
left behind in the camp, then do thou cross the river 
with all speed. For it is the elephants alone," said he, 
" which render it impossible for the horses to land on the 
other bank. The rest of the army can easily cross." 



CHAPTER XII. 

Passage op the Htdaspes. 

Such were the injunctions laid upon Craterus. Between 
the island and the great camp where Alexander had left 
this general, he posted Meleager, Attains, and Gorgias, 
with the Grecian mercenaries, cavalry and infantry, 
giving them instructions to cross in detachments, break- 
ing up the army as soon as they saw the Indians already 
involved in battle. He then picked the select body- 
guard called the Companions, as well as the cavalry 
regiments of Hephaestion, Perdiccas, and Demetrius, the 
cavalry from Bactria, Sogdiana, and Scythia, and the 
Daan horse-archers j and from the phalanx of infantry 
the shield-bearing guards, the brigades of Clitus and 
Coenus, with the archers and Agrianians, and made a 
secret march, keeping far away from the bank of the river, 

' This use of irpLv witli infinitive alter negative clauses, is contrary to 
Attic usage. 



Passage of the Eydaspes. 285 

in order not to be seen marching towards the island 
and headland, from which he had determined to cross. 
There the skins were filled in the night with the hay 
which had been procured long before, and they were 
tightly stitched up. In the night a furious storm of rain 
occurred, by which his preparations and attempt to cross 
were rendered still more unobserved, since the noise of 
the thunder and the storm drowned with its din the 
clatter of the weapons and the noise which arose from the 
orders given by the officers. Most of the vessels, the 
thirty-oared galleys included with the rest, had been cut 
in pieces by his order and conveyed to this place, where 
they had been fixed together again ^ and hidden in the 
wood. At the approach of daylight, both the wind and 
the rain calmed down ; and the rest of the army went 
over opposite the island, the cavalry mounting upon the 
skins, and as many of the foot soldiers as the boats would 
receive getting into them. They went so secretly that 
they were not observed by the sentinels posted by Porus, 
before they had already got beyond the island and were 
only a little way from the other bank. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Passage OF the Htdaspes. 

Alexander himself embarked in a thirty-oared galley and 
went over, accompanied by Perdiccas, Lysimachus, the 
confidential body-guards, Seleucus, one of the Companions, 
who was afterwards king,* and half of the shield-bear- 
ing guards; the rest of these troops being conveyed in 

' The perf. pass. Treirriyfiai is used by Arrian and Dionysius, but by 
Homer and the Attic writers the form used is iriinjya. Doric, jr^jro7a. 

' Seleucus Nioator, the most powerful of Alexander's successors, be- 
came king of Syria and founder of the dynasty of the Seleucidae, which 
came to an end in b.c. 79. 



286 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

other galleys of the same size. When ,the soldiers got 
beyond the island^ they openly directed their course to 
the bank ; and when the sentinels perceived that they had 
started, they at once rode off to Porus as fast as each 
man's horse could gallop. Alexander himself was the 
first to land, and he at once took the cavalry as they 
kept on landing from his own and the other thirty-oared 
galleys, and drew them up in proper order. For the 
cavalry had received orders to land first ; and at the head 
of these in regular array he advanced. But through 
ignorance of the locality he had effected a landing on 
ground which was not a part of the mainland, but an 
island, a large one indeed and where from the fact that it 
was an island, he more easily escaped notice. It was 
cut off from the rest of the land by a part of the river 
where the water was shallow. However, the furious 
storm of rain, which lasted the greater part of the night, 
had swelled the water so much that his cavalry could not 
find out the ford ,• and he was afraid that he would have 
to undergo another labour in crossing as great as the 
first. But when at last the ford was found, he led his 
men through it with much diflSculty ; for where the water 
was deepest, it reached higher than the breasts of the 
infantry ; and of the horses only the heads rose above the 
river.^ When he had also crossed this piece of water, 
he selected the choice guard of cavalry, and the best men 
from the other cavalry regiments, and brought them up 
from column into line on the right wing.^ In front of all 
the cavalry he posted the horse-archers, and placed next 
to the cavalry in front of the other infantry the royal 
shield-bearing guards under the command of Seleucus. 
Near these he placed the royal foot-guard, and next to 

' For this use of &aov, of. Homer {Iliad, ix. 354) ; Herodotus, iv. 45 ; 
Plato {Gorgias, 485 a; Euthydemus, 273 a). 

2 Compare the passage of the Bhone by Hannibal., (See Livy, xxi. 
26-28 ; Polyhius, iii. 45, 46.) 



The Battle at the Hydaspes. 287 

these tlie other shield-bearing guardSj as each happened 
at the time to have the right of precedence. On each 
side, at the extremities of the phalanx, his archers, Agrian- 
ians and javelin-throwers were posted. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
The Battle at the Hydaspes. 
Havino thus arranged his army, he ordered the infantry 
to follow at a slow pace and in regular ordei', numbering 
as it did not much under 6,000 men; and because he 
thought he was superior in cavalry, he took only his 
horse-soldiers, who were 5,000 in number, and led them 
forward with speed. He also instructed Tauron, the 
commander of the archers, to lead them on also with speed 
to back up the cavalry. He had come to the conclusion 
that if Porus should engage him with all his forces, he 
would easily be able to overcome him by attacking with 
his cavalry, or to stand on the defensive until his infantry 
arrived in the course of the action ; but if the Indians 
should be alarmed at his extraordinary audacity in mak- 
ing the passage of the river and take to flight, he would 
be able to keep close to them in their flight, so that the 
slaughter of them in the retreat being greater, there 
would be only a slight work left for him. Aristobulus 
says that the son of Porus arrived with about sixty 
chariots, before Alexander made his later passage from 
the large island, and that he could have hindered Alex- 
ander's crossing (for he made the passage with difiiculty 
even when no one opposed him) ; if the Indians had 
leaped down from their chariots and assaulted those who 
first emerged from the water. But he passed by with 
the chariots and thus made the passage quite safe for 
Alexander; who on reaching the bank discharged his 
horse-archers against the Indians in the chariots, and 
these were easily put to rout, many of them being 



288 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

wounded. Other writers say that a battle took place 
between the 'Indians who came with the son of Porus and 
Alexander at the head of his cavalry, that the son of 
Porus came with a greater force, that Alexander himself 
was wounded by him, and that his horse Bucephalas, 
of which he was exceedingly fond, was killed, being 
wounded, like his master by the son of Porus. Bat 
Ptolemy, son of Lagus, with whom I agree, gives a 
different account. This author also says that Porus des- 
patched his son, but not at the head of merely sixty 
chariots ; nor is it indeed likely that Porus hearing from 
his scouts that either Alexander himself or at any rate a 
part of his army had effected the passage of the Hydas- 
pes, would despatch his son against him with only sixty 
chariots. These indeed were too many to be sent out as 
a reconnoitring party, and not adapted for speedy re- 
treat ; but they were by no means a sufficient force to 
keep back those of the enemy who had not yet got across, 
as well as to attack those who had already landed. Pto- 
lemy says that the son of Porus arrived at the head of 
2000 cavalry and 120 chariots j but that Alexander had 
already made even the last passage from the island before 
he appeared. 

CHAPTER XV. 

AREANaEMENTS OF PoEUS. 

Ptolemy also says that Alexander in the first place sent 
the horse-archers against these, and led the cavalry him- 
self, thinking that Porus was approaching with all his 
forces, and that this body of cavalry was marching in 
front of the rest of his army, being drawn up by him as 
the vanguard. But as soon as he had ascertained with 
accuracy the number of the Indians, he immediately made 
a rapid charge upon them with the cavalry around him. 
When they perceived that Alexander himself and the 



Arrangements of Porus. 289 

body of cavalry around Mm had made the assault, not in 
line of battle regularly formed, bat by squadrons, they 
gave way ; and 400 of their cavalry, including the son 
of Porus, fell in the contest. The chariots also were 
captured, horses and all, being heavy and slow in the 
retreat, and useless in the action itself on account of the 
clayey ground. When the horsemen who had escaped 
from this rout brought news to Porus that Alexander 
himself had crossed the river with the strongest part of 
his army, and that his son had been slain in the battle, 
he nevertheless could not make up his mind what course 
to take, because the men who had been left behind under 
Craterus were seen to be attempting to cross the river 
from the great camp which was directly opposite his 
position. However, at last he preferred to march against 
Alexander himself with all his army, and to come into a 
decisive conflict with the strongest division of the Mace- 
donians, commanded by the king in person. But never- 
theless he left a few of the elephants together with a 
small army there at the camp to frighten the cavalry 
under Craterus from the bank of the river. He then 
took all his cavalry to the number of 4,000 men, all his 
chariots to the number of 300, with 200 of his elephants 
and 30,000 choice infantry, and marched against Alex- 
ander. When he found a place where he saw there was 
no clay, but that on account of the sand the ground was 
all level and hard, and thus fit for the advance and retreat, 
of horses, he there drew up his army. First he placed 
the elephants in the front, each animal being not less than 
a plethrumi apart, so that they might be extended in 
the front before the whole of the phalanx of infantry, and 
produce terror everywhere among Alexander's cavalry. 
Besides he thought that none of the enemy would have 
the audacity to push themselves into the spaces between 



1 100 Greek and 101 English feet. 



290 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

the elephants, the cavalry being deterred by the fright of 
their horses ; and still less would the infantry do so, it being 
likely they would be kept off in front by the heavy -armed 
soldiers falling upon them, and trampled down by the 
elephants wheeling round against them. Near these he 
had posted the infantry, not occupying a line on a level 
with the beasts, but in a second line behind them, only 
so far distant that the companies of foot might be pushed 
forward a short distance into the spaces between them. 
He had also bodies of infantry standing beyond the ele- 
phants on the wings ; and on both sides of the infantry he 
had posted the cavalry, in front of which were placed the 
chariots on both wings of his army. 



GHAPTEE XVI. 

Alexandee's Tactios. 
Such was the arrangement which Porus made of his 
forces. As soon as Alexander observed that the Indians 
were drawn up in order of battle, he stopped his cavalry 
from advancing farther, so that he might take up the 
infantry as it kept on arriving; and even when thfe 
phalanx in quick march had effected a junction with the 
cavalry, he did not at once draw it out and lead it to the 
attack, not wishing to hand over his men exhausted with 
fatigue and out of breath, to the barbarians who were 
fresh and untired. On the contrary, he caused his infantry 
to rest until their strength was recruited, riding along 
round the lines to inspect them.i When he had sur- 
veyed the arrangement of the Indians, he resolved not 
to advance against the centre, in front of which the ele- 
phants had been posted, and in the gaps between them 
a dense phalanx of men ; for he was alarmed at the very 
arrangements which Porus had made here with that 
express design. But as he was superior in the number 

' See Donaldson's New Gratylm, sec. 178. 



Defeat of For us. 291 

of his cavalry, he took the greater part of that force, 
and marched along against the left wing of the enemy 
for the purpose of making an attack in this direction. 
Against the right wing he sent Ooenus with his own 
regiment of cavalry and that of Demetrius, with instruc- 
tions to keep close behind the barbarians when they, 
seeing the dense mass of cavalry opposed to them, should 
ride out to fight them. Seleucus, Antigenes, and Tauron 
were ordered to lead the phalanx of infantry, but not to 
engage in the action until they observed ^ the enemy's 
cavalry and phalanx of infantry thrown into disorder by 
the cavalry under his own command. But when they came 
within range of missiles, he launched the horse-archers, 
1000 in number, against the left wing of the Indians, in 
order to throw those of the enemy who were posted there 
into confusion by the incessant storm of arrows and by 
the charge of the horses. He himself with the Companion 
cavalry marched along rapidly against the left wing of 
the barbarians, being eager to attack them in flank while 
still in a state of disorder, before their cavalry could be 
deployed. 

CHAPTEE XVII. 

Defeat of Poetjs. 
Meantime the Indians had collected their cavalry from all 
parts, and were riding along, advancing out of their posi- 
tion to meet Alexander's charge. Ooenus also appeared 
with his men in their rear, according to his instructions. 
The Indians, observing this, were compelled to make the 
line of their cavalry face both ways^; the largest and 
best part against Alexander, while the rest wheeled round 
against Ooenus and his forces. This therefore at once 
threw the ranks as well as the decisions of the Indians 

' Trplv KaTldbiffiv. In Attic, Tplv &v is the regular form with the subjunc- 
tive ; but in Homer and the Tragic writers &v is often omitted. 
- Of. Arrian's Tactics, chap. 29. 



292 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

into confusion. Alexander, seeing his opportunity, at the 
very moment the cavalry was wheeling round in the 
other direction, made an attack on those opposed to him 
with such vigour that the Indians could not sustain the 
charge of his cavalry, but were scattered and driven to 
the elephants, as to a friendly wall, for refuge. Upon 
this, the drivers of the elephants urged forward the beasts 
against the cavalry; but now the phalanx itself of the 
Macedonians was advancing against the elephants, the 
men casting darts at the riders and also striking the 
beasts themselves, standing round them on all sides. The 
action was unlike any of the previous contests ; for wher- 
ever the beasts could wheel round, they rushed forth 
against the ranks of infantry and demolished the phalanx 
of the Macedonians, dense as it was. The Indian cavalry 
also, seeing that the infantry were engaged in the action, 
rallied again and advanced against the Macedonian 
cavali*y. But when Alexander's men, who far excelled 
both in strength and military discipline, got the mastery 
over them the second time, they were again repulsed 
towards the elephants and cooped up among them. By 
this time the whole of Alexander's cavalry had collected 
into one squadron, not by any command of his, but hav- 
ing settled into this arrangement by the mere effect of 
the struggle itself; and wherever it fell upon the ranks 
of the Indians they were broken up with great slaughter. 
The beasts being now cooped up into a narrow space, 
their friends were no less injured by them than their foes, 
being trampled down in their wheeling and pushing 
about. Accordingly there ensued a great slaughter of 
the cavalry, cooped up as it was in a narrow space around 
the elephants. Most of the keepers of the elephants 
had been killed by the javelins, and some of the elephants 
themselves had been wounded, while others no longer 
kept apart in the battle on account of their sufferings or 
from being destitute of keepers. But, as if frantic with 



Losses of the Combatcmts. 293 

pain, rushing forward at friends and foes alike, they 
pushed about, trampled down and killed them in every 
kind of way. However, the Macedonians retired when- 
ever they were assailed, for they rushed at the beasts in 
a more open space, and in accordance with their own 
plan ; and when they wheeled round to return, they fol- 
lowed them closely and hurled javelins at them ; whereas 
the Indians retreating among them were now receiving 
greater injury from them. But when the beasts were 
tired out, and they were no longer able to charge with 
any vigour, they began to retire, facing the foe like ships 
backing water, merely uttering a shrill piping sound. 
Alexander himself surrounded the whole line with his 
cavalry, and gave the signal that the infantry should link 
their shields together so as to form a very densely closed 
body, and thus advance in phalanx. By this means the 
Indian cavalry, with the exception of a few men, was quite 
cut up in the action ; as was also the infantry, since the 
Macedonians were now pressing upon them from all sides. 
Upon this, all who could do so turned to flight through 
the spaces which intervened between the parts of Alex- 
ander's cavalry. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Losses Of the Combatants. — Porus Suebendees. 
At the same time Craterus and the other officers of 
Alexander's army who had been left behind on the 
bank of the Hydaspes crossed the river, when they 
perceived that Alexander was winning a brilliant victory. 
These men, being fresh, followed up the pursuit instead 
of Alexander's exhausted troops, and made no less a 
slaughter of the Indians in their retreat. Of the Indians 
little short of 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry were 
killed in this battle.^ All their chariots were broken 

* Diodorus (xvii. 89) says that more than 12,000 Indians were killed 
in this battle, over 9,000 being captured, besides 80 elephauts. 



294 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

to pieces ; and two sons of Porus were slain, as were 
also Spitaces, the governor of the Indians of that district, 
the managers of the elephants and of the chariots, find 
all the cavalry officers and generals of Porus's army. 
All the elephants which were not killed there, were 
captured. Of Alexander's forces, about 80 of the 6,000 
foot-soldiers who were engaged in the first attack, were 
killed; 10 of the horse-archers, who were also the first 
to engage in the action; about 20 of the Companion 
cavalry, and about 200 of the other horsemen fell.^ 
When Porus, who exhibited great talent in the battle, 
performing the deeds not only of a general but also of 
a valiant soldier, observed the slaughter of his cavalry, 
and some of his elephants lying dead, others destitute 
of keepers straying about in a forlorn condition, while 
most of his infantry had perished, he did not depart as 
Darius the Great King did, setting an example of flight 
to his men ; but as long as any body of Indians remained 
compact in the battle, he kept up the struggle. But at 
last, having received a wound on the right shoulder, 
which part of his body alone was unprotected during the 
battle, he wheeled round. His coat of mail warded ofi" 
the missiles from the rest of his body, being extraordinary 
both for its strength and the close fitting of its joints, 
as it was afterwards possible for those who saw him to 
observe. Then indeed he turned his elephant round and 
began to retire. Alexander, having seen that he was a 
great man and valiant in the battle, was very desirous of 
saving his life. He accordingly sent first to him Taxiles 
the Indian ; . who rode up as near to the elephant which 
was carrying Porus as seemed to him safe, and bade him 
stop the beast, assuring him that it was no longer 
possible for him to flee, and bidding him listen to Alex- 

' Aooording to Diodorus there fell of the Macedonians 280 cavalry and 
more than 70i0 infantry. Plutarch (Alex. 60) says that the battle lasted 
eight hours. 



Alliance with Porus. 295 

ander's message. But when lie saw his old foe Taxilea, 
he wheeled round and was preparing to strike him with a 
javelin ; and he wpuld probably have killed him, if he 
had not quickly driyen his horse forward out of the reach 
of Porus before he could strike him. But not even on 
this account was Alexander angry with Porus ; but he 
kept on sending others in succession; and last of all 
Meroes an Indian, because he ascertained that he was an 
old friend of Porus. As soon as the latter heard the 
message brought to him by Meroes, being at the same 
time overcome by thirst, he stopped his elephant and 
dismounted from it. After he had drunk some water 
and felt refreshed, he ordered Meroes to lead him withou\, 
delay to Alexander ; and Meroes led him thither.^ 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Alliance with Poeus. — Death 01" Bucbphalas. 
When Alexander heard that Meroes was bringicg Porus 
to him, he rode in front of the line with a few of the 
Companions to meet Porus ; and stopping his horse, he 
admired his handsome figure and his stature,^ which 
reached somewhat above five cubits. He was also sur- 
prised that he did not seem to be cowed in spirit,' but 
advanced to meet him as one brave man would meet 
another brave man, after having gallantly struggled in 
defence of his own kingdom against another king. Then 
indeed Alexander was the first to speak, bidding him 
say what treatment he would like to receive. The report 
goes that Porus replied : " Treat me, Alexander, in a 
kingly way ! " Alexander being pleased at the expres- 

' Gurtius (viii. 50, 51) represents Porus sinking half dead, and being 
protected to tlie last by his faithful elephant. Diodorus (xvii. 88) agrees 
with him. 

2 Cf . Gurtius, viii. 44 ; Justin, xii. 8. 

' Cf . Arrian, ii. 10 supra. SeSouXai/i^vos rj yvii/iri. The Scholiast on 
Thucydides iv. 34, explains this by TeTairavwjjthos (po^tf. 



296 The Anabasis of Alexander., 

sion, said : " For my own sake, Porus, ttou shalt be 
thus treated; but for thy own sake do thou demand 
what is pleasing to thee ! " But Porus said that every- 
thing was included in that, Alexander, being still more 
pleased at this remark, not only granted him the rule over 
his own Indians, but also added another country to that 
which he had before, of larger extent than the former.^ 
Thus he treated the brave man in a kingly way, and from 
that time found him faithful in all things. Such was the 
result of Alexander's battle with Porus and the Indians 
living beyond the river Hydaspes, which was fought in 
the archonship of Hegemon at Athens, in the month 
Munychion ^ (18 April to 18 May, 326 B.C.). 

Alexander founded two cities, one where the battle 
took place, and the other on the spot whence he started 
to cross the river Hydaspes ; the former he named Nicaea,* 
after his victory over the Indians, and the latter Buce- 
phala in memory of his horse Bucephalas, which died 
there, not from having been wounded by any one, but 
from the effects of toil and old age; for he was about 
thirty years old, and quite worn out with toil.* This 
Bucephalas had shared many hardships and incurred 
many dangers with Alexander during many years, being 
ridden by none but the king, because he rejected all 
other riders. He was both of unusual size and generous 
in mettle. The head of an ox had been engraved upon 
him as a distinguishing mark, and according to some 

1 Cf. Plutarch {Alex., 60) ; Gurtiils, viii. 51. 

2 Diodorus (xvii. 87) says that the battle was fought in the archonship 
of Chremes at Athens. s Nicaea is supposed to be 
Mong and Buoephala may be Jelalpur. See Strabo, xv. 1. 

■• Cf. Plutarch {Alex., 61). Schmieder says that Alexander could not 
have broken in the horse before he was sixteen years old. But since at 
this time he was in his twenty-ninth year he would have had him 
thirteen years. Consequently the horse must have been at least seventeen 
years old whenhe acquired him. Can any one believe this ? Yet Plutarch 
also states that the horse was thirty years old at his death. 



Conquest of the Glausians. 297 

this was the reason why he bore that name ; bnt others 
say, that though he was black he had a white mark upon 
his head which bore a great resemblance to the head of 
an ox. In the land of the Uxians this horse vanished 
from Alexander, who thereupon sent a proclamation 
throughout the country that he would kill all the in- 
habitants, unless they brought the horse back to him. 
As a result of this proclamation it was immediately 
brought back. So great was Alexander's attachment to 
the horse, and so great was the fear of Alexander enter- 
tained by the barbarians.^ Let so much honour be paid 
by me to this Bucephalas for the sake of his master. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Conquest of the Glausians. — Embassy peom Abisabes. — 
Passage op the Acesines. 

When Alexander had paid all due honours to those who 
had been killed in the battle, he offered the customary 
sacrifices to the gods in gratitude for his victory, and 
celebrated a gymnastic and horse contest upon the bank 
of the Hydaspes at the place where he first crossed with 
his army.^ He then left Craterus behind with a part of 
the army, to erect and fortify the cities which he was 
founding there ; but he himself marched against the 
Indians conterminous with the dominion of Porus. 
According to Aristobulus the name of this nation was 
Glauganicians ; but Ptolemy calls them Glausians. I 
am quite indifferent which name it bore. Alexander 
traversed their land with half the Companion cavalry, the 
picked men from each phalanx of the infantry, all the 
horse-bowmen, the Agrianians, and the archers. All the 

1 Curtms (vl. 17) says this occurred in the land of the Mardians ; 
whereas Plutarch [Alex., 44) says it happened in Hyrcania. 

' Diodmiis (xTii. 89), says Alexander made a halt of 30 days after this 
battle. 



298 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

inhabitants came over to him on terms of capitulation ; 
and he thus took thirty- seven cities, the inhabitants of 
which, where they were fewest, amounted to no less than 
5,000, and those of many numbered above 10,000. He 
also took many villages, which were no less populous 
than the cities. This land also he granted to Porus to 
rule ; and sent Taxiles back to his own abode after 
affecting a reconciliation between him and Porus. At 
this time arrived envoys from Abisares,^ who told him 
that their king was ready to surrender himself and the 
land which he ruled. And yet before the battle which 
was fought between Alexander and Porus, Abisares 
intended to join his forces with those of the latter. On 
this occasion he sent his brother with the other envoys 
to Alexander, taking with them money and forty 
elephants as a gift. Envoys also arrived from the 
independent Indians, and from a certain other Indian 
ruler named Porus.^ Alexander ordered Abisares to 
come to him as soon as possible, threatening uhat unless 
he came he would see him arrive with his army at a place 
where he would not rejoice to see him. At this time 
PhratapherneSj viceroy of Parthia and Hyrcania, came to 
Alexander at the head of the Thracians who had been 
left with him. Messengers also came from Sisicottus, 
viceroy of the Assacenians, to inform him that those 
people had slain their governor and revolted from 
Alexander. Against these he despatched Philip and 
Tyriaspes with an army, to arrange and set in order the 
affairs of their land. 

He himself advanced towards the river Acesines.^ 



'Cf. Arrian, v. 8 supra, where an earlier embassy from Abisares ia 
mentioned. 

2 Strabo (xv. 1) says that this Porus was a cousin of the Porus cap- 
tured by Alexander. 

^ This is the Chenab. See Arrian {Indiea, iii.), who says that where 
it joins the Indus it is 30 stades broad. 



Advance Beyond the Eydraotes. 299 

Ptolemj-j son of Lagus, has described the size of this river 
alone of those in India, stating that where Alexander 
crossed it with his army upon boats and skins, the 
stream was rapid and the channel was full of large and 
sharp rocks, over which the water being violently carried 
seethed and dashed. He says also that its breadth 
amounted to fifteen stades ; that those who went over 
upon skins had an easy passage ; but that not a few of 
those who crossed in the boats perished there in the 
water, many of the boats being wrecked upon the rocks 
and dashed to pieces. From this description then it 
would be possible for one to come to a conclusion by 
comparison, that the size of the river Indus has been 
stated not far from the fact by those who think that its 
mean breadth is forty stades, but that it contracts to 
fifteen stades where it is narrowest and therefore deepest ; 
and that this is the width of the Indus in many places. 
I come then to the conclusion that Alexander chose a 
part of the Acesines where the passage was widest, so 
that he might find the stream slower than elsewhere. 



CHAPTER XXI. 
Advance Beyond the Htdeaotes. 
After crossing the river,' he left Ooenus with his own 
brigade there upon the bank, with instructions to super- 
intend the passage of the part of the army which had been 
left behind for the purpose of collecting ^ corn and other 
supplies from the country of the Indians which was 
already subject to him. He now sent Porus away to his 
own abode, commanding him to select the most warlike 

' Uiodorus (xvii. 95) says that Alexander received a reinforcement 
from Greece at this river of more than 30,000 infantry and nearly 6,000 
cavalry; also suits of armour for 25,000 infantry, and 100 talents of 
medical drugs. 

2 M.4\Xeiv is usually connected with the future infinitive ; but Arrian 
frequently uses it with the present. 



300 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

of the Indians and take all the elephants he had and 
come to him. He resolved to pursue the other Porus, 
the bad one, with the lightest troops in his army, because 
he was informed that he had left the land which he ruled 
and had fled. For this Porus, while hostilities subsisted 
between Alexander and the other Porus, sent envoys to 
Alexander oflfering to surrender both himself and the land 
subject to him, rather out of enmity to Poms than from 
friendship to Alexander. But when he ascertained that 
the former had been released, and that he was ruling 
over another large country in addition to his own, then, 
fearing not so much Alexander as the other Porus, his 
namesake, he fled from his own land, taking with him as 
many of his warriors as he could persuade to share his 
flight. Against this man Alexander marched, and arrived 
at the Hydraotes,^ which is another Indian river, not 
less than the Acesines in breadth, but less in swiftness of 
current. He traversed the whole country as far as the 
Hydraotes, leaving garrisons in the most suitable places, 
in order that Oraterus and Coenus might advance with 
safety, scouring most of the land for forage. Then he 
despatched Hephaestion into the land of the Porus 
who had revolted, giving him a part of the army, 
comprising two brigades of infantry, his own regiment of 
cavalry with that of Demetrius and half of the archers, 
with instructions to hand the country over to the other 
Porus, to subdue any independent tribes of Indians 
which dwelt near the banks of the river Hydraotes, and 
to give them also into the hands of Porus to rule. He 
himself then crossed the river Hydraotes, not with diflB- 
culty, as he had crossed the Acesines. As he was 
advancing into the country beyond the Hydraotes, it 
happened that most of the people yielded themselves up 
on terms of capitulation ; but some came to meet him with 

' Now called the Eavi. 



Invasion of the Land of the Oathaeans. 301 

arms, while others who tried to escape he captured and 
forcibly reduced to obedience. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Invasion op the Land of the Oathaeans. 

Meantime he received information that the tribe called 
Oathaeans and some other tribes of the independent 
Indians were preparing for battle, if he approached their 
land ; and that they were summoning to the enterprise 
all thoi tribes conterminous with them who were in like 
manner independent. He was also informed that the 
city, Sangala by name,i near which they were thinking of 
having the struggle, was a strong one. The Oathaeans 
themselves were considered very daring and skilful in 
war ; and two other tribes of Indians, the Oxydracians 
and Mallians, were in the same temper as the Oathaeans. 
For a short time before it happened that Porus and 
Abisares had marched against them with their own 
forces and had roused many other tribes of the inde- 
pendent Indians to arms, but were forced to retreat 
without effecting anything worthy of the preparations 
they had made. When Alexander was informed of this, 
he made a forced march against the Oathaeans, and on 
the second day after starting from the river Hydraotes 
he arrived at a city called Pimprama, inhabited by a tribe 
of Indians named Adraistaeans, who yielded to him on 
terms of capitulation. Giving his army a rest the next 
day, he advanced on the third day to Sangala, where the 
Oathaeans and the other neighbouring tribes had as- 
sembled and marshalled themselves in front of the city 
upon a hill which was not precipitous on all sides. They 
had posted their waggons all round this hill and were 

' Sangala is supposed to be Lahore ; but probably it lay some distance 
from that city, on the bank of the Chenab. 



302 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

encamping within them in such, a way that they were 
surrounded by a triple palisade of waggons. When 
Alexander perceived the great number of the barbarians 
and the nature of their position, he drew up his forces in 
the order which seemed to him especially adapted to his 
present circumstances, and sent his horse-archers at once 
without any delay against them, ordering them to ride 
along and shoot at them from a distance; so that the 
Indians might not be able to make any sortie, before his 
army was in proper array, and that even before the 
battle commenced they might be wounded within their 
stronghold. Upon the right wing he posted the guard 
of cavalry and the cavalry regiment of Clitus ; next to 
these the shield-bearing guards, and then the Agrianians. 
Towards the left he had stationed Perdiccas with his own 
regiment of cavalry, and the battalions of foot Companions. 
The archers he divided into two parts and placed them 
on each wing. While he was marshalling his army, the 
infantry and cavalry of the rear-guard came up. Of these, 
he divided the cavalry into two parts and led them to 
the wings, and with the infantry which came up he made 
the ranks of the phalanx more dense and compact. He 
then took the cavalry which had been drawn up on the 
right, and led it towards the waggons on the left wing of 
the Indians ; for here their position seemed to him more 
easy to assail, and the waggons had not been placed 
together so densely. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Assault upou Sangala. 

As the Indians did not run out from behind the waggons 
against the advancing cavalry, but mounted upon them 
and began to shoot from the top of them, Alexander, 
perceiving that it was not the work for cavalry, leaped 



Assault upon Sangala. . 303 

down from his horse, and on foot led the phalanx of in- 
fantry against them. The Macedonians without difficulty 
forced the Indians from the first row of waggons; but 
then the Indians, taking their stand in front of the second 
row, more easily repulsed the attack, because they were 
posted in denser array in a smaller circle. Moreover the 
Macedonians were attacking them likewise in a confined 
space, while the Indians were secretly creeping under the 
front row of waggons, and without regard to discipline 
were assaulting their enemy through the gaps left between , 
the waggons as each man found a chance.^ But never- 
theless even from these the Indians were forcibly driven 
by the phalanx of infantry. They no longer made a 
stand at the third row, but fled as fast as possible into 
the city and shut themselves up in it. During that day 
Alexander with his infantry encamped round the city, 
as much of it, at least, as his phalanx could surround; 
for he could not with his camp completely encircle the 
wall, so extensive was it. Opposite the part unenclosed 
by his camp, near which also was a lake, he posted the 
cavalry, placing them all round the lake, which he dis- 
covered to be shallow. Moreover, he conjectured that 
the Indians, being terrified at their previous defeat, would 
abandon the city in the night ; and it turned out just as 
he had conjectured ; for about the second watch of the 
night most of them dropped down from the wall, but fell 
in with * the sentinels of cavalry. The foremost of them 
were cut to pieces by these ; but the men behind them 
perceiving that the lake was guarded all round, with- 
drew into the city again. Alexander now surrounded 
the city with a double stockade, except in the part where 

^ Compare Csesar (BeK. Gall., i. 26) : pro vaEo carroB objecerant et e 
loco Buperiore in nostros venientes tela conjioiebant, et nonnulli inter 
carros rotasque mataras ac tragulas subjiciebant nostrosque vulnerabant. 

2 iyKvpelv is an epic and Ionic word rarely used in Attic ; but found 
frequently in Herodotus, Homer, Hesiod, and Pindar. 



304 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

the lake shut it in, and round the lake he posted more 
perfect guards. He also resolved to bring military- 
engines up to the wall, to batter it down. But some of 
the men in the city deserted to him, and told him that 
the Indians intended that very night to steal out of the 
city and escape by the lake, where the gap in the stock- 
ade existed. He accordingly stationed Ptolemy, son of 
Lagus, there, giving him three regiments of the shield- 
bearing guards, all the Agrianians, and one line of archers, 
pointing out to him the place where he especially con- 
jectured the barbarians would try to force their way. 
" When thou perceivest the barbarians forcing their way 
here," said he, '' do thou, with the army obstruct their 
advance, and order the bugler to give the signal. And 
do you, officers, as soon as the signal has been given, 
each being arrayed in battle order with your own men, 
advance towards the noise, wherever the bugle summons 
you. Nor will I myself withdraw from the action." 



CHAPTBE XXIV. 

Captuee op Sangala. 

Sdch were the orders he gave; and Ptolemy collected 
there as many waggons as he could from those which 
had been left behind in the first flight, and placed them 
athwart, so that there might seem to the fugitives in the 
night to be many difficulties in their way ; and as the 
stockade had been knocked down, or had not been firmly 
fixed in the ground, he ordered his men to heap up a 
mound of earth in various places between the lake and 
the wall. This his soldiers effected in the night. When 
it was about the fourth watch,i the barbarians, just as 
Alexander had been informed, opened the gates towards 

^ The Greeks had only three watches ; but Arrian is speaking as a 
Boman. 



Capture of Sangala. 305 

the lake, and made a run in that direction. However 
they did not escape the notice of the guards there, nor 
that of Ptolemy, who had been placed behind them to 
render aid. But at this moment the buglers gave him 
the signal, and he advanced against the barbarians with 
his army fully equipped and drawn up in battle array. 
Moreover the waggons and the stockade w,hich had been 
placed in the intervening space, were an obstruction to 
them. When the bugle sounded and Ptolemy attacked 
them, killing the men as they kept on stealing out through 
the waggons, then indeed they were driven back again 
into the city ; and in their retreat 500 of them were killed. 
In the meanwhile Porus arrived, bringing with him the 
elephants that were left to -him, and 5,000 Indians. 
Alexander had constructed his military engines and they 
were being led up to the wall ; but before any of it was 
battered down, the Macedonians took the city by storm, 
digging under the wall, which was made of brick, and 
placing scaling ladders against it all round. In the cap- 
ture 17,000 of the Indians were killed, and above 70,000 
were captured, besides 300 chariots and 500 cavalry. In 
the whole siege a little less than 100 of Alexander's army 
were killed ; but the number of the wounded was greater 
than the proportion of the slain, being more than 1,200, 
among whom were Lysimachus, the confidential body- 
guard, and other officers. After burying the dead accord- 
ing to his custom, Alexander sent Eumenes, the secretary,^ 
with 300 cavalry to the two cities which had joined 



' Eumenes, of Cardia in Thrace, was private secretary to Philip 
and Alexander. After the death of the latter, he obtained the rule of 
Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus. He displayed great ability both 
as a general and statesman ; but was put to death by Antigonus in b.o. 
316, when he was 45 years of age. Being a Greek, he was disliked by the 
Macedonian generals, from whom he experienced very unjust treatment. 
It is evident from the biographies of him written by Plutarch and Cor- 
nelius Nepos, that he was one of the most eminent men of his era. 

X 



306 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Sangala in revolt, to tell those wlio held them about the 
capture of Sangala, and to inforfu them that they wquld 
receive no harsh treatment from Alexander if they stayed 
there and received him as a friend; for no harm had 
happened to any of the other independent Indians who 
had surrendered to him of their own accord. But they 
had become frightened, and had abandoned the cities 
and were fleeing ; for the news had already reached them 
that Alexander had taten Sangala by storm. When 
Alexander was informed of their flight he pursued them 
with speed ; but most of them were too quick for him, 
and eflfected their escape, because the pursuit began from 
a distant starting-place. But all those who were left 
behind in the retreat from weakness, were seized by the 
army and killed, to the number of about 500. Then, 
giving up the design of pursuing the fugitives any 
further, he returned to Sangala, and razed the city to 
the ground. He added the land to that of the Indians 
who had formerly been independent, but who had then 
voluntarily submitted to him. He then sent Porus with 
his forces to the cities which had submitted to him, to 
introduce garrisons into them; whilst he himself, with 
his army, advanced to the river Hyphasis,^ to subjugate 
the Indians beyond it. Nor did there seem to him any 
end of the war, so long as anything hostile to him re- 
mained. 



CHAPTER XXV. 
The Aemt Refuses to Advance. — Alexandee's Speech 

TO THE OfFICKES. 

It was reported that the country beyond the river 
Hyphasis was fertile, and that the men were good agri- 

> Now called the Beas, or Bibasa. Strabo calls it Hypanis, and Pliny 
calls it Hypasis. 



