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The Anabasis of Alexander

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Title: The Anabasis of Alexander
        or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great

Author: Arrian

Translator: E. J. Chinnock


        
Release date: September 27, 2014 [eBook #46976]
                Most recently updated: October 24, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER ***

  THE

  ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER.




  THE

  ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER;

  OR,

  The History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great.

  _LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH A COMMENTARY,
  FROM THE GREEK OF ARRIAN THE NICOMEDIAN_,

  BY

  E. J. CHINNOCK, M.A., LL.B., LONDON,

  _Rector of Dumfries Academy_.


  London:

  HODDER AND STOUGHTON,

  27, PATERNOSTER ROW.

  MDCCCLXXXIV.

  Butler & Tanner,
  The Selwood Printing 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 published. In the following Translation I
have tried to give as literal a rendering of the Greek text as I could
without 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
translating a classical Author correctly without omission or mutilation.

In the Commentary which I have compiled, continual reference 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 assert that, taking the Translation and the Notes
together, the book forms a complete history of Alexander’s reign. Much
geographical and other material has also been gathered from Herodotus,
Strabo, Pliny, and Ammianus; 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.


                                                                  PAGE

  Life and Writings of Arrian                                        1

  Arrian’s Preface                                                   6


  BOOK I.

  CHAP.

  I. Death of Philip and Accession of Alexander.—His Wars
       with the Thracians                                            8

  II. Battle with the Triballians                                   12

  III. Alexander at the Danube and in the Country of the
         Getae                                                      14

  IV. Alexander destroys the City of the Getae.—The Ambassadors
        of the Celts                                                16

  V. Revolt of Clitus and Glaucias                                  18

  VI. Defeat of Clitus and Glaucias                                 22

  VII. Revolt of Thebes (_September_, B.C. 335)                     25

  VIII. Fall of Thebes                                              28

  IX. Destruction of Thebes                                         31

  X. Alexander’s Dealings 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. 334)                           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                                 55

  XX. Siege of Halicarnassus.—Abortive Attack on Myndus             58

  XXI. Siege of Halicarnassus                                       61

  XXII. Siege of Halicarnassus                                      63

  XXIII. Destruction of Halicarnassus.—Ada, Queen of Caria          64

  XXIV. Alexander in Lycia and Pamphylia                            66

  XXV. Treason of Alexander, Son of Aëropus                         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 Gordium                                         82

  IV. Conquest of Cappadocia.—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               97

  X. Battle of Issus                                                99

  XI. Defeat and Flight of Darius                                  101

  XII. Kind Treatment of Darius’s Family                           104

  XIII. Flight of Macedonian Deserters into Egypt.—Proceedings
          of Agis, King of Sparta.—Alexander occupies
          Phoenicia                                                106

  XIV. Darius’s Letter, and Alexander’s Reply                      111

  XV. Alexander’s Treatment of the Captured Greek
        Ambassadors.—Submission of Byblus and Sidon                114

  XVI. The Worship of Hercules in Tyre.—The Tyrians refuse
         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

  XXII. Siege of Tyre.—Naval Defeat of the Tyrians          b      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. Foundation 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 Affairs 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                                         163

  XIII. The Battle of Arbela                                       164

  XIV. Battle of Arbela.—Flight 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

  XVII. 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 Fate of Darius                          185

  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                      195

  XXVIII. Alexander crosses the Hindu-Koosh                        196

  XXIX. Conquest of Bactria, and Pursuit of Bessus across
          the Oxus                                                 199

  XXX. Capture of Bessus.—Exploits in Sogdiana                     201


  BOOK IV.

  I. Rebellion of the Sogdianians                                  205

  II. Capture of Five Cities in Two Days                           206

  III. Storming of Cyropolis.—Revolt of the Scythians              208

  IV. Defeat of the Scythians beyond the Tanais                    210

  V. Spitamenes destroys a Macedonian Detachment                   212

  VI. Spitamenes driven into the Desert                            214

  VII. Treatment of Bessus                                         216

  VIII. The Murder of Clitus                                       218

  IX. Alexander’s grief for Clitus                                 221

  X. Dispute between Callisthenes and Anaxarchus                   223

  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 Hermolaüs                     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 Sogdian Rock                     239

  XIX. Alexander Captures the Rock and Marries Roxana              241

  XX. Magnanimous Treatment of the Family 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 Assacenians and
         Guraeans Attacked                                         252

  XXVI. Siege of Massaga                                           254

  XXVII. Sieges of Massaga and Ora                                 255

  XXVIII. Capture of Bazira.—Advance to the Rock of
            Aornus                                                 257

  XXIX. Siege of Aornus                                            260

  XXX. Capture of Aornus.—Arrival at the Indus                     262


  BOOK V.

  I. Alexander at Nysa                                             265

  II. Alexander at Nysa                                            267

  III. Incredulity of Eratosthenes.—Passage of the Indus           269

  IV. Digression about India                                       270

  V. Mountains and Rivers of Asia                                  273

  VI. General Description of India                                 274

  VII. Method of Bridging Rivers                                   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 Bucephalas                    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 (_continued_)                           308

  XXVII. The Answer of Coenus                                      311

  XXVIII. Alexander resolves to Return                             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 Mallians                                324

  VII. Campaign against the Mallians (_continued_)                 326

  VIII. Defeat of the Mallians at the river Hydraotes              328

  IX. Storming of the Mallian Stronghold                           329

  X. Alexander dangerously Wounded                                 331

  XI. Alexander Wounded                                            333

  XII. Anxiety of the Soldiers about Alexander                     335

  XIII. Joy of the Soldiers at Alexander’s Recovery                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 Sambus                        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. Sufferings of the Army                                      356

  XXVI. Alexander’s Magnanimous Conduct                            358

  XXVII. March through Carmania.—Punishment of Viceroys            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 Indian Calanus                        372

  IV. Marriages between Macedonians and Persians                   374

  V. The Soldiers Rewarded                                         376

  VI. An Army of Asiatics Trained under the Macedonian
        Discipline                                                 378

  VII. Navigation of the Tigres                                    379

  VIII. The Macedonians Offended at Alexander                      381

  IX. Alexander’s Speech                                           383

  X. Alexander’s Speech (_continued_)                              386

  XI. Reconciliation between Alexander and his Army                387

  XII. Ten Thousand Macedonians sent Home with Craterus.—Disputes
         between Antipater and Olympias                            390

