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Alexander
By Plutarch
Alexander
(died 323 B.C.E.)
By Plutarch
Written 75 A.C.E.
Translated by John Dryden
IT being my purpose to write the lives of Alexander the king, and of Caesar,
by whom Pompey was destroyed, the multitude of their great actions affords so
large a field that I were to blame if I should not by way of apology forewarn
my reader that I have chosen rather to epitomize the most celebrated parts of
their story, than to insist at large on every particular circumstance of it.
It must be borne in mind that my design is not to write histories, but lives.
And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest
discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment, an
expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations,
than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles
whatsoever. Therefore as portrait-painters are more exact in the lines and
features of the face, in which the character is seen, than in the other parts
of the body, so I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the
marks and indications of the souls of men, and while I endeavour by these to
portray their lives, may be free to leave more weighty matters and great
battles to be treated of by others.
It is agreed on by all hands, that on the father's side, Alexander descended
from Hercules by Caranus, and from Aeacus by Neoptolemus on the mother's side.
His father Philip, being in Samothrace, when he was quite young, fell in love
there with Olympias, in company with whom he was initiated in the religious
ceremonies of the country, and her father and mother being both dead, soon
after, with the consent of her brother, Arymbas, he married her. The night
before the consummation of their marriage, she dreamed that a thunderbolt fell
upon her body, which kindled a great fire, whose divided flames dispersed
themselves all about, and then were extinguished. And Philip, some time after
he was married, dreamt that he sealed up his wife's body with a seal, whose
impression, as be fancied, was the figure of a lion. Some of the diviners
interpreted this as a warning to Philip to look narrowly to his wife; but
Aristander of Telmessus, considering how unusual it was to seal up anything
that was empty, assured him the meaning of his dream was that the queen was
with child of a boy, who would one day prove as stout and courageous as a lion.
Once, moreover, a serpent was found lying by Olympias as she slept, which more
than anything else, it is said, abated Philip's passion for her; and whether
he feared her as an enchantress, or thought she had commerce with some god,
and so looked on himself as excluded, he was ever after less fond of her
conversation. Others say, that the women of this country having always been
extremely addicted to the enthusiastic Orphic rites, and the wild worship of
Bacchus (upon which account they were called Clodones, and Mimallones),
imitated in many things the practices of the Edonian and Thracian women about
Mount Haemus, from whom the word threskeuein seems to have been derived, as a
special term for superfluous and over-curious forms of adoration; and that
Olympias, zealously, affecting these fanatical and enthusiastic inspirations,
to perform them with more barbaric dread, was wont in the dances proper to
these ceremonies to have great tame serpents about her, which sometimes
creeping out of the ivy in the mystic fans, sometimes winding themselves about
the sacred spears, and the women's chaplets, made a spectacle which men could
not look upon without terror.
Philip, after this vision, sent Chaeron of Megalopolis to consult the oracle
of Apollo at Delphi, by which he was commanded to perform sacrifice, and
henceforth pay particular honour, above all other gods, to Ammon; and was told
he should one day lose that eye with which he presumed to peep through that
chink of the door, when he saw the god, under the form of a serpent, in the
company of his wife. Eratosthenes says that Olympias, when she attended
Alexander on his way to the army in his first expedition, told him the secret
of his birth, and bade him behave himself with courage suitable to his divine
extraction. Others again affirm that she wholly disclaimed any pretensions of
the kind, and was wont to say, "When will Alexander leave off slandering me to
Juno?"
Alexander was born the sixth of Hecatombaeon, which month the Macedonians call
Lous, the same day that the temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt; which
Hegesias of Magnesia makes the occasion of a conceit, frigid enough to have
stopped the conflagration. The temple, he says, took fire and was burnt while
its mistress was absent, assisting at the birth of Alexander. And all the
Eastern soothsayers who happened to be then at Ephesus, looking upon the ruin
of this temple to be the forerunner of some other calamity, ran about the town,
beating their faces, and crying that this day had brought forth something that
would prove fatal and destructive to all Asia.
Just after Philip had taken Potidaea, he received these three messages at one
time, that Parmenio had overthrown the Illyrians in a great battle, that his
race-horse had won the course at the Olympic games, and that his wife had
given birth to Alexander; with which being naturally well pleased, as an
addition to his satisfaction, he was assured by the diviners that a son, whose
birth was accompanied with three such successes, could not fail of being
invincible.