Alexander's Speech to the Officers.. 307 

cultnrists, and gallant in war ; and that they conducted 
their own political affairs in a regular and constitutional 
manner. For the multitude was ruled by the aristocracy, 
who governed in no respect contrary to the rules of 
moderation. It was also stated that the men of that 
district possessed a much greater number of elephants 
than the other Indians, and that those men were of very 
great stature, and excelled in valour. These reports ex- 
cited in Alexander an ardent desire to advance farther ; 
but the spirit of the Macedonians now began to flag, 
when they saw the king raising one labour after another, 
and incurring one danger after another. Conferences 
were held throughout the camp, in which those who were 
the most moderate bewailed their lot, while others reso- 
lutely declared that they would not follow Alexander any 
farther, even if he should lead the way. When he heard 
of this, before the disorder and pusillanimity of the 
soldiers should advance to a great degree, he called a 
council of the officers of the brigades and addressed 
them as follows : — " Macedonians and Grecian allies, 
seeing that you no longer follow me into dangerous enter- 
prises with a resolution equal to that which formerly 
animated you, I have collected you together into the 
same spot, so that I may either persuade you to march 
forward with me, or may be persuaded by you to return. 
If indeed the labours which you have already undergone 
up to our present position seem to you worthy of dis- 
approbation, and if you do not approve of my leading 
you into them, there can be no advantage in my speak- 
ing any further. But, if as the result of these labours, 
you hold possession of Ionia,i the Hellespont, both the 

1 In the Hebrew Bible Javan denotes the Ionian race of Greeks, and 
then the Greeks in general (Gen. x. 2, 4 ; Isa. Ixvi. 19 ; Ezek. xxTii. 13 ; 
Joel iii. 6 ; Zech. ix. 13). In Dan. viii. 21, x. 20, xi. 2, Javan stands 
for the kingdom of Alexander the Great, comprising Macedonia as well 
as Greece. The form of the name Javan is closely connected with the 



308 The Anabasis of Alexander, 

Phrygias, Oappadocia, PapUagonia, Lydia, Caria, Lycia, 
Pamphylia, Phoenicia, Egypt together with Grecian Libya, 
as well as part of Arabia, Hollow Syria, Syria between 
the rivers,^ Babylon, the nation of the Susians, Persia, 
Media, besides all the nations which the Persians and the 
Modes ruled, and many of those which they did not rule, 
the land beyond the Caspian Gates, the country beyond 
the Caucasus, the Tanais, as well as the land beyond that 
river, Bactria, Hyrcania, and the Hyrcanian Sea ; if we 
have also subdued the Scythians as far as the desert ; if, 
in addition to these, the river Indus flows through our 
territory, as do also the Hydaspes, the Acesines, and the 
Hydraotes, why do ye shrink from adding the Hyphasis 
also, and the nations beyond this river, to your empire 
of Macedonia ? Do ye fear that your advance will be 
stopped in the future by any other barbarians ? Of 
whom some submit to us of their own accord, and others 
are captured in the act of fleeing, while others, succeed- 
ing in their efforts to escape, hand over to us their 
deserted land, which we add to that of our allies, or to 
that of those who have voluntarily submitted to us. 



CHAPTBE XXVI. 

Aleiandee's Speech {conlinued). 
" I, FOR my part, think, that to a brave man there is no 
end to laboijrs except the labours themselves, provided 

Greek Ion, which originally had a digamma, Ivon. Pott says that it 
means the young, in opposition to the Graikci, the old. According to 
Aristotle {Meteorologica, i. 14) the Hellenes were originally called Graikoi. 
Cf . Sanscrit, jewan ; Zend, jawan ; Latin, juvenis ; English, young. 

' Coele-Syria,or the Hollow Syria, was the country between the ranges 
of Libanus and AntUibanus. Syria between the rivers is usually called 
by its Greek name of Mesopotamia. It is the Padan Aram of the Bible. 
Oappadocia embraced the whole north-eastern part of the peninsula of 
Asia Minor. Slaves were procured from this region. See Horace 
(Epistles, i. 6, 39) ; Persius, vi. 77. The name Pamphylia is from ttSi/ 
and 0uXii, because of the mixed origin of the inhabitants. 



Alexander's Speech. 309 

they lead to glorious acliievements. But if any one 
desires to hear what will be the end to the warfare itself, 
let hiD2 learn that the distance still remaining before we 
reach the river Ganges and th« Eastern Sea is not great ; 
and I inform you that the Hyrcanian Sea will be seen to 
be united with this, because the Great Sea encircles the 
whole earth. I will also demonstrate both to the Mace- 
donians and to the Grecian allies, that the Indian Gulf is 
confluent with the Persian, and the Hyrcanian Sea with 
the Indian Gulf. From the Persian Gulf our expedition 
will sail round into Libya as far as the Pillars of 
Heracles.^ From the pillars all the interior of Libya * 
becomes ours, and so the whole of Asia ^ will belong to 
us, and the limits of our empire, in that direction, will be 
those which God has made also the limits of the earth. 
But, if we now return, many warlike nations are left un- 
conquered beyond the Hyphasis as far as the Eastern 
Sea, and many besides between these and Hyrcania in 
the direction of the north wind, and not far from these 
the Scythian races. Wherefore, if we go back, there is 
reason to fear that the races which are now held in sub- 
jection, not being firm in their allegiance, may be excited 
to revolt by those who are not yet subdued. Then our 

' Cf. Arrian (Anabasis, vii. 1 ; Indiea, 43). Herodotus (iv. 42) says 
that Piiaraoli Neco sent a Phoenician expedition from the Bed Sea, which 
circumuaTigated Africa and returned by the Straits of Gibraltar, or the 
Pillars of Hercules. The Carthaginian Hanno is said to have sailed from 
Cadiz to the extremity of Arabia. See Pliny (Historia Naturalis, ii. 67 ; 
V. 1). Herodotus (iv. 43) says that the Carthaginians asserted they had 
sailed round Africa. There is a Greek translation of Hanno's Periplus 
still extant. As to the Pillars of Hercules, see Aelian ( Varia Historia, 
V. 3). They are first mentioned by Pindar {Olym. iii. 79 ; Nem. iii. 36). 

^ The interior of Africa, from the Straits of Gibraltar to Egypt, and 
from the Mediterranean to the then unexplored South. 

' Arrian, like many other ancient writers, includes Africa, or Libya, as 
a part of Asia. The boundaries were the Eastern Sea and the Atlas 
Mountains. Cf. Arrian, iii. 30 ; vii. 1 and 30. The name Asia first 
occurs in Homer (Iliad, ii. 461), in reference to the marsh about the 
Cayster, and was thence gradually extended over the whole continent. 



310 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

many labours will prove to have been in vain; or it will 
be necessary for us to. incur over again fresli labours and 
dangers, as at the beginning. But, O Macedonians and 
Grecian allies, stand firm ! Glorious are the deeds of 
those who undergo labour and run the risk of danger ; 
and it is delightful to live a life of valour and to die 
leaving behind immortal glory. Do ye not know that 
our ancestor^ reached so great a height of glory as from 
being a man to become a god, or to seem to become one, 
not by remaining in Tiryns ' or Argos, or even in the 
Pelopounese or at Thebes? The labours of Dionysus 
were not few, and he was too exalted a deity to be com- 
pared with Heracles. But we, indeed, have penetrated 
into regions beyond Nysa^; and the rock of Aornus, 
which Heracles was unable to capture, is in our posses- 
sion. Do ye also add the parts of Asia still left unsub- 
dued to those already acquired, the few to the many. 
But what great or glorious deed could we have per- 
formed, if, sitting at ease in Macedonia, we had thought it 
sufficient to preserve our own country without any labour, 
simply repelling the attacks of the nations on our fron- 
tiers, the Thracians, Illyrians, and Triballians, or even 
those Greeks who were unfriendly to our interests ? If, 
indeed, without undergoing labour and being free from 
danger I were acting as your commander, while you were 
undergoing labour and incurring danger, not without 
reason would you be growing faint in spirit and resolu- 
tion, because you alone would be sharing the labours, 
while procuring the rewards of them for others. But 
now the labours are common to you and me, we have an 
equal share of the dangers, and the rewards are open to 
the free competition of all. For the land is yours, and 
you act as its viceroys. The greater part also of the 

' Heracles, from whom the Maeedonian kings claimed to be descended. 
* Hence Hercules is called Tiryuthius. (Virgil,4€Ji«id,7ii. 662; viii. 228). 
^ See chap. 1 of this book. 



The Answer of Ooenus. 311 

moaey now comes to you ; and when we have traversed 
the whole of Asia, then, by Zeus, not merely having 
satisfied your expectations, but having even exceeded the 
advantages which each man hopes to receive, those of you 
who wish to return home I will send back to their own 
land, or I will myself lead them back ; while those who 
remain here, I will make objects of envy to those who go 
back."i 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Answer ot Goen0s. 
When Alexander had uttered these remarks, and others 
in the same strain, a long silence ensued, for the auditors 
neither had the audacity to speak in opposition to the 
king without constraint, nor did they wish to acquiesce 
in his proposal. Hereupon, he repeatedly urged any one 
who wished it, to speak, if he entertained different views 
from those which he had himself expressed. Neverthe- 
less the silence still continued a long time ; but at last, 
Coenus, son of Polemocrates, plucked up courage and 
. spoke as follows ^ :. — " O king, inasmuch as thou dost not 
wish to rule Macedonians by compulsion, but sayest thou 
wilt lead them by persuasion, or yielding to their persua- 
sion wilt not use violence towards them, I am going to 
make a speech, not on my own behalf and that of my 
colleagues here present, who are held in greater honour 
than the other soldiers, and most of us have already 
carried oflF the rewards of our labours, and from our pre- 
eminence are more zealous than the rest to serve thee in 
all things; but I am going to speak on behalf of the 
bulk of the army. On behalf of this army I am not going 
to say what may be gratifying to the men, but what I 
consider to be both advantageous to thee at present, and 
safest for the future. I feel it incumbent upon me not 

1 Of. Xenophon (Anai., i. 7, 4). ^ Cf. Curtius, ix. 12. 



312 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

to conceal what I think the best course to pursue, both 
on account of my age, the honour paid to me by the rest 
of the army at thy behest, and the boldness which I 
have without any hesitation displayed up to the pre- 
sent time in incurring dangers and undergoing labours. 
The more numerous and the greater the exploits have 
been, which were achieved by thee as our commander, 
and by those who started from home with thee, the more 
advantageous does it seem to me that some end should 
be put to our labours and dangers. For thou thyself 
seest how many Macedonians and Greeks started with 
thee, and how few of us have been left. Of our number 
thou didst well in sending back home the Thessalians at 
once from Bactra, because thou didst perceive that they 
were no longer eager to undergo labours.-' Of the other 
Greeks, some have been settled as colonists in the cities 
which thou hast founded ; where they remain not indeed 
all of them of their own free will. The Macedonian 
soldiers and the other Greeks who still continued to 
share our labours and dangers, have either perished in 
the battles, become unfit for war on account of their 
wounds, or been left behind in the different parts of Asia. 
The majority, however, have perished from disease, so that 
few are left out of many ; and these few are no longer 
equally vigorous in body, while in spirit they are much 
more exhausted. AH those whose parents still survive, 
feel a great yearning to see tbem once more ; they feel a 
yearning after their wives and children, and a yearning 
for their native land itself; which it is surely pardonable 
for them to yearn to see again with the honour and 
dignity they have acquired from thee, returning as great 
men, whereas they departed small, and as rich men in- 
stead of being poor. Do not lead us now against our 
will ; for thou wilt no longer find us the same men in 

• Arrian (iii. 19) says that the Thessalians were sent back from 
Eubatana. 



Alexander Resolves to Seturn. 313 

regard to dangers, since free-will will be wanting to us 
in the contests. But, rather, if it seem good to thee, 
return to thy own land, see thy mother, regulate the af- 
fairs of the Greeks, and carry to the home of thy fathers 
.these victories so many and great. Then start afresh on 
another expedition, if thou wishest, against these very 
tribes of Indians situated towards the east ; or, if thou 
wishest, into the Buxine Sea ^ ; or else against Carchedon 
and the parts of Libya beyond the Oarchedonians.'' It 
is now thy business to manage these matters; and the 
other Macedonians and Greeks will follow thee, young 
men in place of old, fresh men in place of exhausted 
ones, and men to whom warfare has no terrors, because 
up to the present time they have had no experience of 
it ; and they will be eager to set out, from hope of future 
reward. The probability also is, that they will accom- 
pany thee with still more zeal on this account, when 
they see that those who in the earlier expedition shared 
thy labours and dangers have returned to their own abodes 
as rich men instead of being poor, and renowned instead 
of being obscure as they were before. Self-control in 
the midst of success is the noblest of all virtues, king ! 
For thou hast nothing to fear from enemies, while thou 
art commanding and leading such an army as this ; but 
the visitations of the deity are unexpected, and conse- 
quently men can take no precautions against them." 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

ALEXA.NDEK ReSOLVES TO ReTUEN. 

When Coenus had concluded this speech, loud applause 
was given to his words by those who were present ; and 
the fact that many even shed tears, made it still more 

' Pontus Euxinus antea ab inhospitali feritate Axenos appellatus 
{Pliny, yi. 1). 

" Tlie Latin name Carthago and the Greek Carchedon were corruptions 
of the Phoenician Carth-Hadeshoth, the " new city." 



314 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

evident that they were disinclined to incur further 
hazards, and that return would be delightful to them. 
Alexander then broke up the conference, being annoyed 
at the freedom of speech in which Coenus indulged, and 
the hesitation displayed by the other officers. But the 
next day he called the same men together again in wrath, 
and told them that he intended to advance farther, but 
would not force any Macedonian to accompany him 
against his will; that he would have those only who 
followed their king of their own accord ; and that those 
who wished to return home were at liberty to return and 
carry back word to their relations that they were come 
back, having deserted their king in the midst of his 
enemies. Having said this, he retired into his tent, and 
did not admit any of the Companions on that day, or 
until the third day from that, waiting to see if any change 
would occur in the minds of the Macedonians and Grecian 
allies, as is wont to happen as a general rule among a 
crowd of soldiers, rendering them more disposed to obey. 
But on the contrary, when there was a profound silence 
throughout the camp, and the soldiers were evidently 
annoyed at his wrath, without being at all changed by it, 
Ptolemy, son of Lagus, says that he none the less offered 
sacrifice there for the passage of the river, but the 
victims were unfavourable to him when he sacrificed. 
Then indeed he collected the oldest of the Companions 
and especially those who were friendly to him, and as all 
things indicated the advisability of returning, he made 
known to the army that he had resolved to march back 
again. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

ALEIA.NDEB ReCEOSSES THE HtDBAOTES AND ACESINES. 

Th.en they shouted as a mixed multitude would shoub 
when rejoicing ; and most of them shed tears of joy. 



Alexander Becrosses the Eydraotes and Acesines. 315 

Some of them even approached the royal tent^ and prayed 
for many blessings upon Alexander; because by them 
alone he suffered himself to be conquered. Then he 
divided the army into brigades, and ordered twelve altars 
to be prepared, equal in height to very large towers, and 
in breadth much larger than towers, to serve as thank- 
offerings to the gods who had led him so far as a con- 
queror, and also to serve as monuments of his own la- 
bours.^ When the altars were completed, he offered sacri- 
fice upon them according to his custom, and celebrated 
a gymnastic and equestrian contest. After adding the 
country as far as the river Hyphasis to the dominion 
of Porus, he marched back to the Hydraotes. Having 
crossed this river, he continued his return march to the 
Acesines, where he found the city which Hephaestion 
had been ordered to fortify, quite built. In this city he 
settled as many of the neighbouring people as volunteered 
to live in it, as well as those of the Grecian mercenaries 
who were now unfit for military service ; and then began 
to make the necessary preparations for a voyage down 
the river into the Great Sea. At this time Arsaces, the 
ruler of the land bordering on that of Abisares, and the 
brother of the latter, with his other relations, came to 
Alexander, bringing the gifts which are reckoned most 
valuable among the Indians, including some elephants 
from Abisares, thirty in number. They declared that Abi- 
sares himself was unable to come on account of illness ; 
and with these men the ambassadors sent by Alexander 
to Abisares agreed. Readily believing thab such was 
the case, he granted that prince the privilege of ruling 
his own country as his viceroy, and placed Arsaces also 
under his power. After arranging what tribute they were 

' Pliny (vi. 21), says that Alexander erected the altars on the farther 
bank of the Hyphasis, whereas Arrian, Diodorus, and Plutarch say they 
were on this side of the river. Curtius (ix. 13) does not specify the side 
of the river. 



316 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

to pay, lie again offered sacrifice near the river Acesines. 
He then crossed that river again, and came to the Hydas- 
pes, where he employed' the army in repairing the damage 
caused to the cities of Nicaea and Bucephala by the rain, 
and put the other affairs of the country in order. 



BOOK YL 



CHAPTER I. 

Peepaeations foe a Voyage down the Indus. 

Alexandee now resolved to sail down the Hydaspes to 
the Great Sea, after he had prepared on the banks of 
that river many thirty-oared galleys and others with one 
and a half bank of oars, as well as a number of vessels 
for conveying horses, and all the other things requisite 
for the easy conveyance of an army on a river. At first 
he thought he had discovered the origin of the Nile, 
when he saw crocodiles in the river Indus, which he had 
seen in no other river except the NUe,' as well as beans 
growing near the banks of the Acesines of the same kind 
as those which the Egyptian land produces.' This con- 
jecture was confirmed when he heard that the Acesines 
falls into the Indus. He thought the Nile rises some- 
where or other in India, and af ber flowing through an 
extensive tract of desert country loses the name of Indus 
there; but afterwards when it begins to flow again 
through the inhabited land, it is called Nile both by the 
Aethiopians of that district and by the Egyptians, and 

1 Herodotus (iv. 44) says that the Indus is the only river besides the 
Nile which produces crocodiles. He does not seem to have known the 
Ganges. 

' This was the Nelumbium speciosum, the Egyptian bean of Pythagoras 
the Lotus of the Hindus, held sacred by them. It is cultivate^ and 
highly valued in China, where it is eaten. The seeds are the shape and 
size of acorns. 

317 



318 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

finally empties itself into the Inner Sea.^ In like manr 
ner Homer made the river Egypt give its name to the 
country of Egypt.** Accordingly when he wrote to 
Olympias about the country of India, after mentioning 
other things, he said that he thought he had discovered 
the sources of the Nile, forming his conclusions about 
things so great from such small and trivial premisses. 
However, when he had made a more careful inquiry into 
the facts relating to the river Indus, he learned the fol- 
lowing details from the natives : — That the Hydaspes 
unites its water with the Acesines, as the latter does 
with the Indus, and that they both yield up their names 
to the Indus ; that the last-named river has two mouths, 
through which it discharges itself into the Great Sea ; 
but that it has no connection with the Egyptian country. 
He then removed from the letter to his mother the part 
he had written about the Nile.^ Planning a voyage down 
the rivers as far as the Great Sea, he ordered ships for 
this purpose to be prepared for him. The crews of his 
ships were fully supplied from the Phoenicians, Cyprians, 
Carians, and Egyptians who accompanied the army. 



CHAPTER II. 

Voyage down the Hydaspes. 
At this time Coenus, who was one of Alexander's most 
faithful Companions, fell ill and. died, and the king buried 
him with as much magnificence as circumstances allowed. 
Then collecting the Companions and the Indian envoys 
who had come to him, he appointed Porus king of the 
part of India which had already been conquered, seven 

' I.e. the Mediterranean. 

' See Arrian, v. 6 supra. The native name of Egypt was Chem, 
(black). Compare Vergil (Qeorgic. ir. 291) : — Viridem Aegyptum nigrd, 
feoundat arenfi. Usque ooloratis amnis devexus ab Indis. 

' This use of d/t0l with the datiye is instead of the Attic irepl with the 
genitive or accusative. 



Voyage down the Hydaspes. 319 

nations In all, containing more than 2,000 cities. After 
tbis he made the following distribution of his army.^ 
With himself he placed on board the ships all the shield- 
bearing guards, the archers, the Agrianians, and the 
body-guard of cavalry.^ Craterus led a part of the in- 
fantry and cavalry along the right bank of the Hydaspes, 
while along the other bank Hephaestion advanced at the 
head of the most numerous and efficient part of the army, 
including the elephants, which now numbered about 200. 
These generals were ordered to march as quickly as 
possible to the place where the palace of Sopeithes was 
situated,' and Philip, the viceroy of the country beyond 
the Indus * extending to Bactria, was ordered to follow 
them with his forces after an interval of three days. He 
sent the Nysaean cavalry back to Nysa.^ The whole of 
the naval force was under the command of Nearchus ; 
but the pilot of Alexander's ship was Onesicritus, who, 
in the narrative which he composed of Alexander's cam- 
paigns, falsely asserted that he was admiral, while in. 
reality he was only a pilot.* According to Ptolemy, 
son of Lagus, whose statements I chiefly follow, the en- 
tire number of the ships was about eighty thirty-oared 
galleys j but the whole number of vessels, including the 
horse transports and boats, and all the other river craft, 
both those previously plying on the rivers and those 
built at that time, fell not far short of 2,000.''' 

' Plutarch (Alex. 66) informs ua that Alexander's army numbered 
120,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry. Cf. Arrian (Indica, 19). 

2 Arrian, in the Indica (chap. 19), says that Alexander embarked with 
8,000 men. 

^ Strdbo (xv. 1) says that the realm of Sopeithes was called Cathaia. 

* As Alexander was at this time east of the Indus, the expression, 
" beyond the Indus," means west of it. ' Cf. Arrian, v. 2 supra. 

° Only fragments of this narrative are preserved. Strdbo (xv. 1) says 
that the statements of Onesicritus are not to be relied upon. 

^ Gurtius (ix. 13) and Biodorus (xvii. 95) say that there were 1,000 
vessels. Arrian (Indica, 19) says there were 800. Kriiger reads xiWuk 
in this passage instead of the common reading Sio-x'Xf «>>. 



320 The Anabasis of A Icxander. 

CHAPTER III. 

Voyage down the Htdaspe8 {conUnued). 

When lie had made all the necessary preparations the 
army began to embark at the approach of the dawn ; 
while according to custom he ofiFered sacrifice to the 
gods and to the river Hydaspes, as the prophets direc- 
ted.^ When he had embarked he poured a libation into 
the river from the prow of the ship out of a golden gob- 
let, invoking the Acesines as well as the Hydaspea, be- 
cause he had ascertained that it is the largest of all the 
rivers which unite with the Hydaspes, and that jiheir 
confluence was not far Oflf. He also invoked the Indus, 
into which the Acesines flows after its junction with the 
Hydaspes. Moreover he poured out libations to his fore- 
father Heracles, to Ammon/ and the other gods to whom 
he was in the habit of sacrificing, and then he ordered 
the signal for starting seawards to be given with the 
trumpet. As soon as the signal was given they com- 
menced the voyage in regular order ; for directions had 
been given at what distance apart it was necessary for 
the baggage vessels to be arranged, as also for the ves- 
sels conveying the horses and for the ships of war ; so 
tliat they might not fall foul of each other by sailing 
down the channel at random. He did not allow even 
the fast-sailing ships to get out of rank by outstripping 
the rest. The noise of the rowing was never equalled 
on any other occasion, inasmuch as it proceeded from so 
many ships rowed at the same time ; also the shouting 
of the boatswains giving the time for beginning and 
stopping the stroke of the oars, and the clamour of 
the rowers, when keeping time all together with the 

' From Arrian (Indica, 18) we learn that lie sacrificed to his country 
gods, and to Poseidon, Amphitrite, the Nereids, the Ocean, as well as to 
the three rivers. Of. i. 11, supra. 

' Of. iii. 3 supra. 



Voyage down the Hydaspes into the Acesines. 321 

dashing of the oarSj made a noise like a battle-cry. The 
banks of the river alsOj being in many places higher 
than the ships, and collecting the sound into a narrow 
space, sent back to each other an echo which was very 
much increased by its very compression. In some parts 
too the groves of trees on each side of the river helped 
to swell the sound, both from the solitude and the rever- 
beration of the noise. The horses which were visible on 
the decks of the transports struck the bairbarians who 
saw them with such surprise that those of them who 
were present at the starting of the fleet accompanied it 
a long way from the place of embarkation. For horses 
had never before been seen on board ships in the country 
of India ; and the natives did not call to mind that the 
expedition of Dionysus into India was a naval one. The 
shouting of the rowers and the noise of the rowing were 
heard by the Indians who had already submitted to 
Alexander, and these came running down to the river's 
bank and accompanied him singing their native songs. 
For the Indians have been eminently fond of singing and 
dancing since the time of Dionysus and those who under 
his bacchic inspiration traversed the land ot the Indians 
with him.^ 



CHAPTER IV. 

VOTAGE DOWN THE HtDASPBS INTO THE ACESINES. 

Sailing thus, he stopped on the third day at the spot 
where he had instructed Hephaestion and Craterus to 
encamp on opposite banks of the river at the same place. 
Here he remained two days, until Philip with the rest of 
the army came up with him. He then sent this general 
with the men he brought with him to the river Acesines, 
with orders to march along the bank of that river. He 

' Cf. Arrian [Indica, 7). 



322 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

also sent Craterus and Hepiaestion off again with in- 
structions how they were to conduct the march. But he 
himself continued his voyage down the river Hydaspes, 
the channel of which is nowhere less than twenty stades 
broad. Mooring his vessels near the banks wherever he 
couldj he received some of the Indians dwelling near 
into allegiance by their voluntary surrender, while he re- 
duced by force those who came into a trial of strength 
with him. Then he sailed rapidly towards the country 
of the Mallians and Oxydracians, having ascertained that 
these tribes were the most numerous and the most war- 
like of the Indians in that region ; and having been in- 
formed that they had put their wives and children for 
safety into their strongest cities, with the resolution of 
fighting a battle with him, he made the voyage with 
the greater speed with the express design of attacking 
them before they had arranged their plans, and while 
there was still lack of preparation and a state of con- 
fusion among them. Thence he made his second start, 
and on the fifth day reached the junction of the Hyda- 
spes and Acesines. Where these rivers unite, one very 
narrow river is formed out of the two ; and on account of 
its narrowness the current is swift. There are also pro- 
digious eddies in the whirling stream, and the water 
rises in waves and plashes exceedingly, so that the noise 
of the swell of waters is distinctly heard by people while 
they are still far off. These things had previously been 
reported to Alexander by the natives, and he had told 
his soldiers ; and yet, when his army approached the 
junction of the rivers, the noise made by the stream pro- 
duced so great an impression upon them that the sailors 
stopped rowing, not from any word of command, but 
because the very boatswains who gave the time to the 
rowers became silent from astonishment and stood aghast 
at the noise. 



Voyage dovyii the Acesines. 323 

CHAPTER V. 

Voyage down the Acisines. 

When they came near the junction of the rivers, the 
pilots passed on the order that the men should row- 
as hard as possible to get out of the narrows, so that 
the ships might not fall into the eddies and be over- 
turned by them, but might by the vigorous rowing over- 
come the whirlings of the water. Being of a round 
form, the merchant vessels which happened to be whirled 
round by the current received no damage from the 
eddy, but the men who were on board were thrown 
into disorder and fright. For being kept upright by 
the force of the stream itself, these vessels settled again 
into the onward course. But the ships of war, being 
long, did not emerge so scatheless from the whirling 
current, not being raised aloft in the same way as the 
others upon the plashing swell of water. These ships 
had two ranks of oars on each side, the lower oars being 
only a little out of the water. These vessels getting 
athwart in the eddies, their oars could not be raised aloft 
in proper time and were consequently caught by the 
water and came into collision with each other. Thus 
many of the ships were damaged ; two indeed fell foul 
of each other and were destroyed, and many of those 
sailing in them perished.^ But when the river widened 
out, there the current was no longer so rapid, and the 
eddies did not whirl round with so much violence. 
Alexander therefore moored his fleet on the right bank, 
where there was a protection from the force of the 
stream and a roadstead for the ships. A certain pro- 
montory also in the river jutted out conveniently for col- 
lecting the wrecks. He preserved the lives of the men 

' Cf. Gurtius (ix. 15) ; Diodorus (xvii. 97). The latter says that 
Alexander offered sacrifice to the gods for having escaped the greatest 
danger, and having contested with a river like Achilles. 



824 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

who were still being conveyed upon tliem ; and when he 
had repaired the daiaaged ships, he ordered Nearchus to 
sail down the river until he reached the confines of the 
nation called Mallians. He himself made an inroad into 
the territories of the barbarians who would not yield to 
him, and after preventing them from succouring the 
Mallians, he again formed a junction with the naval 
armament.^ llephaestion, Craterus, and Philip had al- 
ready united their forces here. Alexander then trans- 
ported the elephants, the brigade of Polysperchon, the 
horse-archers, and Philip with his army, across the river 
Hydaspes, and instructed Craterus to lead them. He 
sent Nearchus with the fleet with orders to seb sail three 
days before the army started. He divided the rest of 
his army into three parts, and ordered Hephaestion to 
go five days in advance, so that if any should flee before 
the men under his own command and go rapidly forward 
they might fall in with Hephaestion's brigade and thus 
be captured. He also gave a part of the army to Pto- 
lemy, son of Lagus, with orders to follow him after the 
lapse of three days, so that all those who fled from him 
and turned, back again might fall in with Ptolemy's 
brigade. He ordered those in advance to wait, when 
they arrived at the confluence of the rivers Acesines and 
Hydraotes, until he himself came up ; and he instructed 
Craterus and Ptolemy also to form a junction with him 
at the same place. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Campaign against the Mallians. 

He then took the shield-bearing guards, the bowmen, 
the Agrianians, Peithon's brigade of men, who were 

' According to Diodmits (xvii. 96) and Curtim (ix. 14) Alexander here 
made an expedition against the Sibi ; defeated an army of 40,000 Indians, 
and captured the city of Agallassa. 



Campaign against the Mallians. 325 

called foot Companions, all the horse bowmen and half 
the cavalry Companions, and marched through a tract 
of country destitute of water against the Mallians, a 
tribe of the independent- Indians.^ On the first day he 
encamped near a small piece of water which was about 
100 stades distant from the river Acesines. Having 
dined there and caused his army to rest a short time, 
he ordered every man to fill whatever vessel he had with 
water. After travelling the remaining part of that day 
and all the ensuing night a distance of about 400 stades, 
he at daybreak reached the city into which many of the 
Mallians had fled for refuge. Most of them were outside 
the city and unarmed, supposing that Alexander would 
never come against them through the waterless country. 
It was evideat that he led his army by this route for 
this very reason, because it was difficult to lead an army 
this way, and consequently it appeared incredible to the 
enemy that he would lead his forces in this direction. 
He therefore fell upon them unexpectedly, and killed 
most of them without their even turning to defend them- 
selves, since they were unarmed. He cooped the rest up 
in the city, and posted his cavalry all rouud the wall, 
because the phalanx of infantry had not yet ^ come up 
with him. He thus made use of his cavalry in place of 
a stockade. As soon as the infantry arrived, he sent 
Perdiccas with his own cavalry regiment and that of 
Clitus, as well as the Agrianians, against another city of 
the Mallians, whither many of the Indians of that region 
had fled for refuge. He ordered Perdiccas to blockade 
the men in the city, but not to commence the action 
until he himself should arrive, so that none might escape 
from this city and carry news to the rest of the bar- 



' The chief city of the Mallians is the modern Mooltan. 
" Mtittw. In later writers /ti^ is often used where the Attic writers 
would use oil. 



326 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

barians that Alexander was already approacbing; He 
then began to assault the wall ; but the barbarians 
abandoned it, finding that they were no longer able to 
defend it, since many had been killed in, the capture, 
and others had been rendered unfit for fighting on ac- 
count of their wounds. Fleeing for refuge into the 
citadel, they defended themselves for some time from a 
position commanding from its height and dilHcult of 
access. But as the Macedonians pressed on vigorously 
from all sides, and Alexander himself appeared now in 
this part of the action and now in that, the citadel was 
taken by storm, and all the men who had fled into it 
for refuge were killed, to the number of 2,000. Per- 
diccas also reached the city to which he had been de- 
spatched and found it deserted; but learning that the 
inhabitants had fled from it not long before, he made a 
forced march on the track of the fugitives. The light- 
armed troops followed him as quickly as they could on 
foot, so that he took and massacred as many of the fugi- 
tives as could not outstrip him and flee for safety into 
the river-marshes. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Campaign against the Mallians [continued). 

After dining and causing his men to rest until the first 
watch of the night, Alexander marched forward ; and 
travelling a great distance through the night, he arrived 
at the river Hydraotes ^ at daybreak. There he ascer- 
tained that most of the Mallians had already crossed the 
river ; but coming upon those who were still in the act of 
crossing, he slew many of them in their passage. Having 
crossed with them in pursuit without any delay by the 
same ford, he kept close up with those who had out- 

' Strabo and Curtius call this river Hyarotis. 



Campaign against the Mallians. 327 

stripped him in their retreat. Many also of these he 
slew J some he took prisoners ; but the majority of them 
escaped into a place strong by nature and made more so by 
fortifications. When the infantry reached him, Alexander 
despatched Peithon against the men in the fortress, giving 
him the command of his own brigade of infantry and two 
regiments of cavalry. These, attacking the place, took it 
at the first assault, and made slaves of all those who had 
fled thither for safety, at least as many of them as had not 
perished in the attack. After accomplishing this, Peithon 
returned again to the camp. Alexander in person led his 
forces against a certain city of the Brachmans,^ because 
he ascertained that some of the Mallians had fled for 
refuge into it. When he reached it, he led his phalanx 
in serried ranks close up to the wall on all sides. The 
enemy seeing that their walls were being undermined, 
and being themselves repulsed by the missiles, abandoned 
the walls, and having fled for safety into the citadel, began 
to defend themselves from thence. A few Macedonians 
having rushed in with them, turning round and drawing 
together into a close body, drove some of them back 
and killed five-and-twenty of them in their retreat. Here- 
upon Alexander ordered the scaling-ladders to be placed 
against the citadel on all sides, and the wall to be under- 
mined ; and when one df the towers, being undermined, 
fell down, and a part of the wall between two towers was 
breached, and thus rendered the citadel more accessible 
to assault in this quarter, he was seen to be the first man 
to scale the wall and get hold of it. The other Macedon- 
ians seeing him were ashamed of themselves and mounted 
the ladders in various places. The citadel was soon in 
their possession. Some of the Indians began to set fire to 



' The Brachmans, or Brahmins, were a religious caste of Indians. The 
name was sometimes used for the people whose religion was Brahmin- 
ism. Cf. Arrian {Indica, 11) ; Strdbo, xv. 1 ; p. 713 ed. Casaubon. 



328 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

the houseSj and being caught in them were killed ; bat 
most of them were slain fighting. About 5j000 in all 
were killed ; and on account of their valour, only a few 
were taken prisoners. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

Defeat of the Mallians at the Ritee Htdeaotes. 
Having remained there one day to give his army rest, he 
advanced on the morrow against the other Mallians. He 
found the cities abandoned, and ascertained that the men 
had fled into the desert. There he again gave the army 
one day's rest, and on the next day sent Peithon and 
Demetrius the cavalry general back to the river, in com- 
mand of their own tro»ps, giving them in addition as many 
battalions of the light-armed infantry as were sufficient 
for the enterprise. Their instructions were to go along 
the bank of the river, and if they met any of those 
who had fled for safety into the woods, of which there 
were many near the river's bank, to kill all who refused 
to surrender. Peithon and Demetrius captured many 
of these in the woods and killed them. He himself 
led his forces against the largest city of the Mallians, 
whither he was informed many from the other cities had 
taken refuge. But this also the Indians abandoned when 
they heard that Alexander was marching against it. 
Crossing the river Hydraotes, they remained with their 
forces drawn up upon its bank, because it was high, and 
they thought they could obstruct Alexander's passage. 
When he heard this, he took all the cavalry which he had 
with him, and went to the part of the river where he was 
informed that the Mallians had drawn themselves up for 
battle ; and the infantry was ordered to follow. When he 
reached the river and beheld the enemy drawn up on the 
opposite bank, he made no delay, but instantly plunged 
into the ford with the cavalry alone. When they saw 



Stormmg of the Mallian 8tro7ighold, 329' 

that lie was now in the middle of the river, though they 
were drawn up ready for battle, they withdrew from the 
bank with all speed J and Alexander followed them with 
his cavalry alone. But when the Indians perceived only 
cavalry, they wheeled round and fought with desperate 
valour, being about 50,000 in number. When Alexander 
perceived that their phalanx was densely compact, and 
that his own infantry was absent, he rode right round 
their army and made charges upon them, but did not 
come to close fighting with them. Meanwhile the archers, 
the Agrianians and the other battalions of light-armed 
infantry, being picked men whom he was leading with 
him, arrived, and his phalanx of infantry was seen not far 
off. As all kinds of danger were threatening them at 
once, the Indians now wheeled round again and began 
to flee with headlong speed into the strongest of their 
adjacent cities ; but Alexander followed them and slew 
many, while those who escaped into the city were cooped 
up within it. At first indeed he surrounded the city with 
the horse-soldiers as they came up from the march ; but 
when the infantry arrived, he encamped all round the wall 
for this day, because not much of it was left for making 
the assault, and his army had been exhausted, the infantry 
by the long march, and the cavalry by the uninterrupted 
pursuit, and especially by the passage of the river. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Stoeming op the Mallian Stronghold. 
On the following day, dividing the army into two parts, 
he himself assaulted the wall at the head of one, and 
Perdiccas led on the other. Upon this the Indians did 
not wait to receive the attack of the Macedonians, but 
abandoned the walls of the city and fled for safety into 
the citadel. Alexander and his troops therefore split 
open a small gate, and got within the city long before the 



330 Ihe Anabasis of Alexander. 

others ; for those who had been put under Perdiccas were 
behind time, having experienced difficulty in scaling the 
walls, as most of them did not bring ladders, thinking 
that the city had been captured, when they observed that 
the walls were deserted by the defenders. But when the 
citadel was seen to be still in the possession of the enemy, 
and many of them were observed drawn up in front of it 
to repel attacks, some of the Macedonians tried to force 
an entry by undermining the wall, and others by placing 
scaling ladders against it, wherever it was practicable to 
do so. Alexander, thinking that the men who carried the 
ladders were too slow, snatched one from a man who was 
carrying it, placed it against the wall, and began to mount 
it, crouching under his shield. After him mounted Peu- 
cestas, the man who carried the sacred shield which 
Alexander took from the temple of the Trojan Athena and 
used to keep with him, and have it carried before him 
in all his battles.^ After Peucestas, by the same ladder 
ascended Leonnatus the confidential body-guard ; and up 
another ladder went Abreas, one of the soldiers . who 
received double pay for distinguished services.^ The king 
was now near the battlement of the wall, and leaning his 
shield against it was pushing some of the Indians within 
the fort, and had cleared that part of the wall, by killing 
others with his sword. The shield-bearing guards becom- 
ing very anxious for the king's safety, pushed each other 
with ardour up the same ladder and broke it ; so that 
those who were already mounting fell down and made the 
ascent impracticable for the rest. Alexander then, stand- 
ing upon the wall, was being assailed all round from the 
adjacent towers ; for none of the Indians dared approach 
him. He was also being assailed by the men in the city, 
who were throwing darts at him from no great distance; 
for a mound of earth happened to have been heaped up 

' Cf. Arrian i. H supra. 