  XIII. The Nisaean Plain.—The Amazons                             393

  XIV. Death of Hephaestion                                        395

  XV. Subjugation of the Cossaeans.—Embassies from Distant
        Nations                                                    398

  XVI. Exploration of the Caspian.—The Chaldaean Soothsayers       400

  XVII. The Advice of the Chaldees rejected                        402

  XVIII. Predictions of Alexander’s Death                          404

  XIX. Embassies from Greece.—Fleet prepared for Invading
         Arabia                                                    406

  XX. Description of Arabia.—Voyage of Nearchus                    408

  XXI. Description of the Euphrates and the Pallacopas             411

  XXII. An Omen of Alexander’s Approaching Death                   412

  XXIII. The Army Recruited from the Persians.—Hephaestion’s
           Memory Honoured                                         414

  XXIV. Another Omen of Alexander’s Death                          417

  XXV. Alexander Seized with Fever                                 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.


  Page 3.   Four lines from the bottom, for Anab. v. 1, _read_ v. 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.


All we know of Arrian is derived from the notice of him in the
_Bibliotheca_ 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
Epictetus, and afterwards went to Athens, where he received the surname
of the “younger Xenophon,” from the fact that he occupied the same
relation to Epictetus as Xenophon did to Socrates.[1] Not only was he
called Xenophon by others, but he calls himself so in _Cynegeticus_ (v.
6); and in _Periplus_ (xii. 5; xxv. 1), he distinguishes Xenophon 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 Flavius.[2] In the same way the Jewish historian, Josephus,
had been allowed by Vespasian and Titus to bear the imperial name
Flavius.[3]

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 Antoninus Pius.[4] Previous to this
he was appointed (A.D. 132) by Hadrian, Governor of Cappadocia, which
province was soon after invaded by the Alani, or Massagetae, whom he
defeated and expelled.[5] When Marcus Aurelius 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 “Ὁμιλίαι Ἐπικτήτου”,
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 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
Ptolemy, son of Lagus, and Aristobulus, son of Aristobulus, both of
whom were officers in Alexander’s army. Other authorities quoted by
Arrian himself were:—Eratosthenes, Megasthenes, Nearchus, Aristus,
and Asclepiades. He also made use of Alexander’s letters, which he
mentions five times;[6] 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 once,[7] as it is by Plutarch.[8]

VI. The work named _Indica_, is a description of India, and was usually
united in manuscripts with the Anabasis, 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.[9] 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 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) has preserved many extracts from this
work.

VIII. _Bithynica_ 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.

XI. Besides the large works, we learn from Photius (cod. 93) that
Arrian wrote the 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
“Περίπλους πόντου Εὐξείνου”, a description of a voyage round the coasts
of the Euxine. 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 in that passage as just dead, is
proved by Böckh’s investigations to have occurred in 131 A.D. Two other
geographical works, _The Periplus of the Red 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 Tacticus (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 137 A.D., as Arrian had
previously feared.[10]

XV. A small work by Arrian on the Chase, forms a supplement to
Xenophon’s book on the same subject. It is entitled _Cynegeticus 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, 1539; Henri
Estienne, 1575; N. Blancardus, Amsterdam, 1668; J. Gronovius, Leyden,
1704; G. Raphelius, Amsterdam, 1757; A. C. Borkeck, Lemgovia, 1792;
F. Schmieder, Leipzig, 1798; Tauchnitz edition, Leipzig, 1818; J. O.
Ellendt, Königsberg, 1832; C. W. Krüger, Berlin, 1835; F. Dübner,
Paris, 1846; K. Abicht, Leipzig, 1871.




ARRIAN’S PREFACE.


I have admitted into my narrative as strictly authentic all the
statements relating to Alexander and Philip which Ptolemy, son of
Lagus,[11] and Aristobulus, son of Aristobulus,[12] agree in making;
and from those statements which differ I have selected that which
appears to me 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
compulsion 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[13] the narratives of all the
rest, let him read this of mine, and then wonder (if he can).




THE ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER.




BOOK I.




CHAPTER I.

DEATH OF PHILIP AND ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER.—HIS WARS WITH THE
THRACIANS.


It is said that Philip died[14] when Pythodemus was archon at
Athens,[15] and that his son Alexander,[16] being then about twenty
years of age, marched into Peloponnesus[17] as soon as he had secured
the regal power. There he assembled all the Greeks who were within the
limits of Peloponnesus,[18] 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,[19] 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.[20] He then returned into Macedonia 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 Triballians and Illyrians,[21] because
he ascertained that these nations were meditating a change of policy;
and at the same time, as they were lying on his frontier, he thought
it inexpedient, when he was about to start on a campaign so far away
from his own land, to leave them behind him without being entirely
subjugated. Setting out then from Amphipolis, he invaded the land of
the people who were called independent Thracians,[22] keeping the
city of Philippi and mount Orbelus on the left. Crossing the river
Nessus,[23] they say he arrived at mount Haemus[24] 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 independent
Thracians, 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[25] 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 to do so should stand apart, so that
the waggons might roll through the gap; but that those who were hemmed
in 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 himself took his own guard, the shield-bearing infantry
and the Agrianians,[26] 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
consequence 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.




CHAPTER II.

BATTLE WITH THE TRIBALLIANS.


Alexander sent the booty away southward to the cities on the
seashore,[27] entrusting to Lysanias and Philotas[28] 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.[29] This river is distant from the
Ister[30] 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 river, the name of which was Peuce.[31] To this island also the
Thracians, whose territories 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, marching
against them, surprised them just 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 arrows 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[32] to lead on the cavalry which came from Bottiaea[33] and
Amphipolis 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, but 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 pursuit. Ptolemy says, that of the Macedonians themselves
eleven horsemen and about forty foot soldiers were killed.




CHAPTER III.

ALEXANDER AT THE DANUBE AND IN THE COUNTRY OF THE GETAE.


On the third day after the battle, Alexander reached the river Ister,
which is the largest of all the rivers in Europe, traverses a very
great tract of country, and separates very warlike nations. Most of
these belong to the Celtic race,[34] in whose territory the sources
of the river take their rise. Of these nations the remotest are the
Quadi[35] and Marcomanni[36]; then the Iazygians,[37] a branch of
the Sauromatians[38]; then the Getae,[39] who hold the doctrine of
immortality; then the main body of the Sauromatians; and, lastly, the
Scythians,[40] whose land stretches as far as the outlets of the river,
where through five mouths it discharges its water into the Euxine
Sea.[41] Here Alexander found some ships of war which had come to him
from Byzantium, through the Euxine Sea and up the river. 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 other 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 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-coverings, 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 number to 1,500
cavalry and 4,000 infantry.