The statues that gave the best representation of Alexander's person were those
of Lysippus (by whom alone he would suffer his image to be made), those
peculiarities which many of his successors afterwards and his friends used to
affect to imitate, the inclination of his head a little on one side towards
his left shoulder, and his melting eye, having been expressed by this artist
with great exactness. But Apelles, who drew him with thunderbolts in his hand,
made his complexion browner and darker than it was naturally; for he was fair
and of a light colour, passing into ruddiness in his face and upon his breast.
Aristoxenus in his Memoirs tells us that a most agreeable odour exhaled from
his skin, and that his breath and body all over was so fragrant as to perfume
the clothes which he wore next him; the cause of which might probably be the
hot and adust temperament of his body. For sweet smells, Theophrastus
conceives, are produced by the concoction of moist humours by heat, which is
the reason that those parts of the world which are driest and most burnt up
afford spices of the best kind and in the greatest quantity; for the heat of
the sun exhausts all the superfluous moisture which lies in the surface of
bodies, ready to generate putrefaction. And this hot constitution, it may be,
rendered Alexander so addicted to drinking, and so choleric. His temperance,
as to the pleasures of the body, was apparent in him in his very childhood, as
he was with much difficulty incited to them, and always used them with great
moderation; though in other things be was extremely eager and vehement, and in
his love of glory, and the pursuit of it, he showed a solidity of high spirit
and magnanimity far above his age. For he neither sought nor valued it upon
every occasion, as his father Philip did (who affected to show his eloquence
almost to a degree of pedantry, and took care to have the victories of his
racing chariots at the Olympic games engraven on his coin), but when he was
asked by some about him, whether he would run a race in the Olympic games, as
he was very swift-footed, he answered, he would, if he might have kings to run
with him. Indeed, he seems in general to have looked with indifference, if not
with dislike, upon the professed athletes. He often appointed prizes, for
which not only tragedians and musicians, pipers and harpers, but rhapsodists
also, strove to outvie one another; and delighted in all manner of hunting and
cudgel-playing, but never gave any encouragement to contests either of boxing
or of the pancratium.
While he was yet very young, he entertained the ambassadors from the King of
Persia, in the absence of his father, and entering much into conversation with
them, gained so much upon them by his affability, and the questions he asked
them, which were far from being childish or trifling (for he inquired of them
the length of the ways, the nature of the road into inner Asia, the character
of their king, how he carried himself to his enemies, and what forces he was
able to bring into the field), that they were struck with admiration of him,
and looked upon the ability so much famed of Philip to be nothing in
comparison with the forwardness and high purpose that appeared thus early in
his son. Whenever he heard Philip had taken any town of importance, or won any
signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his
companions that his father would anticipate everything, and leave him and them
no opportunities of performing great and illustrious actions. For being more
bent upon action and glory than either upon pleasure or riches, he esteemed
all that he should receive from his father as a diminution and prevention of
his own future achievements; and would have chosen rather to succeed to a
kingdom involved in troubles and wars, which would have afforded him frequent
exercise of his courage, and a large field of honour, than to one already
flourishing and settled, where his inheritance would be an inactive life, and
the mere enjoyment of wealth and luxury.
The care of his education, as it might be presumed, was committed to a great
many attendants, preceptors, and teachers, over the whole of whom Leonidas, a
near kinsman of Olympias, a man of an austere temper, presided, who did not
indeed himself decline the name of what in reality is a noble and honourable
office, but in general his dignity, and his near relationship, obtained him
from other people the title of Alexander's foster-father and governor. But he
who took upon him the actual place and style of his pedagogue was Lysimachus
the Acarnanian, who, though he had nothing to recommend him, but his lucky
fancy of calling himself Phoenix, Alexander Achilles and Philip Peleus, was
therefore well enough esteemed, and ranked in the next degree after Leonidas.