' The Eomana called these men duplicarii. See Livy, ii. 59 ; vii. 37. 



Allexander Dangerously Wounded. 331 

there opposite the wall. Alexander was conspicuous both 
by the brightness of his weapons and by his extraordinary 
display of audacity. He therefore perceived that if he 
remained where he was, he would be incurring danger 
without being able to perform anything at all worthy of 
consideration ; but if he leaped down within the fort he 
might perhaps by this very act strike the Indians with 
terror, and if he did not, but should only thereby be in- 
curring danger, at any rate he would die not ignobly after 
performing great deeds of valour worthy of recollection by 
men of after times.^ Forming this resolution, he leaped 
down from the wall into the citadel ; where, supporting 
himself against the wall, he struck with his sword and 
killed some of the Indians who came to close quarters 
with him, including their leader, who rushed upon him too 
boldly. Another man who approached him he kept in 
check by hurling a stone at him, and a third in like man- 
ner. Those who advanced nearer to him he again kept 
off with his sword ; so that the barbarians were no longer 
willing to approach him, but standing round him caat at 
him from all sides whatever any one happened to have 
or could get hold of at the time. 



CHAPTBE X. 

Alexander Dangieouslt Wounded. • 

Meantime Peucestas and Abreas, the soldier entitled to 
double pay, and after them Leonnatus, beiug the only 
men who happened to have scaled the wall before the 
ladders were broken, had leaped down and were fighting 
in front of the king. Abreas, the man entitled to double 
pay, fell there, being shot with an arrow in the forehead. 
Alexander himself also was wounded with an arrow under 
the breast through his breastplate into the chest, so that 

' Tois ?jreiTo irvdicrSai. Cf. Homer (Iliad, xxii. 305 ; ii. 119). 



332 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Ptolemy says air was breathed oat from the wound to- 
gether with the blood. But although he was faint with 
exhaustion, he defended himself, as long as his blood 
was still warm. But the blood streaming out copiously 
and without ceasing at every expiration of breath, he was 
seized with a dizziness and swooning, and bending over 
fell upon his shield. After he had fallen Peucestas de- 
fended him, holding over him in front the sacred shield 
brought from Troy; and on the other side he was 
defended by Leonnatus. But both these men were 
themselves wounded, and Alexander was now nearly 
fainting away from loss of blood. For the Macedonians 
had experienced great difficulty in the assault also on this 
account, because those who saw Alexander being shot at 
upon the wall and then leaping down into the citadel 
within, in their ardour arising from fear lest their king 
should meet with any mishap by recklessly exposing him- 
self to danger, broke the ladders. Then some began to 
devise one -^ plan and others another to mount upon the 
wall, as well as they could in their state of embarrassment, 
some fixing pegs into the wall, which was made of earth, 
and suspending themselves from these hoisted themselves 
up with , difficulty by their means; others got up by mount- 
ing one upon the other. The first man who got up threw 
himself down from the wall into the city, and so on in 
succession ; and when they saw the king lying there on 
the ground they all raised a loud lamentation and howl of 
grief. Now ensued a desperate conflict around his fallen 
body, one Macedonian after another holding his shield 
in front of him. In the meantime some of the soldiers 
having shivered in pieces the bar by which the gate 
in the space of wall between the towers was secured, 
entered the city a few at the time ,• while others, inasmuch 
as a gap had been made in the gate, put their shoulders 
under it and forced it into the space inside the wall, and 
thus laid the citadel open in that quarter. 



Alexander Wounded. . 333 

CHAPTER XI. 

Alexander Wounded. 

Hereupon some o£ tliem began to kill the Indians, all 
of whom they slew, sparing not even a woman or child. 
Others carried off the king, who was lying in a faint 
condition, upon his shield ; and they could not yet tell 
whether he was likely to survive. Some authors have 
stated that Critodemus, a physician of Cos, an Asclepiad 
by birthj^ made an incision into the injured part and 
drew the weapon out of the wound. Other authors say 
that as there was no physician present at the critical 
moment, Perdiccas, the confidential body-guard, at Alex- 
ander's bidding, made an incision with his sword into the 
wounded part and removed the weapon. On its removal 
there was sach a copious effusion of blood that Alexander 
swooned again ; and the effect of the swoon was, that the 
effusion of blood was stanched.^ Many other things con- 
cerning this catastrophe have been recorded by the 
historians ; and Eumour having received the statements 
as they were given by the first falsifiers of the facts, 
still preserves them even to our times, nor will she desist 
from handing the falsehoods on to others also in regular 
succession, unless a stop is put to it by this history.^ 
For example, the common account is, that this calamity 
befell Alexander among the Oxydracians; whereas, it 
really occurred among the Mallians, an independent tribe 

' Curtius (ix. 22) calls the physician Critobulus. Near the oity of Cos 
stood the Asclepieum, or temple of Asolepius, to whom the island was 
sacred, and from whom the chief family, the Asolepiadae, claimed 
descent. Curtius says : — Igitur patefaoto latius vulnere, et spiculo evolso, 
ingens vis sanguinis manare coepit, linquique animo rex, et caligine 
oculis offusa, veluti moribundus extendi. 

2 Cf. Plutarch {Alex. 63) ; Diodorus {xTii. 98, 99) ; Curtim (ix. 18-23) ; 
Justin (xii. 9). 

' As to Fame, or Eu&our, see Homer {Hiad, ii. 93 ; Odyss. xxiv. 412) ; 
Hesiod {Works and Days, 758-762) ; Vergil {Aeneid, iv. 173-190) ; Ovid 
{Met. xii. 39-63) ; Statius {Theb. ii. 426). 



334 Ihe Anabasis of Alexander. 

of Indian^; the city belonged to the Mallians,^ and the 
men who wounded him were Mallians. These people, 
indeedj had resolved to join their forces with the Oxy- 
dracians and then' to make a desperate struggle j but 
he forestalled them by marching against them through 
the waterless country, before any aid could reach them 
from the Oxydracians, or they could render any help 
to the latter. Moreover, the common account is, that 
the last battle fought with Darius was near Arbela, at 
which battle he fled and did not desist from flight until 
he was arrested by Bessus and put to death at Alex- 
ander's approach ; just as the battle before this was at 
Issus, and the first cavalry battle near the Granicus. 
The cavalry battle did really take place near the 
Granicus, and the next battle with Darius near Issus j 
but those authors who make Arbela most distant say 
that it is 600 ^ stades distant from the place where the 
last battle between Alexander and Darius was fought, 
while those who make it least distant, say that it is 500 
stades oS". Moreover, Ptolemy and Aristobulus say that 
the battle was fought at Gaugamela near the river 
Bumodus. But as Gaugamela was not a city, but only a 
large village, the place is not celebrated, nor is the name 
pleasing to the ear ; hence, it seems to me, that Arbela, 
being a city, has carried off the glory of the great battle. 
But if it is necessary to consider that this engagement 
took place near Arbela, being in reality so far distant 
from it, then it is allowable to say that the sea-battle 
fought at Salainis occurred near the isthmus^ of the 
Corinthians, and that fought at Artemisium, in Euboea, 
occurred near Aegina or Sunium. Moreover, in regard 
to those who covered Alexander with their shields in his 
peril, all agree that Peucestas did so ; but they no longer 

' Curtivs (ix. 18) says it waa the town of the Oxydracians. 
' Nearly 70 miles. 

* Isthmus is from the same root as Uvai, to go, and thus means a, passage. 
Pindar {Isthmia, iv. 34) calls it the "bridge of the sea." 



Anxiety of the Soldiers about Alexander. 335 

agree in regard to Leonnatus or Abreas, the soldier 
in receipt of double pay for his distinguished services. 
Some say that Alexander, having received a blow on the 
head with a piece of wood, fell down in a fit of dizziness ; 
and that having risen again he was wounded with a dart 
through the corselet in the chest. But Ptolemy, son of 
Lagus, says that he received only this wound in the chest. 
However, in my opinion, the greatest error made by those 
who have written the history of Alexander is the follow- 
ing. There are some who have recorded^ that Ptolemy, 
son of Lagus, in company with Peucestas, mounted the 
ladder with Alexander j that Pfcolemy held his shield over 
him when he lay wounded, and that he was called Soter 
(the preserver) on that account.^ And yet Ptolemy him- 
self has recorded that he was not even present at this 
engagement, but was fighting battles against other bar- 
barians at the head of another army. Let me mention 
these facts as a digression from the main narrative, so 
that the" correct account of such great deeds and calami- 
ties may not be a matter of indifference to men of the 
future.* 

CHAPTER XII. 

Anxiety of the Soldiers about Alexander. 
While Alexander was remaining in this place until his 
wound was cured, the first news which reached the camp 
from which he had set out to attack the Mallians was 

' We learn from Curtviis (ix. 21) that the authors who stated that 
Ptolemy was present in this battle were Clitarchus and Timagenes. 
From the history of the former, who was a contemporary of Alexander, 
Curtius mainly drew the materials for his history of Alexander. 

2 Ptolemy received this appellation from the Ehodians whom he 
reUeved from the assaults oif Demetrius. The grateful Ehodians paid 
him divine honours as their preserver, and he was henceforward known 
as Ptolemy Soter. B.C. 304. See Pausanias, i. 8, 6. 

' The word iToXaliroipoi is used in a similar way by Thucydides, 
i. 20, 4. 



336 Tlie Anabasis of Alexander, 

tbat lie had died of the wound ; and at first there arose 
a sound of lamentation from the entire army, as one man 
handed the rumour on to another. When they ceased 
their lamentation, they became spiritless, and felt per- 
plexed as to the man who was to become the leader of the 
army ; for many of the ofiicers seemed to have stood in 
equal rank and merit, both in the opinion of Alexander 
and in that of the Macedonians. They were also in a 
state of perplexity how to get back in safety to their 
own country, being quite enclosed by so many warlike 
nations, some of whom had not yet submitted, and who 
they conjectured would fight stoutly for their freedom ; 
while others would no doubt revolt as soon as they 
were relieved of their fear of Alexander. Besides, they 
seemed at that time to be in the midst of impassable 
rivers, and all things appeared to them uncertain and 
impracticable now that they were bereft of Alexander. 
But when at length the news came that he was still alive, 
they with difficulty acquiesced in it; and did not yet 
believe that he was likely to survive. Even when a 
letter came from the king, saying that he was coming 
down to the camp in a short time, this did not appear 
to most of them worthy of credit, on account of their 
excessive fear ; for they conjectured that the letter was 
concocted by his confidential body-guards and generals. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Jot op the Soldiels at Alexander's Recovery. 

When Alexander became acquainted with this, for fear 
some attempt at a revolution might be made in the army, 
he had himself conveyed, as soon as it could be done 
with safety, to the bank of the river Hydraotes, and 
placed in a boat to sail down the river. For the camp 
was at the confluence of the Hydraotes and Acesines, 



Joy of the Soldiers at Alexander's Recovery . 337 

where Hephaesfcion was at tlie head of the army, and 
Nearchus of the fleet. When the ship bearing the king 
approached the camp, he ordered the tent covering to be 
removed from the stern, that he might be visible to all. 
But they were still incredulous, thinking, forsooth, that 
Alexander's corpse was being conveyed on the vessel; 
until at length he stretched out his hand to the multi- 
tude, when the ship was nearing the bank. Then the 
men raised a cheer, lifting their hands, some towards 
the sky and • others to the king himself. Many even 
shed involuntary tears at the unexpected sight. Some 
of the shield-bearing guards brought a litter for him 
when he was conveyed out of the ship ; but he ordered 
them to fetch his horse. When he was seen again 
mounting his horse, the whole army re-echoed with loud 
clapping of hands, so that the banks of the river and 
the groves near them reverberated with the sound. On 
approaching his tent he dismounted from his horse, so 
that he might be seen walking. Then the men came 
near, some on one side, others on the other, some touch- 
ing his hands, others his knees, others only his clothes. 
Some only came close to get a sight of him, and went 
away having chanted his praise, while others threw 
garlands upon him, or the flowers which the country of 
India supplied at that season of the year. Nearchus 
says that some of his friends incurred his displeasure, 
reproaching him for exposing himself to danger in the 
front of the army in battle ; which they said was the duty 
of a private soldier, and not that of the general.^ It 
seems to me that Alexander was offended at these re- 
marks, because he knew that they were correct, and that 
he deserved the censure. However, like those who are 



' Curtius (ix. 24) says that Craterus was deputed by the officers to 
make this representation to the king, and that he was backed up by 
Ptolemy and the rest. 

Z 



338 The Anabasis of Aledander. 

mastered by any other pleasure, lie had not sufficient 
self-control to keep aloof from danger, through his im- 
petuosity in battle and his passion for glory. Nearchus 
also says that a certain old Boeotian, whose name he 
does not mention, perceiving that Alexander was 'of- 
fended at the censures of his friends and was looking 
sullenly at them, came near him, and speaking in the 
Boeotian dialect, said : " Alexander, it is the part of 
heroes to perform great deeds ! " and repeated a certain 
Iambic verse, the purport of which is, that the man who 
performs anything great is destined also to suffer.^ This 
man was not only acceptable to Alexander at the time, 
but was afterwards received into his more intimate 
acquaintance. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

VOTAGB DOWN THE HtDEAOTES AND AoESIKES INTO THE 

Indus. 

At this time arrived envoys from the MalHans who still 
survived, offering the submission of the nation ; also from 
the Oxydracians came both the leaders of the cities and 
the governors of the provinces, accompanied by the other 
150 most notable men, with full powers to make a 
treaty, bringing the gifts which are considered most 
valuable among the Indians, and also, like the Mallians, 
offering the submission of their nation. They said 
that their error in not having sent an embassy to 
him before was pardonable, because they excelled other 
races in the desire to be free and independent, and 
their freedom had been secure from the time Dionysus 
came into India until Alexander came ; but if it seemed 
good to him, inasmuch as there was a general report that 



1 This line is a fragment from one of the lost tragedies of Aeschylus : 
SpdaavTi ydp rt koX iraBeiv dtpelXcrai. 



Down the Hydraotes and Acesines into the Indus. 339 

he also was sprung from gods, they were willing to re- 
ceive whatever viceroy he might appoint, pay the tribute 
decreed by him, and give him as many hostages as he 
might demand. He therefore demanded the thousand 
best men of the nation, whom he might hold as hostages, 
if he pleased; and if not, that he might keep them as 
soldiers in his army, until he had finished the war which 
he was waging against the other Indians. They ac- 
cordingly selected the thousand best and tallest men 
of their number, and sent them to him, together with 
500 chariots and charioteers, though these were not 
demanded. Alexander appointed Philip viceroy over 
these people and the Mallians who were still surviving. 
He sent back the hostages to them, but retained the 
chariots. When he had satisfactorily arranged these 
matters, since many vessels had been built during the 
delay arising from his being wounded,^ he embarked 
1,700 of the cavalry Companions, as many of the light- 
armed troops as before, and 10,000 infantry, and sailed 
a short distance down the river Hydraotes. But when 
that river mingled its waters with the Acesines, the 
latter giving its name to the united stream, he continued 
his voyage down the Acesines, until he reached its junc- 
tion with the Indus. For these four large rivers,^ which 
are all navigable, discharge their water into the river 
Indus, though each does not retain its distinct name, 
for the Hydaspes discharges itself into the Acesines, 
and after the junction the whole stream forms what is 
called the Acesines. Again this same river unites with 
the Hydraotes, and after absorbing this river, still retains 
its own name. After this the Acesines takes in the 



^ Gurtius (ix. 23) says that he was cured of his wound in seven days. 
Diodorus (xvii. 99) says that it took many days. 

^ Arrian does not mention the Sutledj , which is the fifth of the rivers 
of the Punjab. Pliny (vi. 21) calls it Hesidrus ; Ptolemy (vii. 1) calls it 
Zaradrus. 



340 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Hyphasis, and finally flows into the Indus under its own 
name; but after the junction it yields its name to the 
Indus. From this point I have no doubt that the Indus 
proceeds 100 stades,^ and perhaps more, before it is 
divided so as to form the Delta ; and there it spreads 
out more like a lake than a river. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Voyage down the Indus to the Land of Musicanus. 

TheeEj at the confluence of the Acesines and Indus, he 
waited until Perdiccas with the army arrived, after having 
routed on his way the independent tribe of the Abas- 
tanians.^ Meantime, he was joined by other thirty- 
oared galleys and trading vessels which had been built 
for him among the Xathrians, another independent tribe 
of Indians who had yielded to him. From the Ossadians, 
who were also an independent tribe of Indians, came 
envoys to offer the submission of their nation. Having 
fixed the confluence of the Acesines and Indus as the 
limit of Philip's viceroyalty, he left with him all the 
Thracians and as many men from the infantry regiments 
as appeared to him sufficient to provide for the security 
of the country. He then ordered a city to be founded 
there at the very junction of the two rivers, expecting 
that it would become large and famous among men.^ He 
also ordered a dockyard to be made there. At this time 

^ About 12 miles. Ita se findente Nilo ut triquestram terrae figuram 
effioiat. Ideo multi Graeoae literae vocabiilo Delta appellavere Aegyp- 
tum (Pliny, v. 9). 

^ This tribe dwelt between tlie Acesines and the Indus. Diodorus 
(xvii. 102) calls them Sambastians ; while Curtius (ix. 30) calls them 
Sabarcians. The Xathrians and Ossadians dwelt on the left bank of the 
Indus. 

a We find from Curtius (ix. 31) and Diodorus (xvii. 102) that the name 
of this was Alexandria. It is probably the present Mittun. 



Voyage down the Indus to the Land of Musicanus. Ml 

the Bactrian Oxyartes, father of his wife Eoxana, came 
to hira, to whom he gave the vioeroyalty over the Para- 
pamisadians, after dismissing the former viceroy, Tir- 
yaspes, because he was reported to be exercising his 
authority improperly.^ Then he transported Craterus 
with the main body of the army and the elephants to 
the left bank of the river Indus, both because it seemed 
easier for a heavy-armed force to march along that side 
of the river, and the tribes dwelling near were not 
quite friendly. He himself sailed down to the capital 
of the Sogdians; where he fortified another city, made 
another dockyard, and repaired his shattered vessels. 
He appointed Oxyartes viceroy, and Peithon general of 
the land extending from the confluence of the Indus and 
Acesines as' far as the sea, together with all the coast- 
land of India. He then again despatched Craterus with 
his army through the country of the Arachotians and 
Drangians; and himself sailed down the river into the 
dominions of Musicanus, which was reported to be the 
most prosperous part of India. He advanced against 
this king because he had not yet come to meet him to 
offer the submission of himself and his land, nor had 
he sent envoys to seek his alliance. He had not even 
sent him the gifts which were suitable for a great king, 
or asked any favour from him. He accelerated his 
voyage down the river to such a degree that he suc- 
ceeded in reaching the confines of the land of Musicanus 
before he had even heard that Alexander had started 
against him. Musicanus was so greatly alarmed that 
he went as fast as he could to meet him, bringing with 
him the gifts valued most highly among the Indians, 
and taking all his elephants. He offered to surrender 
both his nation and himself, at the same time acknow- 



' Curtius (ix. 31) calls this satrap Terioltes, and says he was put to 
death. His appointment as viceroy is mentioned by Aman (iv. 22 supra). 



342 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

ledging his error, whicli was the most effectual way with 
Alexander for any one to get what he requested. Ac- 
cordingly for these considerations Alexander granted him 
an indemnity for his offences. He also granted him the 
privilege of ruling the city and country, both of which 
Alexander admired. Craterus was directed to fortify the 
citadel in the capital ; which was done while Alexander 
was still present. A garrison was also placed in it, 
because he thought the place suitable for keeping the 
circumjacent tribes in subjection. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Campaign against Oxtcanus and Sambtjs. 

Then he took the archers, Agrianians, and cavalry sailing 
with him, and marched against the governor of that 
country, whose name was Oxycanus,^ because he neither 
came himself nor did envoys come from him, to offer the 
surrender of himself and his land. At the very first 
assault he took by storm the two largest cities under the 
rule of Oxycanus ; in the second of which that prince him- 
self was cp,ptured. The booty he gave to his army, but 
the elephants he led with himself. The other cities in the 
same land surrendered to him as he advanced, nor did 
any one turn to resist him ; so cowed in spirit ^ had all the 
Indians now become at the thought of Alexander and his 
fortune. He then marched back against Sambus, whom 
he had appointed viceroy of the mountaineer Indians and 
who was reported to have fled, because he learned that Mu- 
sicanus had been pardoned by Alexander and was ruling 
over his own land. For he was at war with Musicanus. 



' This king is called Portioanus by Curtius (ix. 31), Diodorus (xvii. 102), 
and Strabo (xv. 1). 

" An expression imitated from Thucydides (iv. 34). Cf. Arrian, ii. 10; 
V. 19 ; where the same words are used of Darius and Porus. 



Musicwnus Executed. 343 

But whea Alexander approached the city which the coun- 
try of Sambas held as its metropolis, the name of which 
was Sindimana, the gates were thrown open to him at his 
approach, and the relations of Sambus reckoned up his 
money and went out to meet him, taking with them the 
elephants also. They assured him that Sambus had fled, 
not from any hostile feeling towards Alexander, but fearing 
on account of the pardon of Musicanus.^ He also captured 
another city which had revolted at this time, and slew as 
many of the Brachmans ^ as had been instigators of this 
revolt. These men are the philosophers of the Indians, 
of whose philosophy, if such it may be called, I shall give 
an account in my book descriptive of India.^ 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Mdsicanus Executed. — Capture of Patala. 

Meantime he was informed that Musicanus had revolted. 
He despatched the viceroy, Peithon, son of Agenor, with 
a sufficient army against him, while he himself marched 
against the cities which had been put under the rule of 
Musicanus. Some of these he razed to the ground, 
reducing the inhabitants to slavery ; and into others he 
introduced garrisons and fortified the citadels. After 
accomplishing this, he returned to the camp and fleet. 
By this time Musicanus had been captured by Peithon, 
who was bringing him to Alexander. The king ordered 
him to be hanged in his own country, and with him as 
many of the Brachmans as had instigated him to the revolt. 
Then came to him the ruler of the land of the Patalians,* 

' Diodorus (xyii. 102) says that Sambas escaped beyond the Indus 
with thirty elephants. ' See note, page 327 supra. 

3 The Indica, a valuable work stiU existing. See chapters x. and xi. 
of that book. 

•• These people inhabited the Delta of the Indus, which is now called 
Lower Scinde. Their capital, Fatala, is the modern Tatta, 



344 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

who said that the Delta formed by the river Indus was 
still larger than the Egyptian Delta.^ This man sur- 
rendered to him the whole of his own land and entrusted 
both himself and his property to him. Alexander sent 
him away again in possession of his own dominions, with 
instructions to provide whatever was ■needful for the 
reception of the army. He then sent Craterus into 
Oarmania with the brigades of Attains, Meleager, and 
Antigenes, some of the archers, and as many of the Com- 
panions and other Macedonians as, being now unfit for 
military service, he was despatching to Macedonia by the 
route through the lands of the Arachotians and Zarangians. 
To Craterus he also gave the duty of leading the ele-' 
phants J but the rest of the army, except the part of it 
which was sailing with himself down to the sea, he put 
under the command of Hephaestion. "He transported 
Peithon with the cavalry-lancers and Agrianians to the 
opposite bank of the Indus, not the one along which 
Hephaestion was about to lead the army. Peithon was 
ordered to collect men to colonize the cities which had 
just been fortified, and to form a junction with the king 
at Patala, after having settled the affairs of the Indians 
of that region, if they attempted any revolutionary pro- 
ceedings. On the third day of his voyage, Alexander 
was informed that the governor of the Patalians^ had 
collected most of his subjects and was going away by 
stealth, having left his land deserted. For this reason 
Alexander sailed down the river with greater speed than 
before ^ ; and when he arrived at Patala, he found both 
the country and the city deserted by the inhabitants 
and tillers of the soil. He however despatched the light- 

' Cf. Arrian {Indica, ii.). 

^ Curtius (iz. 34) calls this king Moeris. 

' Aristobulus, as quoted by Strabo (xv. 1), said that the voyage down 
the Indus occupied ten months, the fleet arriving at Patala about the 
time of the rising of Sirius, or July, 325 b.c. 



Voyage down the Indus. 34:5 

est; troops in his army in pursuit of the fugitives ; and 
when some of them were captured, he sent them away 
to the rest, bidding them be of good courage and return, 
for they might inhabit the city and till the country as 
before. Most of them accordingly returned. 



CHAPTER XVIir. 

VorAGE DOWN THE InDUS. 

After instructing Hephaestion to fortify the citadel in 
Patala, he sent men into the adjacent country, which was 
waterless, to dig wells and to render the land fit for 
habitation. Certain of the native barbarians attacked^' 
these men, and falling upon them unawares slew some of 
them ; but having lost many of their own men, they fled 
into the desert. The work was therefore accomplished by 
those who had been sent out, another army having joined 
them, which Alexander had despatched to take part in 
the work, when he heard of the attack of the barbarians. 
Near Patala the water of the Indus is divided into two 
large rivers, both of which retain the name of Indus as 
far as the sea. Here Alexander constructed a harbour 
and dockyard ; and when his works had advanced towards 
completion he resolved to sail down as far as the mouth 
of the right branch of the river.^ He gave Leonnatus 
the command of 1,000 cavalry and 8,000 heavy and light- 
armed infantry, and sent him to march through the 
island of Patala opposite the naval expedition ; while he 
himself took the fastest sailing vessels, having one and a 
half bank of oars, all the thirty-oared galleys, and some of 
the boats, and began to sail down the right branch of the 
river. The Indians of that region bad fled, and conse- 



> The right arm of the Indus is now called the Buggaur, and the left 
Sata. 



346 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

quently he could get no pilot for the voyage, and the 
navigation of the river was very difficult. On the day 
after the start a storm arose, and the wind blowing right 
against the stream made the river hollow ^ and shattered 
the hulls of the vessels violently, so that most of his 
ships were injured, and some of the thirty-oared galleys 
were entirely broken up. But they succeeded in run- 
ning them aground before they quite fell to' pieces in the 
water ; and others were therefore constructed. He then 
sent the quickest of the light-armed troops into the land 
beyond the river's bank and captured some Indiang, who 
from this time piloted him down the channel. But when 
they arrived at the place where the river expands, so 
that where it was widest it extended 200 stades, a strong , 
wind blew from the outer sea, and the oars could hardly 
be raised in the swell ; they therefore took refuge again 
in a canal into which his pilots conducted them. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Voyage down the Indus into the Sea. 
While their vessels were moored here, the phenomenon 
of the ebb and flow of the tide in the great sea occurred, 
so that their ships were left upon dry ground. This 
caused Alexander and his companions no small alarm, 
inasmuch as they were previously quite unacquainted with 
it. But they were much more alarmed when, the time 
coming round again, the water approached and the hulls of 
the vessels were raised aloft.^ The ships which it caught 
settled in the mud were raised aloft without any damage, 



' I.e. caused a heavy swell of waters. Cf. Apollonius Btiodius, ii. 595 ; 
Polybius, i. 60, 6. This wind was the south-west monsoon. 

' Cf . Curtius (ix. 35, 36) ; Caesar (Bell. Gall. iv. 29). rd a-Kitpri i/ierea- 
pifoKTO. Arrian does not comply with the Attic rule, that the plural neuter 
should take a verb in the singular. Compare ii. 20, 8 ; t. 17, 6 and 7 ; etc. 



Voyage down the Indus into the Sea. 347 

and floated again' without receiving any injury ; but those 
that had been left on the drier land and had not a firm 
settlement, when an immense compact wave advanced, 
either fell foul of each other or were dashed against the 
land and thus shattered to pieces. When Alexander had 
repaired these vessels as well as his circumstances per- 
mitted, he sent some men on in advance down the river 
in two boats to erplore the island at which the natives 
said he must moor his vessels in his voyage to the sea. 
They told him that the name of the island was Oilluta.^ 
As he was informed that there were harbours in this 
island, that it was a large one and had plenty of water in 
it, he made the rest of his fleet put in there ; but he him- 
self with the best sailing ships advanced beyond, to see 
if the mouth of the river afforded an easy voyage out into 
the open sea. After advancing about 200 stades from 
the first island, they descried another which was quite 
out in the sea. Then indeed they returned to thq island 
in the river ; and having moored his vessels near the ex- 
tremity of it, Alexander offered sacrifice to those gods to 
whom he said he had been directed by Ammon to sacrifice. 
On the following day he sailed down to the other island 
which was in the deep sea ; and having come to shore 
here also, he offered other sacrifices to other gods and in 
another manner. These sacrifices he also offered accord- 
ing to the oracular instructions of Ammon. Then having 
gone beyond the mouths of the river Indus, he sailed out 
into the open sea, as he said, to discover if any land lay 
anywhere near in the sea ; but in my opinion, chiefly that 
he might be able to say that he had navigated the great 
outer sea of India. There he sacrificed some bulls to 
Poseidon and cast them into the sea j and having poured 
out a libation after the sacrifice, he threw the goblet and 

' Plutarch (Alex. 66) says that Alexander called the island Soillustis ; 
but others called it Psiltuois. He also says that the voyage down the 
rivers to ths ssa took seven months. 



348 Ihe Anabasis of Alexander. 

bowls, wMcli were golden, into tlie deep as thankofferings, 
praying the god to escort safely for him the fleet, which 
he intended to despatch to the Persian Gulf and the 
mouths of the Euphrates and Tigres.^ 



CHAPTER XX. 

EXPLOEATION OF THE MoTJTHS Of THB InDTJS. 

Eetuening to Patala, he found that the citadel had been 
fortified and that Peithon had arrived with his army, 
having accomplished everything for which he was des- 
patched. He ordered Hephaestion to prepare what was 
needful for the fortification of a naval station and the 
construction of dockyards ; for he resolved to leave 
behind here a fleet of many ships near the city of Patala, 
where the river Indus divides itself into two streams. He 
"himself sailed down again into the Great Sea by the other 
mouth of the Indus, to ascertain which branch of the 
river is easier to navigate. The mouths of the river Indus 
are about 1800 stades distant from each other.^ In the 
voyage down he arrived at a large lake in the mouth of 
the river, which the river makes by spreading itself out ; 
or perhaps the waters of the surrounding district drain- 
ing into it make it large, so that it very much resembles 
a gulf of the sea.* For in it were seen flsh like those 
in the sea, larger indeed than those in our sea. Having 
moored his ships then in this lake, where the pilots 
directed, he left there most of the soldiers and all the 
boats with Leonnatus ; but he himself with the thirty- 
oared galleys and the vessels with one and a half row 
of oars passed beyond the mouth of the Indus, and ad- 

' In regard to this expedition, see Arrian, yii. 20 infra. 
2 About 200 miles. Arrian here follows the statement of Nearchus. 
Aristobulus said that the distance was 1,000 stades. See Utrabo, xv. 1. 
•'' See Curtius, ix. 38. This lake has disappeared. 



Campaign against the Oritians. 349 

vancing into the sea also this way, ascertained that ike 
outlet of the river on this side {i.e. the west) was easier 
to navigate than the other. He moored his ships near 
the shore, and taking with him some of the cavalry went 
along the sea- coast three days' journey, exploring what 
kind of country it was for a coasting voyage, and ordering 
wells to be dug, so that the sailors might have water to 
drink. He then returned to the ships and sailed back to 
Patala ; but he sent a part of his army along the sea-coast 
to effect the same thing, instructing them to return to 
Patala when they had dug the wells. Sailing again down 
to the lake, he there constructed another harbour and 
dockyard ; and leaving a garrison for the place, he col- 
lected sufficient food to supply the army for four months, 
as well as whatever else he could procure for the coasting 
voyage. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Campaign against the Oeitians. 

The season of the year was then unfit for voyaging; for 
the periodical winds prevailed, which at that season do 
not blow there from the north, as with us, but from the 
Great Sea, in the direction of the south wind.^ Moreover 
it was reported that there the sea was fit for navigation 
after the beginning of winter, from the setting of the 
Pleiades^ until the winter solstice; for at that season 
mild breezes usually blow from the land> drenched as it 
has been with great rains ; and these winds are con- 
venient on a coasting voyage both for oars and sails. 

' These periodical winds are the southerly monsoon of the Indian 
Ocean. Cf. Arrian {Indica, 21). 

' This occurs at the beginning of November. The Eomans called the 
Pleiads Vergiliae. Cf . Pliny (ii. 47, 125) : VergiUarum occasus hiemem 
inohoat, quod tempus in III. Idus Novembres incidere consuevit. Also 
Livy (xxi. 35, 6) : Nivis etiam casus, occidente jam sidfere VergiUarum, 
ingentem terrorem adjecit. 



350 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Nearclius, who had been placed in command of the fleet, 
waited for the coasting season ; but Alexander, starting 
from Patala, advanced with all his army as far as the 
river Arabius.-^ He then took half of the shield-bearing 
guards and archers, the infantry regiments called foot 
Companions, the guard of the Companion cavalry, a 
squadron of each of the other cavalry regiments, and all 
the horse-bowmen, and turned away thence on the left 
towards the sea to dig wells, so that there might be 
abundance, of them for the fleet sailing along on the 
coasting voyage; and at the same time to make an 
unexpected attack upon the Oritians,^ a tribe of the 
Indians in this region, which had long been independent. 
This he meditated doing because they had performed no 
friendly act either to himself or his army. He placed 
Hephaestion in command of the forces left behind. The 
Arabitians,* another independent tribe dwelling near the 
river Arabius, thinking that they could not cope with 
Alexander in battle, and yet being unwilling to submit 
to him, fled into the desert when they heard that he was 
approaching. But crossing the river Arabius, which 
was both narrow and shallow, and travelling by night 
through the greater part of the desert, he came near 
the inhabited country at daybreak. Then ordering the 
infantry to follow him iu regular line, he took the cavalry 
with him, dividing it into squadrons, that it might 
occupy a very large part of the plain, and thus marched 
into the land of the Oritians. All those who turned to 



1 This riyer, which is now called the Purally, is about 120 miles west 
of the mouth of the Indus. It is called Arabia by Arrian {Indica, 21) ; 
and Arbis by Strabo (xv. 2). 

2 These were a people of Gadrosia, inhabiting a coast district nearly 
200 mUes long in the present Beloochistan. Cf. Arriau {Indica, 22 and 
25) ; Pliny, vi. 23. 

3 The Arabitians dwelt between the Indus and the Arabius ; the 
Oritians were west of the latter river. 



March through the Desert of Oadrosia, 351 

defend themselves were cut to pieces by the cavalry, and 
many of the others were taken prisoners. He then 
encamped near a small piece of water; but when 
Hephaestion formed a junction with him, he advanced 
farther. Arriving at the largest village of the tribe of 
the Oritians, which was called Ehambacia,^ he commended 
the place and thought that if he colonized a city there 
it would become great and prosperous. He therefore 
left Hephaestion behind to carry out this project.^ 



CHAPTER XXIL 

March through the Desert op G-adeosia. 

Again he took half of the shield-bearing guards and 
Agrianians, the guard of cavalry and the horse-bowmen, 
and marched forward to the confines of the Gadrosians 
and Oritians, where he was informed that the passage 
was narrow, and the Oritians were drawn up with the 
Gadrosians and were encamping in front of the pass, with 
the purpose of barring Alexander's passage. They had 
indeed marshalled themselves there ; but when it was 
reported that he was already approaching, most of them 
fled from the pass, deserting their guard. The chiefs of 
the Oritians, however, came to him, ofiering to surrender 
both themselves and their nation. He instructed these 
to collect the multitude of their people together and send 
them to their own abodes, since they were not about to 
suSer any harm. Over these people he placed ApoUo- 
phanes as viceroy, and with him he left Leonnatus the 
confidential body-guard in Ora,^ at the head of all the 
Agrianians, some of the bowmen and cavalry, and the 
rest of the Grecian mercenary infantry and cavalry. He 

1 Ehambaoia was probably at or near Haur. 

2 According to Diodorus (xvii. 104) the city was called Alexandria. 
' Ora was the name of the district inhabited by the Oritians. 