CHAPTER IV.

ALEXANDER DESTROYS THE CITY OF THE GETAE.—THE AMBASSADORS OF THE CELTS.


They 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[42] held transversely,
and thus to advance into the untilled ground. As long as the phalanx
was advancing through the standing 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[43] to lead the
phalanx in a square. The Getae did not even sustain the first charge
of the cavalry; for Alexander’s audacity seemed incredible to them,
in having thus easily crossed the Ister, the largest of rivers, in a
single night, without throwing a bridge over the stream. Terrible to
them also was the closely-locked 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[44] 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[45] and
Philip[46] 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,[47] and to Ister himself, because he had allowed him to
cross; 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 Celts who dwelt near the Ionian gulf.[48] These
people are of great stature, 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
Alexander, inhabiting districts difficult 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.[49]




CHAPTER V.

REVOLT OF CLITUS AND GLAUCIAS.


He then advanced into the land of the Agrianians and Paeonians,[50]
where messengers reached him, who reported that Clitus, son of
Bardylis,[51] had revolted, and that Glaucias,[52] king of the
Taulantians,[53] had gone over to him. They also reported that the
Autariatians[54] 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 them; 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 gifts which were considered
most valuable in the eyes of the king of the Macedonians. Alexander
also promised to give him his sister Cyna[55] in marriage when he
arrived at Pella.[56] But Langarus fell ill and died on his return home.

After this, Alexander marched along the river Erigon,[57] and proceeded
to the city of Pelium;[58] 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,[59] he resolved to make an
assault upon the wall the next day. But Clitus held the mountains 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 Glaucias,
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,[60] 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 encamping near the wall,
he resolved to intercept them by a circumvallation; but on the next
day Glaucias, king of the Taulantians, arrived with a great force.
Then, indeed, Alexander gave up the hope of capturing the city with
his present force, since many warlike 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,[61] 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
hastening 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 advancing, 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 beleaguered in
the city were expected to pursue the Macedonians closely if they made
a retreat. The ground also through which Alexander had to march was
evidently narrow and covered with wood; on one side it was hemmed in by
a river, and on the other there was a very lofty and craggy mountain,
so that there would not be room for the army to pass, even if only four
shield-bearers marched abreast.




CHAPTER VI.

DEFEAT OF CLITUS 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
Macedonians 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.

As Alexander saw only a few of the enemy still occupying 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 when 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,[62] 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
crossing, 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 attacking 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 Agrianians and archers at full speed towards the
river, and succeeded in being himself the first man to cross it. But
when he 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 possible all sorts of projectiles which are
usually shot from military engines.[63] 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[64] and Coenus,[65] after having given orders
for the rest of the army to follow. As soon as he saw a favourable
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 kept up the pursuit as far as the Taulantian mountains;
and as many of them as escaped, preserved their lives by throwing
away their arms. Clitus first fled for refuge into the city, which,
however, he set on fire, and withdrew to Glaucias, in the land of the
Taulantians.




CHAPTER VII.

REVOLT OF THEBES (_September_, 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 effect a change in the government,
apprehended and slew outside the Cadmea,[66] Amyntas and Timolaüs,[67]
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 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;[68] 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 suspected the city of Athens and deemed the audacious action of
the Thebans no trivial matter, if the Lacedaemonians, 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 revolutionary
effort. He therefore led his army through Eordaea and Elimiotis[69] and
along the peaks of Stymphaea and Paravaea,[70] and on the seventh day
arrived at Pelina[71] 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[72] 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 Alexander
himself was dead, and being very angry with those who announced that
it was Alexander himself who was advancing.[73] For they said it must
be another Alexander, the son of Aëropus, who was coming.[74] On the
following day Alexander set out from Onchestus, and advanced towards
the city along the territory consecrated to Iolaüs;[75] 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. But 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 hereupon 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 Cadmea, in order that succour might be at hand to
the Macedonians who were occupying that citadel. For the Thebans had
blockaded the Cadmea with a double stockade and were guarding it, so
that no one from without might be able to give succour to those who
were beleaguered, 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 Cadmea, for he still
wished rather to come to friendly terms with the Thebans than to come
to a contest with them.[76] 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 commonalty 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 indulgence from Alexander,
especially as some of them were also Boeotarchs.[77] However not even
for this did Alexander assault the city.




CHAPTER VIII.

FALL OF THEBES.


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.[78] Amyntas,[79] son of Andromenes, followed
Perdiccas, because 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 company 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 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 walls were destitute of
defenders on account of the numerous pickets in front of them. When the
Macedonians 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,[80] 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 time; but when the Macedonians
under the command of Alexander were seen to be pressing 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
defending themselves, were slain, not so much by the Macedonians as by
the Phocians, Plataeans and other Boeotians,[81] 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 supplicating the protection of the
gods in the temples; not even the women and children being spared.[82]




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 consternation 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,[83] 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 King; 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[84] 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 of the sea[85] 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 Leuctra and
Mantinea filled them with consternation rather by the unexpectedness
of the disaster than because of the number of those who perished.[86]
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,[87] 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.[88] 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 community as[89] 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 slaughter, 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 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,[90] 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.[91] 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 been long before prognosticated.[92]

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
hospitality or had been public agents of the Macedonians. It is said
that Alexander preserved the house and the descendants of Pindar the
poet, out of respect for his memory.[93] In addition to these things,
the allies decreed that Orchomenus[94] and Plataeae should be rebuilt
and fortified.




CHAPTER X.

ALEXANDER’S DEALINGS WITH ATHENS.


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 Eleans
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 attempted 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, escaping from the carnage, arrived at
Athens, were engaged in celebrating the Great Mysteries,[95] 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 ambassadors, men whom they knew to be
Alexander’s special adherents, and sent them to signify to him, though
somewhat unseasonably, that the Athenian people 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 demanding the surrender of Demosthenes and
Lycurgus, as well as that of Hyperides, Polyeuctus, Chares, Charidemus,
Ephialtes, Diotimus, and Moerocles;[96] alleging that these men were
the cause of the disaster which befell the city at Chaeronea, and the
authors of the subsequent offensive proceedings after Philip’s death,
both against himself and his father.[97] 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,[98]
entreating 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.[99]




CHAPTER XI.