Philonicus the Thessalian brought the horse Bucephalus to Philip, offering to
sell him for thirteen talents; but when they went into the field to try him,
they found him so very vicious and unmanageable, that he reared up when they
endeavoured to mount him, and would not so much as endure the voice of any of
Philip's attendants. Upon which, as they were leading him away as wholly
useless and untractable, Alexander, who stood by, said, "What an excellent
horse do they lose for want of address and boldness to manage him!" Philip at
first took no notice of what he said; but when he heard him repeat the same
thing several times, and saw he was much vexed to see the horse sent away, "Do
you reproach," said he to him, "those who are older than yourself, as if you
knew more, and were better able to manage him than they?" "I could manage this
horse," replied he, "better than others do." "And if you do not," said Philip,
"what will you forfeit for your rashness?" "I will pay," answered Alexander, "the
whole price of the horse." At this the whole company fell a-laughing; and as
soon as the wager was settled amongst them, he immediately ran to the horse,
and taking hold of the bridle, turned him directly towards the sun, having, it
seems, observed that he was disturbed at and afraid of the motion of his own
shadow; then letting him go forward a little, still keeping the reins in his
hands, and stroking him gently when he found him begin to grow eager and fiery,
he let fall his upper garment softly, and with one nimble leap securely
mounted him, and when he was seated, by little and little drew in the bridle,
and curbed him without either striking or spurring him. Presently, when he
found him free from all rebelliousness, and only impatient for the course, he
let him go at full speed, inciting him now with a commanding voice, and urging
him also with his heel. Philip and his friends looked on at first in silence
and anxiety for the result, till seeing him turn at the end of his career, and
come back rejoicing and triumphing for what he had performed, they all burst
out into acclamations of applause; and his father shedding tears, it is said,
for joy, kissed him as he came down from his horse, and in his transport said,
"O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for
Macedonia is too little for thee."
After this, considering him to be of a temper easy to be led to his duty by
reason, but by no means to be compelled, he always endeavoured to persuade
rather than to command or force him to anything; and now looking upon the
instruction and tuition of his youth to be of greater difficulty and
importance than to be wholly trusted to the ordinary masters in music and
poetry, and the common school subjects, and to require, as Sophocles says-
"The bridle and the rudder too," he sent for Aristotle, the most learned and
most celebrated philosopher of his time, and rewarded him with a munificence
proportionable to and becoming the care he took to instruct his son. For he
repeopled his native city Stagira, which he had caused to be demolished a
little before, and restored all the citizens, who were in exile or slavery, to
their habitations. As a place for the pursuit of their studies and exercise,
he assigned the temple of the Nymphs, near Mieza, where, to this very day,
they show you Aristotle's stone seats, and the shady walks which he was wont
to frequent. It would appear that Alexander received from him not only his
doctrines of Morals and of Politics, but also something of those more abstruse
and profound theories which these philosophers, by the very names they gave
them, professed to reserve for oral communication to the initiated, and did
not allow many to become acquainted with. For when he was in Asia, and heard
Aristotle had published some treatises of that kind, he wrote to him, using
very plain language to him in behalf of philosophy, the following letter. "Alexander
to Aristotle, greeting. You have not done well to publish your books of oral
doctrine; for what is there now that we excel others in, if those things which
we have been particularly instructed in be laid open to all? For my part, I
assure you, I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent,
than in the extent of my power and dominion. Farewell." And Aristotle,
soothing this passion for pre-eminence, speaks, in his excuse for himself, of
these doctrines as in fact both published and not published: as indeed, to say
the truth, his books on metaphysics are written in a style which makes them
useless for ordinary teaching, and instructive only, in the way of memoranda,
for those who have been already conversant in that sort of learning.
Doubtless also it was to Aristotle that he owed the inclination he had, not to
the theory only, but likewise to the practice of the art of medicine. For when
any of his friends were sick, he would often prescribe them their course of
diet, and medicines proper to their disease, as we may find in his epistles.
He was naturally a great lover of all kinds of learning and reading; and
Onesicritus informs us that he constantly laid Homer's Iliads, according to
the copy corrected by Aristotle, called the casket copy, with his dagger under
his pillow, declaring that he esteemed it a perfect portable treasure of all
military virtue and knowledge. When he was in the upper Asia, being destitute
of other books, he ordered Harpalus to send him some; who furnished him with
Philistus's History, a great many of the plays of Euripides, Sophocles, and
Aeschylus, and some dithyrambic odes, composed by Telestes and Philoxenus. For
a while he loved and cherished Aristotle no less, as he was wont to say
himself, than if he had been his father, giving this reason for it, that as he
had received life from the one, so the other had taught him to live well. But
afterwards, upon some mistrust of him, yet not so great as to make him do him
any hurt, his familiarity and friendly kindness to him abated so much of its
former force and affectionateness, as to make it evident he was alienated from
him. However, his violent thirst after and passion for learning, which were
once implanted, still grew up with him, and never decayed; as appears by his
veneration of Anaxarchus, by the present of fifty talents which he sent to
Xenocrates, and his particular care and esteem of Dandamis and Calanus.