352 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

instructed him to wait until the fleet had sailed round 
the land, to colonize the city, and to regulate the affairs 
of the Oritians so that they might pay the greater respect 
to the viceroy. He himself, with the main body of the 
army (for Hephaestion had arrived at the head of the 
men who had been left behind), advanced into the land 
of the Gadrosians by a route most of which was desert. 
Aristobulus says that in this desert many myrrh-trees 
grew, larger than the ordinary kind ; and that the 
Phoenicians, who accompanied the army for trafficking, 
gathered the gum of myrrh, and loading the beasts of 
burden, carried it away.^ For there was a great 
quantity of it, inasmuch as it exuded from large stems 
and had never before been gathered. He also says that 
this desert produces many odoriferous roots of nard,^ 
which the Phoenicians likewise gathered; but much of 
it was trampled down by the army, and a sweet perfume 
was diffused far and wide over the land by the trampling ; 
so great was the abundance of it. In the desert there 
were also other kinds of trees, one of which had foliage 
like that of the bay-tree, and grew in places washed by 
the waves of the sea. These trees were on ground which 
was left dry by the ebb-tide; but when the water 
advanced they looked as if they had grown in the sea. 
Of others the roots were always washed by the sea, 
because they grew in hollow places, from which the 
water could not retire ; and yet the trees were not 
destroyed by the sea. Some of these trees in this region 
were even thirty cubits high. At that season they 
happened to be in bloom ; and the flower was very much 
like the white violet,' but the perfume was far superior 
to that of the latter. There was also another thorny 
stalk growing out of the earth, the thorn on which was 

1 Cf. Pliny (Nat. Hist. xii. 33-35). 

2 Cf. Strabo (xv. 2) ; Pliny (Nat. Hist. xu. 26). 
' Probably tbe snow-flake. 



March through the Desert of Oadrosia. 353 

so strong tHat, piercing the clothes of some men just 
riding past, it pulled the horseman down from his horse 
rather than be itself torn off the stalk. It is also said 
that when hares run past these bushes, the thorns cling 
to their fur ; and thus these animals are caught, as birds 
are with bird-lime, or fish with hooks. However they 
were easily cut through with steel ; and when the thorns 
are cut the stalk gives forth much juice, still more abun- 
dantly than fig-trees do in the springtime, and more 
pungent.^ 



CHAPTBE XXIII. 

Maech theough the Deseet op Gadeosia. 

Thence Alexander marched through the land of the 
Gadrosians, by a difficult route, which was also destitute 
of all the necessaries of life ; and in many places there 
was no water for the army. Moreover they were com- 
pelled to march most of the way by night, and a great 
distance from the sea. However he was very desirous of 
coming to the part of the country along the sea, both 
to see what harbours were there, and to make what 
preparations he could on his march for the fleet, either 
by employing his men in digging wells, or by making 
arrangements somewhere for a market and anchorage. 
But the part of the country of the Gadrosians near the 
sea was entirely desert. He therefore sent Thoas, son of 
Mandrodorus, with a few horsemen down to the sea, to 
reconnoitre and see if there happened to be any haven 
anywhere near, or whether there was water or any other 
of the necessaries of life not far from the sea. This man 
returned and reported that he found some fishermen 
upon the shore living in stifling huts, which were made 

' This is the well-known catechu, obtained chiefly from the Acacia 
Catechu. The liquid gum is called kuth or cutch in India. 

A A 



354 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

by putting together mussel- shells, and the back-bones 
of fishes were used to form the roofs .■•• He also said that 
these fishermen used little water, obtaining it with diffi- 
culty by scraping away the gravel, and that what they 
got was not at all fresh. When Alexander reached a 
certain place in Gadrosia, where corn was more abundant, 
he seized it and placed it upon the beasts of burden ; 
and marking it with his own seal, he ordered it to be 
conveyed down to the sea. But while he was marching 
to the halting stage nearest to the sea, the soldiers pay- 
ing little regard to the seal,.^e guards made use of the 
corn themselves, and gave a share. of it to those who 
were especially pinched with hunger. To such a degree 
were they overcome by their misery that after mature 
deliberation' they resolved to take account of the visible 
and already impending destruction rather than the danger 
of incurring the king's wrath, which was not before their 
eyes and still remote. When Alexander ascertained the 
necessity which constrained them so to act, he pardoned 
those who had done the deed. He himself hastened for- 
ward to collect from the land all he could for victualling 
the army which was sailing round with the fleet ; and sent 
Oretheus the Oallatian^ to convey the supplies to the coast. 
He also ordered the natives to grind as much corn as 
they could and convey it down from the interior of the 
country, together with dates * and sheep for sale to the 
soldiers. Moreover he sent Telephus, one of the confi- 
dential Companions, down to another place on the coast 
with a small quantity of ground corn. 

1 These people were called lohthyophagi, or Fish-eaters. They are 
described by Arrian {Indica, 29) ; Curtius, ix. 40 ; Diodoms, xvii. 105 ; 
Pliny {Nat. Hist. yi. 25, 26) ; Plutarch {Alex. 66) ; Straho, xv. 2. They 
occupied the sea-ooast of Gadrosia, or Belooohistan. Cf. Aloiphron 
{Epistolae, i. 1, 2). 

^ A man of CaUatis, a town on the Black Sea in Thrace, originally 
colonized by the Milesians. 

3 Cf. Herodotus, i. 193. 



March through Gadrosia. 355 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

March through Gadrosia. 
He then advanced towards the capital of the Gadrosians, 
which was named Pura ^ ; and he arrived there in sixty 
days after starting from Ora. Most of the historians of 
Alexander's reign assert that all the hardships which his 
army suffered in Asia were not worthy of comparison 
with the labours undergone here. Nearchus alone 
asserts that Alexander pursued this route, not from 
ignorance of the difiBculty of the journey, but because he 
heard that no one had ever hitherto passed that way 
with an army and emerged in safety from the desert, 
except Semiramis, when she fled from India. The 
natives said that even she emerged with only twenty 
men of her army; and that Gyrus, son of Cambyses, 
escaped with only seven of his men.' For they say that 
Cyrus also marched into this region for the purpose of 
invading India; but that he did not effect his retreat 
before losing the greater part of his army, from the 
desert and the other difficulties of this route. When 
Alexander received this information he was seized with 
a desire of excelling Cyrus and Semiramis. Nearchus 
says that he turned his march this way, both for this 
reason and at the same time for the purpose of conveying 
provisions near the fleet. The scorching heat and lack 
of water destroyed a great part of the army, and es- 
pecially the beasts of burden; most of which perished 
from thirst and some of them even from the depth and 
heat of the sand, because it had been thoroughly scorched 

' Pura was near the borders of Carmania, probably at Bampur. The 
name means town. 

2 Cf. Strabo, xv. 2 ; Diodorus, ii. 19, 20. According to Megasthenes, 
Semiramis died before she could carry out her intended invasion of 
India. See Arrian (Indiea, 5). Neither Herodotus nor Ctesias mentions 
an invasion of India by Cyrus ; and according to Arrian (Indiea, 9), the 
Indians expressly denied that Cyrus- attacked them. 



356 The Anabasis of Alexander. , 

by the snn. For they met with lofty ridges of deep sand, 
not closely pressed and hardened, but such as received 
those who stepped upon it just as if they were stepping 
into mud, or rather into untrodden snow. At the same 
time too the horses and mules suffered still more, both in 
going up and coming down the hills, from the unevenness 
of the road as well as from its instability. The length 
of the marches between the stages also exceedingly dis- 
tressed the army ; for the lack of water often compelled 
them to make the marches of unusual length.-"^ When 
they travelled by night on a journey which it was 
necessary to complete, and at daybreak came to water, 
they suffer/sd no hardship at all; but if, while still on 
the march, on accouiit of the length of the way, they were 
caught by the heat, then they did indeed suffer hardships 
from the blazing sun, being at the same time oppressed 
by unassuageable thirst.^ 



CHAPTER XXV. 

SUFPEEINGS OF THE AeMT. 

The soldiers killed many of the beasts of burden of their 
own accord; for when provisions were lacking, they 
came together, and slaughtered most of the horses and 
mules. They ate the flesh of these, and said that they 
had died of thirst or had perished from the heat. There 
was no one who divulged the real truth of their conduct, 
both on account of the men's distress and because all 
alike were implicated in the same offence. What was 
being done had not escaped Alexander's notice ; but he 
saw that the best cure for the present state of affairs 
would be to pretend to be ignorant of it, rather than to 

' Strabo says that some of these marolies extended 200, 400, and even 
600 stades ; most of the marching being done in the uight. Eriigei 
substitutes iv/i/iirpovs for ^i/iiicrpos oCcra. 

^ Cf. Thucydides, ii. 49, 3. 



Sufferings of the Army. 357 

permit it as a thing known to himself. The consequence 
waSj that it was no longer easy to convey the soldiers 
who were suffering from disease, or those who were left 
behind on the roads on account of the heat, partly from 
the want of beasts of burden and partly because the 
men themselves were knocking the waggons to pieces, 
not being able to draw them on account of the depth of 
the sand. They did this also because in the first stages 
they were compelled on this account to go, not by the 
shortest routes, but by those which were easiest for the 
carriages. Thus some were left behind along the roads 
on account of sickness, others from fatigue or the effects 
of the heat, or from not being able to bear up against 
the drought ; and there was no one either to show them 
the way or to remain and tend them in their sickness. 
For the expedition was being made with great urgency ; 
and the care of individual persons was necessarily 
neglected in the zeal displayed for the safety of the 
army as a whole. As they generally made the marches 
by night, some of the men were overcome by sleep on 
the road ; afterwards rousing up again, those who still had 
strength followed upon the tracks of the army ; but only 
a few out of many overtook the main body in safety. 
Most of them perished in the sand, like men shipwrecked 
on the sea.^ Another calamity also befell the army, 
which greatly distressed men, horses, and beasts of 
burden; for the country of the Gadrosians is supplied 
with rain by the periodical winds, just as that of the 
Indians is; not the plains of Gadrosia, but only the 
mountains where the clouds are carried by the wind and 
are dissolved into rain without passing beyond the sum- 
mits of the mountains. On one occasion, when the army 
bivouacked, for the sake of its water, near a small brook 
which was a winter torrent, about the second watch of 

' Cf. Xenophon [Anab. vii. 5,'l3) ; Homer (Odyss. vii. 283). 



358 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

the night the brook which flowed there was suddenly 
swelled by the rains in the mountains which had fallen 
unperceived by the soldiers. The torrent advanced with 
so great a flood as to destroy most of the wives and 
children of the men who followed the army, and to sweep 
away all the royal baggage as well as all the beasts of 
burden still remaining. The soldiers, after great exer- 
tions, were hardly able to save themselves together with 
their weapons, many of which they lost beyond recovery. 
When, after enduring the burning heat and thirst, they 
lighted upon abundance of water, many of them perished 
from drinking to excess, not being able to check their 
appetite for it. For this reason Alexander generally 
pitched his camp, not near the water itself, but at a 
distance of about twenty stades from it, to prevent the 
men and beasts from pressing in crowds into the river 
and thus perishing, and at the same time to prevent 
those who had no control over themselves from fouling 
the water for the rest of the army by stepping into the 
springs or streams. 



CHAPTBE XXVI. 

Alexander's Magnanimous Conduct. 
Hebe I have resolved not to pass over in silence the 
most noble deed perhaps ever performed by Alexander, 
which occurred either in this land or, according to the 
assertion of some other authors, still earlier, among the 
Parapamisadians.^ The army was continuing its march 
through the sand, though the heat of the sun was already 

• Curtius (yu. 20) mentions a similar act of magnanimity as haying 
Occurred on the march in pursuit of Bessus through the desert to the 
river Oxus. Plutarch (Alex. 42) says it was when Alexander was pursu- 
ing Darius ; Frontinus {Strategematica, i. 7, 7) says it was in the desert 
of Africa; Polyaemus (iv. 3, 25) relates the anecdote without specifying 
where the event occurred, /lere^^epoi is an Ionic form very frequently 
used by Herodotus. 



Alexander's Magnanimous Conduct. 359 

scorching, because it was necessary to reach water before 
halting. They were far on the journey, and Alexander 
himself, though oppressed with thirst, was nevertheless 
with great pain and difficulty leading the, army on foot, 
so that his soldiers, as is usual in such a ease, might 
more patiently bear their hardships by the equalization 
of the distress. At this time some of the light-armed 
soldiers, starting away from the army in quest of water, 
found some collected in a shallow cleft, a small and 
mean spring. Collecting this water with difficulty, they 
came with all speed to Alexander, as if they were bring- 
ing him some great boon. As soon as they approached 
the king, they poured the water into a helmet and car- 
ried it to him. He took it, and commending the men 
who brought it, immediately poured it upon the ground 
in the sight of all. As a result of this action, the entire 
army was re-invigorated to so great a degree that any 
one would have imagined that the water poured away by 
Alexander had furnished a draught to every man. This 
deed beyond all others I commend as evidence of Alex- 
ander's power of endurance and self-control, as well as of 
his skill in managing an army. The following adven- 
ture also occurred to the army in that country. At last 
the guides declared that they no longer remembered the 
way, because the tracks of it had been rendered invisi- 
ble by the wind blowing the sand over them. Moreover, 
in the deep sand which had been everywhere reduced to 
one level, there was nothing by which they could conjec- 
ture the right way, not even the usual trees growing 
along it, nor any solid hillock rising up j and they had 
not practised themselves in making journeys by the stars 
at night or' by the sun in the daytime, as sailors do by 
the constellations of the Bears — the Phoenicians by the 
Little Bear, and other men by the Greater Bear.-^ Then 

' Compare uote on page 146. 



360 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

at length Alexander perceived that it was necessary for 
him to lead the way by declining to the left ; and taking 
a few horsemen with him he advanced in front of the 
army. But when the horses even of these were ex- 
hausted by the heat, he left most of these men behind, 
and rode away with only five men and found the sea. 
Having scraped away the shingle on the sea-beach, he 
found water fresh and pure, and then went and fetched 
the whole army. For seven days they marched along 
the sea-coast, supplying themselves with water from the 
shore. Thence he led his expedition into the interior, 
for now the guides knew the way. 



CHAPTBE XXVII. 

Makch thkough Carmania. — Punishment oi' Viceeoys. 

When he arrived at the capital of Gadrosia, he there 
gave his army a rest. He deposed Apollophanes from 
the viceroyalty,! because he discovered that he had paid 
no heed to his instructions. Thoas was appointed vice- 
roy over the people of this district ; but as he fell ill and 
died, Sibyrtius succeeded to the office. The same man 
had also lately been appointed by Alexander viceroy of 
Carmania; but now the rule over the Arachotians and 
Gadrosians was given to him, and Tlepolemus, son of 
Pythophanes, received Carmania. The king was already 
advancing into Carmania, when news was brought to 
him that Philip, the viceroy of the country of the Indians, 
had been plotted against by the mercenaries and trea- 
cherously killed; but that Philip's Macedonian body- 
guards had caught some of the murderers in the very 
act and others afterwards, and had pat them to death. 
When he had ascertained this, he sent a letter into India 
to Eudemus and Taxiles, ordering them to administer 

' This man had been placed over the Oiitians. See page 351 supra. 



Punish'Hient of Viceroys. 361 

the affairs of tlie land whicli had previously been sub- 
ordinated to Philip until he could send a viceroy for it. 
When he arrived in Carmania, Craterus effected a junc- 
tion with him, bringing with him the rest of the army 
and the elephants. He also brought Ordanes, whom he 
had arrested for revolting and trying to effect a revolu- 
tion.^ Thither also came Stasanor, the viceroy of the 
Areians** and Zarangians, accompanied by Pharismanes, 
son of PhratapherneSj the viceroy of the Parthians and 
Hyrcanians. There came also the generals who had 
been left with Parmenio over the army in Media, Olean- 
der, Sitalces, and Heracon, bringing with them the 
greater part of their army. Both the natives and the 
soldiers themselves brought many accusations against 
Oleander and Sitalces, as for example, that the temples 
had been pillaged by them, old tombs rifled, and other 
acts of injustice, recklessness, and tyranny perpetrated 
against their subjects. As these charges were proved,^ 
he put them to death, in order to inspire others who 
might be left as viceroys, governors, or prefects of pro- 
vinces with the fear of suffering equal penalties with 
them if they swerved from the path of duty.* This was 
one of the chief means by which Alexander kept in sub- 
ordination the nations which he had conquered in war 
or which had voluntarily submitted to him, though they 
were so many in number and so far distant from each 
other ; because under his regal sway it was not allowed 

' Curtius (ix. 41) says thfl,t Craterus sent a messenger to the king, to 
say that he was holding in chains two Persian nobles, Ozines and 
Zeriaspes, who had been trying to effect a revolt. 

' The Areians were famed for their skill as professional mourners. See 
Aeschylus {ChoSphorae, 423). For the origin of the name see Donaldson 
{New Gratylus, sect. 81.) 

' i^il\4yxffii is substituted by Sintenis for the common reading i^riyy^Oi). 

* Aooording to Gwtius (x. 1), Oleander and his colleagues were not 
slain, but put into prison ; whereas 600 of the soldiers who had been 
the agents of their cruelty were put to death. Curtius says Oleander was 
spared for having killed Parmenio with his own hand. Of. iii. 26 supra. 



362 Tlie Anabasis of Alexander. 

tHat those who were ruled should be unjustly treated by 
those who ruled. At that time Heracon was acquitted of 
the charge, but soon after, being convicted by the men 
of Susa of having pillaged the temple in that city, he- 
also suffered punishment. Stasanor and Phrataphernes 
came to Alexander bringing a multitude of beasts of 
burden and many camels, when they learnt that he was 
marching by the route to Gadrosia, conjecturing that his 
army would suffer the very hardships which it did suffer. 
Therefore these men arrived just at the very time they 
were required, as also did their camels and beasts of bur- 
den. For Alexander distributed all these animals to the 
oflBcers man by man, to all the various squadrons and 
centuries of the cavalry, and to the various companies 
of the infantry, as their number allowed him. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Alixandee in Caemania. 

Certain authors have said (though to me the statement 
seems incredible) that Alexander led his forces through 
Carmania lying extended with his Companions upon two ' 
covered waggons joined together, the flute beii;ig played to 
him ; and that the soldiers followed him wearing garlands 
and sporting. Pood was provided for them, as well as 
all kinds of dainties which had been brought together 
along the roads by the Carmanians. They say that he 
did this in imitation of the Bacchic revelry of Dionysus, 
because a story was told about that deity, that after 
subduing the Indians he traversed the greater part of 
Asia in this manner and received the appellation of 
Thriambus.^ For the same reason the processions in 

' The thriambus was a hymn to Bacchus, sung in festal processions in 
his honour. It was also used as a name of that deity, as we learn from 
Diodorus, iv. 5. It was afterwards used as synonymous with the Boman 
triumphus, by Polybius, Dionysius, and Plutarch. 



Alexander in Carmania. 363 

honour of victories after war were called thriambi. This 
has been recorded neither by Ptolemy, son of Lagus, nor 
by Aristobulus, son of Aristobulus, nor by any other 
writer whose testimony on such points any one would feel 
to be worthy of credit. It is sufficient therefore for me 
to record it as unworthy of belief.-^ But as to what I am 
now going to describe I follow the account of Aristo- 
bulus. In Carmania Alexander offered sacrifices to the 
gods as thank-offerings for his victory over the Indians, 
and because his army had been brought in safety out of 
Gadrosia. He also celebrated a musical and gymnastic 
contest. He then appointed Peucestas one of his confi- 
dential body-guards, having already resolved to make 
him viceroy of Persis. He wished him, before being 
appointed to the viceroyalty, to experience this honour 
and evidence of confidence, as a reward for his exploit 
among the Mallians. , Up to this time the number of his 
confidential body-guards had been seven : — Leonnatus, 
son of Anteas, Hephaestion, son of Amyntor, Lysimachus, 
son of Agathocles, Aristonous, son of Pisaeus, these four 
being Pellaeans ; Perdiccas, son of Orontes, from Orestis, 
Ptolemy, son of Lagus, and Peithon, son of Crateas, the 
Heordaeans. Peucestas, who had held the shield over 
Alexander, was now added to them as an eighth. At 
this time Nearchus, having sailed round the coast of Ora 
a,nd Gadrosia and that of the Ichthyophagi, put into port 
in the inhabited part of the coastland of Carmania,^ and 
going up thence into the interior with a few men he re- 
ported to Alexander the particulars of the voyage which he 
had made along the coasts of the external sea. Nearchus 
was then sent down to the sea again to sail round as far 
as the country of Susiana, and the outlets of the river 

1 The Bacchanalian procession through Carmania is described by 
Curtius (ix. 42) ; Plutarch (Alex. 67) ; and Diodorus (xvii. 106). 

^ Diodorus (xvii. 106) says that the port into which Nearchus put was 
called Salmus. 



364 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

Tigres.^ How he sailed from the river Indus to the 
Persian Sea and the mouth of the Tigres, I shall describe 
in a separate book, following the account of Nesa-chus 
himself.^ For he also wrote a history of Alexander in 
Greek. Perhaps I shall be able to compose this narra- 
tive in the future, if inclination and the divine influence 
urge me to it. Alexander now ordered Hephaestion to 
march into Persis ^ from Oarmania along the sea-shore 
with the larger division of the army and the beasts of 
burden, taking with him also the elephants ; because, as 
he. was making the expedition in the season of winter,* 
the part of Persis near the sea was warm and possessed 
abundant supplies of provisions. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 

Alexander in Peesis. — Tomb of Gyrus Eepaieed. 

He himself then marched to Pasargadae in Persis, with 
the lightest of his infantry, the Gompanion cavalry and 
a part of the archers ; but he sent Stasanor down to his 
own land.^ When he arrived at the confines of Persis, 
he found that Phrasaortes was no longer viceroy, for he 

' iKvepiirXeia-ovTa. The Attic future of ttX^w is wXeitraiiai. ifKeiaia is 
only found in Polybius and the later writers. 

2 See Arrian {Indica, 18-43). 

3 The name for Persia and the Persians in the Hebrew Bible, is Paras. 
Cyrus is called Koresh (the sun) in Hebrew ; in the cuneiform inscrip- 
tions the name is Khurush. Cambyses is called Ahasuerus in Ezra iv. 6 ; 
and Smerdis the Magian is the Artaxerxes who was induced by the 
Samaritans to forbid the further building of the temple (Ezra iv. 7-24). 
The Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther is probably Xerxes. Artaxerxes 
the Long-handed was the patron of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra vii. 11-28 ; 
Neh. ii. 1-9, etc). " Darius the Persian," mentioned in Neh. xii. 22, was 
probably Darius Oodomannus, who was conquered by Alexander. The 
province of Susiana, previously called Elymais, appears in the Hebrew 
under the name of Eilam or Elam. Persis is still called Fars. 

" B.C. 325. 

' Aria. See chap. 27 supra. 



The Tomb of Gyrus Repaired. 365 

happened to have died of disease while Alexander was 
still in India. Orxines was managing the affairs of the 
country, not because he had been appointed ruler by 
Alexander, but because he thought it his duty to keep 
Persia in order for him, as there was no other ruler .^ 
Atropates, the viceroy of Media, also came to Pasargadae, 
bringing Baryaxes, a Mede, under arrest, because he had 
assumed the upright head-dress and called himself king 
of the Persians and Medes.^ With Baryaxes he also 
brought those who had taken part with him in the at- 
tempted revolution and revolt. Alexander put these 
men to death. 

He was grieved by the outrage committed upon the 
tomb of Cyrus, son of Cambyses ; for according to 
Aristobulus, he found it dug through and pillaged. The 
tomb of the famous Cyrus was in the royal park at Pasar- 
gadae, and around it a grove of all kinds of trees had 
been planted. It was also watered by a stream, and 
high grass grew in the meadow. The base of the tomb 
itself had been made of squared stone in the form of a 
rectangle. Above there was a stone building surmounted 
by a roof, with a door leading within, so narrow that 
even a small man could with difficulty enter, after suffer- 
ing much discomfort.^ In the building ,lay a golden 
coffin, in which the body of Cyrus had been buried, and 
by the side of the coffin was a couch, the feet of which 
were of gold wrought with the hammer. A carpet of 
Babylonian tapestry with purple rugs formed the bed- 
ding j upon it were also a Median coat with sleeves and 
other tunics of Babylonian manufacture. Aristobulus 
adds that Median trousers and robes dyed the colour of 

' Cwrtius (x. 4) says Orxines was descended from Cyrus. 

' See iii. 25 supra. 

' Of. Strabo, xv. 3, where a description of this tomb is given, derived 
from Onesioritus, the pilot of Alexander. See Dean Blakesley's note on 
Herodiotus i. 214. 



366 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

hyacintli were also lying upon it, as well as others of 
purple and various other colours ; moreover there were 
collars, sabres, and earrings of gold and precious stones 
soldered together, and near them stood a table. On the 
middle of the couch lay the coffin ^ which contained the 
body of Cyrus. Within the enclosure, near the ascent 
leading to the tomb, there was a small house built for the 
Magians who guarded the tomb ; a duty which they had 
discharged ever since the time of Cambyses, son of Cyrus, 
son succeeding father as guard. To these men a sheep 
and specified quantities of wheaten flour and wine were 
given daily by the king ; and a horse once a month as a 
sacrifice to Cyrus. Upon the tomb an inscription in 
Persian letters had been placed, which bore the following 
meaning in the Persian language : " man, I am Cyrus, 
son of Cambyses, who founded the empire of the Persians, 
and was king of Asia. Do not therefore grudge me this 
monument.'" As soon as Alexander had conquered 
Persia, he was very desirous of entering the tomb of 
Cvrus; but he found that everything else had been 
carried ofE except the coffin and couch. They had even 
maltreated the king's body ; for they had torn off the 
lid of the coffin and cast out the corpse. They had tried 
to make the coffin itself of smaller bulk and thus more 
portable, by cutting part of it off and crushing part of 
it up j but as their efforts did not succeed, they de- 
parted, leaving the coffin in that state. Aristobulus 
says that he was himself commissioned by Alexander to 
restore the tomb for Oyriis, to put in the coffin the parts 
of the body still preserved, to put the lid on, and to re- 
store the parts of the coffin which had been, defaced. 
Moreover he was instructed to stretch the couch tight 
with bands, and to deposit all the other things which 
used to lie there for ornament, both resembling the 

^ Just a few lines above, Arrian says that the couch was by the side 
of the coffin. 



Peucestas Appointed Viceroy of Per sis. 867 

former ones and of the same number. He was ordered 
also to do away witli tlie door, building part of it up with 
stone and plastering part of it over with cement j and finally 
to put the royal seal upon the cement. Alexander 
arrested the Magians who were the guards of the tomb, 
and put them to the torture to make them confess who 
had done the deed ; but in spite of the torture they con- 
fessed nothing either about themselves or any other per- 
son. In no other way were they proved to have been 
privy to the deed; they were therefore released by 
Alexander.^ 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Peucestas Appointed Viceeot op Peesis. 

Thence he proceeded to the royal palace of the Persians, 
which he had on a former occasion himself burnt down, 
as I have previously related, expressing my disapproba- 
tion of the act ^ j and on his return Alexander himself did 
not commend it. Many charges were brought by the 
Persians against Orxines, who ruled them after the death 
of Phrasaortes. He was convicted of having pillaged 
temples and royal tombs, and of having unjustly put 
many of the Persians to death. He was therefore hanged 
by men acting under Alexander's orders ^ ; and Peucestas 
the confidential body-guard was appointed viceroy of 
Persis. The king placed special confidence in him both 
for other reasons, and especially on account of his exploit 

' Cf. Ammianus, xxiii. 6, 32, 33. The Magi were the priests of the 
religion of Zoroaster, which was professed by the Medes and Persians. 
Their Bible was the Avesta, originally consisting of twenty-one books, 
only one of which, the twentieth (Vendidad), is stiU extant. 

^ See iii. 18 supra. 

' According to Gurtius (x. 4, 5) Orxines was not only innocent, but was 
very devoted and attached to Alexander. The favourite eunuch, Bagoas, 
poisoned the king's mind against him, and suborned other accusers against 
him. He was condemned unheard. 



368 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

among tlie Malliaas, where he braved the greatest 
dangers and helped to save Alexander's life. Besides 
this, he did not refuse to accommodate himself to the 
Asiatic mode of living ; and as soon as he was appointed 
to the position of viceroy of Persis, he openly assumed 
the native garb, being the only man among the Mace- 
donians who adopted the Median dress in preference to 
the Grecian.^ He also learnt to speak the Persian lan- 
guage correctly, and comported himself in all other re- 
spects like a Persian. For this conduct he was not 
only commended by Alexander, but the Persians also 
were highly delighted with him, for preferring their 
national customs to those of his own forefathers. 



1 Purpura et nitor corporis, omatusque Persicus multo auro multis- 
que gemmis. — Cicero [de Senectute, 17). 



BOOK VII. 



OHAPTEE I. 

Alexander's Plans. — The Indian Philosophers. 

When Alexander arrived at Pasargadae and Persepolisj^ 
he was seized with an ardent desire to sail down the 
Euphrates and Tigres ^ to the Persian Sea, and to see the 
mouths of those rivers as he had already seen those of 
the Indus as well as the sea into which it flows. Some 
authors ^ also have stated that he was meditating a voyage 
round the larger portion of Arabia, the country of the 
Ethiopians, Libya {i.e. Africa), and Numidia beyond 
Mount Atlas to Gadeira {i.e. Cadiz),* inward into our sea 

' Pasargadae was the ancient capital of Cyras, but Persepolis was that 
of the later kings of Persia. The tomj) of Cyrus has been discovered at 
Murghab ; consequently Parsagadae was on the banks of the river Cyrus, 
N.E. of Persepolis. The latter city was at the junction of the Araxes 
and Medus. Its extensive ruins are called Chel-Minar, "the forty 
columns." 

2 The Tigris rises in Armenia, and joins the Euphrates ninety miles 
from the sea, the united stream being then called Shat-el-Arab. In 
ancient times the two rivers had distinct outlets. In the Hebrew the 
Tigris is called Chiddekel, i.e. arrow. The Greek name Tigres is derived 
from the Zend Tighra, which comes from the Sanscrit Tig, to sharpen. 
Its present name is Dijleh. The respective lengths of the Euphrates and 
Tigris are 1,780 and 1,146 miles. 

' Among these were Curtius (x. 3) ; Diodorus (xviii. 4) ; and Plutarch 
(AUx., 68). 

^ Gadeira or Gades was a Phoenician colony. The name is from the 
Hebrew '\li a fence. Cf. Pliny (iv. 36) ; appellant Poeni Gadir ita 
Punica lingua septum significante. Also Avienus {Ora Maritima, 268) : 
Punicorum lingua conseptum locum Gaddir vocabat. According to Pliny 
(v. 1), Suetonius Paulinus was the first Eoman general who crossed the 

Atlas Mountains. 

369 BB 



' 370 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

{i.e. the Mediterranean) ; thinking that after he had 
subdued both Libya and Carchedon [i.e. Carthage), he 
might with justice be called king of all Asia.^ For he 
said that the kings of the Persians and Medes called 
themselves Great Kings without any rights since they 
did not rule the larger part of Asia. Some say that he 
was meditating a voyage thence into the Baxine Sea, to 
Scythia and the Lake Maeotis {i.e. the Sea of Azov) ; 
while others assert that he intended to go to Sicily and 
the lapygian Cape,^ for the fame of the Romans spread- 
ing far and wide was now exciting his jealousy. For my 
own part I cannot conjecture with any certainty what 
were his plans ; and I do not care to guess. But this I 
think I can confidently affirm, that he meditated nothing 
small or mean ; and that he would never have remained 
satisfied with any of the acquisitions he had made, even 
if he had added Europe to Asia, or the islands of the 
Britons to Europe ; but would still have gone on seeking 
• for unknown lands beyond those mentioned. I verily 
believe that if he had found no one else to strive with, 
he would have striven with himself. \J And on this account 
I commend some of the Indian philosophers, who are 
said to have been caught by Alexander as they were 
walking in the open meadow where they were accustomed 
to spend their time.^ At the sight of him and his army 
they did nothing else but stamp with their feet on the 
earth, upon which they were stepping. When he asked 
them by means of interpreters what was the meaning of 
their action, they replied as follows : " king Alexander, 
every man possesses as much of the earth as this, upon 
which we have stepped ; but thou being only a man like 
the rest of us, except in being meddlesome and arrogant, 
art come over so great a part of the earth from thy own 

" ' See note 3, page 309. 

^ Now called Capo di Leuoa, the south-eastern point of Italy. 
3 Cf. Arrian {Indica, 11). 



Alexander's Dealings with the Indian Sages, 371 

land, giving trouble botli to thyself and others.'^ And 
yet tbou also wilt soon die, and possess only as mucli of 
the earth as is sufficient for thy body to be buried in." 



CHAPTEE II. 

Alexander's Dealings with the Indian Sages. 
On this occasion Alexander, commended both the words 
and the men who spoke them ; but nevertheless he did 
just the opposite to that which he commended. When 
also in the Isthmus he met Diogenes of Sinope, lying in 
the sun, standing near him with his shield-bearing guards 
and foot Companions, he asked if he wanted anything. 
But Diogenes said that he wanted nothing else, except 
that he and his attendants would stand out of the sun- 
light. Alexander is said to have expressed his admira- 
tion of Diogenes's conduct.^ v Thus it is evident that 
Alexander was not entirely destitute of better feelings j 
but he was the slave of his insatiable ambition. Again, 
when he arrived at Taxila afld saw the naked sect of 
Indian philosophers, bjO was exceedingly desirous that 
one of these men should live with him ; because he 
admired their power of endurance.* But the oldest of 
the philosophers, Dandamis by name, of whom the others 
were disciples, refused to come himself to Alexander, and 
would not allow the others to do so.* He, is said to have 
replied that he was himself a son of Zeus, if Alexander 
was ^ ; and that he wanted nothing from him, because he 

' Cf. Aleiphron {Epistolae, i. 30, 1), with Bergler and Wagner's notes. 

2 This must have occurred B.C. 336. See Plutarch {Alex. 14); Cicero 
{Tmculanae Disputationes, v. 32). Alexander said : " If I were not Alex- 
ander, I should like to be Diogenes." Cf. Arrian, i. 1 ; Plutarch (de 
Fortit. Alex., p. 331). 

3 Cf. Strdbo, XV. 1. 

* Strabo calls this sage Mandanis. 

* Strabo says, Alexander's messengers summoned Mandanis to the son 
of Zeus. 



372 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

was quite contented with what he had. And besides he 
said that he saw his attendants wandering over so much 
of the land and sea to no advantagOj and that there was 
no end to their many wanderings. Therefore he had no 
desire that Alexander should give him anything which 
was in his own possession, nor on the other hand was he 
afraid that he should be excluded from anything which 
Alexander ruled over. For while he lived the country 
of India, which produces the fruits in their season, was 
sufficient for him ; and when he died he should be re- 
leased from the body, an unsuitable associate. Alexander 
then did not attempt to force him to come with him, con- 
sidering that the man was free to do as he pleased. But 
Megasthenes has recorded that Calanus, one of the philo- 
sophers of this region, who had very little power over 
his desires, was induced to do so ; and that the philo- 
sophers themselves reproached him, for having deserted 
the happiness existing among them, and serving another 
lord instead of the God.^ 



CHAPTER III. 

Selp-saceificb or the Indian Calanus. 
This I have recorded, because in a history of Alexander 
it is necessary also to speak of Calanus; for when he 
was in the country of Persis his health became delicate, 
though he had never before been subject to illness. ** 
Accordingly, not being willing to lead the life of a man 
in infirm health, he told Alexander that in such circum- 

1 Plutarch (Alex., 65) says tliis philosopher's name was Sphines ; but 
the Greeks called him Calanus, because when he met them, instead of 
using the word xo^^^ in greeting them, he said koXL The same author 
says that he was persuaded to come to Alexander by Taxiles. See also 
Strabo (xv. 1). 

' Strabo (xv. 1) says that the voluntary death of Calanus occurred at 
Pasargadae ; Aelian (Varia Historia, v. 6) says it was at Babylon ; but 
Diodorus (xvii. 107) says it happened at Susa, which statement is con- 
firmed by the fact of Nearchus being seemingly present. 



Self-sacrifice of the Indian Oalanus. 373 

stances ho thouglit it best for him to put an end to his 
existencBj before he came into experience of any disease 
which might compel him to change his former mode of 
living. For a long time the king tried to dissuade him ; 
however, when he saw that he was not to be overcome, 
but would find some other way of release, if this were 
not yielded to him, he ordered a funeral pyre to be heaped 
up for him, in the place where the man himself directed, 
and gave instructions that Ptolemy, son of Lagus, the 
confidential body-guard, should have the charge of it. 
They say that a solemn procession, consisting both of 
horses and men, advanced before him, some of the latter 
being armed and others carrying all kinds of incense for 
the pyre. They also say that they were carrying gold 
and silver goblets and royal apparel; and because he 
was unable to walk through illness, a horse was prepared 
for him. However, not being able to mount the horse, 
he was conveyed stretched out upon a litter, crowned 
with a garland after the custom of the Indians, and sing- 
ing in the Indian language. The Indians say that he 
sang hymns to the gods and eulogiums on his country- 
men.^ Before he ascended the funeral-pyre he presented 
the horse which he should himself have mounted, being 
a royal steed of the Nisaean breed,^ to Lysimachus, one 
of those who attended him to learn his philosophy. 
He distributed among his other disciples the goblets 
and rugs which Alexander had ordered to be cast into 
the pyre as an honour to him. Then mounting the pyre 
he lay down upon it in a becoming manner, and was 
visible to the whole army. To Alexander the spectacle 
appeared unseemly, as it was being exhibited at the cost 
of a friend ; but to the rest it was a cause of wonder that 
he did not move any part of his body in the fire.^ As 

' Of, Arrian (Indica, 10). 