ALEXANDER CROSSES THE HELLESPONT AND VISITS TROY.


Having settled these affairs, he returned into Macedonia. He then
offered to the Olympian Zeus the sacrifice which had been instituted
by Archelaüs,[100] and had been customary up to that time; and he
celebrated the public contest of the Olympic games at Aegae.[101] 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,[102] sweated incessantly.[103] Various
were the explanations of this prodigy given by the soothsayers; but
Aristander,[104] 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 Macedonia and Greece to
Antipater. He led not much above 30,000 infantry together with
light-armed troops and archers, and more than 5,000 cavalry.[105]
His march was past the lake Cercinitis,[106] towards Amphipolis and
the mouths of the river Strymon. Having crossed this river he passed
by the Pangaean mountain,[107] along the road leading to Abdera and
Maronea, Grecian cities built on the coast. Thence he arrived at the
river Hebrus,[108] and easily crossed it. Thence he proceeded through
Paetica to the river Melas, having crossed which he arrived at Sestus,
in twenty days altogether from the time of his starting from home. When
he came to Elaeūs 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.[109] He then committed to Parmenio 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.[110] The prevailing account is, that Alexander started
from Elaeūs and put into the Port of Achaeans,[111] that with his own
hand he steered the general’s ship across, and that when 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,[112] 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 offered sacrifice to the Trojan Athena; that he set up 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 Trojan 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.

ALEXANDER AT THE TOMB OF ACHILLES.—MEMNON’S ADVICE REJECTED BY THE
PERSIAN GENERALS.


When he went up to Ilium, Menoetius the pilot crowned him with a golden
crown; after him Chares the Athenian,[113] 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[114] decorated that of Patroclus in the same way.
There is indeed a report that Alexander pronounced Achilles fortunate
in getting Homer as the herald of his fame to posterity.[115] 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 accordance with the rest of his good
fortune. His achievements 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.[116] Consequently
Alexander’s deeds are far less known than the meanest achievements of
antiquity. For 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,[117] 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 accompanied 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 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 to rank among the first authors in the Greek
language, if Alexander indeed is among the first in arms.

From Ilium Alexander came to Arisbe, where his entire force had
encamped after crossing the Hellespont; 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 Amyntas, son of
Arrhabaeus, who had the squadron of the Companion cavalry which came
from Apollonia,[118] 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 of Zeleia with the Persian cavalry and the Grecian
mercenaries. 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,[119] 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.”[120] 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 suspicion that Memnon was deliberately
contriving to protract the war for the purpose of obtaining honour from
the king.




CHAPTER XIII.

BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS (B.C. 334).


Meantime Alexander was advancing to the river Granicus,[121] with his
army arranged for battle, having drawn up his 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,[122] 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, O king, that it is advisable for
the present to pitch our camp on the bank of the river as we are.
For I think 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 daybreak.
For we shall then pass over before they can put themselves in order
of battle;[123] 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. Therefore 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. At the present juncture the first repulse would be difficult
to retrieve, as well as perilous for the issue of the whole war.”

But to this Alexander replied: “I recognise the force of these
arguments, O 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.

ARRANGEMENT OF THE HOSTILE ARMIES.


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 officers:—Philotas, son of Parmenio, with the
cavalry Companions, the archers, and the Agrianian javelin-men; and
Amyntas, son of Arrhabaeus, with the cavalry carrying 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 that of Craterus,[124] son of Alexander, and that of
Amyntas, son of Andromenes; finally, the men commanded by Philip, son
of Amyntas. The first on the left wing were the Thessalian cavalry,
commanded by Calas, son of Harpalus;[125] next to these, the cavalry of
the Grecian allies, commanded by Philip, son of Menelaüs;[126] next to
these the Thracians, commanded by Agatho.[127] 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.[128] 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, keeping quiet from dread of the result;
and profound silence 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 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 happened to have
the lead of all the cavalry force. He himself led the right wing with
sounding of trumpets, and the men raising the war-cry to Enyalius.[129]
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,[130] encounter them with his
phalanx.




CHAPTER XV.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS.


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. From the
Persians there was a terrible discharge of darts; but the Macedonians
fought with spears. The Macedonians, being far inferior 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,[131] 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 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, Rhoesaces 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.[132] 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 OF 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 horse on both wings were also
naturally broken through, and took to speedy flight. Of the Persian
cavalry only about 1,000 were killed; for Alexander did not pursue
them far, but turned aside to attack the Greek mercenaries, the
main body of whom was still remaining where it was posted at first.
This they did rather from amazement 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.[133] The following leaders of the Persians
also fell in the battle: Niphates, Petines, Spithridates, viceroy
of Lydia, Mithrobuzanes, governor of Cappadocia, Mithridates, the
son-in-law of Darius, Arbupales, son of Darius the son of Artaxerxes,
Pharnaces, brother of the wife of Darius,[134] 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 Companions were killed
at the first onset; brazen statues of whom were erected at Dium,[135]
executed by Lysippus,[136] at 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.[137] 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.[138] To Athens also
he sent 300 suits of Persian armour to be hung up in the Acropolis[139]
as a votive offering to Athena, and ordered this inscription to be
fixed over them: “Alexander, son of Philip, and all the Greeks except
the Lacedaemonians, present this offering from the spoils taken from
the foreigners inhabiting Asia.”




CHAPTER XVII.

ALEXANDER IN SARDIS AND EPHESUS.


Having appointed Calas to the post of viceroy of the territory
which had been under the rule of Arsites, and having commanded the
inhabitants 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[140] of blame, because he
knew they had been compelled to assist the Persians in the war. He
then despatched Parmenio to occupy Dascylium,[141] which he easily
performed; for the garrison evacuated it. He himself advanced towards
Sardis; and when he was about 70 stades[142] 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
Hermus,[143] which is about twenty stades[144] distant from Sardis;
but he sent Amyntas, son of Andromenes, to occupy the citadel of
Sardis.[145] He took Mithrines with him, treating 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 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 orders 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 superintendent of Lydia and the
rest of the dominion of Spithridates, giving him as large a number
of cavalry and light-armed infantry as seemed sufficient for present
emergencies. He also sent Calas and Alexander, son of Aëropus, into the
country of Memnon,[146] 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 Ephesian triremes and set off in flight. They were accompanied
by Amyntas,[147] 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 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[148] 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 Syrphax, 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
Alexander gained great popularity both by his general course of action
and especially by what he did at Ephesus.