While Philip went on his expedition against the Byzantines, he left Alexander,
then sixteen years old, his lieutenant in Macedonia, committing the charge of
his seal to him; who, not to sit idle, reduced the rebellious Maedi, and
having taken their chief town by storm, drove out the barbarous inhabitants,
and planting a colony of several nations in their room, called the place after
his own name, Alexandropolis. At the battle of Chaeronea, which his father
fought against the Grecians, he is said to have been the first man that
charged the Thebans' sacred band. And even in my remembrance, there stood an
old oak near the river Cephisus, which people called Alexander's oak, because
his tent was pitched under it. And not far off are to be seen the graves of
the Macedonians who fell in that battle. This early bravery made Philip so
fond of him, that nothing pleased him more than to hear his subjects call
himself their general and Alexander their king.
But the disorders of his family, chiefly caused by his new marriages and
attachments (the troubles that began in the women's chambers spreading, so to
say, to the whole kingdom), raised various complaints and differences between
them, which the violence of Olympias, a woman of a jealous and implacable
temper, made wider, by exasperating Alexander against his father. Among the
rest, this accident contributed most to their falling out. At the wedding of
Cleopatra, whom Philip fell in love with and married, she being much too young
for him, her uncle Attalus in his drink desired the Macedonians would implore
the gods to give them a lawful successor to the kingdom by his niece. This so
irritated Alexander, that throwing one of the cups at his head, "You villain,"
said he, "what, am I then a bastard?" Then Philip, taking Attalus's part, rose
up and would have run his son through; but by good fortune for them both,
either his over-hasty rage, or the wine he had drunk, made his foot slip, so
that he fell down on the floor. At which Alexander reproachfully insulted over
him: "See there," said he, "the man who makes preparations to pass out of
Europe into Asia, overturned in passing from one seat to another." After this
debauch, he and his mother Olympias withdrew from Philip's company, and when
he had placed her in Epirus, he himself retired into Illyria.
About this time, Demaratus the Corinthian, an old friend of the family, who
had the freedom to say anything among them without offence, coming to visit
Philip, after the first compliments and embraces were over, Philip asked him
whether the Grecians were at amity with one another. "It ill becomes you,"
replied Demaratus, "to be so solicitous about Greece, when you have involved
your own house in so many dissensions and calamities." He was so convinced by
this seasonable reproach, that he immediately sent for his son home, and by
Demaratus's mediation prevailed with him to return. But this reconciliation
lasted not long; for when Pixodorus, viceroy of Caria, sent Aristocritus to
treat for a match between his eldest daughter and Philip's son, Arrhidaeus,
hoping by this alliance to secure his assistance upon occasion, Alexander's
mother, and some who pretended to be his friends, presently filled his head
with tales and calumnies, as if Philip, by a splendid marriage and important
alliance, were preparing the way for settling the kingdom upon Arrhidaeus. In
alarm at this, he despatched Thessalus, the tragic actor, into Caria, to
dispose Pixodorus to slight Arrhidaeus, both illegitimate and a fool, and
rather to accept of himself for his son-in-law. This proposition was much more
agreeable to Pixodorus than the former. But Philip, as soon as he was made
acquainted with this transaction, went to his son's apartment, taking with him
Philotas, the son of Parmenio, one of Alexander's intimate friends and
companions, and there reproved him severely, and reproached him bitterly, that
he should be so degenerate, and unworthy of the power he was to leave him, as
to desire the alliance of a mean Carian, who was at best but the slave of a
barbarous prince. Nor did this satisfy his resentment, for he wrote to the
Corinthians to send Thessalus to him in chains, and banished Harpalus,
Nearchus, Erigyius, and Ptolemy, his son's friends and favourites, whom
Alexander afterwards recalled and raised to great honour and preferment.
Not long after this, Pausanias, having had an outrage done to him at the
instance of Attalus and Cleopatra, when he found he could get no reparation
for his disgrace at Philip's hands, watched his opportunity and murdered him.
The guilt of which fact was laid for the most part upon Olympias, who was said
to have encouraged and exasperated the enraged youth to revenge; and some sort
of suspicion attached even to Alexander himself, who, it was said, when
Pausanias came and complained to him of the injury he had received, repeated
the verse out of Euripides's Medea-
"On husband, and on father, and on bride." However, he took care to find out
and punish the accomplices of the conspiracy severely, and was very angry with
Olympias for treating Cleopatra inhumanly in his absence.