2 Cf. Arrian, vii, 13 infra ; and Herodotus, vii. 40. 

» Cf. Cicero [Tuse. Disput. v. 27). 



374 The Anabasis of Aleieander. 

, soon as the men to whom the duty had been assigned set 
fire to the pyre, Nearchus says the trumpets sounded, in 
accordance with Alexander's order, and the whole army 
raised the war-cry as it was in the habit of shouting 
when advancing to battle. The elephants also chimed 
in with their shrill and warlike cry, in honour of Calanus. 
Authors upon whom reliance may be placed, have re- 
corded these and such-like things, facts of great import 
to those who are desirous of learning how steadfast and 
imrdovable a thing the human mind is in regard to what 
it wishes to accomplish. 



CHAi'TBR IV. 

Maeeiagbs between Macedonians and Persians. 

At this time Alexander sent Atropates away to his own 
viceroyalty,^ after advancing to Susa ; where he arrested 
Abulites and his son Oxathres, and, put them to death on 
the ground that they were governing the Susians badly .^^ 
Many outrages upon temples, tombs, and the subjects 
themselves had been committed by those who were 
ruling the countries conquered by Alexander in war ; be- 
cause the king's expedition into India had taken a long 
time, and it was not thought credible that he would ever 
return in safety from so many nations possessing so many 
elephants, going to his destruction beyond the Indus, 
Hydaspes, Acesines, and Hyphasis.* The calamities that 
befell him among the Gadrosians were still greater in- 
ducements to those acting as viceroys in this region to 
be free from apprehension of his return to his dominions. 

1 Media. See vi. 29 supra. 

^ Oxathres wag killed by Alexander himself with a sarissa, or long 
Macedonian pike. See Plutarch (Alex. 68), who calls him Oxyartes. 

' For this use of ^Belpofuu, cf. Aristophanes (Plutus, 610) ; Alciphron, 
i. 13, 3 ; with Bergler's note. 



Marriages between Macedonians and Persians, 375 

Not only so, but Alexander himself is said to have be- 
come more inclined at that time to believe accusations 
which were plausible in every way, as well as to inflict 
very severe punishment upon those who were convicted 
"even of small offences, because with the same disposition 
he thought they would be likely to perform great ones.i 

In Susa also he celebrated both his own wedding and 
those of his companions. He himself married Barsine, 
■ the eldest daughter of Darius,^ and according to Aristo- 
bulus, besides her another, Parysatis, the youngest 
daughter of Ochus.^ He had already married Roxana, 
daughter of 'Oxyartes the Bactrian.* To Hephaestion 
he gave Drypetis, another daughter of Darius, and his 
own wife's sister ; for he wished Hephaestion's children 
to be first cousins to his own. To Craterus he gave 
Amastrine, daughter of Oxyartes the brother of Darius ; 
to Perdiccas, the daughter of Atropates, vi6eroy of 
Media; to Ptolemy the confidential body-guard, and 
Bumenes the royal secretary, the daughters of Artabazus, 
to the former Artacama, and to the latter Artonis. To 
Nearchus he gave the daughter of Barsine and Mentor ; 
to Seleucus the daughter of Spitamenes the Bactrian. 
Likewise to the rest of his Companions he gave the 
choicest daughters of the Persians and Medes, to the 
number of eighty. The weddings were celebrated after 
the Persian manner, seats being placed in a row for 
the bridegrooms ; and after the banquet the brides 

' Cf. Curtius, X. 5. 

2 She was also called Statira. See Diodorus, xvii. 107 ; Plutarch [Alex., 
70). She is called Arsiuoe by Photius. 

3 " By these two marriages, Alexander thus engrafted himself upon the 
two lines of antecedent Persian kings. Oohus was of the Achaemenid 
family, but Darius Codomannus, father of Statira, was not of that family ; 
he began a new lineage. About the overweening regal state of Alexander, 
outdoing even the previous Persian kings, see Pylarchus apud Athenaeum, 
xii. p. 539."— (?ro£e. 

* See p. 242. 



376 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

came in and seated themselves, each one near her own 
husband. The bridegrooms took them by the right 
hand and kissed them ; the king being the first to be- 
gin, for the weddings of all were conducted in the same 
way. This appeared the most popular thing which 
Alexander ever did ; and it proved his aflfection for his 
Companions. Bach man took his own bride and led her 
away ; and on all without exception Alexander bestowed 
dowries.^ He also ordered that the names of all the 
other Macedonians who had married any of the Asiatic 
women should be registered. They were over 10,000 in 
number; and to these Alexander made presents on 
account of their weddings. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Solbiees Eewaeded. 

He now thought it a favourable opportunity to liquidate 
the debts of aU the soldiers who had incurred them^; 
and for this purpose he ordered that a register should be 
made of how much each man owed, in order that they 
might receive the money. At first only a few registered 
their names, fearing that this was being instituted as a 
test by Alexander, to discover which of the soldiers found 
their pay insufficient for their expenses, and which of 
them were extravagant in their mode of living. When 
he was informed that most of them were not registering 
their names, but that those who had borrowed money on 
bonds were concealing the fact, he reproached them for 
their distrust of him. For he said that it was not right 
either that the king should deal otherwise than sincerely 



1 Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, viii. 7). A copious account of this cele- 
biated maniage feast is given in Athenaeus, xii. p. 538. 
^ Cf. Curtius, X. 8. 



The Soldiers Rewarded, 377 

with his subjects, or that any of those ruled by him 
should think that he would deal otherwise than sincerely 
with them. Accordingly, he had tables placed in the 
camp with money upon them ; and he appointed men to 
manage the distribution of it. He ordered the debts of 
all who showed a money-bond to be liquidated without 
the debtors' names being any longer registered. Conse- 
quently, the men believed that Alexander was dealing 
sincerely with themj and the fact that they were not 
known was a greater pleasure to them than the fact that 
they ceased to be in debt. This presentation to the 
army is said to have amounted to 20,000 talents.^ He 
also gave presents to particular individuals, according 
as each man was held in honour for his merit or valour, 
if he had become conspicuous in crises of danger. 
Those who were distinguished for their personal gal- 
lantry he crowned with golden chaplets : — first, Peu- 
cestas, the man who had held the shield over him j 
second, Leonnatus, who also had held his shield over 
him, and moreover had incurred dangers in India and 
won a victory in Ora.^ For he had posted himself with 
the forces left with him against the Oritians and the 
tribes living near them, who were trying to effect a 
revolution, and had conquered them in battle. He also 
seemed to have managed other affairs in Ora with great 
success. In addition to these, he crowned Nearchus for 
his successful voyage round the coast from the land of 
the Indians through the Great Sea ; for this oflScer had 
now arrived at Susa. Besides these three, he crowned 
Onesicritus, the pilot of the royal ship ; as well as 
Hephaestion and the rest of the confidential body- 
guards. 

^ About £4,600,000. Justin, xii. 11, agrees with Arrian ; but Biodorm 
(xvii. 109) ; Plutarch {Alex., 70) ; Cmtius (x. 8) say 10,000 talents. 
2 Cf. Curtius (ix. 41); Arrian (vi. 22) supra. 



378 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

CHAPTEE VI. 

An Aemt of Asiatics Teained under the Macedonian 
Discipline. 

The viceroys from the newly-built cities and the rest of 
the territory subdued in war came to him^ bringing with 
them youths just growing into manhood to the number 
of SOjOOO, all of the same age, whom Alexander called 
Epigoni (successors}.-"^ They were accoutred with Mace- 
donian arms, and exercised in military discipline after 
the Macedonian system. The arrival of these is said to 
have vexed the Macedonians, who thought that ^ Alex- 
ander was contriving every means in his power to free 
himself from his previous need of their services. For 
the same reason also the sight of his Median dress was. 
no small cause of dissatisfaction to them ; and the wed- 
dings celebrated in the Persian fashion were displeasing 
to most of them, even including some of those who 
married, although they had been greatly honoured by the 
king putting himself on the same level with them in the 
marriage ceremony. They were offended at Peucestas, 
the viceroy of Persis, on account of his Persianizing both 
in dress and in speech, because the king was delighted 
by his adopting the Asiatic customs. They were dis- 
gusted that the Bactrian, Sogdianian, Arachotian, Za- 
rangian, Arian, and Parthian horsemen, as well as 
the Persian horsemen called the Evacae, were distributed 
among the squadrons of the Companion cavalry ; as 
many of them at leasb as were seen to excel in reputa- 
tion, fineness of stature, or any other good quality ; and 
that a fifth cavalry division was added to these troops, 
not composed entirely of foreigners ; but the whole body 
of cavalry was increased in number, and men were picked 

' The Epigoni, or Afterbom, were the sons of the seven chiefs who fell 
in the first war against Thebes. See Herodotus, Pindar, Sophocles, etc. 



Navigation of the Tigris. 379 

from the foreigners and put into it. Oophen, son of 
Artabazus, , Hydarnes and ArtiboleSj sons of MazaeuSj 
Sisines and Phradasmenes, sons of Phrataphernes, viceroy 
of Parthia and Hyrcania, Histanes, son of Oxyartes and 
brother of Alexander's wife, Roxane, as well as Autobares 
and his brother Mithrobaeus were picked out and en- 
rolled among the foot-guard in addition to the Mace- 
donian oflBcers. Over these Hystaspes the Bactrian was 
placed as commander j and Macedonian spears were 
given to them instead of the barbarian javelins which 
had thongs attached to them.^ All this ofifended the 
Macedonians, who thought that Alexander was becoming 
altogether Asiatic in his ideas, and was holding the 
Macedonians themselves as well as their customs in a 
position of contempt.^ 

CHAPTER VII. 

Navigation op the Tigees. 

Alexandee now ordered Hephaestion to lead the main 
body of the infantry as far as the Persian Sea, while he' 
himself, his fleet having sailed up into the land of 
Susiana, embarked, with the shield-bearing guards and 
the body-guard of infantry ; and having also put on 
board a few of the cavalry Companions, he sailed down 
the river Bulaeus to the sea.^ When he was near the 

^ For this mesanculon see Gellius (Nodes Attioae, x. 25) ; Polybim, 
xxiii., 1, 9; Euripides (Pftocreissac, 1141; Andromache, 113S) ; Alciphron, 
iii. 36. 

^ It was at tHs time that Harpalus, viceroy of Babylon, having 
squandered a great deal of the treasure committed to his charge, became 
frightened at the return of Alexander, and fled to Greece with 50,000 
talents and 6,000 mercenary troops. See Diodorus, xvii. 108. 

' The Bulaeus is now called Kara Su. After joining the Ooprates it 
was caUed Pasitigris. It formerly discharged itself into the Persian 
Gulf, but now into the Shat-el-Arab, as the united stream of the Euphrates 
and Tigris is now called. In Dan. viii. 2, 16, it is called XJlai. Cf. Pliny, 
vi. 26, 31 ; xxxi. 21. 



380 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

place where the river discharges itself into the deep, he 
left there most of his ships, including those which were 
in need of repair, and with those especially adapted for 
fast sailing he coasted along out of the river Bulaeus 
through the sea to the mouth of the Tigrea. The rest of 
the ships were conveyed down the Eulaeus as far as the 
canal which has been cut from the Tigres into the 
Eulaeus, and by this means they were brought into the 
Tigres. Of the rivers Euphrates and Tigres which 
enclose Syria between them, whence also its name is 
called by the natives Mesopotamia,^ the Tigres flows -in a 
much lower channel than the Euphrates, from which it 
receives many canals; and after taking up many tribu- 
taries and its waters being swelled by them, it falls into 
the Persian Sea.^ It is a large river and can be crossed 
on foot nowhere as far as its mouth,^ inasmuch as none 
of its water is used up by irrigation of the country. For 
the land through which it flows is more elevated than its 
water, and it is not drawn off into canals or into another 
river, but rather receives them into itself. It is nowhere 
possible to irrigate the land from it. But the Euphrates 
flows in an elevated channel, and is everywhere on a 
level with the land through which it passes. Many 
canals have been made from it, some of which are always 
kept flowing, and' from which the inhabitants on both 
banks supply themselves with water ; others the people 
make only when requisite to irrigate the land, when they 
are in need of water from drought.* For this country 
is usually free from rain. The consequence is, that the 



' The Greeks and Bomans sometimes speak of Mesopotamia as a part 
of Syria, and at other times they call it a part of Assyria. The Hebrew 
and native name of this country was Aram Naharaim, or " Syria of the 
two rivers," 

2 The Tigris now falls into the Euphrates. 

3 Of. Arrian, iii. 7, supra ; Curtius, iv. 37. 

' Of. Strabo, xvi. 1 ; Herodotus, i, 193 ; Ammianus, xxiv. 3, 14. 



The Macedoniayis Offended at Alexander. 381 

Euphrates at last has only a small volume of water, 
which disappears into a marsh. Alexander sailed over 
the sea round the shore of the Persian Gulf lying 
between the rivers Eulaeus and Tigresj and thence he 
sailed up the latter river as far as the camp where 
Hephaestion had settled with all his forces. Thence he 
sailed again to Opis, a city situated on that river.^ In 
his voyage up he destroyed the weirs which existed in 
the river, and thus made the stream quite level. These 
weira had been constructed by the Persians, to prevent 
any enemy having a superior naval force from sailing 
up from the sea into their country. The Persians had 
had recourse to these contrivances because they were not 
a nautical people; and thus by making an unbroken 
succession of weirs they had rendered the voyage up the 
Tigres a matter of impossibility. But Alexander said 
that such devices were unbecoming to men who are 
victorious in battle; and therefore he considered this 
means of safety unsuitable for him ; and by easily 
demolishing the laborious work of the Persians, he 
proved in fact that what they thought a protection was 
unworthy of the name. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Macedonians Offended at Alexander.- 

When he arrived at Opis, he collected the Macedonians 
and announced that he intended to discharge from the 
army those who were useless for military service either 
from age or from being maimed in the limbs; and he 
said he would send them back to their own abodes. He 



' Probably this city stood at the junction of the Tigris with the Physous, 
or Odomeh. See Xenophon (Andb. ii. 4, 26) ; Herodotus, i. 189 ; Straho, 
(xvi. 1) says that Alexander made the Tigris navigable up to Opis. 



382 The Anabasis of Alexander. . 

also promised to give those who went back as much as 
would make them special objects of envy to those at 
home and arouse in the other Macedonians the wish to 
share similar dangers and labours. Alexander said this, 
no doubt, for the purpose of pleasing the Macedonians ; 
but on the contrary they were, not without reason, 
offended by the speech which he delivered, thinking 
that now they were despised by him and deemed to be 
quite useless for military service. Indeed, throughout 
the whole of this expedition they had been offended at 
many other things ; for his adoption of the Persian dress, 
thereby exhibiting his contempt for their opinion, caused 
them grief, as did also his accoutring the foreign soldiers 
called Epigoni in the Macedonian style, and the mixing 
of the alien horsemen among the ranks of the Com- 
panions. Therefore they could not remain silent and 
control themselves, but urged him to dismiss all of them 
from his army; and they advised him to prosecute the 
war in company with his father, deriding Ammon by this 
remark. When Alexander heard this (for at that time 
he was more hasty in temper than heretofore, and no 
longer, as of old, indulgent to the Macedonians from 
having a retinue of foreign attendants), leaping down 
from the platform with his officers around him, he 
ordered the most conspicuous of the men who had tried 
to stir up the multitude to sedition to be arrested. He 
himself pointed out with his hand to the shield-bearing 
guards those whom they were to arrest, to the number of 
thirteen ; and he ordered these to be led away to execu- 
tion.^ When the rest, stricken with terror, became silent, 
he mounted the platform and spoke as follows : — 

1 Cf. Jxtstin (xii. 11); Diodorus (xvii. 109); Gurtim (x. 10, 11). These 
authors put the punishment of the ringleaders after the speech instead of 
before. 



Alexander's Speech. 383 

CHAPTBE IX. 

Alexander's Speech. 
" The speecli which I am about to deliver will not be 
for the purpose of otiecking your start homeward, for, so 
far as I am concerned, you may depart wherever you 
wish ; but because I wish you to know what kind of men 
you were originally and how you have been transformed 
since you came into our service. In the first place, as 
is reasonable, I shall begin my speech from my father 
Philip. For he found you vagabonds and destitute of 
means, most of you clad in hides, feeding a few sheep up 
the mountain sides, for the protection of which you had 
to fight with small success against Illyrians, Triballians, 
and the border Thracians.''^ Instead of the hides he gave 
you cloaks to wear, and from the mountains he led you 
down into the plains, and made you capable of fighting 
the neighbouring barbarians, so that you were no longer 
compelled to preserve yourselves by trusting rather to 
the inaccessible strongl^olds than to your own valour. 
He made you colonists of cities, which he adorned with 
useful laws and customs; and from being slaves and 
subjects, he made you rulers over those very barbarians 
by whom you yourselves, as well as your property, were 
previously hable to be plundered and ravaged. He also 
added the greater part of Thrace to Macedonia, and 
by seizing the most conveniently situated places on the 
sea-coast, he spread abundance over the land from com- 
merce, and made the working of the mines a secure 
employment.^ He made you rulers over the Thessalians, 

1 Thraoians mean mountaineers; Hellenes, warriors; Dorians, higji- 
landers; lom&ns, coast-men ; and AeoUans, mixed men. See Donaldson 
[New Cratylits, sect. 92). 

2 The gold and silver mines at Mount Pangaeon near Philippi brought 
Philip a yearly revenue of more than 1,000 talents (Diodorus, xvi. 8). 
Herodotus (v. 17) says that the silver mines at Mount Dysorum brought 
a talent every day to Alexander, father of Amyntas. 



884 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

of whom you had formerly been in mortal fear ^ ; and 
by humbling the nation of the Phocians, he rendered 
the avenue into Greece broad and easy for you, instead 
of being narrow and difficult.^ The Athenians and 
ThebanSj who were always lying in wait to attack 
Macedonia, he humbled to such a degree, — I also then 
rendering him my pergonal aid in the campaign,* — that 
instead of paying tribute to the former* and being 
vassals to the latter,^ those States in their turn procure 
security to themselves by our assistance. He penetrated 
into the Peloponnese, and after regulating its afiFairs, 
was publicly declared commander-in-chief of aU the rest 
of Greece in the expedition against the Persian, adding 
this glory not more to himself than to the common- 
wealth of the Macedonians. These were the advantages 
which accrued to you from my father Philip ; great in- 
deed if looked at by themselves, but small if compared 
with those you have obtained from me. For though I 
inherited from my father only a few gold and silver 
goblets, and there were not even sixty talents in the 
treasury, and though I found myself charged with a debt 
of 5OO talents owing by Philip,^ and I was obliged myself 
to borrow 800 talents in addition to these, I started from 
the country which could not decently support you, and 
forthwith laid open to you the passage of the Hellespont, 
though at that time the Persians held the sovereignty 
of the sea. Having overpowered the viceroys of Darius 



' This is a Demosthenic expression. See De Falsa Legatione, 92 ; and 
I. Philippic, 45. 

2 B.C. 346. 

^ He here refers to his own part in the victory of Chaeronea, b.o. 336. 
See Diodorus, xvi. 86 ; Plutarch (Alex. 9). 

* This fact is attested by Demosthenes (De Haloneso, 12). 

' The Thebans under Pelopidas settled the affairs of Macedonia, and 
took young Philip to Thebes as a hostage, b.o. 368. 

6 About £122,000. Cf. Plutarch (Alex. 15) ; Curtius, x. 10. 



Alexander's Speech. 385 

Itli my cavalry, I added to your empire the whole of 
mia,^ the whole of Aeolis, both Phrygias ^ and Lydia, 
id I took Miletus by siege. All the other places I 
lined by voluntary surrender, and I granted you the 
'ivilege of appropriating the wealth found in them. The 
ches of Egypt and Gyrene, which I acquired with- 
it fighting a battle, have come to you. Coele- Syria, 
alestine, and Mesopotamia are your property. Babylon, 
actra, and Susa are yours. The wealth of the Lydians, 
le treasures of the Persians, and the riches of the 
idians are yours ; and so is the External Sea. You are 
iceroys, you are generals, you are captains. What then 
ave I reserved to myself after all these labours, except 
lis purple robe and this diadem ? * I have appropriated 
othing myself, nor can any one point out my treasures, 
xcept these possessions of yours or the things which I 
m guarding on your behalf. * Individually, however, 
have no motive to guard them, since I feed on the 
ame fare as you do, and I take only the same amount 
f sleep. Nay, I do not think that my fare is as good 
s that of those among you who live luxuriously ; and I 
:now that I often sit up at night to watch for you, that 
ou may be able to sleep. 



^ "luvis the Hebrew Javan without the vowel poiuts. In the Persian 
ame for the Greeks 'Idoces, one of these vowels appear. See Aeschylus 
Fersae, 178, 562). 

^ Larger Phrygia formed the western part of the great central table-land 
f Asia Minor. Smaller Phrygia was also called HeUespontine Phrygia, 
ecause it lay near the Hellespont. See Strdbo, xii. 8. 

' A blue band worked with white, which went round the tiara of the 
'ersian kings. 

^ Cf. Ammianus, xxv. 4, 15 : " (Julianus) id aliquoties praedioans, 
lexandrum Magnum, ubi haberet thesauros interrogatum, apui amicos 
enevole respondisse." 



C C 



386 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

OHAPTBE X. 

Alexander's Speech [continued). 

" But some one may say, that while you endured toil and 
fatigue, I have acquired these things as your, leader 
without myself sharing the toil and fatigue. But who 
is there of yoa who" knows that he has endured greater 
toil for me than I have for him ? Come now ! whoever 
of you has wounds, let him strip and show them, and 
I will show mine in turn ; for there is no part of my 
body, in front at any rate, remaining free from wounds j 
nor is there any kind of weapon used either for close 
combat or for hurling at the enemy, the traces of which 
I do not bear on my person. For I have been wounded 
with the sword in close fight, I have been shot with 
arrows, and I have been struck with missiles projected 
from engines of war ; and though oftentimes I have been 
hit with stones and bolts of wood for the sake of your 
lives, your glory, and your wealth, I am still leading you 
as conquerors bver all the land and sea, all rivers, moun- 
tains, and plains. I have celebrated your weddings with 
my own, and the children of many of you will be akin 
to my children. Moreover I have liquidated the debts 
of all those who had incurred them, without inquiring 
too closely for what purpose they were contracted, though 
you receive such high pay, and carry off so much booty 
whenever there is booty to be got after a siege. Most 
of you have golden crowns, the eternal memorials of your 
valour and of the honour you receive from me. Who- 
ever has been killed, has met with a glorious end and 
has been honoured with a splendid burial. Brazen 
statues of most of the slain have been erected at home,^ 
and their parents are held in honour, being released from 
all public service and from taxation. But no one of you 

' Cf. Arrian, i. 16 supra. 



Alexander's Speech. 387 

has ever been killed in flight under my leadership. And 
now I was intending to send back those of you who are 
unfit for service, objects of envy to those at home ; but 
since you all wish to depart, depart all of you ! Go back 
and report at home that your king Alexander, the con- 
queror of the Persians, Medes, Bactrians, and Saoians ^ ; 
the man who has subjugated the Uxians, Arachotians, 
and Drangians ; who has also acquired the rule of the 
Parthians, Chorasmians, and Hyrcanians, as far as the 
Caspian Sea; who has marched over the Caucasus, 
through the Caspian Gates ; who has crossed the rivers 
Oxus and Tanais, and the Indus besides, which has never 
been crossed by any one else except Dionysus ; who has 
also crossed the Hydaspes, Acesines, and Hydraotes, 
and who would have crossed the Hyphasis, if you had 
not shrunk back with alarm; who has penetrated into 
the Great Sea by both the mouths of the Indus ; who has 
marched through the desert of Gadrosia, where no one 
ever before marched with an army; who on his route 
acquired possession of Carmania and the land of the 
Oritians, in addition to his other conquests, his fleet 
having in the meantime already sailed round the coast 
of the sea which extends from India to Persia — report 
that when you returned to Susa you deserted him and 
went away, handing him over to the protection of con- 
quered foreigners. Perhaps this report of yours will be 
both glorious to you in the eyes of men and devout for- 
sooth in the eyes of the gods. Depart ! " 



CHAPTER XI. 

Reconciliation between Alexandeb and his Akmt. 
Having thus spoken, he leaped down quickly from the 
platform, and entered the palace, where he paid no atten- 

' It is supposed tliat the Saxones, i.e. Saeasuna, sons of the Sacae, 
originated from this nation. 



388 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

tion to tlie decoration of his person, nor was any of his 
Companions admitted to see him. Not even on the 
morrow was any one of them admitted to an audience ; 
but on the third day he summoned the select Persians 
within, and among them he distributed the commands 
of the brigades, and made the rule that only those whom 
he had proclaimed his kinsmen,^ should have the honour 
of saluting him with a kiss.^ But the Macedonians who 
heard the speech were thoroughly astonished at the mo- 
ment, and remained there in silence near the platform ; 
nor when be retired did any of them accompany the king, 
except his personal Companions and the confidential 
body-guards. Though they remained, most of them hac 
nothing to do or say; and yet they were unwilling to 
retire. But when the news was reported to them about 
the Persians and Medes, that the military commands were 
being given to Persians, that the foreign soldiers were 
being selected and divided into companies, that a Persian 
f ootguard, Persian foot Companions, a Persian regiment 
of men with silver shields,^ as well as the cavalry Com- 
panions, and another royal regiment of cavalry distinct 
from these, were being called by Macedonian names, they 
were no longer able to restrain themselves ; but running 
in a body to the palace, they cast their weapons there 
in front of the gates as a sign of supplication to the 
king. Standing in front of the gates, they shouted, be- 
seeching to be allowed to enter, and saying that they 
were willing to surrender the men who had been the in- 
stigators of the disturbance on that occasion, and those who 



• At the Persian court, kinsman was a title bestowed by the king as a 
mark of honour. Curtius says they were 15,000 m number. Ct.Diodorus, 
xvi. 50 ; Xenophon {Gyropaedia, i. i, 27 ; ii. 2, 31). 

2 As to this Persian custom, see Xenophon (Agesilaus, v. 4; Gyropaedia 
i. 4, 27). , 

' Cf . Justin, xii. 7 ; Plutarch {Eurmnes, 16) ; Gurtivs, riii. 17 ; Livy 
xxxYU. 40 ; Polybius, v. 79, 4: 



Reconciliation between Alexander and his Army. 389 

had begun the clamour. They also declared they would 
not retire from the gates either day or night, unless 
.Alexander would take some pity np-on them. When he 
was informed of this, he came out without delay ; and 
seeing them lying on the ground in humble guise, and 
hearing most of them lamenting with loud voice, tears 
began to flow also from his own eyes. He made an 
effort to say something to them, but they continued their 
importunate entreaties.^ At length one of them, Oallines 
by name, a man conspicuous both for his age and be- 
cause he was captain of the Companion cavalry, spoke as 
follows: — "0 king, what grieves the Macedonians is, 
that thou hast already made some of the Persians 
kinsmen to thyself, and that Persians are called Alex- 
ander's kinsmen, and have the honour of saluting thee 
with a kiss; whereas none of the Macedonians have 
as yet enjoyed this honour." Then Alexander inter- 
rupting him, said : — " But all of you without exception 
I consider my kinsmen, and so from this time I shall 
call you." When he had said this, Callines advanced 
and saluted him with a kiss, and so did all those who 
wished to salute him. Then they took up their weapons 
and returned to the camp, shouting and singing a song 
of thanksgiving to Apollo. After this Alexa;nder offered 
sacrifice to the gods to whom it was his custom to 
sacrifice, and gave a public banquet, over which he him- 
self presided, with the Macedonians sitting around him ; 
and next to them the Persians; after whom came the 
men of the other nations, honoured for their personal 
rank or for some meritorious action. The king and his 
guests drew wine from the same bowl and poured out 
- the same libations, both the Grecian prophets and the 
yians commencing the ceremony. He prayed for 



' l/ienov XmapowTSi. The more usual oonstruetion would be i\m6,povv 
lUvovres. Cf. Herodotus, ix. 45 {XiTapiere /i&ocres) ; iii. 51 {iXi-iriipee 
inTopiuv). 



390 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

other blessings, and especially that harmony and com- 
munity of srule might exist between the Macedonians 
and Persians. The common account is, that those who 
took part in this banquet were 9,000 in number, that all 
of them poured out one libation, and after it sang a song 
of thanksgiving to Apollo.^ 



CHAPTER XII. 

Ten Thousand Macedonians Sent Home with Ceateeus. 
— Disputes between Antipatee and Oltmpias. 

Then those of the Macedonians who were unfit for service 
on account of age or any other misfortune, went back of 
their own accord, to the number of about 10,000. To 
these Alexander gave the pay not only for the time which 
had already elapsed, but also for that which they 
would spend in returning home. He also gave to each 
man a talent in addition to his pay.^ If any of them had 
children by Asiatic wives, he ordered them to leave them 
behind with him, lest they should introduce into Mace- 
donia a cause of discord, taking with them children by 
foreign women who were of a different race from the 
children whom they had left behind at home born of 
Macedonian mothers. He promised to take care that they 
should be brought up as Macedonians, educating them 
not only in general matters but also in the art of war. 
He also undertook to lead them into Macedonia when 
they arrived at manhood, and hand them over to their 
fathers. These uncertain and obscure promises were made 
to them as they were departing ; and he thought he was 
giving a most indubitable proof of the friendship and 

' The paean was sung, not only before and after battle, but also 
after a banquet, as we see from this passage and from Xenophon 
{Symposium, ii. 1). 

= About £240. 



Disputes between Antipater and Olympias. 391 

affection he had for them by sending with them, as their 
guardian and the leader of the expedition, Craterus, the 
man most faithful to him, and whom he valued equally 
with himself.^ Then, having saluted them all, he with 
tears dismissed them likewise weeping from his presence. 
He ordered Craterus ^ to lead these men back, and when 
he had done so, to take upon himself the government of 
Macedonia, Thrace, and Thessaly, and to preside over the 
freedom of the Greeks. He also ordered Antipater to 
bring to him the Macedonians of manly age as successors 
to those who were being sent back.- He despatched 
Polysperchon also with Craterus, as his second in com- 
mand, so that if any mishap befell Craterus on the march 
(for he was sending him back on account of the weakness 
of his health), those who were going might not be in need 
of a general.^ A secret report was also going about that 
Alexander was now overcome by his mother's accusations 
of^ntipater, and that he wished to remove him from 
Macedonia.* This report was current among those who 
thought that royal actions are more worthy of honour in 
proportion to their secrecy, and who were inclined to 
impute what is worthy of belief to a bad motive rather 

' Literally "with his own head," an Homeric expression. We learn 
from Plutarch [Eumenes, 6), that Craterus was a great favourite with the 
Macedonians because he opposed Alexander's Asiatic innovations. See 
also Plutarch {Alexander, 47) ; Diodorus, xvii. 114 : — Kpib-epov fiiv yci,p 
dual (^iXo/SatriXea, 'SipauTTldiva Si <j>CKa\i^av5pov. 

2 The use of Ke\eiieiv with the dative, is in imitation of Homer. Cf. i. 
26, 3 supra. 

' "We learn from Diodorus (xviii. 4) that when Alexander died, Craterus 
had got no farther than Cilioia on his return journey. He had with him 
a paper of written instructions, among which were projects for building 
an immense fleet in Phoenicia and the adjacent countries for conveying 
an expedition against the Carthaginians and the other western nations as 
far as the pillars of Hercules ; for the erection ofmagnificent temples, and 
for the transportation of people from Europe into Asia and from Asia into 
Europe. Alexander's generals put these projects aside, as too vast for any 
one but Alexander himself. 

* Cf. Curtius, X. 31. 



892 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

than to attribute it to the real one ; a course to which 
they were led by appearances and their own depravity. 
But probably this sending for Antipater was not designed 
for his dishonour, but rather to prevent any unpleasant 
consequences to Antipater and Olympias from their quarrel 
which he might not himself be able to rectify. For they 
were incessantly writing to Alexander, the former saying 
that the arrogance, acerbity, and meddlesomeness of 
Olympias was exceedingly unbecoming to the king's 
mother; insomuch that Alexander was related to have 
used the following remark in reference to the reports 
which he received about his mother : — that she was exact- 
ing from him a heavy house-rent for the ten months.^ 
The queen wrote that Antipater was overweeningly inso- 
lent in his pretensions and in the service of his court, 
no longer retaembering the one who had appointed him, 
but claiming to win and hold the first rank ^ among 
the Macedonians and Greeks. These slanderous reports 
about Antipater appeared to have more weight with Alex- 
ander, since they were more formidable in regard to the 
regal dignity. However no overt act or word of the king 
was reported, from which any one could infer that Anti- 
pater was in any way less in favour with him than 
before.^ 



' The Greeks reckoned according to the lunar months, and therefore 
they talked of ten months instead of nine as the period of gestation. Of. 
Herodotus, vi. 63; Aristophanes {Thesmoph. 742); Menander {Plocion, 
fragment 3); Plautus {Cistell, i. 3, 15) ; Terence {Adelphi, iii. 4, 29). 

" For this expression, of. Dion Cassius, xlii. 57; Homer {Iliad, 23, 
538) ; Pausanias, vii. 10, 2 ; Herodotus, viii. 104. 

' Here there is a gap iu the manuscripts of Arrian, which probably con- 
tained an account of the flight of Harpalus, the viceroy of Babylon, with 
the treasures committed to his care, and also a description of the dispute 
between Hephaestion and Eumenes. See Photius (codex 92). 



The Amazons. 393 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Nisaean Plain. — The Amazons. 

It is said that Hephaestion mucli against his will yielded 
to this argument and was reconciled to Bumenes, who on 
his part wished to settle the dispute.^ In this journey ^ 
Alexander is said to have seen the plain which was 
devoted to the royal mares. Herodotus says that the 
plain itself was named Nisaean, and that the mares were 
called Nisaean ^; adding that in olden times there were 
. ISOjOOO of these horses. But at this time Alexander 
found not many above 50,000; for most of them had been 
carried off by robbers. They say that Atropates, the 
viceroy of Media, gave him a hundred women, saying that 
they were of the race of Amazons.* These had been 
equipped with the arms of male horsemen, except that 
they carried axes instead of spears and targets instead of 
shields. They also say that they had the right breast 
smaller than the left, and that they exposed it in battle. 
Alexander dismissed them from the army, that no attempt 
to violate them might be made by the Macedonians or 



' Cf. Plutarch (Eumenes, 2). 

2 The march was from Opis to Media, as we see from the next chapter. 

' Cf. Herodotus (iii. 106 ; 7ii. 40) ; Strabo, xi. 7 and 14 ; Diodor. xvii. 
110 ; Ammianus, xxiii. 6. Sir Henry Eawlinson sajs : " With Herodotus, 
who was most imperfectly acquainted with the geography of Media, 
origiaated the error of transferring to that province the Nisea (Nesd) of 
Khorassan, and all later writers either copied or confounded his state- 
ment. Strabo alone has escaped from the general confusion. In his 
description we recognise the great grazing plains of Khawah, Alishtar, 
Huru, Silakhur, Burburud, Japalak, and Feridun, which thus stretch in 
a continuous line from one point to another along the southern frontiers 
of Media." Alexander probably visited the westernmost of these pastures 
which stretch from Behistun to Ispahan along the mountain range. 
The form SiapTrayrjvai. is used only by the later v^riters for SMpiraa-ff-iivM. 

* Cf. Strabo, xi. 5 ; Diodorus, xvii. 77 ; Curtius, vi. 19 ; Justin, xii. 3 ; 
Arrian, iv. 15 ; Homer (Iliad, iii. 189) ; Aeschylus {Eumenides, 655) ; 
Hippocrates (De Aere, Aquis, et Locis, p. 553). 



394 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

barbarians ; and he ordered them to carry word to their 
queen that he was coining to her in order to procreate 
childreii by her.^ But this story has been recorded 
neither by Aristobulus nor Ptolemy, nor any other writer 
who is a trustworthy authority on such matters. I do 
not even think that the race of Amazons was surviving at 
that time J for before Alexander's time they were not 
mentioned even by Xenophon,^ who mentions the Phasi- 
ans, Colchians, and all the other barbaric races which the 
Greeks came upon, when they started from Trapezus or 
before they marched down to Trapezus. They would cer- 
tainly have fallen in with the Amazons if they were still 
in existence. However it does not seem to me credible 
that this race of women was altogether fictitious, because 
it has been celebrated by so many famous poets. For 
the general account is, that Heracles, marched against 
them and brought the girdle of their queen Hippolyte 
into Greece.^ The Athenians also under Theseus were 
the first to conquer and repulse these women as they were 
advancing into Europe * ; and the battle of the Athenians 
and Amazons has been painted by Micon,^ no less than 
that of the Athenians and Persians. Herodotus also has 
frequently written about these women®; and so have 
the Athenian writers who have honoured the men who 
perished in war with funeral orations. They have men- 



' The queen is called Thalestris by Diodorus and Curtius. 

2 This is a mistake, for Xenophon does mention the Amazons in the 
Anabasis (iv. 4, 16). For Trapezus and the Phasians see his Anabasis 
(iv. 8, 22; v. 6, 36.) 

' See Diodorus, iv. 16. This was one of the twelve labours of Hercules. 

* See Plutarch (Theseus, 26). 

6 " The Battle of the Amazons " was a celebrated painting in the 
Stoa Poecile at Athens, executed by Mioon, sou of Phaniohus, a contem- 
porary of Polygnotus about b.c. 460. Cf. Aristophanes (Lysistrata, 678) : 
" Look at the Amazons whom Micon painted ou horseback fighting with 
the men." See also Pausanias (i. 15 ; viii. 11). 