CHAPTER XVIII.

ALEXANDER MARCHES TO MILETUS AND OCCUPIES THE ISLAND OF LADE.


Men now came to him both from Magnesia[149] and Tralles, 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 Lysimachus, son
of Agathocles,[150] with an equal force to the Aeolic cities,[151] and
to as many of the Ionic cities[152] 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 Ephesus,
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.[153]

On 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 encamped 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
letters before this to Alexander, offering 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.[154] The Persian ships arriving
too late, and the admirals discovering that Nicanor had occupied
the anchorage at Lade before them, they took moorings near Mount
Mycale.[155] 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, expecting 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 upon the shore, opposite the sterns of
Alexander’s ships.[156] He also urged that if they won the battle, they
would reap a great 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
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, their 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 effect a revolution. Taking all these
things into consideration, 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.




CHAPTER XIX.

SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF 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[157] 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 a battle at daybreak. He then stationed his military
engines near the 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[158] upon 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 upon 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 Grecian mercenaries were
about 300 in number. He likewise pardoned all the citizens of Miletus
who had escaped death in the capture of the city, and he granted them
their freedom.

The foreigners used to start from Mycale every day and sail up to the
Grecian fleet, hoping to induce them to accept the challenge and come
forth to a battle; but during the night they used to moor their vessels
near Mycale, which was an inconvenient station, because they were under
the necessity of fetching water from the mouth of the river Maeander, a
great way off.[159] Alexander guarded the harbour of Miletus with his
ships, in order to prevent the foreigners from forcing an entrance;
and at the same time he sent Philotas to Mycale in command of the
cavalry and three regiments of infantry, with instructions to prevent
the men in the ships from landing. Accordingly, they, being through
the scarcity of fresh water and of the other necessaries of life as
good as besieged in their ships, sailed away to Samos; where furnishing
themselves with food, they sailed back again to Miletus. They then drew
up most of their ships in front of the harbour on the deep sea, with
the hope that they might in some way or other induce the Macedonians
to come out into the open sea. Five of their ships sailed into the
roadstead which lay between the island of Lade and the camp, expecting
to surprise Alexander’s ships while empty of their crews; for they had
ascertained that the sailors for the most part were dispersed from the
ships, some to gather fuel, others to collect provisions, and others
being arranged in foraging parties.[160] And indeed it happened that a
number of the sailors were absent; but as soon as Alexander observed
the five Persian ships sailing towards him, he manned ten ships with
the sailors 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 Iassians,[161] 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 HALICARNASSUS.—ABORTIVE ATTACK ON MYNDUS.


Alexander now resolved 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,[162] because
it was reported that a considerable force, both of foreigners and
of Grecian auxiliaries, had collected in Halicarnassus.[163] 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,[164] 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 mercenary 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 render 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,[165] 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 Amyntas, 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[166] by 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; moreover, an offer to surrender had been made by the
Myndians if he would approach the town secretly, under the cover of
night. About midnight, 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. But the
men in the city stoutly defending themselves, and at the same time
many from Halicarnassus having already come 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
deep; so that it might be easy to bring forward the towers, from which
he intended to discharge missiles against the defenders 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 made a sally by
night with the design of setting fire both to the towers and the other
engines which had been brought up to the wall, or were nearly brought
up to it. They were, however, easily repelled and shut up again within
the walls by the Macedonians who were guarding the engines, and by
others who were aroused by the noise of 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.




CHAPTER XXI.

SIEGE OF HALICARNASSUS.


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
themselves, 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 inconsiderately, 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.[167] Meanwhile some other men from the brigade of Perdiccas,
and others from Halicarnassus, rushed out against each other; and a
sharp contest 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.[168]




CHAPTER XXII.

SIEGE OF HALICARNASSUS.


A few days after this, when Alexander again brought 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 combustibles at the engines,
in order to set them on fire and to defy the engineers excessively.
But when the 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,[169] 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,[170] 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 trampled to death by their own comrades, and others 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 Macedonians,
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.[171]




CHAPTER XXIII.

DESTRUCTION OF HALICARNASSUS.—ADA, QUEEN OF CARIA.


Then Orontobates and Memnon, the commanders of the Persians, met and
decided from the state of affairs that they could not 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
soldiers had either perished in the sorties or been wounded and
disabled. Taking these things into consideration, about the second
watch of the night they set 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 Arconnesus), 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 daylight 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 Caria, under the command
of Ptolemy. He appointed Ada to act as his viceroy of the whole
of Caria.[172] This queen was 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 Carians. 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.[173] Alexander
confided Alinda to her, and did not think the title of son unworthy of
his acceptance; moreover, when he had captured Halicarnassus and become
master of the rest of Caria, he granted her the privilege of ruling
over the whole country.




CHAPTER XXIV.

ALEXANDER IN LYCIA AND PAMPHYLIA.


Some of the Macedonians who served in Alexander’s army had married just
before he undertook the expedition. 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 generals Coenus, son of Polemocrates, 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 Polemocrates, to levy soldiers in Peloponnesus,[174]
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 order to gain
command of the coastland, and by that means render the enemy’s fleet
useless. The 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 crossing the river Xanthus, the cities of Pinara,
Xanthus, Patara, and about thirty other smaller towns were surrendered
to him.[175] Having accomplished this, though it was now the very depth
of winter, he invaded the land called Milyas,[176] which is a part of
Great Phrygia, but at that time paid tribute to Lycia, according to
an arrangement made by the Great King. Hither came envoys from the
Phaselites,[177] 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 constructed 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.[178]




CHAPTER XXV.

TREASON OF ALEXANDER, SON OF AËROPUS.


While the king was still near Phaselis he received information that
Alexander, son of Aëropus, who was not only one of the Companions, but
also at that time commander 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.[179] At that time King
Alexander pardoned him, though he was accused of complicity with them,
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 Calas the commander of the
Thessalian horse was sent away to a viceroyalty[180] he was appointed
to succeed that general. The details of the conspiracy were reported
as follows: When Amyntas deserted to Darius,[181] 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[182] 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 formerly 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 effect 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
once taking rest at midday, 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, that 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,[183] who told him that it signified a plot
formed by one of his friends. He said it also signified that the plot
would be discovered, because the swallow was a bird fond of man’s
society and well disposed to him as well as more loquacious 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 by word of mouth. Consequently this Alexander
was arrested and kept under guard.