Alexander was but twenty years old when his father was murdered, and succeeded
to a kingdom, beset on all sides with great dangers and rancorous enemies. For
not only the barbarous nations that bordered on Macedonia were impatient of
being governed by any but their own native princes, but Philip likewise,
though he had been victorious over the Grecians, yet, as the time had not been
sufficient for him to complete his conquest and accustom them to his sway, had
simply left all things in a general disorder and confusion. It seemed to the
Macedonians a very critical time; and some would have persuaded Alexander to
give up all thought of retaining the Grecians in subjection by force of arms,
and rather to apply himself to win back by gentle means the allegiance of the
tribes who were designing revolt, and try the effect of indulgence in
arresting the first motions towards revolution. But he rejected this counsel
as weak and timorous, and looked upon it to be more prudence to secure himself
by resolution and magnanimity, than, by seeming to truckle to any, to
encourage all to trample on him. In pursuit of this opinion, he reduced the
barbarians to tranquillity, and put an end to all fear of war from them, he
gave rapid expedition into their country as far as the river Danube, where he
gave Syrmus, King of the Triballians, an entire overthrow. And hearing the
Thebans were in revolt, and the Athenians in correspondence with them, he
immediately marched through the pass of Thermopylae, saying that to
Demosthenes, who had called him a child while he was in Illyria and in the
country of the Triballians, and a youth when he was in Thessaly, he would
appear a man before the walls of Athens.
When he came to Thebes, to show how willing he was to accept of their
repentance for what was past, he only demanded of them Phoenix and Prothytes,
the authors of the rebellion, and proclaimed a general pardon to those who
would come over to him. But when the Thebans merely retorted by demanding
Philotas and Antipater to be delivered into their hands, and by a proclamation
on their part invited all who would assert the liberty of Greece to come over
to them, he presently applied himself to make them feel the last extremities
of war. The Thebans indeed defended themselves with a zeal and courage beyond
their strength, being much outnumbered by their enemies. But when the
Macedonian garrison sallied out upon them from the citadel, they were so
hemmed in on all sides that the greater part of them fell in the battle; the
city itself being taken by storm, was sacked and razed. Alexander's hope being
that so severe an example might terrify the rest of Greece into obedience, and
also in order to gratify the hostility of his confederates, the Phocians and
Plataeans. So that, except the priests, and some few who had heretofore been
the friends and connections of the Macedonians, the family of the poet Pindar,
and those who were known to have opposed the public vote for the war, all the
rest, to the number of thirty thousand, were publicly sold for slaves; and it
is computed that upwards of six thousand were put to the sword.
Among the other calamities that befell the city, it happened that some
Thracian soldiers, having broken into the house of a matron of high character
and repute, named Timoclea, their captain, after he had used violence with her,
to satisfy his avarice as well as lust, asked her, if she knew of any money
concealed; to which she readily answered she did, and bade him follow her into
a garden, where she showed him a well, into which, she told him, upon the
taking of the city, she had thrown what she had of most value. The greedy
Thracian presently stooping down to view the place where he thought the
treasure lay, she came behind him and pushed him into the well, and then flung
great stones in upon him, till she had killed him. After which, when the
soldiers led her away bound to Alexander, her very mien and gait showed her to
be a woman of dignity, and of a mind no less elevated, not betraying the least
sign of fear or astonishment. And when the king asked her who she was, "I am,"
said she, "the sister of Theagenes, who fought the battle of Chaeronea with
your father Philip, and fell there in command for the liberty of Greece."
Alexander was so surprised, both at what she had done and what she said, that
he could not choose but give her and her children their freedom to go whither
they pleased.
After this he received the Athenians into favour, although they had shown
themselves so much concerned at the calamity of Thebes that out of sorrow they
omitted the celebration of the Mysteries, and entertained those who escaped
with all possible humanity. Whether it were, like the lion, that his passion
was now satisfied, or that, after an example of extreme cruelty, he had a mind
to appear merciful, it happened well for the Athenians; for he not only
forgave them all past offences, but bade them look to their affairs with
vigilance, remembering that if he should miscarry, they were likely to be the
arbiters of Greece. Certain it is, too, that in aftertime he often repented of
his severity to the Thebans, and his remorse had such influence on his temper
as to make him ever after less rigorous to all others. He imputed also the
murder of Clitus, which he committed in his wine, and the unwillingness of the
Macedonians to follow him against the Indians, by which his enterprise and
glory was left imperfect, to the wrath and vengeance of Bacchus, the protector
of Thebes. And it was observed that whatsoever any Theban, who had the good
fortune to survive this victory, asked of him, he was sure to grant without
the least difficulty.
Soon after, the Grecians, being assembled at the Isthmus, declared their
resolution of joining with Alexander in the war against the Persians, and
proclaimed him their general. While he stayed here, many public ministers and
philosophers came from all parts to visit him and congratulated him on his
election, but contrary to his expectation, Diogenes of Sinope, who then was
living at Corinth, thought so little of him, that instead of coming to
compliment him, he never so much as stirred out of the suburb called the
Cranium, where Alexander found him lying along in the sun. When he saw so much
company near him, he raised himself a little, and vouchsafed to look upon
Alexander; and when he kindly asked him whether he wanted anything, "Yes,"
said he, "I would have you stand from between me and the sun." Alexander was
so struck at this answer, and surprised at the greatness of the man, who had
taken so little notice of him, that as he went away he told his followers, who
were laughing at the moroseness of the philosopher, that if he were not
Alexander, he would choose to be Diogenes.