8 Cf. Herodotus, iv. 110-117 ; ix. 27. 



Death of He^haestion. 395 

tioned the exploit of the Athenians against the Amazons 
as one of their special glories.^ If therefore Atropates 
showed any equestrian women to Alexander, I think he 
must have shown him some other foreign women trained 
ia horsemanship, and equipped with the arms which were 
said to be those of the Amazons.'' 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Death of Hephaestion. 
In Ecbatana Alexander offered sacrifice according to his 
custom, for good fortune ; and he celebrated a gymnastic 
and musical contest. He also held drinking parties with 
his Companions. At this time Hephaestion fell sick; 
and they say that the stadium was full of people on the 
seventh day of his fever, for on that day there was a 
gymnastic contest for boys. When Alexander was in- 
formed that Hephaestion was in a critical state, he went 
to him without delay, but found him no longer alive.* 
Different authors have given different accounts of Alex- 
ander's grief on this occasion ; but they agree in this, 
that his grief was great. As to what was done in honour 
of Hephaestion, they make diverse statements, 'just as 
each writer was actuated by good-will or envy towards 
him, or even towards Alexander himself. Of the authors 
who have made these reckless statements, some seem to 
me to have thought that whatever Alexander said or did 

' See Isocrates (Panegyricus, 19); Lysias (Oratio Funebris, near the 
beginniBg). 

" Strabo (xi. 5) declined to believe in the existence of the Amazons 
altogether. However, even Julius Caesar spoke of them as having once 
ruled over a large part of Asia. See Suetonius {Life of Julius Caesar, 
22). Bustathius, on Dionysim Periegetes, p. 110, derives the name 
Amazones from d, not, and /lofa, barley-bread : — SiA Kal 'A/ia^vcs iKaXovvro 
ola /iii jjA^iS dXXd Kpiatri Brtplum iwurTpetpdiievai.. This is not the usual 
derivation of the word. , 

3 Cf. Plutarch {dlex. 72) ; Diodorus (xvii. 110). 



396 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

to show his excessive grief for the man who was the 
dearest to him in the world, redounds to his own honour; 
whereas others seem to have thought that it rather tended 
to his disgrace, as being conduct unbecoming to any king 
and especially to Alexander. Some say that he lay pros- 
trate on his companion's body for the greater part of that 
day, bewailing him and refusing to depart from him, until 
he was forcibly carried away by his Companions. Others 
that he lay upon the body the whole day and night. 
Others again say that he hanged the physician Glaucias, 
for having indiscreetly given the medicine ' ; while others 
affirm that he, being a spectator of the games, neglected 
■Hephaestion, who was filled with wine. That Alexander 
should have cut off his hair in honour of the dead man, 
I do not think improbable, both for other reasons and 
especially from a desire to imitate Achilles, whom from 
his boyhood he had an ambition to rival.^ Others also 
say that Alexander himself at one time drove the chariot 
on which the body was borne ; but this statement I by 
no means believe. Others again affirm that he ordered 
the shrine of Asclepius in Ecbatana to be razed to the 
ground ; which was an act of barbarism, and by no means 
in harmony with Alexander's general behaviour, but 
rather in accordance with the arrogance of Xerxes in his 
dealings with the deity, who is said to have let fetters 
down into the Hellespont, in order to punish it forsooth,^ 
But the following statement, which has been recorded, 
does not seem to me entirely beyond the range of proba- 
bility : — that when Alexander was marching to Babylon, 
he was met on the road by many embassies from Greece, 
among which were some Epidaurian envoys, who obtained 



' Plutarch makes this statement. 
2 See Homer {Iliad, xxiii. 141, 162) ; Arrian (i. 12). 
' See Herodotus (vii. 35). Xerxes means the venerable king. Cf. 
Herod., vi. 98. See Donaldson's New Cratylus, sections 161, 479. 



Honours Paid to Hephaedion. 397 

from him their requests.^ He also gave them an offering 
to be conveyed to Asclepias, adding this remark : — " Al- 
though Asclepius has not treated me fairly^ in not saving 
the life of my Companion, whom I valued equally with 
my own head." ^ It has been stated by most writers 
that he ordered honours to be always paid to Hephaestion 
as a hero ; and some say that he even sent men to Am- 
mon's temple to ask the god if it were allowable to offer 
sacrifice to Hephaestion as a god; but Ammon replied 
that it was not allowable. All the authorities, however, 
agree as to the following facts : — that until the third day 
after Hephaestion's death, Alexander neither tasted food 
nor paid any attention to his personal appearance, but lay 
on the ground either bewailing or silently mourning; 
that he also ordered a funeral pyre to be prepared for 
him in Babylon at the expense of 10,000 talents ; some 
say at a still greater cost ^ ; that a decree was published 
throughout all the barbarian territory for the observance 
of a public mourning.* Many of Alexander's Companions 
dedicated themselves and their arms to the dead Hephaes- 
tion in order to show their respect to him ; and the first 
to begin the artifice was Eumenes, whom we a short time 
ago mentioned as having been at variance with him.^ 
This he did that Alexander might not think he was 
pleased at Hephaestion^s death. Alexander did not 
appoint any one else to be commander of the Companion 
cavalry in the place of Hephaestion, so that the name of 
that general might not perish from the brigade ; but that 
division of cavalry was still called Hephaestion's and the 

' Epidaurus in Argolis was celebrated as the chief seat of the worship 
of Aesculapius. 

* This is an Homeric expression, meaning myself. 

' Equal to £2,300,000. Plutarch (Alex. 72) agrees with Arrian. 
Diodorus (xvii. 115) and Justin (xii. 12) say 12,000 talents. 

* Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, Tu. 8) ; Diodorus (xvii. 114, 115) ; Plutarch 
{Alex. 72, 75 ; Eumenes, 2 ; Pelopidas, 34). 

5 See p. 392, note 3. 



398 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

figure made from Hephaesfcion went in front of it. He 
also resolved to celebrate a gymnastic and musical con- 
test, much more magnificent than any of the preceding, 
both in the multitude of competitors and in the amount 
of money expended upon it. For he provided 3,000 
competitors in all ; and it is said that these men a short 
time after also competed in the games held at Alexander's 
own funeral. 



OHAPTEE XV. 

Subjugation op the Cossaeans. — Embassies feom Distant 

Nations. 

The mourning was prolonged for many days ; and as he 
was now beginning to recall himself from it, under such 
circumstances his Companions had less diflBculty in 
rousing him to action. Then at length he made an 
expedition against the Cossaeans,^ a warlike race bor- 
dering on the territory of the Uxians. They are moun- 
taineers, inhabiting strong positions in separate villages. 
Whenever a force approached them, they were in the 
habit of retiring to the summits of their mountains, 
either in a body or separately as ea^ man found it 
practicable ; and thus they escaped, making it diflBcult 
for those who attacked them with their forces to come 
near them. After the enemy's departure, they used to 
turn themselves again to marauding, by which occupation 
they supported themselves. But Alexander subdued 
this race, though he marched against them in the 
winter ; for neither winter nor ruggedness of ground 



1 Cossaea was a district on the north-east of Susiana, which the 
Persian kings never subdued, but purchased the quiet of the inhabitants 
by paying them tribute. It is supposed to be the Cush of the Old Testa- 
ment. Diodorus (xvii. Ill) says that Alexander completed his conquest 
of the Cossaeans in forty days. Plutarch {Alex. 72} says he called the 
massacre of the Cossaeans his offering to the manes of Hephaestion. 



Embassies from Distant Nations. 399 

was any impediment either to hitn or to Ptolemy, son of 
Lagus, who led a part of the army in the campaign 
against them. Thus no military enterprise which 
Alexander undertook was ever unsuccessful. As he was 
marching back to Babylon, he was met by embassies 
from the Libyans, who congratulated him and crowned 
him as conqueror of the kingdom of Asia.^ From Italy 
also came Bruttians, Lucanians, and Tyrrhenians^ as 
envoys, for the same purpose. The Carthaginians are 
said to have sent an embassy to him at this time ^ ; and it 
is also asserted that envoys came to request his friendship 
from the Ethiopians, the Scythians of Europe, the Gauls, 
and Iberians — nations whose names were heard and their 
accoutrements seen then for the first time by Greeks and 
Macedonians. They are also said to have entrusted to 
Alexander the duty of settling their disputes with each 
other. Then indeed it was especially evident both to 
himself and to those about him that he was lord of all 
the land and sea.* Of the men who have written the 
history of Alexander, Aristus and Asclepiades^ alone say 
that the Romans^also sent an embassy to him, and that 
when he met their embassy, he predicted something of 
the future power of Rome, observing both the attire of 
the men, their love of labour, and their devotion to 
freedom. At the same time he made urgent inquiries 
about their political constitution. This incident I have 
recorded neither as certainly authentic nor as altogether 
incredible; but none of the Eoman writers have made 

' Cf. Livy, Tii. 37, 38 ; Pliny, xxii. 4 ; Justin, xii. 13, 

5 The Romans called these people Etruscans. 

5 Jmtin (xxi. 6) says that the Carthaginians sent Hamiloar to learn 
Alexander's real designs against them, under the pretence of being an 
exile ofiering his services. 

* Cf. Diodorm, xvii. 113. 

5 Aristus was a man of Salamis in Cyprus. Neither his work nor 
that of Asclepiades is extant. Aristus is mentioned by Athenaem (x. 10) 
and Strdbo (lib. xv.). 



400 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

any mention of this embassy having been despatched to 
Alexander ; nor of those who have written an account of 
Alexander's actions, has either Ptolemy, son of Lagus, 
or Aristobulus mentioned it. With these authors I am 
generally inclined to agree. Nor does it seem likely that 
the Eoman republic, which was at that time remarkable 
for its love of liberty, would send an embassy to a 
foreign king, especially to a place so far away from their 
own land, when they were not compelled to do so by 
fear or any hope of advantage, being possessed as they 
were beyond any other people by hatred to the very 
nanie and race of despots.^ ' 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BXPLOEATION OF THE CASPIAN. ThE ChALDABAN SoOTH- 

SATEES. 

Aftee this, Alexander sent Heraclides, son of Argaeus, 
into Hyrcania in command of a company of shipwrights, 
with orders to cut timber from the Hyrcanian mountains 
and with it to construct a number of ships of war, some 
without decks and others with decks after the Grecian 
fashion of ship-building.^ For he was very desirous of 
discovering with what sea the one called the Hyrcanian or 
Caspian unites ; whether it communicates with the water 
of the Euxine Sea, or whether the Great Sea comes right 
roiind from the Eastern Sea, which is near India and 
flows up into the Hyrcanian Gulf; just as he had 
discovered that the Persian Sea, which was called the 
Red Sea, is really a gulf of the Great Sea.* For the 

' Livy (ix. 18) says he does not think the contemporary Bomans even 
kiiew Alexander by report. . 

2 These are what Hirtius {Bell. Alex. 11) calls " naves apertas et 
constratas." 

s See p. 155, note 6. 



The Chaldaean Soothsayers. 401 

sources of tte Caspian Sea had not yet been discovered, 
althougli many nations dwell around it, and navigable 
rivers disobarge tbeir waters into it. From Bactria, the 
Oxus, the largest of Asiatic rivers, tbose of India 
excepted, discharges itself into this sea ^ j and through 
Scythia flows the Jaxartes.^ The general account is, that 
the Araxes also, which flows from Armenia, falls into the 
same sea.* These are the largest; but many others flow 
into these, while others again discharge themselves 
directly into this sea. Some of these were known to 
those who visited these nations with Alexander ; others 
are situated towards the farther side of the gulf, as it 
seems, in the country of the Nomadic Scythians, a 
district which is quite unknown. 

When Alexander had crossed the river Tigres with his 
army and was marching to Babylon, he was met by the 
Chaldaean philosophers * ; who, having led him away from 
his Companions, besought him to suspend his march to 
that city. For they said that an oracular declaration had 
been made to them by the god Belus, that his entrance 
into Babylon at that time would not be for his good. 
But he answered their speech with a line from the poet 
Euripides to this e9"ect : '' He the best prophet is that 
guesses well."' But said the Chaldaeans : — " king, do 
not at any rate enter the city looking towards the west. 



' Seep. 199, note 1. Strabo (xi.7) says that Aristobulus declared the 
Oxus to be the largest river which he had seen except those in India. 

• See p. 198, note 3. The Oxus and Jaxartes really flow into the Sea of 
Aral, or the Palus Oxiana, which was first noticed byAmmianm Marcellinus 
(xxiii. 6, 59) in the 4th century a.d. Ptolemy, however, mentions it as a 
small lake, and not as the recipient of these rivers. Of. Fliny, vi. 18. 

^ The Araxes, or Aras, joins the Cyrus, or Kour, and falls into the 
Caspian Sea. It is now called KizU-Ozan, or Tellow River. Its Hebrew 
name is Chabor (2 Kings xvii. 6). Pontem indignatus Araxes (Vergil, 
Aeneid, viii. 728). See Aeschylus (Prometheus, 736), Dr. Paley's note. 

♦ As to the Chaldaeans, see Cicero (De Div., i. 1) and Diod. (ii. 29-31). 

* This is a verse from one of the lost tragedies of Euripides. It is 

D D 



402 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

nor leading the army advancing in that direction ; bat 
rather go right round towards' the east." But this 
did not turn out to be easy for him, on account of the 
difficulty of the ground ; for the deity was leading him 
to the place where entering he was doomed soon to die. 
And perhaps it was better for him to be taken off in the 
very acme of his glory as well as of the affection 
entertained for him by men, before any of the vicissi- 
tudes natural to man befell him. Probably this was the 
reason Solon a.dvised Croesus to look at the end of a 
long life, and not before pronounce any man happy .^ 
Tea indeed, Hephaestion's death had been no small 
misfortune to Alexander ; and I think he would rather 
have departed before it occurred than have been alive to 
experience it ; no less than Achilles, as it seems to me, 
would rather have died before Patroclus than have been 
the avenger of his death. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The Advice of the Chaldees Rejected. 

But he had a suspicion that the Chaldaeans were trying 
to prevent his entrance into Babylon at that time with 
reference rather to their own advantage than to the 
declaration of the oracle. For in the middle of the city 
of the Babylonians was the temple of Belus,^ an edifice 
very great in size, constructed of baked bricks which 

also quoted by Cicero (De Divin., ii. 5) : Est quidam Graeous vtilgaris 
in hanc sententiam versus ; bene qui oonjioiet, vatem huno perhibebo 
optimum. ' See Herodotus (i. 32) ; Plutarch {Solon, 27). 

' See p. 171, note 3. Herodotus (i. 181) gives a description of this 
temple, which he says existed in his time. Strq,ho (xvi. 1) agrees with 
Arrian that it was said to have been destroyed by Xerxes. He also says 
that Alexander employed 10,000 men in clearing away the rubbish of the 
ruins. Professor Sayoe and others adduce this passage of Arrian to prove 
that Herodotus is not to be trusted e'^en when he says he had seen the 
places and things which he describes. The words of Herodotus are is 



a 



Advice of the Ohaldees Rejected. 403 

were cemented together with bitumen. This temple had 
been razed to the ground by Xerxes, when he returned 
from Greece ; as were also all the other sacred buildings 
of the Babylonians. Some say that Alexander had 
formed the resolution to rebuild it upon the former 
foundations ', and for this reason he ordered the Baby- 
lonians to carry away the mound. Others say that he 
intended to bilild a still larger one than that which 
formerly existed.^ But after his departure, the men who 
had been entrusted with the work prosecuted it without 
any vigour, so that he determined to employ the whole of 
his army in completing it. A great quantity of land as 
well as gold had been dedicated to the god Belus ,by the 
Assyrian kings ; and in olden times the temple was kept 
in repair and sacrifices were offered to the god. But at 
that time the Ohaldaeans were appropriating the pro- 
perty of the god, since nothing existed upon which the 
revenues could be expended. Alexander suspected that 
they did not wish him to enter Babylon for this reason^ 
for fear that in a short time the temple would be 
finished, and they should be deprived of the gains 
accruing from the money. And yet, according to 
Aristobulus, he was willing to yield to their persuasions 
so far at least as to change the direction of his entry 
into the city. For this purpose, on the first day he 
encamped near the river Euphrates ; and on the next 
day he marched along the bank, keeping the river on 

ifii TovTo iTt i6v, meaning, not that he had himself seen the temple, but 
that it existed till his time. In chap. 183 he expressly states that he did 
not see other things which he is describing, but that he derived his infor- 
mation from the Ohaldaeans. He was about twenty years of age when 
Xerxes was assassinated. It must not be forgotten that Strabo and 
Arrian lived five or six hundred years after Xerxes. The veracity of 
Strabo is never doubted ; yet in his description of Babylon this author 
speaks of the walls and hanging gardens as if they were still in existence, 
though not expressly saying so. 
' Of. Arrian, iii. 16 supra. 



404 T}ie Anabasis of Alexander. 

his right hand, with the intention of passing beyond the 
part of the city turned towards the west, and there 
wheeling round to lead his army towards the east. But 
on account of the difficulty of the ground he could not 
march with his army in this direction ; because if a man 
who is entering the city from the west, here changes his 
direction eastward, he eomes' upon ground covered with 
marshes and shoals. Thus, partly by his own will and 
partly against his will, he disobeyed the god. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
Peedictions op Alexander's Death. 
MoEEOTEE Aristobulus has recorded the following story. 
ApoUodorus the Amphipolitan, one of Alexander's 
Companions, was general of the army which the king 
left with Mazaeus, the viceroy of Babylon.^ When he 
joined his forces with the king's on the return of the 
latter from India, and observed that he was severely 
punishing the viceroys who had been placed over the 
several countries, he sent to his brother Peithagoras 
and asked him to divine about his safety. For 
Peithagoras was a diviner who derived his knowledge 
of the future from the inspection of the inward parts 
of animals. This man sent back to ApoUodorus, in- 
quiring of whom he was so especially afraid, as to wish 
to consult divination. The latter wrote back: "The king 
himself and Hephaestion." Peithagoras therefore in the 
first place offered sacrifice with reference to Hephaestion. 
But as there was no lobe visible upon the liver of the 
sacrificial victim,* he stated this fact in a letter, which he 
sealed and sent to his brother from Babylon to Bcbatana, 
explaining that there was no reason at all to be afraid 

' See Arriaii, iii. 16 supra. 

" Cf. PhiloBtratns {Life of ApoUonius, yiii. 7, 5). 



Predictions of Alexander's Death. 405 

of Hephaestion, for in a short time he would be out 
of their way. And Aristobulus says that Apollodorus 
received this epistle only one day before Hephaestion 
died. Then Peithagoras again offered sacrifice in respect 
to Alexander, and the liver of the victim consulted in 
respect to him was also destitute of a lobe. He therefore 
wrote to Apollodorus to the same purport about Alex- 
ander as about Hephaestion. Apollodorus did not 
conceal the information sent to him, but told Alexander, 
in order the more to show his good-will to the king, 
if he urged him to be on his guard lest some danger 
might befall him at that time. And Aristobulus says that 
the king commended Apollodorus, and when he entered 
Babylon, he asked Peithagoras what sign he had met 
with, to induce him to write thus to his brother. He 
said that the liver of the victim sacrificed for him was 
without a lobe. When Alexander asked what the sign 
portended, he said that it was a very disastrous one. 
The king was so far from being angry with him, that he 
even treated him with greater respect, for telling him the 
truth without any disguise. Aristobulus says that he 
himself heard this story from Peithagoras ; and adds 
that the same man acted as diviner for Perdiccas and 
afterwards for Antigonus, and that the same sign 
occurred for both. It was verified by fact ; for Perdiccas 
lost his life leading an army against Ptolemy,^ and 
Antigonus was killed in the battle fought by him at 
Ipsus against Seleucus and Lysimachus.^ Also concern- . 
ing Oalanus, the Indian philosopher, the following story 
has been recorded. When he was going to the funeral 
pyre to die, he gave the parting salutation to all his other 
companions J but he refused to approach Alexander to 



' Perdiccas was killed by his own troops at Memphis, b.o. 321. Ses' 
Diodorus, xviii. 36. 
* The battle of Ipsus was fought B.C. 301. See Plutarch {Demetriut, 29), 



406 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

give him the salutation, saying lie would meet him at 
Babylon and there salute him. At the time indeed this 
remark was treated with neglect ; but afterwards, when 
Alexander had died at Babylon, it came to the recollection 
of those who had heard it, and they thought forsooth 
that it was a divine intimation of Alexander's approach- 
ing end. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Embassies feom Geeece. — Fleet peepaeeD toE Inyading 

Ababia, 
As he was entering Babylon, he was met -by embassies 
from the Greeks ; but for what purpose each embassy was 
sent has not been recorded.^ To me indeed it seems 
probable that most of them came to crown and eulogize 
him on account of his victories, especially the Indian 
■ones, as well as to say that the Greeks rejoiced at his 
safe return from India. It is said that he greeted these 
men with the right hand, and after paying them suitable 
honour sent them back. He also gave the ambassadors 
permission to take with them all the statues of men and 
images of gods and the other votive offerings which 
Xerxes had carried ofiF from Greece to Babylon, 
Pasargadae, Susa, or any other place in Asia. In this 
way it is said that the brazen statues of Harmodius and 
Aristogeiton,'' as well as the monument of the Oelcaean 
Artemis, were carried back to Athens.* 

Aristobulus says that he found at Babylon the fleet with 
Nearchus, which had sailed from the Persian Sea up the 
river Euphrates j and another which had been conveyed 

' Diodorut (xvii. 113) says that embassies came from the Cartha- 
ginians, Liby-Phoenicians, Greeks, Macedonians, Illyrians, Thracians, 
and Gauls. ^ Cf. Arrian, iii. 16 supra. 

' The name Athens is said to have been derived from the worship of 
Athena. See Euripides {Ion, 8) : II6Xts t^s xpv<ro\6yxov UaWaSos Ke/cXij- 
/iei/ri. Attica is ottik^ or axnicij yq, the " promontory land." 



Preparations for Invading Arabia. 407 

from Phoeniciaj consisting of two Phoenician quinque- 
remes, three quadriremes, twelve triremes, and thirty tria- 
contors. These had been taken to pieces and conveyed 
to the river Euphrates from Phoenicia to the city of 
Thapsacus. There they were joined together again and 
sailed down to Babylon. The same writer says that he 
cut down the cypresses in Babylonia and with them built 
another fleet ; for in the land of the Assyrians these 
trees alone are abundant, but of the other things neces- 
sary for ship-building this country affords no supply. 
A multitude of purple-fishers and other sea-faring men 
came to him from Phoenicia and the rest of the sea-board 
to serve as crews for the ships and perform the other 
services on board. Near Babylon he made a harbour by 
excavation large enough ,to afford anchorage to 1,000 
ships of war ; and adjoining the harbour he made dock- 
yards. Miccalus the Glazomenian^ was despatched to' 
Phoenicia and Syria with 500 talents^ to enlist some 
men and to purchase others who were experienced in 
nautical affairs. For Alexander designed to colonize the 
sea-board near the Persian Gulf, as well as the islands in 
that sea. For he thought that this land would become 
no less prosperous than Phoenicia. He made these pre- 
parations of the fleet to attack the main body of the 
ArabSj^ under the pretext that they were the only bar- 
barians of this region who had not sent an embassy to 
him or done anything else becoming their position and 
showing respect to him. But the truth was, as it seems 
to me, that Alexander was insatiably ambitious of acquir- 
ing fresh territory.* 



' Clazomenae was an Ionian city on the Gulf of Smyrna, celebrated as 
the birthplace of Anaxagoras. It is now called KeUsman. 

^ About £1,200,000. ^ The Hebrew name for Arabia is Arab (wilder- 
ness). In Gen. xxv. 6 it is called the " East country," and in Gen. 
xxix. 1 the " Land of the Sons of the East." 

■• Cf. Arrian, v. 26 ; vii. 1 and 15 supra. 



408 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Desceiption op Aeabia. — VoTAQE 01 Nbaechus. 

The common report is, that he heard that the Arabs 
venerated only two gods, Uranus and Dionysus^; the 
former because he is \dsible and contains in himself the 
heavenly luminaries, especially the sun, from which 
emanates the greatest and most evident benefit to all 
things human ; and the latter on account of the fame he 
acquired by his expedition into India. Therefore he 
thought himself quite worthy to be considered by the 
Arabs as a third god, since he had performed deeds by 
no means inferior to those of Dionysus. If then he 
could conquer the Arabs, he intended to grant them the 
privilege of conducting their government according to 
their own customs, as he had already done to the Indians. 
The fertility of the land was a secret inducement to him 
to invade it ; because he heard that the people obtained 
cassia from the lakes, and myrrh and frankincense from 
the trees ; that cinnamon was cut from the shrubs, and 
that the meadows produce spikenard without any cultiva- 
tion.^ As to the size of the country, he was informed that 
the seaboard of Arabia was not less in extent than that of 
India ; that near it lie many islands ; that in all parts of 
the country there were harbours suflBciently commodious 
to provide anchorage for his fleet, and that it supplied 
sites for founding cities, which would become flourishing. 
He was also informed that there were two islands in the 
sea facing the mouth of the Euphrates, the first of which 
was not far from the place where the waters of that river 
are discharged into the sea, being about 120 stades ' 



' Cf. Berodotus, iii. 8. 

! Cf. Herodotus, ii. 40, 86 ; iii. 110-112 ; Strabo, XYi. 4 ; Pliny {Nat. 
Hist. xii.). 
> About 17 miles. 



Description of Arabia. 409 

distant from the shore and the river's mouth. This is 
the smaller of the two, and was densely covered with 
every kind of timber. In it was also a temple of Arte- 
mis, around which the inhabitants themselves spent their 
lives. The island was devoted to the use of wild goats 
and stags, which were allowed to range at large as being 
dedicated to Artemis. It was unlawful to chase them 
unless any one wished to offer sacrifice to the goddess ; 
and for this purpose alone it was lawful to chase them. 
Aristobulus says that Alexander ordered this island to 
be called Icarus, after the island so named in the Aegean 
Sea,^ on which, as the report goes, Icarus, son of Dae- 
dalus fell, when the wax, by which the wings had been 
fastened to him, melted. For he did not fly near the 
earth, according to his father's injunctions, but sense- 
lessly flying far aloft, he allowed the sun to soften and 
loosen the wax. Icarus left his name to the island and 
the sea, the former being called Icarus and the latter the 
Icarian. The other island was said to be distant from, 
the mouth of the Euphrates about a day and night's 
voyage for a ship running before the breeze. Its name 
was Tylus ^ ; it was large and most of it neither rugged 
nor woody, but suitable for producing cultivated fruits 
and all things in due season. Some of this information 
was imparted to Alexander by Archias, who was sent 
with a triacontor to investigate the course of the coast- 
ing voyage to Arabia, and who went as far as the island 
of Tylus, but durst not pass beyond that point. Andro- 
sthenes^ was despatched with another triacontor and 
sailed to a part of the peninsula of Arabia. Hieron of 



' One of the Sporades, west of Samos, now called Nitaria. Cf. Horace 
{Carm., iv. 2, 2) and Ovid (Fasti, iv. 28). 

2 Called Tyrus by Strdbo (xvi. 3). It is now called Bahrein, and is 
celebrated for pearl fisheries. 

^ A fragment of the work of Androsthenes descriptive of his voyage is 
preserved by Athenaeus (iii. p. 936). 



410 The Anabasis of Alexander, 

Soli the pilot also received a triacontor from Alexander 
and advanced farthest of those whom he despatched to 
this region ; for he had received instructions to sail 
round the whole Arabian peninsula as far as the Arabian 
Gulf near Egypt over against Heroopolis.^ Although he 
coasted along the country of the Arabs to a great dis- 
tancOj he durst not go as far as he was ordered ; but re- 
turning to Alexander he reported that the size of the 
peninsula was marvellous, being only a little smaller 
than the country of the Indians, and its extremity pro- 
jected far inxiO the Great Sea.** Nearchus indeed in his 
voyage from India had seen this stretching out a little, 
before he turned aside into the Persian Gulf, and he was 
almost induced to cross over to it. The pilot Onesicri- 
tus thought they ought to have gone thither ; but Near- 
chus says that he himself prevented it, so that after 
sailing right round the Persian Gulf he might be able to 
give a report to Alexander that he had accomplished the 
voyage on which he had sent him. For Nearchus said 
he had not been despatched to navigate the Great Sea, 
but to explore the land bordering on the sea, to find out 
what men inhabit it, to discover the harbours and rivers 
in it, to ascertain the customs of the people, and to see 
if any of the country was fertile and if any was sterile. 
This was the reason why Alexander's naval expedition 
returned in safety ; for if it had sailed beyond tbe deserts 
of Arabia, it would not have returned in safety. This 
is said also to have been the reason why Hieron turned 
back.^ 



) Probably Bamses. Xts fuius are at Abu-Eesheb. 

2 Probably the projection now called Eas-al-Had. 

3 Cf. Arriau (Indica, 82). 



Description of the Euphrates and the Pallacopas. 411 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Description op the Euphbatbs and the Pallacopas. 

While the triremes were being built for hinij and the 
harbour near Babylon was being excavated^ Alexander 
sailed from Babylon down the Euphrates to what was 
called the river PallacopaSj which is distant from Babylon 
about 800 stades'.^ This Pallacopas is not a river rising 
from springs, but a canal cut from the Euphrates. For 
that river flowing from the Armenian mountains,^ pro- 
ceeds within its banks in the season of winter, because its 
water is scanty ; bub when the spring begins to make its 
appearance, and especially just before the summer solstice, 
it pours along with mighty stream and overflows its banks 
into the Assyrian country.^ For at that season the snow 
upon the Armenian mountains melts and swells its water 
to a great degree ; and as its stream flows high above 
the level of the country, it would flow over the land if 
some one had not furnished it with an outlet along the 
Pallacopas and turned it aside into the marshes and 
pools, which, beginning from this canal, extend as far as 
the country contignous to Arabia. Thence it spreads 
out far and wide into a shallow lake, from which it falls 
into the sea by many invisible mouths. After the snow 
has melted, about the time of the setting of the Pleia- 
des, the Euphrates flows with a small stream ; but none 
the less the greater part of it discharges itself into the 
pools along the Pallacopas. Unless, therefore, some one 

' About 90 miles. This canal fell into the Persian Gulf at Teredon. 
No trace of it now remains. 

^ The Hebrew name for Armenia is Ararat (2 Kings xix. 37 ; Isa. 
xxxYii. 38 ; Jer. li. 27). 

3 The country called Assyria by the Greeks is called Asshur (level) in 
Hebrew. In Gen. x. 11 the foundation of the Assyrian kingdom is 
ascribed to Nimrod ; for the verse ought to be translated : " He went 
forth from that land into Asshur." Hence in Mioah v. 6, Assyria is 
called the " land of Nimrod." 



412 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

had dammed up the Pallacopas again, so that the water 
might be turned back within the banks and carried down 
the channel of the river, it would hare drained the 
Euphrates into itself, and consequently the Assyrian 
country would not be watered by it. But the outlet of 
the Euphrates into the Pallacopas was dammed up by 
the viceroy of Babylonia with great labour (although it 
was an easy matter to construct the outlet), because the 
ground in this region is slimy and most of it mud, so 
that when it has once received the water of the river it 
is not easy to turn it back. But more than 10,000 As- 
syrians were engaged in this labour even until the third 
month. When Alexander was informed of this, he was 
induced to confer a benefit upon the land of Assyria. 
He determined to shut up the outlet where the stream 
of the Euphrates was turned into the Pallacopas. 
When he had advanced about thirty stades, the earth 
appeared to be^ somewhat rocky, so that if it were' cut 
through and a junction made with the old canal along 
the Pallacopas, on account of the hardness of the soil, it 
would not allow the water to percolate, and there would 
be no difficulty in turning it back at the appointed 
season. For this purpose he sailed to the Pallacopas, 
and then continued his voyage down that canal into the 
pools towards the country of the Arabs. There seeing 
a certain admirable site, he founded a city upon it and 
fortified it. In it he settled as many of the Grecian 
mercenaries as volunteered to remain, and such as were 
unfit for military service by reason of age or wounds. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

An Omen op Alexander's Appboaching Death. 

Having thus proved the falsity of the prophecy of the 
Chaldaeans, by not having experienced any unpleasant 



An Omen of Alexemder's Death. 413 

fortune in Babylon/ as they liad predicted, but having 
marched out of that city without suS&ring any mishap, 
he grew confident in spirit and sailed again through the 
marshes, having Babylon on his left hand. Here a part 
of his fleet lost its way in the narrow branches of the 
river through want of a pilot, until he sent a man to 
pilot it and lead it back into the channel of the river. 
The following story is told. Most of the tombs of the 
Assyrian kings had been built among the pools and 
marshes.^ When Alexander was sailing through these 
marshes, and, as the story goes, was himself steering the 
trireme, a strong gust of wind fell upon his broad- 
brimmed Macedonian hat, and the fillet which encircled 
it. The hat, being heavy, fell into the water; but the 
fillet, being carried along by the wind, was caught by one 
of the reeds growing near the tomb of one of the ancient 
kings.* This incident itself was an omen of what was 
about to occur, and so was the fact that one of the sailors* 
swam off towards the fillet and snatched it from the reed. 
But he did not carry it in his hands, because it would 
have been wetted while he was swimming ; he therefore 
put it round his own head and thus conveyed it to the 
king. Most of the biographers of Alexander say that 

1 The Hebrew name for Babylon is Babel, i.e. Bab-Bel, court of 
Bel : porta vel aula, civitas Beli (Winer). In Jer. xxv. 26 ; li. 41, it is 
called Sbeshach, which Jewish commentators, followed by Jerome, explain 
by the Canon Atbash, i.e. after the alphabet put in an inverted order. 
According to this rule the word Babel, which is the Hebrew name of 
Babylon, would be written Sheshach. Sir Henry Eawlinson, however, 
says it was the name of a god after whom the city was named; and the 
word has been found among the Assyrian inscriptions representing a 
deity. 

' The perfect passive SeSSfiruMi is equivalent to the Epic and Ionic 
form SeS/ni7|Uai. 

' axeSTJvai. See p. 268, note 4. 

■* Tuv rU vam-Siv. This position of tIs is an imitation of the usage in 
lonio prose. Cf. Herod, i. 85 ; twv tU Hepcriiov. See Liddell and Scott, 
sub voce rls. Cf. Arnan, ii. 26, 4 ; vi. 9, 3 ; vii. 3, 4 ; 22, 5 ; 24, 2. 



414 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

the king presented him with a talent as a reward for his 
zeal, and then, ordered his head to be cut ofE; as the 
prophets had directed him not to permit that head to 
be safe which had worn the royal fillet. However, Aris- 
tobulus says that the man received a talent ; but after- 
wards also received a scourging for placing the fillet 
round his head. The same author says that it was one 
of the Phoenician sailors who fetched the fillet for 
Alexander ; but there are some who say it was Seleucus, 
and that this was an omen to Alexander of his death and 
to Seleucus of his great kingdom. For that of all those 
who succeeded to the sovereignty after Alexander, 
Seleucus became the greatest king, was the most kingly 
in mind, and ruled over the greatest extent of land after 
Alexander himself, does not seem to me to admit of 
question.^ 



CHAPTBE XXIII. 

The Aemt Eeceuited from the Peesiaks. — Hephaestion's 
Memobt Honotjeed. 

When he returned to Babylon he found that Peucestas 
had arrived from Persis, bringing with him 20,000 
Persians, as well as many Cossaeans and Tapurians, 
because these races were reported to be the most warlike 
of those bordering on Persis. Philoxenus also came to 
him, bringing an army from Cariaj Menander, with 
another from Lydia, and Menidas with the cavalry which 
had been put under his command.* At the same time 
arrived embassies from Greece, the members of which, 
with crowns upon their own heads, approached Alexander 
and crowned him with golden crowns, as if forsooth they 
came to him as special envoys deputed) to pay him divine 

' Cf. Arrian v. 13 supra. ' Cf. Arrian, iii. 6 ; iv. 18. 



Hephaestion's Memory Honoured, 415 

honours ; and his end was not far off. Then he com- 
mended the Persians for their great zeal towards him, 
which was shown by their obedience to Peucestas in all 
thingSj and Peucestas himself for the prudence which 
he had displayed in ruling them. He distributed these 
foreign soldiers among the Macedonian ranks in the fol- 
lowing way. Each company was led by a Macedonian 
decurion, and next to him was a Macedonian receiving 
double pay for distinguished valour ; and then came one 
who received ten staters,^ who was so named from the 
pay he received, being less than that received by the 
man with double pay, but more than that of the men 
who were serving as soldiers without holding a position 
of honour. Next to these came twelve Persians, and 
last in the company another Macedonian, who also re- 
ceived the pay of ten staters j so that in each company 
there were twelve Persians and four Macedonians^ three 
of whom received higher pay, and the fourth was in 
command of the company .'^ The Macedonians were armed 
in their hereditary manner ; but of the Persians some 
were archers, while others had javelins furnished with 
straps, by which they were held.^ At this time Alexander 
often reviewed his fleet, had many sham-fights with his 
triremes and quadriremes in the river, and contests both 
for rowers and pilots, the winners receiving crowns. 

Now arrived the special envoys whom he had despatched 
to Ammon to inquire how it was lawful for him to honour 
Hephaestion. They told him that Ammon said it was 
lawful to offer sacrifice to him as to a hero. Rejoicing at 
the response of the oracle, he paid respect to him as a 
hero from that time. He also despatched a letter to 
Cleomenes, who was a bad man and had committed many 



' The Macedonian stater waa worth about £1 3s. 6d. 
2 Of. Arrian (Tactics, 12, 11). • 
' Cf. Arrian, p. 379, note 1. 