CHAPTER XXVI.

ALEXANDER IN PAMPHYLIA.—CAPTURE OF ASPENDUS AND SIDE.


Alexander then, moving from Phaselis, sent part of his army to Perga
through the mountains, where the 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.[184] As he was advancing from Perga, he was met on the
road by envoys from the Aspendians[185] 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[186] 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 Sidē,[187] 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 Grecian language, and forthwith began to utter a
foreign speech, not, indeed, that of the neighbouring barbarians, but
a speech peculiar to themselves, 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 Sidē, Alexander
advanced to Syllium,[188] a strong place, containing a garrison of
Grecian mercenaries as well as of native barbarians themselves. But
he was unable to take Syllium offhand 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.

ALEXANDER IN PHRYGIA 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
Eurymedon[189]; but round the rock, on the low ground, were many of
the citizens’ houses, surrounded 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
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 expectation, 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, considering the strength of the place,
and how unprepared 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 them bivouacking, but that most of them would withdraw into
their city, which was near, leaving upon the mountains 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 XXVIII.

OPERATIONS IN PISIDIA.


While he was there, ambassadors came to him from the Selgians, 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 time 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 Alexander drew
up the phalanx of Macedonians in the following 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. In front of the right wing were posted the
archers and Agrianians, 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 difficult 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 the 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, Cleander,
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.




CHAPTER XXIX.

ALEXANDER IN PHRYGIA.


Thence he went into Phrygia, passing by the lake called Ascania,[190]
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,[191] in which city there was a
fortified rock, precipitous on all sides. This citadel was occupied
by the viceroy of Phrygia with a garrison of 1,000 Carians and 100
Grecian mercenaries. These men despatched ambassadors 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.[192]
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,[193] viceroy of Phrygia,
placed Balacrus, son of Amyntas[194] as general over the Grecian allies
in place of Antigonus, and then directed his march to Gordium.[195]
He sent an order to Parmenio to meet him there with the forces under
his command; 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,[196] Coenus, son of Polemocrates, and
Meleager, 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 Athenian 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.[197]




BOOK II.




CHAPTER I.

CAPTURE OF MITYLENE BY THE PERSIANS.—DEATH OF MEMNON.


Soon after this, Memnon, whom King Darius had appointed 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, which was surrendered to him by treachery. Thence he sailed to
Lesbos and brought over to his side all the cities of the island,[198]
except Mitylene, the inhabitants of which did not submit to him. When
he had gained these cities over, he turned 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, intercepting the ships passing by, he kept the rest of
his fleet as a guard off Sigrium,[199] the headland of Lesbos, where is
the best landing-place for trading vessels from Chios, Geraestus,[200]
and Malea.[201] By this means he deprived the Mitylenaeans of all hope
of succour by sea. But meantime he himself fell ill and died, and his
death at that crisis was exceedingly injurious to the king’s interests.
Nevertheless Autophradates, and Pharnabazus, 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 agreement:—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,[202] that they should become allies of Darius on the
terms of the peace which was made with King Darius in the time of
Antalcidas,[203] 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
Autophradates once got within the city, they introduced a garrison with
Lycomedes, a Rhodian, as its commandant. They also appointed Diogenes,
one of the exiles, to be despot of the city, and exacted money from the
Mitylenaeans, taking part of it by violence for themselves from the
wealthy citizens, and laying the rest as a tax upon the community.




CHAPTER II.

THE PERSIANS CAPTURE TENEDUS.—THEY ARE DEFEATED AT SEA.


After accomplishing this, Pharnabazus sailed to Lycia, taking with
him the Grecian mercenaries; but Autophradates sailed to the other
islands. Meantime Darius sent Thymondas, son of Mentor,[204] down to
the maritime districts, to take over the Grecian auxiliaries from
Pharnabazus and to lead them up to him; and to tell Pharnabazus 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
Autophradates and the fleet. When they met, they despatched Datames,
a Persian, with ten ships to the islands called Cyclades,[205] whilst
they with 100 sailed to Tenedus.[206] Having sailed into the harbour of
Tenedus which is called Borēus, 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 preferred
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 Alexander 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.

Meantime Proteas, son of Andronicus, by command of Antipater,[207]
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 Siphnus,[208] Proteas set out by night with fifteen from
Chalcis on the Euripus,[209] and approaching the island of Cythnus[210]
at dawn, he spent the day there in order to get more certain
information 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.




CHAPTER III.

ALEXANDER AT GORDIUM.


When Alexander arrived at Gordium, he was seized with an ardent desire
to go up into the citadel, which contained the palace of Gordius and
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 neighbouring 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,[211] and remained
sitting there until the time came for unyoking the oxen. Being alarmed
at the sight, he went to the Telmissian soothsayers to consult them
about the sign from the deity; for the Telmissians were skilful in
interpreting the meaning 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 return 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
civil discord, and consulting the oracle, they were told that a wagon
would bring them a king, who would put an end to their discord.[212]
While they were still deliberating 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 upon 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 cannot affirm with confidence. At any rate both he and 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 following day to the
gods who had revealed the signs and assured him that the cord had been
untied in a proper way.[213]




CHAPTER IV.

CONQUEST OF CAPPADOCIA.—ALEXANDER’S ILLNESS AT TARSUS.


The next day he sent out to Ancyra[214] 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 commanded them
to submit to the authority of Calas, the viceroy of Phrygia. Marching
thence into Cappadocia, he subjugated all that part of it which lies on
this side of the river Halys,[215] and much of that which lies beyond
it. Having appointed Sabictas viceroy of Cappadocia, he advanced to
the Gates of Cilicia,[216] and when he arrived at the Camp of Cyrus,
who (went) with Xenophon,[217] 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 boldness
served him equally well, for the guards, perceiving that Alexander was
advancing in person, deserted their post and set off in flight. At dawn
next day he passed through the Gates with all his forces and descended
into Cilicia.[218] Here he was informed that Arsames 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; 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 undergone, 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
Cydnus[219] 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 therefore was seized with convulsions, accompanied
with high fever and continuous sleeplessness. None of the physicians
thought he was likely to survive,[220] except Philip, an 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 preparing 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. Alexander 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 about
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.[221]




CHAPTER V.