Then he went to Delphi, to consult Apollo concerning the success of the war he
had undertaken, and happening to come on one of the forbidden days, when it
was esteemed improper to give any answer from the oracle, he sent messengers
to desire the priestess to do her office; and when she refused, on the plea of
a law to the contrary, he went up himself, and began to draw her by force into
the temple, until tired and overcome with his importunity, "My son," said she,
"thou art invincible." Alexander taking hold of what she spoke, declared he
had received such an answer as he wished for, and that it was needless to
consult the god any further. Among other prodigies that attended the departure
of his army, the image of Orpheus at Libethra, made of cypress-wood, was seen
to sweat in great abundance, to the discouragement of many. But Aristander
told him that, far from presaging any ill to him, it signified he should
perform acts so important and glorious as would make the poets and musicians
of future ages labour and sweat to describe and celebrate them.
His army, by their computation who make the smallest amount, consisted of
thirty thousand foot and four thousand horse; and those who make the most of
it, speak but of forty-three thousand foot and three thousand horse.
Aristobulus says, he had not a fund of above seventy talents for their pay,
nor had he more than thirty days' provision, if we may believe Duris;
Onesicritus tells us he was two hundred talents in debt. However narrow and
disproportionable the beginnings of so vast an undertaking might seem to be,
yet he would not embark his army until he had informed himself particularly
what means his friends had to enable them to follow him, and supplied what
they wanted, by giving good farms to some, a village to one, and the revenue
of some hamlet or harbour-town to another. So that at last he had portioned
out or engaged almost all the royal property; which giving Perdiccas an
occasion to ask him what he would leave himself, he replied, his hopes. "Your
soldiers," replied Perdiccas, "will be your partners in those," and refused to
accept of the estate he had assigned him. Some others of his friends did the
like, but to those who willingly received or desired assistance of him, he
liberally granted it, as far as his patrimony in Macedonia would reach, the
most part of which was spent in these donations.
With such vigorous resolutions, and his mind thus disposed, he passed the
Hellespont, and at Troy sacrificed to Minerva, and honoured the memory of the
heroes who were buried there, with solemn libations; especially Achilles,
whose gravestone he anointed, and with his friends, as the ancient custom is,
ran naked about his sepulchre, and crowned it with garlands, declaring how
happy he esteemed him, in having while he lived so faithful a friend, and when
he was dead, so famous a poet to proclaim his actions. While he was viewing
the rest of the antiquities and curiosities of the place, being told he might
see Paris's harp, if he pleased, he said he thought it not worth looking on,
but he should be glad to see that of Achilles, to which he used to sing the
glories and great actions of brave men.
In the meantime, Darius's captains, having collected large forces, were
encamped on the further bank of the river Granicus, and it was necessary to
fight, as it were, in the gate of Asia for an entrance into it. The depth of
the river, with the unevenness and difficult ascent of the opposite bank,
which was to be gained by main force, was apprehended by most, and some
pronounced it an improper time to engage, because it was unusual for the kings
of Macedonia to march with their forces in the month called Daesius. But
Alexander broke through these scruples, telling them they should call it a
second Artemisius. And when Parmenio advised him not to attempt anything that
day, because it was late, he told him that he should disgrace the Hellespont
should he fear the Granicus. And so, without more saying, he immediately took
the river with thirteen troops of horse, and advanced against whole showers of
darts thrown from the steep opposite side, which was covered with armed
multitudes of the enemy's horse and foot, notwithstanding the disadvantage of
the ground and the rapidity of the stream; so that the action seemed to have
more frenzy and desperation in it, than of prudent conduct. However, he
persisted obstinately to gain the passage, and at last with much ado making
his way up the banks, which were extremely muddy and slippery, he had
instantly to join in a mere confused hand-to-hand combat with the enemy,
before he could draw up his men, who were still passing over, into any order.