416 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

acts of injustice iu Bgypt.^ For my own part I do not 
blame him for his friendship to Hephaestion and for his 
recollection of him even when dead ; but I do blame him 
for many other acts. For the letter commanded Cleo- 
menes to prepare chapels for the hero Hephaestion in the 
Egyptian Alexandria, one in the city itself and another 
in the island of Pharos, where the tower is situated.* 
The chapels were to be exceedingly large and to be 
built at lavish expense. The letter also directed that 
Oleomenes should take care that Hephaestion's name 
should be attached to them; and moreover that his 
name should be engraved on all the legal documents with 
which the merchants entered into bargains with each 
other.* These things I cannot blame, except that he 
made so much ado about matters of trifling moment. 
But the following I must blame severely : " If I find," 
said the letter, "the temples and chapels of the hero 
Hephaestion in Egypt well completed, I will not only 
pardon , you any crimes you may have committed in the 
past, but in the future you shall suffer no unpleasant 
treatment from me, however great may be the crimes you 
have committed." I cannot commend this message sent , 
from a great king to a man who was ruling a large 
country and many people, especially as the man was a 
wicked one.* 



' We read in the speech of Demosthenes against Dionysiodorus (1285), 
that Cleomenes and his partisans enriched themselves by monopolizing 
the exportation of com from Egypt. Cf. Arrian, m.. 5 supra. 

2 This island is mentioned by Homer (Odyssey, iv. 355). Alexander 
constructed a mole seven stades long from the coast to the island, thus 
forming the two harbours of Alexandria. See Strabo, xvii. 1. The 
island is chiefly famous for the lofty tower built upon it by Ptolemy 
Philadelphus, for a lighthouse. Cf. Caesar (De Bella Givili, iii. 112) ; 
Ammianus, xxii. 16, 

' Consult Luoian [Calumniae non temere credendum, 17). 

' After Alexander's death Cleomenes was executed by Ptolemy, who 
received Egypt as his share of the great king's dominions. 



Alexander Seized with Fever. 417 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Another Omen "of Alexander's Death. 
But Alexander's own end was now near. Aristobulus 
says that the following occurrence was a prognostication 
of what was about to happen. He was distributing the 
army which came with Peucestas from Persia, and that 
which came with Philoxenus and Menander from the sea,^ 
among the Macedonian lines, and becoming thirsty he 
retired from his seat and thus left the royal throne empty. 
On each side of the throne were couches with silver feet, 
upon which his personail Companions were sitting. A 
certain man of obscure condition (some say that he was 
even one of the men kept under guard without being in 
chains), seeing the throne and the couches empty, and 
the eunuchs standing round the throne (for the Com- 
panions also rose up from their seats with the king when 
he retired), walked through the line of eunuchs, ascended 
the throne, and sat down upon it.^ According to a 
Persian law, they did not make hira rise from the throne ; 
but rent their garments and beat their breasts and faces 
as if on account of a great evil. 

When Alexander was informed of this, he ordered the 
man who had sat upon his throne to be put to the torture, 
with the view of discovering whether he had done this 
according to a plan concerted by a conspiracy. But the 
man confessed nothing, except that it came into his mind 
at the time to act thus. Even more for this reason the 
diviners explained that this occurrence boded no good to 
him. A few days after this, after offering to the gods the 
customary sacrifices for good success, and certain others 
also for ,the purpose of divination, he was feasting with 



' I.e. the Mediterranean. 

2 Diodorus (xvii. 116) and Plutarch {Alex., 73) say that he was a bound 
prisoner. The latter says his name was Dionysius, and that he was a 
Messenian. 

E E 



418 , The Anabasis of Alexander. 

his friendSj and was drinking far into the night.^ He is 
also said to have distributed the sacrificial victims as well 
as a quantity of wine to the army throughout the com- 
panies and centuries. There are some who have recorded 
that he wished to retire after the drinking party to his 
bed-chamber ; but Medius, at that time the most influ- 
ential of the Companions, met him and begged him to 
join a party of revellers at his residence, saying that the 
revel would be a pleasant one. 



CHAPTEE XXV. 

Alexander Seized with Fevee. 

The Eoyal Diary gives the following account,^ to the 
effect that he revelled and drank at the dwelling of 
Medius; then rose up, took a bath, and slept; then 
again supped at the house of Medius and again drank 
till far into the night. After retiring from the drinking 
party he took a bath ; after which he took a little food 
and slept there, because he already felt feverish. He 
was carried out upon a couch to the sacrifices, in order 
that he might offer them according to his daily custom. 
After performing the sacred rites he lay down in the 
banqueting hall until dusk. In the meantime he gave 
instructions to the officers about the expedition and 
voyage, ordering those who were going on foot to be 
ready on the fourth day, and those who were going to 
sail with him to be ready to sail on the fifth day. From 



1 Plutarch (Alex., 75) and Justin (xii. 13) say that he gave a banquet 
to Nearchus the admiral, and that, as he was leaving it, he was invited 
to the revel by Medius the Thesaalian. Cf. Diodorus, ivii. 117. 

2 We learn from Athenaeus (x. p. 434 B) that this Court Joumgl was 
kept by the royal secretary, Eumenes, afterwards so famous, and by the 
historian, Biodotus of Erythiae. As to the last days of Alexander, cf. 
Plutarch {Alex., 76, 77). 



Alexander's Death. 419 

this place he was carried upon the couch to the river, 
where he embarked in a boat and sailed across the river 
to the park. There he again took a bath and went to 
rest. 

On the following day he took another bath and offered 
the customary sacrifices. He then entered a tester bed, 
lay down, and chatted with Medius. He also ordered 
his officers to meet him at daybreak. Having done this 
he ate a little supper and was again conveyed into the 
tester bed. . The fever now raged the whole night without 
intermission. The next day he took a bath ; after which 
he offered sacrifice, and gave orders to Nearchus and the 
other officers that the voyage should begin on the third 
day. The next day he bathed again and offered the 
prescribed sacrifices. After performing the sacred rites, 
he did not yet cease to suffer from the fever. Notwith- 
standing this, he summoned the officers and gave them 
instructions to have all things ready for the starting of 
the fleet. In the evening he took a bath, after which he 
was very ill. The next day he was transferred to the 
house near the swimming-bath, where he offered the 
prescribed sacrifices. Though he was now very danger- 
ously ill, he summoned the most responsible of his 
officers and gave them fresh instructions about the 
voyage. On the following day he was with difficulty 
carried out to the sacrifices, which he offered ; and none 
the less gave other orders to the officers about the voyage. 
The next day, though he was now very ill, he offered the 
prescribed sacrifices. He now gave orders that the 
generals should remain in attendance in the hall,^ and 
that the colonels and captains should remain before the 
gates. But being now altogether in a dangerous state. 



' Cf. Curtius, ix. 23 : Mos erat principibus amiooram et oustodibus 
corporis exoubare ante praetorium, quotiens adversa regi yaletudo in- 
cidisset. 



420 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

he was conveyed from the park into the palace. When 
his oiEcers entered the room, he knew them indeed, but 
could no longer utter a word, being speechless. During 
the ensuing night anS day and the next night and day 
he was in a very high fever. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Alexandee's Death. 

Such is the account given in the Eoyal Diary. In addi- 
tion to this, it states that the soldiers were very desirous 
of seeing him ; Some, in order to see him once more while 
still alive ; others, because there was a reporb that he was 
already dead, imagined that his death was being concealed 
by the confidential body-guards, as I for my part suppose. 
Most of them through grief and affection for their king 
forced their way in to see him. It is said that when his 
soldiers passed by him he was unable to speak; yet he 
greeted each of them with his right hand, raising his 
head with difficulty and making a sign with his eyes. 
The Royal Diary also says that Peithon, Attains, Demo- 
phon, and Peucestas, as well as Cleomenes, Menidas, and 
Seleucus, slept in the temple of Serapis,^ and asked the 
god whether it would be better and more desirable for 
Alexander to be carried into his temple, in order as a 
suppliant to be cured by him. A voice issued from the 
god saying that he was not to be carried into the temple, 
but that it would be better for him to remain where he 
was. This answer was reported by the Companions ; and 
soon after Alexander died, as if forsooth this were now 

' Serapis, or more correctly Sarapis, was an Egyptian deity, whose 
worship was introduced into Greece in the time of the Ptolemies. His 
worship was introduced into Borne, with that of Isis, in the time of 
SuUa. Strdbo (xvii. 1) gives an account of his cultus in the celebrated 
temple at Canobus. The Serapeum at Alexandria, which contained the 
famous library, is described by Ammianus, xxii 16. 



Rumour that Alexander was Poisoned, 421 

the better thing. Neither Aristobulua nor Ptolemy has 
given an account differing much from the preceding. 
Some authors, however^ have related that his Companions 
asked him to whom he left his kingdom; and that he 
replied : " To the best."i Others say, that in addition 
to this remark, he told them that he saw there would be 
a great funeral contest held in his honour.^ 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

R0MOUB THAT AlEXANDBE WAS PoiSONBD. 

I AM aware that many other particulars have been related 
by historians concerning Alexander's death, and especially 
that poison was sent for him by Antipater, from the 
effects of which he died.* It is also asserted that the 
poison was procured for Antipater by Aristotle, who was 
now afraid of Alexander on account of Oallisthenes.* It 
is said to have been conveyed by Cassander, the son of 
Antipater,^ some recording that he conveyed ib in the 
hoof of a mule, and that his younger brother lollas gave 
it to the king.® For this man was the royal cup-bearer, 

' I.e. the most valiant. 

' To decide who was to succeed to his power. Of. Curtius, x. 14 ; 
Diodorus, xvii. 117; Justin, xii. 15. 

' Cf. Curtius, X. 31 ; Diodorus, xvii. 117, 118; Justin, xii. 13. Plutarch 
{Alex. , 77) asserts that nothing was said about Alexander's being poisoned, 
until six years after, when Olympias, the enemy of Antipater, set the 
charge afloat. 

* See Arrian, iv. 10 supra. 

5 Cassander was afterwards king of Macedonia and Greece. He put 
Olympias, Eoxana, and her son Alexander Aegus to death, and bribed 
Polysperchon to put Barsine and her son Hercules to death. He died of 
dropsy, B.C. 297. 

« Cf. Pausanias, xviii. 4; Curtius, x. 31; Plutarch (4Zea!., 77). The 
ancients called the poison, " the water of Styx " ; it wag obtained from 
Nonacris in the north of Arcadia, near which the river Styx took its 
origin. Justin (xii. 14) says : Cujus veneni tanta vis fuit, ut non aere, 
Hon ferro, non testa contineretur, neo aliter ferri nisi in ungula equi 



422 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

and he happened to have received some affront from 
Alexander a short time before his death. Others have 
stated that Medius, being a lover of ToUas, took part in 
the deed ; for he it was who induced the king to hold the 
revel. They say that Alexander was seized with an acute 
paroxysm of pain over the wine-cup, on feeling which he 
retired from the drinking bout.^ One writer has not 
evQfi been ashamed to record that when Alexander per- 
ceived he was unlikely to survive, he was going out to 
throw himself into the river Euphrates, so that he might 
disappear from men's sight, and leave among the men of 
after-times a more firmly-rooted opinion that he owed his 
birth to a god, and had departed to the gods. But as he 
was going out he did not escape the notice of his wife 
Eoxana, who restrained him from carrying out his 
design. Whereupon he uttered lamentations, saying that 
she forsooth envied him the complete glory of being 
thought the offspring of the god. These statements I 
have recorded rather that I may not seem to be ignorant 
that they have been made, than because I consider them 
worthy of credence or even of narration. 



OHAPTEE XXVIII. 

■■ Chaeactee op Albxandee. 
Alexandik died in the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad, 

potuerit. Pliny {Hist. Nat., xxx. 53) says: Ungulas tantum mularum 
repertas, neque aliam ullam materiam quae nou perroderetur a veneno 
Stygis aciuae, cum id dandum Alexandre magno Antipater mitteret, 
dignum memoria est, magna Aristotelis infamia exoogitatum. 

' Diodorus (xvii. 117) states that after drinking freely, Alexander 
swallowed the contents of a large goblet, called the cup of Heracles, and 
was immediately seized with violent pain. This statement, however, is 
contradicted by Plutarch. It seems from the last injunction of Calanus, 
the Indian philosopher, that it was considered the right thing to drink to 
intoxication at the funeral of a friend. See Plutarch (Alex., 69). 



Ajiology for Alexander's Hrrors. 423 

m the archonsLip of Hegesias at Athens.^ According to 
the statement of Aristobulus, he lived thirty- two years, 
and had reached the eighth month of his thirty-third 
year. He had reigned twelve years and these eight 
months.^ He was very handsome in person, and much 
devoted to exertion, very active in mind, very heroic in 
courage, very tenacious of honour, exceedingly fond of 
incurring danger, and strictly observant of his duty to 
the gods. In regard to the pleasures of the body, he had 
perfect self-control j and of those of the mind, praise was 
the only one of which he was insatiable. He was very 
clever in recognising what was necessary to be done, 
even when it was still a matter unnoticed by others ; and 
very successful in conjecturing from the observation of 
facts what was likely to occur. In marshalling, arming, 
and ruling an army, he was exceedingly skilful ; and very 
renowned for rousing the courage of his soldiers, filling 
them with hopes of success, and dispelling their fear in 
the midst of danger by his own freedom from fear. 
Therefore even what he had to do in secret he did with 
the greatest boldness. He was also very clever in getting 
the start of his enemies, and snatching from them their 
advantages by secretly forestalling them, before any one 
even feared what was about to happen. He was likewise 
very steadfast in keeping the agreements and settlements 
which he made, as well as very secure from being 
entrapped by deceivers. Finally, he was very sparing in 
the expenditure of money for the gratification of his own 
pleasures ; but he was exceedingly bountiful in spending 
it for the benefit of his associates. 



' June, 323 B.C. 

2 Ptolemy took the embalmed booty of Alexander to Egypt, and placed 
it in Memphis, but removed it a few years after to Alexandria. See 
Curtius, X. 31. Cf. Aelian {Varia Historia, xii. 64 ; xiii. 29). 



424 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Apology tor Alexandee's Beeoes. 

That Alexander should have committed errors in his 
conduct from quickness of temper or from wrath,^ and 
that he should have been induced to comport himself like 
the Persian monarohs to an immoderate degree, I do not 
think remarkable if we fairly consider both his youth ^ and 
his uninterrupted career of good fortune ; likewise that 
kings have no associates in pleasure who aim at their 
best interests, but that they will always have associates 
urging them to do wrong. However, I am certain that 
Alexander, was the only one of the ancient kings who, 
from nobility of character, repented of the errors which 
he had committed. The majority of men, even if they 
have become conscious that they have committed an 
error, make ttg mistake of thinking that they can conceal 
their sin by defending their error as if it had been a just 
action. But it seems to me that the only cure for sin is 
for the sinner to confess it, and to be . visibly repentant 
in regard to it. Thus the suffering will not appear 
altogether intolerable to those who have undergone un- 
pleasant treatment, if the person who inflicted it confesses 
that he has acted dishonourably ; and this good hope for 
the future is left to the man himself, that he will never 
again commit a similar sin, if he is seen to be vexed at 
his former errors. J. do not think that even his tracing 
his origin to a god was a great error on Alexander's part, 
if it was not perhaps merely a device to induce his 
subjects'to show him reverence.* Nor does he seem to 

Cf. Diodorus, xvii. 4 ; ^ 6|i)tj;s toC veavlnKov. 

^ Cf. Cwtius, X. 18 : Gloriae laudisque, ut justo major cupido, ita ut 
javeni et in tautig admitteuda rebus. 

' Plutarch (Alex., 28) attributes the same motive to Alexander in 
representing himself to be the son of Zeus. Livy (ix. 18) says : Eeferre 
in tanto rege piget superbam mutationem vestis et desideratas hurr^i 



Eulogy of Alexander. 425 

me to have been a less renowned king than Minos, Aeacus, 
or Ehadamanthus, to whom no insolence is attributed by 
the men of old, because they traced their origin to Zeus. 
Nor does he seem at all inferior to Theseus or Ion, the 
former being the reputed son of Poseidon, and the latter 
of Apollo. His adoption of the Persian mode of dressing 
also seems to me to have been a political device in regard 
to the foreigners, that the king might not appear 
altogether an alien to them ; and in regard to the Mace- 
donians, to show them that he had a refuge from their 
rashness of temper and insolence. For this reason I 
think, he mixed the Persian royal guards, who carried 
golden apples at the end of their spears,^ among the ranks 
of the Macedonians, and the Persian peers ^ with the 
Macedonian body-guards. Aristobulns also asserts that 
Alexander used to have long drinking parties, not for 
the purpose of enjoying the wine, as he was not a great 
wine- drinker, but in order to exhibit his sociality and 
friendly feeling to his Companions.^ 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Eulogy op Alexander. 

Whoever therefore reproaches Alexander as a bad man, 
let him do so ; but let him first not only bring before his 
mind all his actions deserving reproach, but also gather 

jacentium adulationes, etiam viotis Maeedonibus graves, nedum victori- 
bus ; et foeda supplioia, et inter Tinum et epula, eaedes amieorum at 
vanitatem ementiendae stirpis. Consult the whole of the interesting 
passage in Livy, ix. 17-19. See also Aelian (Varia Historia, n. 19; 
V. 12; ix. 37). 

' Of. Herodotus, vii. 41 ; Arrian, iii.. 11 supra. 

2 Xenophon {Gyropaedia, vii. 5, 85) says that the Persian Equals-in- 
Honqur, or Peers, spent their time about the Court. 

' Cf. Arrian, iv. 14 supra ; Justin, ix. 8 ; Athenaeus, x. p. 434 B ; 
Aelian (Varia Historia, iii. 23 ; ix. 3 ; xii. 26). 



426 The Anabasis of Alexander. 

into one view all his deeds of every kind. Then, indeed, 
let him reflect who he is himself, and what kind of fortune 
he has experienced ; and then consider who that man was 
whom he reproaches as bad, and to what a height of 
human success he attained, becoming without any dispute 
king of both continents,^ and reaching every place by his 
fame ; while he himself who reproaches him is of smaller 
account, spending his labour on petty objects, which, 
however, he does not succeed in effecting, petty as they 
are. For my own part, I think there was at that time no 
race of men, no city, nor even a single individual to whom 
Alexander's name and fame had not penetrated. For 
this reason it seems to me that a hero totally unlike any 
other human being could not have been born without the 
agency of the deity. And this is said to have been 
revealed after Alexander's death by the oracular responses, 
by the visions which presented themselves to various 
people, and by the dreams which were seen by difierent 
individuals. It is also shown by the honour paid to him 
by men up to the J)resent time, and by the recollection 
which is still held of him as more than human. Even at 
the present time, after so long an interval, other oracular 
responses in his honour have been received by the nation 
of the Macedonians. In relating the history of Alexan- 
der's achievements, there are some things which I have 
been compelled to censure; but I am not ashamed to 
admire Alexander himself. Those actions I have branded 
as bad, both from a regard to my own veracity, and at 
the same time for the benefit of mankind.^ For this 



' Europe and Asia. Arrian reckoned Libya,* or Africa, as a part of 
Asia. See iii. 30 ; v. 26 ; vii. 1. 

2 Dr. Leonhard Sohmitz says : — " Arrian is in this work one of the most 
excellent writers of his time, above which he is raised by his simplicity 
and his unbiassed judgment. Great as his merits thus are as an historian, 
they are yet surpassed by his exeeUenoe as an historical critic. His 
Anabasis is based upon the most trustworthy historians among the con- 



Eulogy of Alexander. 427 

reason I think that I undertook the task of writing this 
history not without the divine inspiration. 



The End op the History op Alexander's Deeds. 



temporaries of Alexander, suoli as Ptolemy, Aristobulus, which two lie 
chiefly followed, Diodotus of Erythrae, Eumenes of Cardia, Nearohus of 
Crete, and Megasthenes ; and his sound judgment as to who deserved 
credit, justly led him to reject such authors as Onesicritus.CaUisthenes, and 
others. No one at all acquainted with this work of Arrians can refuse 
his assent to the opinion of Photius (p. 73 ; comp. Luoian, Alex., 2), that 
Arrian was the best among the numerous historians of Alexander. One 
of the great merits of the work, independent of those already mentioned, 
is the clearness and distinctness with which he describes all miUtary 
movements and operations, the drawing up of the armies for battle, and 
the conduct of battles and sieges.' In all these respects the Anabasis is 
a masterly production, and Arrian shows that he himself jlossessed a 
thorough practical knowledge of military affairs. He seldom introduces 
speeches, but wherever he does he shows a profound knowledge of man ; 
and the speech of Alexander to his rebellious soldiers, and the reply of 
Coenus, as well as some other speeches, are masterly specimens of oratory. 
Everything, moreover, which is not necessary to make his narrative clear 
is carefully avoided." See Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Bio- 
graphy. 



INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 



{The numbers refer to the pages.) 


Abastaniana, 340. 






Aesculapius, 88, 397. 


Abbot, 258. 






Aetolians, 26, 34. 


Abdalouymus, 116. 






Afghanistan, 155, 191. 


Abdera, 37. 






Africa, 108, 203, 309. 


Abian Scythians, 205. 






AgaUassa, 324. 


Abioht, 213, 276, 283. 






Agamemnon, 37. 


Abisares, 257, 264, 279, 


298, 


301, 


Agatho, 44, 164. 


315. 






Agenor, 133. 


Aboukir, 142. 






Agesilaus, 110. 


Abreas, 330-334. 






Agis III., 109, 110, 173. 


Abulites, 172, 173, 374. 






Agis the Argive, 223. 


Abydus, 37. 






Agrianians, 11, 18, 19, 21, 23, et 


Abyssinia, 272. 






passim. 


Aeeaines, 271, -274, 298-300, 


308, 


Ahasuerus, 364. 


315-825, 336, 339- 


-341, 


374, 


Aithiops, 272. 


387. 






Alani, 2, 4. 


Aohaeans, Port of, 37. 






Albanians, 155, 161, 164. 


Aohaemenids, 375. 






Albion, 125. 


AchiUes, 38, 39, 139, 


323, 


396, 


Alcetas, 246, 255, 256, 283. 


402. 






Alcias, 77. 


AehiUens, 150. 






Alcmena, 117, 145. 


Aohmetha, 179. 






Aleian Plain, 89. 


Acropolis of Athens, 49, 


173. 




Alexander I., 33, 383. 


Acropolis of Sardis, 50. 






Alexander the Great, passim. 


Acuphis, 266-268. 






Alexander Aegus, 242, 421. 


Ada, 65, 66. 






Alexander, son of Aeropua, 27, 51, 


Addaeus, 63, 64. 






68. 


Admetns, 131-133. 






Alexander the Bpirote, 152. ' 


Adonis, 116. 






Alexandria, 141, 142, 143, 197, 206, 


Adraistaeans, 301. 






210, 247, 266, 340, 351, 416, 


Aeacns, 226, 425. 






420, 423. 


Aeaoidae, 138. 






Alinda, 66. 


Aegae, 36. 






Alpes, 125. 


Aegean Sea, 110, 408. 






Amanio Gates, 91. 


Aegina, 334. 






Amastrine, 375. 


Aegospotami, 31, 57. 






Amathiis, 129. 


Aegyptus, 276, 318. 






Amazons, 234, 393-395. 


Aeolis and AeoUans, 53 


, 71, 


186, 


Ambracia, 119. 


383, 385. 






Ammianus, 80, 106, 203, 229, 270, 


Aeschines, 91, 113,, 150. 






271, 385, 401. 


Aeschylns, 149, 269, 338 






Amminaspes, 185. 



429 



430 



The Anabasis of Alexander. 



Ammon, 144-148, 223, 320, 347. 

382, 397, 415. 
Amphiaraiis, 89. 
Amphiloohians, 119. 
Amphilochus, 89. 
Amphion, 30. 

Amphipolis, 10, 12, 13, 37, 98, 107. 
Amphitrite, 320. 
Amphoterus, 70, 144, 150. 
Amyntas of Macedon, 19, 66. 
Amyntas, son of Antioelius, 51, 69, 

90, 91, 107, 109. 
,Amyntas, son of Andromenes, 29, 

43, 50, 59, 162, 173, 174, 177, 

188, 190, 192, 195. 
Amyntas, son of Arrhabaeus, 40, 

43-45, 59, 74, 95. 
Amyntas, son of Nioolaiis, 237, 238, 

247. ^ 

Amyntas the Thetan, 25. 
Anaxagoras, 407. 
Anaxarchus, 222-226. 
Anaxippus, 191, 192. 
AneMalus, 87, 88. 
Anoyra, 84. 
Androcles, 129. 
Andromachus, 127, 150, 162, 192, 

210, 213-215. 
Andronieus, 189, 191. 
Androsthenes, 409. 
Anicetus, 134. 
Antaeus, 145. 
Antalcidas, 79, 80. 
Anteas, 363. 
Anthemus, 98. 
Antibelns, 182. 
Antioles, 230. 
Antigenes, 291, 344. 
Antigone, 193. 
Antigonus, 76, 88, 305, 405. 
Anti-Libanus, 125, 156, 308. 
Antioohus, 97, 149, 263. 
Antipater, 26, 36, 43, 81, 102, 105, 

109, 148, 162, 173, 231, 391, 

392, 421. 
Antipater, son of Asolepiodorus, 

280. 
Antiphilus, 105. 
Antoninus Pius, 2. 
Aornus, 199, 258-263, 310. 
Apelles, 48, 53, 88. 
Aphrioes, 279. 
Apis, 142. 

ApoUo, 148, 196, 204, 389, 390, 425. 
ApoUodoius, 171, 404, 405. 



Apollonia, 40, 98. 

Apollonides, 144. 

ApoUonius, 149. 

ApoUonius Ehodius, 56, 846. 

Apollophanes, 351, 360. 

Arab, 407. 

Arabia and Arabians, 135, 140, 149, 

172, 308, 309, 369, 407-412. 
Arabian Gulf, 410. 
Arabitians, 350. 
Arabius Biver, 349, 350. _ 
Arachotia and Arachotians, 155, 

161, 183, 197, 275, 283, 341, 

344, 360, 378, 387. 
Aradus, 108, 111. 
Aral Sea, 198, 199, 202, 234, 274, 

401. 
Aram, 87, 107, 156, 380. 
Ararat, 411. 
Aratus, 88. 
Araxes, 177, 401. 
Arbela, 13, 98, 156-171, 334. 
Arbupales, 48. 
Arcadia and Arcadians, 32, 34, 

421. 
Archelaiis, 36, 173, 199. 
Archias, 409. 
Aroonnesus, 65. 
Areia and Areians, 155, 191-193, 

197, 200, 216, 361, 378. 
Areius Eiver, 216. 

Atpr /I 'I 

Aretes, 164, 166, 167. 

Aretis, 46. 

Argos and Argives, 51, 58, 89, 217, 

224, 227. 
Ariaces, 156. 
Ariaspians, 196. 
Arigaeum, 251. 
Arimmas, 152. 
Ariobarzanes, 155, 176, 177, 178, 

189. 
Arisbe, 40. 
Aristander, 36, 70, 121, 137, 143, 

154, 170, 211, 212, 235. 
Aristo, 97, 162, 164, 165. 
Aristobiilus, 3, 6, 83, 85, 101, 105, 

145, 146, 148, 160, 193, 197, 

198, 202, 209, 214, 220, 230, 
231, 232, 277, 281, 297, 334, 
344, 348, 351, 352, 363, 365, 
366, 375, 394, 400, 404, 405, 
406, 409, 414, 417, 421, 423, 
425, 427. 

Aristogeiton, 173, 224, 406. 



Index of Proper Names. 



431 



Aristomedes, 107. 

Aristomous, 143, X44, 236, 237. 

Aristonotis, 363. 

Aristophanes, 121, 152, 170, 231, 
394. 

Aristophon, 185. 

Aristotle, 8, 18, 68, 81, 125, 223, 
232, 271, 308, 421. 

Aristus, 3, 399. 

Armenia and Armenians, 107, 158, 
155, 156, 161, 170, 171, 273, 
401, 411. 

Arrhabaeus, 68. 

Arrhybas, 149. 

Arrian, 1-5, 9, 10, 14, 20, 28, 40, 
44, 49, 98, 101, 102, 119, 162, 
168, 179, 202, 208, 244, 258, 
265, 267, 268, 270, 273, 276, 
277, 285, 304, 346, 855, 370, 
392, 394, 399, 425, 426. 

Arsames, 40,85, 103, 189,193, 200, 
216. 

Arses, 112, 113. 

Arsimas, 112. 

Arsinoe, 375. 

Arsites, 40, 41, 48, 50. 

Arta 119. 

Artabazus, 183, 189, 197, 199, 234- 
237, 242, 375. 

Artacama, 875. 

Artacoana, 192, 193. 

Artaxerxes, 89, 112, 113, 192, 224, 
227, 271, 864. 

Artemis, 52, 53, 406, 409. 

Artemisia, 66. 

Artemisium, 834. 

Artiboles, 879. 

Artonis, 375. 

Arvad, 111. 

Asander, 51, 88, 217. 

Ascania Lake, 76. 

Asclepiadae, 833. 

Asclepiades, 8, 399. 

Aselepiodorus, 148, 152, 171, 217, 
230. 

Aselepius, 88, 338, 896. 

Asia, 37, 38, 49, 68, 66, 91, 93, 106, 
112, 114, 155, 156, 158, 178, 
192, 197, 200, 203, 205, 210, 
234, 242, 243, 270-272, 274, 
276, 809, 869, 406, 426. 

Asia Minor, 53, 59, 7p, 79, 108, 
151, 278, 275, 276, 308. 

Aspasians, 249-251. 



Aspendus, 71-73. 

Assacenians, 249, 253, 254, 263, 

298. 
Assaoenus, 256, 268. 
Assagetes, 259. 
Asshur, 411. 
Assyria and Assyrians, 87, 89. 91, 

154, 156, 172, 380, 407, 411- 

413. , 
Astes, 248. 
Atbasb, 418. 
Athaliah, 58. 
Atharrias, 64. 
Athena, 38, 49, 89, 104, 148, 247, 

406. 
Atbenaeus, 409. 
Athens and the Athenians, 1, 8, 9, 

26, 31, 34, 35, 37, 49, 77, 79, 

91, 105, 118, 115, 120, 150, 173, 

178, 224, 227, 232, 384, 394, 

406. 
Atizyes, 69, 103. 
Atlas Mountains, 309, 369. 
Atropates, 155, 239, 365, 374, 375, 

393 395. 
At*alu3,'98, 168, 184, 195, 231, 235, 

246, 250, 252, 256, 284, 344, 

420. 
Attica, 27, 406. 
Attiuas, 237. 
Attock, 279. 
Aturia, 154, 156. 
Audaoa, 250. 
Aurelius, 2. 
Austanes, 246, 247. 
Autariatians, 19. 
Autobares, 379. 
Autophradates, 79, 80, 109-111, 

117, 124, 143, 189, 190, 239. 
Aven, 141. 
Avienus, 118, 869. 
Avon, 141. 
Axenos, 15, 208, 313. 
Azemilous, 117, 133. 
Azov Sea, 202, 274. 
Azzah, 136. 



Baal, 117, 171. 

Babel, 418. 

Babylon, 94, 153, 171, 172, 224, 

239, 808, 372, 385, 396-420. 
Babylonians, 155, 156, 161, 171, 

402. 
Bacchus, ^21, 268, 362. 



432 



The Anabasis of Alexander. 



Baoohylides, 39. 

Baotra, 187, 192, 196, 199, 202, 

206, 233, 246, 247, 312, 385. 
Baotria, 155, 183, 215, 236, 247, 

263, 273, 284, 308, 319, 401. 
Baotrians, 155, 161, 165, 170, 183, 

192, 198, 199, 206, 284, 235, 

237, 238, 378, 387. 
Baetica, 118. 
Bagae, 238. 
Bagistanes, 182, 183. 
Bagoas, 113, 367. 
Bahrein, 409. 
Balaorus, 76, 104, 149, 164, 165, 

212,252. 
Balkan, 10. 
Balkh, 187. 
Bardylis, 18. 

Barsaentes, 155, 183, 185, 193. 
Barsine, 186, 242, 375, 421. 
Baryaxes, 365. 
Barzanes, 216. 
Batis, 135-139. 
Bazira, 256, 257, 259. 
Beas Eiver, 306. 
Beghram, 197. 
Beith-Shemesh, 141. 
Beloochistan, 155, 196, 350, 354. 
Belus, 171, 172, 401, 402, 413. 
Berdes, 205. 
Beroea, 151. 
Bessus, 155, 182-185, 191-202, 206, 

216, 217, 263, 334. 
Bianor, 107. 
Bistanes, 113, 180. 
Bithynia, 77, 108. 
Bithynian Thraoians, 77. 
Boeotarchs, 28. 
Boeotia, 26, 30. 
BospSrus, 277. 
Bottiaea;, 13, 98. 
Boupares, 155. 
Braclimans, 327, 343. 
Branchldae, 148, 204. 
Briso, 163. 
Britain, 370. 
Bromius, 268. 
Browne, 144. 
Bruttians, 152, 399. 
Bubaces, 103. 
Bucephala, 296, 816. 
Buoephalas, 288, 296, 297. 
Btimodus, 156, 334. 
BuBuis, 145. 
BybluB, 115. 



Cabnl, 247. 

Cadiz, 108, 118, 203, 309. 

Cadmea, 25, 27, 30, 33. 

Cadmus, 117. 

Cadusians, 155, 161, 180. 

Caesar, 123, 278, 303, 395. 

Caious, 275, 276. 

Calanus, 149, 372-374, 405, 422. 

Calas, 41, 44, 50, 51, 69, 84. 

Callatis, 354. 

Callicratidas, 190. 

CalHnes, 389. 

Callipolis, 88. 

CaUisthenes, 95, 101, 102, 146, 

148, 222-232, 247, 421, 427. 
Cambyses, 140, 141, 226, 864. 
Canobus, 142, 420. 
Caphtor, 110. 
Cappadooia and Cappadooians, 2, 

48, 84, 156, 161, 305, 308. 
Caranus, 151, 197, 210, 214, 215, 

217. 
Carchedon, 318, 370. 
Cardaoes, 95. 
Cardia, 305. 
Caiduohi, 154, 172. 
Caria and Carians, 58, 65, 66, 76, 

88, 155, 161, 164, 186, 308, 318, 

414. 
Carim, 186. 

Carmania, 344, 360-364, 387. 
Carthage, 108, 116, 133, 309, 313, 

370, 891, 399, 406. 
Casdim, 172. 

Caspian Gates, 179, 182, 308, 387. 
Caspian Sea, 155, 161, 187, 199, 

202, 234, 236, 274, 387, 400, 401. 
Cassander, 19, 76, 88, 162, 242, 

421. 
Castor, 219. 
Catanes, 246, 247. 
Cathaeans, 301. 
Cathaia, 319. 
CatuUus, 198. 
Caucasus, 197-199, 202, 234, 247, 

266-275, 284, 308, 387. 
Caunus, 88. 
Cayster, 275, 276, 309. 
Celaenae, 76. 
Celts, 14, 18. 
Cenaan, 107, 108. 
Ceramicus, 173. 
Ceroinitis Lake, 37. 
Cereth, 110. 
Ceth, 109. 



Index of Proper Names. 



433 



Chabor, 401. 

Chaboras, 172. 

Chaerouea, 8, 144, 384. 

Chaloedoniaus, 191. 

Chalcis, 81. 

Chaldaeaus, 172, 401-403, 412. 

Chandragupta, 275. 

Chares, 35, 38, 102, 125, 144. 

Charicles, 231. 

Charidemus, 35. 

Chemi, 318. 

Chenab, 298. 

Ohiddekel, 153. 

Chios, 78, 109, 143, 144. 

Choaspes, 172. 

Choes, 249. 

Ohorasmians, 234, 273, 387. 

Chorienes, 244-246. 

Chrysippus, 88. 

Cicero, 81, 84, 104, 232, 368, 401. 

CiUcia, 85, 87, 88, 91, 104, 153, 

173, 186, 197, 273, 391. 
Cilieiau Gates, 84. 
CiUuta, 347. 
Cim5n, 72. 
Oitium, 109. 
Cittim, 109. ^ 
Clazomenae,'407. 
Oleander, 67, 75, 125, 163, 194, 

861. 
Clearchus, 39, 102, 152, 191, 227. 
Cleomeneg, 149, 415, 416, 420. 
Cleon, 224. 
Cleopatra, 151, 152. 
Cleophis, 256. 
Clitarohus, 335. 
Clitus, son of Bardylis, 18-25. 
Clitus, son of Dropidas, 47, 162, 

181, 195, 218-221, 232, 233, 

235, 237, 248. 
Cnidus, 88. 
Coele-Syria, 110, 156, 158, 161, 308, 

385. 
Coenus, 24, 43, 67, 77, 95, 131, 

133, 162, 169, 177, 182, 190, 

235, 236-239, 250, 256, 257, 

259, 280, 284, 291, 299, 300, 

311-314, 318, 427. 
Coeranus, 151, 164. 
Colchians, 234, 394. 
Colonae, 40. 

Oomedae Mountains, 202. 
Companions, 23, et passim. 
Conon, 224. 
Cophaeus, 259. 



CophSn, 114, 189, 379. 

Cophen Eiver, 247, 265. 

Core, 118. 

Corinth, 9, 49, 79, 110, 834. 

Corns, 58. 

Cos, 88, 109, 144, 333. 

Cossaeans, 398, 414. 

Crateas, 368. 