ALEXANDER AT THE TOMB OF SARDANAPALUS.—PROCEEDINGS IN CILICIA.


After this he sent Parmenio to the other Gates which separate the land
of the Cilicians from that of the Assyrians, in order to capture them
before the enemy could do so, and to guard the pass.[222] He gave
him the allied infantry, the Grecian mercenaries, the Thracians who
were under the command of Sitalces, and the Thessalian cavalry. He
afterwards marched from Tarsus, and on the first day arrived at the
city of Anchialus.[223] According to report, this city was founded by
Sardanapalus the Assyrian;[224] 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 Sardanapalus, 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.[225] An inscription had
been placed upon it in Assyrian characters,[226] which the Assyrians
asserted to be in metre. The meaning which the words expressed was
this:—“Sardanapalus, son of Anacyndaraxas, built Anchialus and Tarsus
in one day; but do thou, O stranger, eat, drink, and 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 _play_ had been expressed by a more lewd one in the
Assyrian language.

From Anchialus Alexander went to Soli,[227] into which city he
introduced a garrison, and imposed upon the inhabitants a fine of 200
talents of silver,[228] because they were more inclined to favour
the Persians than himself. Then, having taken three regiments of
Macedonian infantry, 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
ascertained that Ptolemy and Asander[229] had gained the mastery over
Orontobates the Persian who was guarding the citadel of Halicarnassus,
and was also holding Myndus, Caunus, Thera, and Callipolis.[230] Cos
and Triopium[231] also had been brought into subjection. They wrote
to inform him that Orontobates had been worsted in a great battle;
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,[232] conducting a procession of the entire
army, celebrating a torch race, and superintending a gymnastic and
musical contest. He granted the Solians the privilege of a democratical
constitution; and then marched away to Tarsus, despatching the
cavalry under Philotas to march through the Aleian plain to the
river Pyramus.[233] But he himself with the infantry and the royal
squadron 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.[234] 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 Argives, and
he himself claimed to have sprung from Argos, being a descendant of
Heracles.




CHAPTER VI.

ALEXANDER ADVANCES TO MYRIANDRUS.—DARIUS 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.[235] Then indeed he
collected the Companions and told them what was reported about Darius
and his army. They urged him to lead them on as they were, without
delay. At that time he 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;[236] 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 Cilician
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),[237] 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 with his cavalry.[238] Nevertheless,
Amyntas, at any rate, confidently affirmed that Alexander would
certainly come to any place where he heard Darius might be; and he
exhorted 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 surrendered 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 VII.

DARIUS AT ISSUS.—ALEXANDER’S SPEECH TO HIS ARMY.


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.[239] Having reached Issus, he captured as many of the
Macedonians as had 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 trustworthy, 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; and, to crown all, they, being freemen, were about to
engage in battle with men who were slaves. He said, moreover, that
the Greeks who were in the two armies would not be fighting for the
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, Illyrians, 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 conflict 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.[240] 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 or slingers except a few Cretans and
Rhodians, and even these were got ready by Xenophon on the spur of
the moment in the very crisis of danger.[241] And yet even these put
the king and all his forces to rout close to Babylon[242] 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.

ARRANGEMENT OF THE HOSTILE ARMIES.


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, having 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 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 command of
Nicanor, son of Parmenio; next to these the regiment of Coenus, 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 command of Craterus; 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 surrounded by the
foreigners, who were likely to outflank them on all sides by their
superior numbers.[243]

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 mercenaries to oppose
the phalanx of the Macedonians, and on both sides of these he placed
60,000 of the men called Cardaces,[244] who were also heavy-armed
infantry.[245] For the place where they were posted was able to
contain only this number in a single phalanx.[246] He also posted
20,000 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.[247]

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 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. But 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 Xenophon, son of Gryllus.[248]




CHAPTER IX.

ALEXANDER 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.[249] 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 Attalus. Some of the cavalry and archers
also he drew up so as to form an angle with the centre[250] 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 infantry consisting of 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 drawn up as a reserve
for all of them. When he perceived that the phalanx towards the right
was too thin, and it seemed likely that the Persians would outflank him
here considerably, he ordered two squadrons of the Companion cavalry,
viz. the Anthemusian,[251] 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 men who had been drawn up to keep these in check, to fill up
the ranks of his phalanx. He thought it quite sufficient to post 300
horsemen to watch the men on the mountain.




CHAPTER X.

BATTLE OF ISSUS.


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.[252] 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[253] 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, in order to alarm the
Persians by the rapidity of their onset, and by coming sooner to close
conflict to receive little damage from the archers. And it turned out
just as Alexander had conjectured; for as soon as the 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 Macedonians 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 eagerness, and engaging in a hand-to-hand conflict was already
driving back the Persians posted there; but the Macedonians 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
manifest, 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.[254]




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.
Having 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.[255] In this place a fierce cavalry
battle ensued; for the Persians 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[256] 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[257] were slaughtered in the flight.

But as soon as the left wing of Darius was terrified and 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.[258] 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;[259] 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.[260] For
his pursuit had 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.[261] 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.[262] His two daughters, and
a few other women, wives of Persian peers,[263] who were in attendance
upon them, were likewise captured. For the other Persians happened to
have despatched their women along with the rest of their property to
Damascus;[264] 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 he was going on a military expedition. The consequence
was, that in the camp no more than 3,000 talents[265] 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 Maimacterion, when
Nicostratus was archon of the Athenians.[266]




CHAPTER XII.

KIND TREATMENT OF DARIUS’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 corroborated. He likewise honoured each of them
individually with a gift of money in proportion to his desert.[267] 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 Dionysius. 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[268] which were still due of the money imposed on them as
a fine, and he gave them back their hostages.

Nor did he 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:—“O
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,[269] one of his Companions,
to them, with injunctions 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
and 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 Aristobulus.[270] 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 Companions. The mother
of Darius,[271] being in doubt which of them was the king (for they
had both arrayed themselves in the same style of dress), went up to
Hephaestion, 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
probable to historians that Alexander would have acted and spoken thus,
even for this reason I think him worthy of commendation.[272]




CHAPTER XIII.