For the enemy pressed upon him with loud and warlike outcries; and charging
horse against horse, with their lances, after they had broken and spent these,
they fell to it with their swords. And Alexander, being easily known by his
buckler, and a large plume of white feathers on each side of his helmet, was
attacked on all sides, yet escaped wounding, though his cuirass was pierced by
a javelin in one of the joinings. And Rhoesaces and Spithridates, two Persian
commanders, falling upon him at once, he avoided one of them, and struck at
Rhoesaces, who had a good cuirass on, with such force that, his spear breaking
in his hand, he was glad to betake himself to his dagger. While they were thus
engaged, Spithridates came up on one side of him, and raising himself upon his
horse, gave him such a blow with his battle-axe on the helmet that he cut off
the crest of it, with one of his plumes, and the helmet was only just so far
strong enough to save him, that the edge of the weapon touched the hair of his
head. But as he was about to repeat his stroke, Clitus, called the black
Clitus, prevented him, by running him through the body with his spear. At the
same time Alexander despatched Rhoesaces with his sword. While the horse were
thus dangerously engaged, the Macedonian phalanx passed the river, and the
foot on each side advanced to fight. But the enemy hardly sustaining the first
onset soon gave ground and fled, all but the mercenary Greeks, who, making a
stand upon a rising ground, desired quarter, which Alexander, guided rather by
passion than judgment, refused to grant, and charging them himself first, had
his horse (not Bucephalus, but another) killed under him. And this obstinacy
of his to cut off these experienced desperate men cost him the lives of more
of his own soldiers than all the battle before, besides those who were wounded.
The Persians lost in this battle twenty thousand foot and two thousand five
hundred horse. On Alexander's side, Aristobulus says there were not wanting
above four-and-thirty, of whom nine were foot-soldiers; and in memory of them
he caused so many statues of brass, of Lysippus's making, to be erected. And
that the Grecians might participate in the honour of his victory he sent a
portion of the spoils home to them particularly to the Athenians three hundred
bucklers, and upon all the rest he ordered this inscription to be set: "Alexander
the son of Philip, and the Grecians, except the Lacedaemonians, won these from
the barbarians who inhabit Asia." All the plate and purple garments, and other
things of the same kind that he took from the Persians, except a very small
quantity which he reserved for himself, he sent as a present to his mother.
This battle presently made a great change of affairs to Alexander's advantage.
For Sardis itself, the chief seat of the barbarian's power in the maritime
provinces, and many other considerable places, were surrendered to him; only
Halicarnassus and Miletus stood out, which he took by force, together with the
territory about them. After which he was a little unsettled in his opinion how
to proceed. Sometimes he thought it best to find out Darius as soon as he
could, and put all to the hazard of a battle; another while he looked upon it
as a more prudent course to make an entire reduction of the sea-coast, and not
to seek the enemy till he had first exercised his power here and made himself
secure of the resources of these provinces. While he was thus deliberating
what to do, it happened that a spring of water near the city of Xanthus in
Lycia, of its own accord, swelled over its banks, and threw up a copper plate,
upon the margin of which was engraven in ancient characters, that the time
would come when the Persian empire should be destroyed by the Grecians.
Encouraged by this accident, he proceeded to reduce the maritime parts of
Cilicia and Phoenicia, and passed his army along the sea-coasts of Pamphylia
with such expedition that many historians have described and extolled it with
that height of admiration, as if it were no less than a miracle, and an
extraordinary effect of divine favour, that the waves which usually come
rolling in violently from the main, and hardly ever leave so much as a narrow
beach under the steep, broken cliffs at any time uncovered, should on a sudden
retire to afford him passage. Menander, in one of his comedies, alludes to
this marvel when he says-
"Was Alexander ever favoured more?
Each man I wish for meets me at my door,
And should I ask for passage through the sea,
The sea I doubt not would retire for me."
But Alexander himself in his epistles mentions nothing unusual in this at all,
but says he went from Phaselis, and passed through what they call the Ladders.
At Phaselis he stayed some time, and finding the statue of Theodectes, who was
a native of this town and was now dead, erected in the market-place, after he
had supped, having drunk pretty plentifully, he went and danced about it, and
crowned it with garlands, honouring not ungracefully, in his sport, the memory
of a philosopher whose conversation he had formerly enjoyed when he was
Aristotle's scholar.
Then he subdued the Pisidians who made head against him, and conquered the
Phrygians, at whose chief city, Gordium, which is said to be the seat of the
ancient Midas, he saw the famous chariot fastened with cords made of the rind
of the cornel-tree, which whosoever should untie, the inhabitants had a
tradition, that for him was reserved the empire of the world. Most authors
tell the story that Alexander finding himself unable to untie the knot, the
ends of which were secretly twisted round and folded up within it, cut it
asunder with his sword. But Aristobulus tells us it was easy for him to undo
it, by only pulling the pin out of the pole, to which the yoke was tied, and
afterwards drawing off the yoke itself from below. From hence he advanced into
Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, both which countries he soon reduced to obedience,
and then hearing of the death of Memnon, the best commander Darius had upon
the sea-coasts, who, if he had lived, might, it was supposed, have put many
impediments and difficulties in the way of the progress of his arms, he was
the rather encouraged to carry the war into the upper provinces of Asia.