Craterus, 43, 44, 95, 126, 162, 175- 
177, 183, 188, 198, 206-209, 
231, 237, 239, 246, 247, 250, 
251, 258, 259, 283, 284, 289, 
293, 297, 300, 319, 321, 322, 
324, 337, 841-344, 361, 375, 
391. 

Crete aad Cretans, 58, 98, 108, 110. 

Cretheijs, 354. 

Critodemus, 333. 

Croesus, 402. 

Ctesias, 3, 271. 

Cunaxa, 94, 102, 165. 

Curium, 129. 

Curtius, 77, 85, 96, 102, 11-4, 116, 
139, 165, 203, 204, 219, 232, 
241r'258, 833, 335, 358, 361, 
419, 424. 

Cash, 272, 398. 

Cybele, 275. 

Cyclades, 80, 108. 

Cydnus, 85. 

Cyme, 71. 

Cyna, 19. 

Cyprus. and Cyprians, 55, 108, 109, 
120, 125-129, 132, 150, 318. 

Cyrene, 198, 885. 

Cyreschata, 207. 

Cyropolis, 206, 208, 209. 

Cyrus the Elder, 84, 178, 196, 207, 
208, 227, 236, 272, 855, 364, 
367, 369. 

Cyrus the Younger, 39, 71, 76, 
85, 87, 102. 

Cyrus, camp of, 84. 

Cythnus, 81. 



Daans, 161, 198, 199,284. 

Dacians, 14. 

Daedalus, 409. 

Dahae, 161. 

Damascus, 103, 104, 114, 242. 

Dammasek, 103. 

Daudamis, 371, 372. 

Daniel, 172, 307. 

Danube, 12, 15, 270. 



434 



The Anabasis of Alexander. 



Darius, 41, 48, 53, 59, 69, 79, 80, 

90-114, 120, 134, 135, 140, 

152-171, 179-187, 201, 211, 

220, 227, 243, 277, 334, 364, 

375. 
Dasoylium, 50. 
Satames, 80, 81. 
I>atapliernes, 200-202. 
Da^id, 110, 186. 
DeimachuB, 278. 
Deinar^lius, 113. 
Delta, 270, 340, 343. 
Delphi, 228. 
Demades, 34. 
Demaiatus, 47. 
Demetrius, 76, 99, 162, 196, 22S, 

256, 284, 291, 300, 328, 

335. 
Demophon, 420. 
Demosthenes, 35, 91, 113, 150, 

175, 384, 416. 
Dii, 10. _ 
Dindymene, 275. 
Dinocrates, 143. 
Diodorus, 28, 37, 41, 44, 48, 61, 

64, 102, 116, 204, 379, 391, 

422, 424. 
Diodotus, 3, 418, 427. 
Diogenes, 79, 90, 371. 
Dion Cassius, 1. 
Dionysiodorus, 115. ■ 
Diouysius of Halicarnassus, 59, 

139 285 
Dionysus, 117, 218, 221-225, 265- 

269, 310, 321, 338, 362,387, 

408. 
Diophantus, 150. 
Dioscuri, 218. 
Diotimus, 35. 
Dium, 48. 
Dnieper, 270. 
Doloaspis, 148. 
Domitian, 2. 
Don, 202, 203, 274. 
Donaldson, 361, 383, 396. 
Dorians, 273. 
Doxareus, 279. 
Drangiana and Drangians, 183, 

193, 196, 239, 341, 387. 
Drapsaoa, 199. 
Dropides, 190. 
Dryden, 179. 
Drypetis, 375. 
Dyrta, 263. 
Dysorum, Mount, 383. 



Eastern Sea, 309, 400. 
Ecbatana, 179-181, 217, 312, 395 

396. 
Egypt and Egyptians, 109, 118, 

120, 135, 140-149, 158, 193, 

266, 271, 276, 308, 317, 818, 

385. 410, 416, 423. 
Elaeus, 37. 
Elam, 364. 
Eleans, 34, 77. 
Elephantine, 144. 
Eleusis, 173. 
Eleutherae, 27. 
Elimiotis, 26. 
Elymais, 364. 
Embolima, 259. 
England, 108. 
Enyalius, 45, 282. 
Enylus, 116, 124. 
Eordaea, 26, 363. 
Eordaious Eiver. 20. 
Epaminondas, 32. 
Epardus Kiver, 216. 
Ephesus, 51-53. 
Ephialtes, 35, 64. 
Ephippus, 149. 
Epiotetus, 1, 2. 
Epidauriams, 397. 
Bpigoni, 878, 382. 
Epimenes, 230, 231. 
Epimenides, 110. 
Epirns, 19, 119. 
Epocillus, 180, 216, 239. . 
Eratosthenes, 8, 269, 273, 274. 
Erigon Eiver, 20. 
Erigyius, 151, 163, 181, 188, 189, 

197. 
Erythia, 119. 
Erythrae, 148. 

Ethiopians, 272, 317, 369, 399. 
Etruscan^, 186, 899. 
Etymander, 196, 216. ^ 
Euaspla Biver, 250. 
Eubcea, 78, 81, 108. 181, 334. 
Eudahemi, 173. 
Eudemus, 360. 
Euergetae, 196, 216. 
Eugnostus, 149. 

Bulaeus Biver, 107, 379, 380, 381. 
Eumenes, 3, 48, 305, 375, 392, 397, 

418, 427. 
Euphrates, 71, 91, 107, 134, 151, 

158, 156, 274, 275, 277, 847, 

369, 380, 381, 403, 406, 408, 

411, 412, 422. ' 



Index of Proper Names. 



4S,h 



Euripides, 401, 406. 

Euripus, 81. 

Europe, 14, 38, 119, 202, 203, 205, 

270, 276, 370, 394, 426. 
Burybotas, 29. 
Euryloohus, 231. 
Eurydioe, 161. 
Eurymedon, 72. 
Eurystheus, 118, 119, 224. 
Eusebius, 109. 
EustathiuB, 4, 395. 
Euthyoles, 114, 115. 
Euxine Sea, 4, 15, 77, 94, 203, 234, 

269, 313, 370, 400. 
Evacae, 378. 
Evius, 268. 
Ewald, 149. 

Ears, 364. 
Frontinus, 358. 
Etab, 141, 142. 

Gadeira, 203, 369. 

Gadrosia, 196, 350-363, 374, 887. 

Galatia. 84. 

Ganges, 141, 270, 271, 274, 276, 

281, 309, 317. 
Gaugamela, 156, 334. 
Gauls, 14, 84, 399, 406. 
Gaza, 110, 135-140, 206, 207. 
Gebal, 116. 
Gelo, 39. 
Georgia, 155. 
Geraestus, 78. 
Gerostratus, 111, 124. 
Geryones, 118, 119. 
Gesenius, 117. 
Getae, 14-17. 
Gibbon, 217. 

Gibraltar, Straits of, 118, 203, SOD. 
Gizeh, 141. 

Glauoias, 19-25, 162, 39C. 
Glauoippus, 55. 
Glauous, 171. 
Glauganicians, 297. 
Glausians, 297. 
Gordium, 76, 77, 82. 
Gordius, 82. 
Gordyaeans, 154. 
Gorgias, 235, 248, 284. 
Gorgons, 145. 
Gougb, 280. 
Graikos, 308. 
Granious, 41-49, 150, 220, 334. 



Great Sea, 119, 270, 273, 274, 275, 
309, 315, 317, 318, 347-349, 
377, 385, 387, 400, 410. 

Grecian Sea, 134, 266. 

Greece, 81, 88, 98, 108, 112, 120, 
142, 148, 178, 189, 234, 391, 
394, 396, 406, 414, 420. 

Greeks, passim. 

Gronovius, 263. 

Grote, 9, 16, 96, 103, 162, 3.75. 

Guraeans, 249, 253. 

Guraeus Eiver, 253. 

Hadrian, 1, 2. 

Haemus, 10, 11. 

HaUcamassus, 59-65, 69, 88, 109, 
110, 186. 

Halys, 84. 

Hamilcar, 399. 

Hamley, 146. 

Hannibal, 286. 

Hanno, 309. 

Hardinge, 280. 

Harmodius, 173, 224, 406. 

Harpalus, 151, 152, 181, 379, 392. 

Hebrus, 37. 

Heoataeus, 118, 275, 276. 

Heeatomnus, 65. 

Hector, 139. 

Hegelocbus, 42, 80, 143, 144, 162. 

Hegemon, 296. 

Hegesias, 139, 423. 

Hegesistratus, 58. 

Heliopolis, 141. 

HeUanleus, 62. 

Hellenes, 308, 383. 

HeUespont, 36, 38, 234, 277, 307, 
384, 396. 

Heordaeans, see Eordaea. 

Hephaestion, 38, 85, 105, 106, 140, 
169, 195, 228, 235, 236, 248, 
249, 259, 264, 269, 284, 300, 
315, 319, 321, 322, 324, 386, 
344, 345, 348, 350-352, 363, 
364, 375, 377, 379, 381, 391, 
392, 895-397, 398, 402, 404, 
415, 416. 

Hera, 119. 

Heracles, son of Alexander, 242, 
421. 

Heracles or Hercules, 17, 88, 89, 
104, 117-119, 121, 133, 134, 
145, 150, 217, 224-227, 258, 
263, 269, 310, 320, 394. 

Herao5n, 361, 362. 



436 



The Anabasis of Alexander. 



HeraoKdes, 13, 162, 191, 400. 
Hercules, Pillars of, 118, 203, 309, 

391. 
Hermolaus, 230, 232. 
Hermotus, 40. 
Hermus, 50, 275, 276. 
Herodptus, 14, 15, 58, 59, 108, 118, 

141, 170, 202, 218, 226, 240, 

244, 270, 271, 274-277, 286, 

317, 358, 389, 392-394, 402, 

413. 
Heromenes, 68. 
Heroopolis, 149, 410. 
Heropythus, 52. 
Herostratus, 52. 
Hesychius, 95. 
Hidrieus, 65, 66. 
Hiero, 39, 409, 410. 
Himalayas, 271. 
Hindu-Koosh, 197, 202, 263. 
Hindustan, 263. 
Hipparchus, 224. 
Hippias, 109, 224. 
Hippocrates, 88. 
Hippolyte, 394. 
Hirtius, 400. 
Histanes, 379. 
Hodu, 263. 
Homa, 265. 
Homer, 39, 45, 56, 116, 121, 141, 

167, 175, 205, 218, 260, 276, 

285, 286, 291, 309, 318, 331, 

391, 416. 
Humboldt, 108. 
Hydarnes, 379. 
Hydaspes, 270, 271, 274, 279-288, 

293, 297, 308, 316-324, 389, 

374, 387. 
Hydraotes, 271, 274, 300, 301, 308, 

315, 324, 326, 328, 336, 339, 

387. 
Hypama, 67. 
Hypaspists, 21, et passim. 
Hyperides, 35. 
Hyphasis, 24, 271, 274, 306, 308, 

309, 315, 339, 374, 387. 
Hyroania and Hyreanians, 155, 

161, 181, 185, 187, 188, 191, 

199, 274, 297, 308, 309, 361, 
I 387, 400. 
Hyrcaniau Sea, 202, 274, 308, 303, 

400. 
Hystaspes, 379. 

lacchus, 118, 268. 



lapygian Cape, 370. 

lassians, 58. 

lazygians, 14. 

Iberians, 118, 119, 399. 

Icarian Sea, 4j09. 

Icarus Isle, 409. 

lohthyophagi, 354, 363. 

Idaean Mountains, 40, 50. 

Ilium, 37, 38. 

niyria and lUyrians, 9, 19, 93, 310, 

383, 406. 
India, 44, 247, 258-349, 355, 360, 

400, 406, 408. 
Indioa, the, 3, 273, 277, 343. 
Indians, 155, 156, 161, 164, 167, 

168, 193, 197, 199, 234, 248- 

349, 370-373, 385. 
Indian Gulf, 309. 
Indus, 156, 193, 248, 258-281, 308, 

317-320, 339-345, 364, 369, 

374, 387. 
lolaiis, 27. 
loUas, 421. 
Ion, 308, 385, 425. 
Ionian Gulf, 18. 
Ionia and lonians, 40, 53, 54, 186, 

307, 363, 385. 
Iphicrates, 66, 115, 140. 
Ipsus, 53, 76, 405. 
Isis, 142, 420. 
Ismenias, 224. 
Isocrates, 395. 

Issus, 90-104, 140, 157, 243, 334.' 
Ister, 12-17, 270, 276, 277. 
Isthmus, 334, 371. 
Italy, 152, 399. 
Ivica, 108. 

.Tavan, 307, 385. 

Jaxartes, 198, 202, 247, 274, 401. 

Jelalabad, 265. 

Jelum, 270. 

Jerome, 109, 418. 

Jerusalem, 135. 

Josephus, 1, 91, 109, 124. 

Julian, 85, 103, 106, 385. 

Juliopolis, 76. 

Jupiter Ammon, 144. 

Justice, 222. 

Justin, 9, 31, 103, 421. 

Kern, 276. 
Khorasan, 155, 191. 
Kriiger, 99, 143, 188, 244, 257, 263, 
268, 278, 281, 283, 319, 356. 



Index of Proper Names. 



4W 



Labdaous, 118. 

Lacedaemonians, 9, 26, 32, 49, 113, 

115, 120, 150, 178, 190, 227, 

272. 
Lade, 54, 56, 57. 
Lahore, 280, 301. 
Laius, 118. 
Lampsacus, 40. 
Langarus, 19, 20. 
Lanice, 221. 
Laomedon, 151. 

Lebano]i,108, 111,122, 125,156,808. 
Lenaeus, 268. 
Leon, 119. 
Leonnatus, 105, 149, 228, 245,249, 

252, 253, 330-334, 345, 348, 
, 351, 363, 377. 
Leotyohides, 54. 
Lesbos, 78, 108, 143, 144. 
Leuctra, 32. 
Leuge, 98. 
Liber, 268. 
Libya, 144, 145, 149, 203, 308, 309, 

313, 369, 399, 426. 
Liby-Phoenicians, 406. 
Liddell and Scott, 127, 278. 
Livy, 167, 210, 253, 349, 400, 424. 
Lubim, 144. 
Lucauians, 152, 399. 
Luoian, 4, 6, 416, 427. 
Lucullus, 71. 
Lud, 186. 
Lyaeus, 268. 
Lyoia and Lycians, 67, 68, 80, 125, 

151, 308. 
Lycidas, 148. 
Lyoomedes, 79. 
Lycurgus, 35. 
Lycus Biver, 154, 169. 
Lydia and Lydians, 40, 50, 51, 152, 

186, 308, 385,414. 
Lyginus, 12. 
Lysander, 57. 
Lysanias, 12. 
Lysias, 395. 
Lysimachus, 53, 76, 285, 305, 363, 

373, 405. 
Lysippus, 48. 



Macedonia, 8, 9, 13, 18, 48, 49, 66, 
77, 98, 112, 125, 162, 173, 174, 
239, 253, 308, 310, 344, 383, 
391, 405. 

Macedonians, passim. 



Madai, 239. 

Maeander, 57, 275, 276. 

Maeotis, Lake, 202, 203, 274, 370. 

Magarsus, 89. 

Magi, 366, 367, 389. 

Magnesia, 68, 165. 

Mahabunn Mount, 258, 259. 

Msileai 78 

Mallia'ns, 'aoi, 322, 324-335, 338, 

339 
Mallu?, 89, 125. 
Mandanis, 371. 
Mantiuea, 32. 
Maraoauda, 202, 210, 213, 215, 235, 

236. 
MarathuB, 111, 115. 
Marcomanni, 14. 
Mardiaus, 161, 164, 297. 
Mareotis, Lake, 142. 
Mariamue, 111. 
Marian, Lake, 142. 
Maritza, 37. 
Marmarians, 67. 
Marmarica, 145. 
Maronea, 37. 
Mars, 45. 
Martial, 118. 
Massaga, 254-256, 259. 
Massagetae, 2, 4, 236-238. 
Mausolus, 65. 
Mavaces, 155. 
Mazaces, 140, 141, 185. 
Mazaeus, 152, 156, 168, 171, 239, 

379, 404. 
Mazarus, 173. 
Media and Medes, 91, 125, 155, 

161, 171, 179, 180, 192, 194, 

239, 272, 273, 308, 365, 374, 

387, 393. 
Mediterranean, 275, 276, 318, 369, 

417. 
Medius, 418-422. 
Megalopolis, 173. 
Megareus, 144. 
Megaris, 152. 
Megasthenes, 3, 4, 273, 274, 355, 

372, 427. ' 

Melammdas, 216. 
Melas Eiver, 37. 
Meleager, 17, 44, 59, 67, 77, 95, 162 

176, 235, 238, 248, 284, 344. 
Melkarth, 117. 
Melos, 32. 
Memnon, 41, 46, 51, 59, 64, 78, 79, 

242. 



438 



The Anabasis of Alexander. 



Memphis, 141, 142, 148, 150, 405, 

423. 
Menander, 109, 124, 152, 414, 417. 
Menedemus, 210, 215. 
Menelaiis, 276. • 
Menes, 104, 141, 173, 181, 217. 
Menidas, 148, 164, 165, 169, 194, 

239, 414, 420. 
Meniscus, 112. 
Menon, 110, 197. 
Menoetus, 38. 
Menoph, 141. 
Mentor, 51, 375. 
Meroes,-295. 

Meros Mountain, 266, 268. 
Mesopotamia, 153, 156, 161, 172, 

308, 380, 385. 
MetelluE, 48. 
Methymna, 78, 143. 
Miooalus, 407. 
Micon, 394. 
Midas, 82. 
Miletus and Milesians, 53-58, 149, 

204, 275, 354, 385. 
Milyas, 67. 
Minos, 110, 224, 425. 
Mithraustes, 156. 
Mithridates, 47, 48. 
Mitbrines, 50, 171. 
Mithrobaeus, 379. 
Mithrobiizanes, 48. 
Mitylene, 78, 79, 80, 144. 
Mitsraim, 276. 
Moeris„344. 
Moerooles, 35. 
MonimuB, 190. 
Mooltan, 325. 
Moph, 41. 
Muses, 36. 

Musioanus, 341-343. 
Mycale, 54-57, 273. 
Mycenae, 118. 
Mylasa, 59, 61. 
•Myndus, 59, 60, 88. 
Myriandrus, 90, 92. 
Mysia, 275. 

Nabarzanes, 182, 185, 188. 

Naucratis, 149. 

Nautaea, 199, 239. 

NearohuB, 3, 4, 151, 217, 263, 273, 
319, 324, 336, 837, 348, 349, 
355, 363, 364, 372, 374, 375, 
, 377, 406, 410, 418, 419, 427. 

Nebuchadnezzar, 117. 



Neoho, 108, 309. 

Negropont, 81. 

Neilos, 141. 

Neiloxenus, 197. 

Neoptolemus, 38, 61, 138, 226. 

Nepos, 305. 

Nereids, 38, 320. 

Nervii, 61. 

Nessus Biver,'10. 

Nioaea, 247, 296, 316. 

Nioanor, 16, 43, 54, 56, 95, 162, 

184, 192, 247, 259. 
Nicias, 51. 
Nicomedia, 1, 2. 
Nicopolis, 2. 
Nicostratus, 104. 
Nile, 24, 140, 141, 144, 149, 150, 

203, 270, 276, 317, 318. 
Nimrod, 411. 
Niphates, 40, 48. 
Nisaean Plain, 373, 393. 
Nomad Libyans, or Numidians, 

203, 369. 
Nonaoris, 421. 
Noph, 141. 
, Nysa, 265-268, 310, 319. 

Ocean, 320. 

Oohus, 112, 113, 116, 375. 

Ocondobates, 155. 

Odrysians, 164. 

Oedipus, 118. 

Olympias, 8, 68, 151, 152, 223, 318, 

391, 392, 421. 
Omares, 48. 
Ombrion, 149. 
Omphis, 247. 
On, 141. 
OnchestuB, 26. 
Onesicritus, 819, 365, 377, 410, 

427. 
Onomas, 190. 
Opis, 381. 

Ora, 256-259, 351, 355, 363, 377. 
OrbeluB Mountain, 10. 
Orchomenus, 34. 
Ordanes, 861. 
OrestiB, 363. 

Oritians, 350-352, 377, 387. 
Ormuzd, 243. 
Orobatis, 259. 
Orontes, 156. 
Orontobates, 64, 66, 88. 
Orpheus, 36. 
Orxines, 365, 367. 



Index of Proper Names. 



4;}9 



Osoius, 12. 

Ossadians, 340. 

Otanes, 155. 

Ovid, 15, 41, 234. 

Oxathres, 155, 180, 374. 

Oxiana Palus, 401. 

Oxodates, 182, 239. 

Oxus, 199, 200, 202, 234, 235, 247, 

274, 358, 387, 401. 
Oxyartes, 199, 239-245, 340, 341, 

375, 379. 
Oxyoanus, 342. 

OxydraoiauB, 301, 322, 333, 338. 
Ozines, 361. 

Paddan-Aram, 156, 308. 

Paetioa, 37. 

Paeonians, 18, 43, 45, 93, 97, 154, 

163, 165. 
Palaetyrus, 119, }22. 
Palestine, 110, 135, 136, 385. 
Pallacopaa Eiver, 411, 412. 
PamphyHa, 67, 71, 197, 273, 308. 
Pandosia, 152. 
Panegorus, 40. 
Pangaeau Mountain, 37, 383. 
Pantaleon, 148. 
Paiitordanus, 98. 
Paphlagonia and Paphlagonians, 

84, 305, 308. 
Paraetacae, 180, 244, 246. 
Paraetonium, l^S. 
Paralua, 125, 150. 
Parapamisadae, 247, 269, 283, 840, 

358. 
Parapamisus, 197, 270, 271, 273. 
Paras, 364. 
Paravaea, 26. 
Parmenio, 12, 37, 41-43, 50, 53, 54, 

67, 69, 70, 76, 84, 86, 87, 95, 

96, 104, 106, 114, 135, 157-159, 

163, 168, 169, 176, 178, 181, 

194r-196, 232, 361. 
Paron, 171. 
Parthia and Parthians, 155, 161, 

168, 181, 182, 185, 191, 197, 

216, 278, 361, 378, 387. 
Pasargadae, 178, 364-369, 372, 406. 
Pasicrates, 129. 
Pasitigris, 174, 379. 
Patala andPatalians, 343-345, 348, 

349. 
Patara, 67. 
Patroclus, 38, 402. 
Paul, St., 110. 



Pausanias, 8, 51, 68, 217. 

Pausippus, 190. 

Peithagoras, 404, 405. 

Peithon sou oi Sosiclea, 236, 237. 

Peithon, aon of Agenor, 236, 324 ■ 

328, 341, 343, 344, 348, 420. 
Peithon, son of Crateas, 236, 363. 
Pelagon, 52. 

Pelesheth and Peliahtim, 135. 
Pelina, 26. 
Pelium, 20. 
Pella, 8, 20, 148, 363. 
Pelopidaa, 224, 384. 
Peloponnesus, 9, 51, 67, 81, 96, 125, 

150, 310, 384. 
Pelusium, 140, 141, 148. 
Peueius, 216. 
Perath, 107. 
Peroote, 40. 
Perdicoas, 17, 20, 24, 23, 29, 43, 59, 

61, 95, 162, 176, 235, 244, 248, 

259, 264, 284, 285, 302, 325, 

326, 329, 330, 333, 340, 363, 

375, 405. 
Perga and Pergaeana, 70-73. 
Perinthus, 112. 
Peripolua, 125. 
Periplus, the, 4. 
Peroedas, 98. 

Persepolis, 178, 179, 195, 367, 369. 
Perseus, 145, 230. 
Persian Gates, 176. 
Persian Sea or Gulf, 309, 347, 364, 

369, 879, 380, 381, 400, 406, 

410. 
Persians, 42-58, et passim. 
Persia, 155, 173, 174, 177, 178, 185, 

308, 363-368, 372, 378, 414. 
Petines, 40, 48. 
Petisis, 148. 
Pence, 12, 270. 
Peuoela, 248. 
Peucelaotis, 248, 259. ■ 
Peuoeatas, 149, 330-385, 863, 367, 

368, 377, 378, 414, 415, 417, 

420. 
Pharasmanes, 234. 
Fharismanea, 361. 
Pharnabazus, 79-81, 109, 140-144, 

189. 
Pharnaces, 48. 
Pharnuohes, 210, 213, 214. 
Pharos, 142, 416. 
Fharsaliana, 163. 
Phaselia, 68, 70. 



410 



The Anabasis of Alexander. 



Phasians, 394. 

Philemon, 88. 

PhiUp, 259. 

Philip of Maceaon,6-9, 18, 20, 21, 

24, 27, 34, 86, 68, 112, 113, 151, 

219, 229, 305, 383, 384. 
Philip, son of Amyntas, 43. 
Philip, son of Maohatas, 17, 44, 279, 

298, 319, 321, 324, 339, 340, 

360. 
Philip, son of Menelaiis, 44, 163, 

192. 
Philip, the Physician, 85, 86. 
Philippi, 10, 12. 
Philistines, 110, 135, 136. 
Philotas, son of Carsis, 230. 
Philotas, son of Parmenio, 12, 13, 

21, 24, 43, 57, 62, 86, 89, 162, 

177, 193-196, 200, 224, 232, 

252, 
Philoxenus, 151, 172, 414, 417. 
PhisinuB, 144. 
Phooians, 30, 884. 
Phocion, 35. 
Phoenicia and Phoenicians, 55, 81, 

90, 107, 108, 111, 116, 118, 120, 

125-127, 132, 136, 140, 150, 

151, 153, 158, 178, 308, 309, 

818, 352, 359, 391, 406, 407, 

414. 
PhStius, 1, 4, 271, 392, 427. 
Phradasmenes, 379. 
Phrasaortes, 178, 364. 
Phrataphernes, 155, 188, 197, 216, 

239, 298, 362, 379. 
Phrygia, 40, 44, 48, 65, 67, 73, 76, 

77, 82, 105, 186, 308, 385. 
Pieris, 36. 
Pimprama, 301. 
Pinara, 67. 
Pinaras, 92, 95, 104. 
Pindar, 34, 39, 177, 309, 334. 
Pisidia and Pisidians, 67, 68, 73- 

75. 
Pixodarus, 66. 

Plataeae and Plataeans, 30, 32, 138. 
Plato, 181, 286. 
Plautus, 108. 
Pleiades, 349, 411. 
Phny, 271, 272, 277, 813, 340, 849, 

369, 422. 
Plutarch, 3, 6, 27, 33-35, 87, 89, 49, 

92, 94, 106, 137, 268, 305, 358, 

372, 396, 417, 418, 421, 424. 
PnytagSras, 126, 129. 



Polemo, 148, 149, 195. 

Polyaenus, 358. 

Polybius, 95, 101, 102, 203, 231, 
239, 346, 864. 

Polydamas, 194. 

Polydectes, 145. 

Polydeuces or Pollux, 219. 

Polydorus, 118. 

Polyeuotus, 35. 

Polysperchon, 104, 162, 228, 235, 
242, 246, 253, 283, 324, 391, 
421. 

Polytimetus, 213, 216. 

Pompeiopolis, 88. 

Pompey, 115. 

Porticanus, 342. 

Porus, 280-306, 315, 318. 

Poseidon, 88, 145, 320, 347, 425. 

Practius Eiver, 40. 

Prasias, Lake, 37. 

Priam, 38. 

Priapus, 40. 

Proexes, 197. 

Prometheus, 269. 

Propontis, 234. 

Proteas, 81, 125. 

Protesilaus, 37. 

Protomachns, 97. 

Ptolemy the Geographer, 203, 401. 

Ptolemy, son of Lagus, 3, 6, 13, 
24, 28, 76, 88, 102, 103, 105, 
146, 148, 151, 176, 193, 194, 
196, 200-202, 209, 220, |231, 
232, 285, 245, 249-253, 260, 
261, 277, 288, 297, 299, 304, 
305, 314, 319, 824, 882-337, 
363, 373, 375, 394, 399, 405, 
416, 421, 423, 427. 

Ptolemy, son of Philip, 45. 

Ptolemy, son of Seleucus, 66, 77, 
100, 104. 

Ptolemy, 63-65, 88, 95, 177, 216. 

Ptolemy Philadelphus,416. 

Punjab, 249,271. 

Piira, 355. 

Purally, 349. 

Pydna, 230. 

Pyramus, 89. 

Pyrrhus of Epirus, 19. 

PythagSras, 317. 

Pythodemus, 8. 

..Quadi, 14. 
Baamses, 149, 410. 



Index of Proper Names. 



441 



Eai, 182. 

Bas-al-Had, 410. 

Eavi, 300. 

Eawlinson, 87, 393, 413. 

Eawsou, 146. 

Eed Sea, 155, 161, 309, 400. 

Eeno, 277. 

Eha, 203. 

Bhadamanthus, 425. 

Ehagae, 182. 

Bhambacia, 351. 

Bhea, 173. 

Eheomitbres, 40, 103. 

Ehine, 141, 277. 

Bhodes, 94, 125, 335. 

Ehoeeaces, 47. 

Ehone, 153, 286. 

Bichardl., 136. 

Bome and Bomans, 1, 2, 149, 230, 

277, 278, 370, 399, 400, 420. 
Boxana, 242, 243, 340, 375, 421, 

422. 
Eumour, 333. 

Sabaces, 103, 140. 
Sabictas, 84. 
Sacesinians, 155, 161. 
Saoians, 155, 161, 387. 
Sagalassus, 74. 
Salamiuia, 125, 150. 
Salamis, 102, 150, 334, 399. 
Salmacis, 65. 
Salinus, 863. 
Samarcaud, 202. 
Samaria, 91, 150, 364. 
Sambns, 342. 
Samos, 57, 273. 
Samothiace, 230. 
Sanballat, 91. 
Sandracotus, 273, 275. 



Sangala, 301-306. 

Sangarius Biver, 77. 

Saidauapalus, 87. 

Sardinia, 108. 

Sardls, 50, 51, 67, 171. 

Sarmatians, 14. 

Sana, 117. 

Satibarzanes, 155, 191-193, 197. 

Satraces, 212. 

Satrapes, 247. 

Sauromatians, 14. 

Saxones, 387. 

Schmieder, 296. 

Sehmitz, 426. 



Soinde, 263. 

Soi5ue, 82. ^ 

Scythia and Soytbians, 15, 155, 161, 

164, 165, 180, 192, 196, 202, 

205-214, 227, 233, 234, 237, 

238, 272, 273, 284, 308, 309, 

370, 899, 401. 
Seleucidae, 285. 
Seleucus, 53, 76, 107, 273, 285, 291, 

375, 405, 414, 420. 
Belgians, 74. 
Semele, 117. 
Semiramis, 66, 355. 
Seneca, 118, 232. 
Sennacherib, 140. 
Serapis, 420. 
Seripbus, 145. 
Sestas, 87. 

Shalmaneser, 116, 117, 121. 
Shat-el-Arab, 153,, 309, 37y. 
Shesbacb, 413. 
Shiobor, 141. 
Sbusban, 172. 
Sibi, 324. 

Sibyrtius, 275, 360. 
Sicily, 108, 370. 
Side, 71. 

Sidon, 108, 111, 116, 124-127. 
Sigeum, 38. 
Sigon, 111. 
Sigrium, 78. 
Simmias, 162, 167, 195. 
Sin, 140. 
Sindbu, 263. 
Sindimana, 842, 343. 
Sinope and Sinopeans, 190, 371. 
Sintenis, 209, 220, 257, 361. 
Sipbuus, 81, 109. 
Sisicottus, 263, 298. 
Sisines, 69, 379. 
Sisygambis, 105, 167, 175. 
Sitacenians, 156, 161. 
Sitalces, 75, 87, 98, 164, 194, 361. 
Siwah, 144. 
Smerdis, 364. 
Smyrna, 275, 407. 
Sochi, 89. 

Socrates, 40, 43, 45. 
Sogdian Bock, 239-241. . 
Sogdiana and Sogdianians, 155, 

199-206, 215, 235-240, 284, 

378. 
Sogdians, 341. 
Soli, 88-90, 104, 125, 410, 
Solomon, 107. 

G G 



442 



The Anabasis of Alexander. 



Solon, 402. 

Sopeithes, 319. 

Sopolis; 13, 162, 239. 

Sostratus, 230. 

Spain, 108, 118. 

Sparta, 32, 39. 

Sphines, 372. 

Spitaees, 294. 

Spitamenes, 199-202, 209, 213-215, 

236-239, 375. 
Spithridatea, 40, 47, 48, 51. 
SporadeB, 88, 409. 
Stameues, 239. 
Stasanor, 200, 216, 239, 361, 362, 

364. 
Statira, 48, 135, 242, 243. 
Stiboetis, 188. 
Strabo, 15, 55, 78, 108, 139, 141, 

202, 269, 274, 319, 356, 371, 

393, 395, 402, 420. 
Strato, 111, 116. 
Strymon, 37. 
Stymphaea, 26. 
Styx, 421. 

Suetonius Paulinus, 369. 
Sulla, 420. 
Sunium, 334. 
Susa, 171-174, 182, 362, 372, 374, 

377, 385, 387, 406. 
Susia, 191. 
Susiana and Susianians, 155, 161, 

173, 174, 308, 363, 364, 379, 

398. 
Sutledj, 339. 
Syennesis, 85. 
Syllium, 72. 
Syria Palaestine, 135. 
Syria and Syrians, 87, 91, 140, 152, 

156, 173, 285, 308, 380, 407. 
Syrian Gates, 87, 89, 91, 94. 
Syrmus, 12, 17. 
Syrphax, 52. 

Tacitus, 110. 

Taenarum, 110. 

Tanais, 198, 202, 203, 205, 209-211, 

274, 308, 387. 
Tapuria and Tapurians, 165, 161, 

187, 188, 239, 414. 
Tarentines, 152. 
Tarshish, 118. 
Tarsus, 85, 87, 89, 90. 
Tartessus, 118. 
Taulantiana, 19-22, 25. 
Tauriscus, 151. 



Tauron, 287, 291. 
Taurus, 85, 151, 197, 273-275. 
Taxila, 270, 279, 2S0, 371. 
Taxiles, 247, 248, 270, 279, 280, 

294, 298, 360, 372. 
Tel-el-Kebir, 146. 
Telephus, 354. 
Telmissus, 36, 67, 82. 
Temenus, 217. 
Tempe, 216. 
Tenedus, 80, 81, 143. 
Tennes, 116. 
Teredon, 411. 
Terioltes, 341. 
Termessus, 73-75. 
Thalestris, 394. 
Thammuz, 116. 

Thapsacus, 71, 107, 151, 152, 406. 
Thara, 183. 
Thebes and Tliebans, 25-34, 115, 

221, 265, 310, 378, 384. 
Theodeetes, 68. 
Theocritus, 242. 
Theophrastus, 232. 
Thera, 88, 198. 
Thermopylae, 26. 
Thero, 39. 
Thersippus, 112. 
Theseus, 394, 425. 
Tbessaliscus, 114, 115. 
Thessaly and Thessalians, 26, 43, 
67, 68, 69, 77, 87, 96, 97, 101, 
163, 169, 176, 180, 200, 310, 
383, 391. 

Thoas, 353, 360. 

Thrace and Thraoians, 9-12, 15, 
44, 53, 54, 69, 71, 75, 87, 93, 
98, 108, 112, 148, 164, 298, 
310, 340, 383, 391, 406. 

Thriambus, 362. 

Thucj^dides, 12, 45, 55, 99, 295, 
335. 

Thymondas, 80, 107. 

Tibarenes, 118. 

Tigres, 107, 153, 154, 156, 274, 
277, 347, 364, 369, 380, 381, 
401. 

Timaeus, 153, 223. 

Timagenes, 335. 

Timander, 63. 

Timolaiis, 25. 

Tiphsach, 107. 

Tiryns, 310. 

Tirynthius, 310. 

Tissaphernes, 191. 



Index of Proper Names. 



443 



Tlepolemus, 185, 360. 

Tmolua, Mount, 265. 

Tobit, 182. 

Tralles, 52, 65. 

Trapezus, 394. 

Trebizond, 234. 

TribalUans, 9-17, 310, 383. 

Triopium, 88. 

Tripolis, 107, 108. 

Troezen, 59. 

Troy, 332. 

Tsidon, 116. 

Tsor, 117. 

Tubal, 119. 

Tylus Island, 409. 

Tyndareus, 219. 

Tyre, 108, 109, 116-138, 150, 255. 

Tyriaspes, 247, 298, 840. 

Tyrrhenians, 399. 

Ulai, 379. 
Uranus, 408. 

Uxiaus, 155, 161, 174, 175, 297, 
387, 398. 

Vergil, 54, 167, 186, 310, 318, 401. 
Vitellius, 71. 



Winer, 413. 

Xanthippus, 54. 

XanthuB, 67. 

Xathrians, 840. 

Xenopbon, 1, 39, 42, 84, 93, 94, 

96, 99, 102, 159, 191, 224, 225, 

227, 244, 394, 425. 
Xerxes, 37, 102, 171, 173, 204, 226, 

227, 277, 364, 396, 403, 406. 

Yam-Suph, 155. 
Yeuikale, Straits of, 277. 
Yeor, 141. 



Zab, 156, 169. 

Zadraoarta, 188, 191. 

Zarangaeans, 193, 344, 361, 378. 

Zariaspa, 206, 216, 236. 

Zeleia, 41, 50. 

Zeriaspes, 361. 

Zeus, 86, 38, 51, 82, 89, 104, 145, 

148, 219, 222, 243, 266, 371, 

425. 
Ziobetis, 188. 
Zoroaster, 367. 



fetttlcr 4 Tanner, Ihe Belwood Printing Works, Froiie, ahd London.