FLIGHT OF MACEDONIAN DESERTERS INTO EGYPT.—PROCEEDINGS OF AGIS, KING
OF 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. He then made a forced march towards the city
of Thapsacus[273] and the river Euphrates,[274] in order to put that
river as soon as possible between himself and Alexander. 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.[275] There they seized the 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 first to Cyprus,[276] thence to Egypt; where Amyntas
shortly after, meddling in political disputes, was killed by the
natives.

Meantime Pharnabazus and Autophradates were staying near Chios; 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 put to sea themselves and landed at Siphnus. And
Agis, king of the Lacedaemonians,[277] 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 Peloponnese 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 Chians might attempt to effect
a revolution when they received the news of the Persian defeat. Agis,
having received from Autophradates thirty talents of silver[278] and
ten triremes, despatched Hippias to lead these ships to his brother
Agesilaus at Taenarum,[279] ordering him also to instruct Agesilaus to
give full pay to the sailors and then to sail as quickly as possible
to Crete,[280] in order to set things in order there. For a time
he himself remained there among the islands, but afterwards joined
Autophradates at Halicarnassus.[281]

Alexander appointed Menon, son of Cerdimmas, viceroy of
Coele-Syria,[282] giving him the cavalry of the Grecian 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.[283] But Gerostratus himself
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 prosperous
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.

DARIUS’S LETTER, AND ALEXANDER’S REPLY.


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 friendship and
alliance had subsisted between Philip and Artaxerxes;[284] and that
when Arses, son of Artaxerxes, ascended the throne, Philip was the
first to practise injustice 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 Alexander.

To this Alexander wrote a reply, and sent Thersippus with the men who
had come from Darius, with instructions 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 Perinthians,[285] who were dealing unjustly with my
father; and Ochus sent forces into Thrace, which was under our rule.
My father was killed by conspirators whom you instigated, as you
have yourself boasted to all in your letters;[286] and after slaying
Arses, as well as Bagoas, and unjustly seizing the throne contrary to
the law of the Persians,[287] and 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
certain other Greeks; but none of the States received it, except the
Lacedaemonians.[288] As your agents destroyed my friends, and were
striving to dissolve the league which I had formed among 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 all Asia; but if you are afraid you
may suffer any harsh 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 king 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 kingdom, 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.

ALEXANDER’S TREATMENT OF THE CAPTURED GREEK AMBASSADORS.—SUBMISSION OF
BYBLUS AND SIDON.


When Alexander ascertained that all the money which Darius had sent
off 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 Parmenio
to take the treasure back to Damascus, and there guard it.[289] 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.[290] They were Euthycles, a Spartan; Thessaliscus, son
of Ismenias, and Dionysodorus, a victor in the Olympic games, Thebans;
and Iphicrates, son of Iphicrates the general, an Athenian.[291] 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 Iphicrates in
attendance on himself as long as he lived, treating him with special
honour both from friendship 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 Euthycles 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[292] on terms of
capitulation, as he did also of Sidon,[293] the inhabitants of which
spontaneously invited him from hatred of the Persians and Darius.[294]
Thence he advanced towards Tyre;[295] ambassadors from which city,
despatched by the commonwealth, met him on the march, announcing
that the Tyrians had decided to do whatever he might command.[296] 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 offer
sacrifice 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[297] himself was sailing with Autophradates.




CHAPTER XVI.

THE WORSHIP OF HERCULES IN TYRE.—THE TYRIANS REFUSE TO ADMIT ALEXANDER.


The reason of this demand was, that in Tyre there existed a temple
of Heracles,[298] 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 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.[299] 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,[300] just as the
Athenians worshipped a different Dionysus, who was the son of Zeus and
Core; and the mystic chant called Iacchus was sung to this Dionysus,
not to the ligaturee Theban. So also I think that the Heracles honoured
in Tartessus[301] by the Iberians, where are certain pillars named
after Heracles, is the Tyrian Heracles; for Tartessus was a colony of
the Phœnicians, and the temple to Heracles there was built and the
sacrifices offered after the usage of the Phœnicians. Hecataeus the
historian[302] says Geryones, 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;[303] nor
was Heracles despatched to any island called Erythia[304] outside
the Great Sea; but that Geryones was king of the mainland (Epirus)
around Ambracia[305] and the Amphilochians, 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 Epirus, 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 account, 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.[306] When the answer from
Tyre was brought to Alexander, he sent the ambassadors back in a rage.
He then summoned a council of his Companions and the leaders of his
army, together with the captains of infantry and cavalry, and spoke as
follows:—




CHAPTER XVII.

SPEECH OF ALEXANDER TO HIS OFFICERS.


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




CHAPTER XVIII.

SIEGE OF TYRE.—CONSTRUCTION OF A MOLE FROM 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[307] 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[308]
to mean that Tyre would be taken with labour, because the deeds of
Heracles were accomplished with labour. Certainly, the siege of Tyre
appeared to be a great enterprise; for the city was an island[309] 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 prevailed, he resolved to construct a mole from the mainland
to the city.[310] 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.[311] 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[312] 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 began 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 Macedonians
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 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 OF TYRE.


But 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 combustible 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.[313] 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.[314] 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 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 protection, and burnt up all the engines of war
which the fire from the vessel did not reach.[315] 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 successful conclusion of the
siege would be much more difficult to attain, so long as the Tyrians
retained the superiority at sea.[316]




CHAPTER XX.

TYRE BESIEGED BY SEA AS WELL AS LAND.


About 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 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 Rhodes, both the one called
_Peripolus_,[317] 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.[318] 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, because the whole of Phoenicia was already in the
possession of Alexander. To all of these Alexander granted indemnity
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-Libănus.[319] Having subdued some of the mountaineers by force,
and drawn others over to him by terms of capitulation, he returned to
Sidon in ten days.[320] Here he found Oleander, son of Polemocrates,
just arrived from Peloponnesus, having 4,000 Grecian mercenaries with
him.[321]

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[322] than by a close conflict. 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 any 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 time because he saw that the entrance had been blocked
up with many triremes having their prows turned towards him. But the
Phoenicians fell upon the three triremes 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 the mole, where also was his own tent.




CHAPTER XXI.

SIEGE OF TYRE.


He had now collected many engineers both from Cyprus and the whole of
Phoenicia, and many engines of war had been constructed,[323] some
upon the mole, others upon vessels used for transporting horses, which
he b

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