Darius was by this time upon his march from Susa, very confident, not only in
the number of his men, which amounted to six hundred thousand, but likewise in
a dream, which the Persian soothsayers interpreted rather in flattery to him
than according to the natural probability. He dreamed that he saw the
Macedonian phalanx all on fire, and Alexander waiting on him, clad in the same
dress which he himself had been used to wear when he was courier to the late
king; after which, going into the temple of Belus, he vanished out of his
sight. The dream would appear to have supernaturally signified to him the
illustrious actions the Macedonians were to perform, and that as he, from a
courier's place, had risen to the throne, so Alexander should come to be
master of Asia, and not long surviving his conquests, conclude his life with
glory. Darius's confidence increased the more, because Alexander spent so much
time in Cilicia, which he imputed to his cowardice. But it was sickness that
detained him there, which some say he contracted from his fatigues, others
from bathing in the river Cydnus, whose waters were exceedingly cold. However
it happened, none of his physicians would venture to give him any remedies,
they thought his case so desperate, and were so afraid of the suspicions and
ill-will of the Macedonians if they should fail in the cure; till Philip, the
Acarnanian, seeing how critical his case was, but relying on his own well-known
friendship for him, resolved to try the last efforts of his art, and rather
hazard his own credit and life than suffer him to perish for want of physic,
which he confidently administered to him, encouraging him to take it boldly,
if he desired a speedy recovery, in order to prosecute the war. At this very
time, Parmenio wrote to Alexander from the camp, bidding him have a care of
Philip, as one who was bribed by Darius to kill him, with great sums of money,
and a promise of his daughter in marriage. When he had perused the letter, he
put it under his pillow, without showing it so much as to any of his most
intimate friends, and when Philip came in with the potion, he took it with
great cheerfulness and assurance, giving him meantime the letter to read. This
was a spectacle well worth being present at, to see Alexander take the draught
and Philip read the letter at the same time, and then turn and look upon one
another, but with different sentiments; for Alexander's looks were cheerful
and open, to show his kindness to and confidence in his physician, while the
other was full of surprise and alarm at the accusation, appealing to the gods
to witness his innocence, sometimes lifting up his hands to heaven, and then
throwing himself down by the bedside, and beseeching Alexander to lay aside
all fear, and follow his directions without apprehension. For the medicine at
first worked so strongly as to drive, so to say, the vital forces into the
interior; he lost his speech, and falling into a swoon, had scarce any sense
or pulse left. However in no long time, by Philip's means, his health and
strength returned, and he showed himself in public to the Macedonians, who
were in continual fear and dejection until they saw him abroad again.
There was at this time in Darius's army a Macedonian refugee, named Amyntas,
one who was pretty well acquainted with Alexander's character. This man, when
he saw Darius intended to fall upon the enemy in the passes and defiles,
advised him earnestly to keep where he was, in the open and extensive plains,
it being the advantage of a numerous army to have field-room enough when it
engaged with a lesser force. Darius, instead of taking his counsel, told him
he was afraid the enemy would endeavour to run away, and so Alexander would
escape out of his hands. "That fear," replied Amyntas, "is needless, for
assure yourself that far from avoiding you, he will make all the speed he can
to meet you, and is now most likely on his march toward you." But Amyntas's
counsel was to no purpose, for Darius immediately decamping, marched into
Cilicia at the same time that Alexander advanced into Syria to meet him; and
missing one another in the night, they both turned back again. Alexander,
greatly pleased with the event, made all the haste he could to fight in the
defiles, and Darius to recover his former ground, and draw his army out of so
disadvantageous a place. For now he began to perceive his error in engaging
himself too far in a country in which the sea, the mountains, and the river
Pinarus running through the midst of it, would necessitate him to divide his
forces, render his horse almost unserviceable, and only cover and support the
weakness of the enemy. Fortune was not kinder to Alexander in the choice of
the ground, than he was careful to improve it to his advantage. For being much
inferior in numbers, so far from allowing himself to be outflanked, he
stretched his right wing much further out than the left wing of his enemies,
and fighting there himself in the very foremost ranks, put the barbarians to
flight. In this battle he was wounded in the thigh, Chares says, by Darius,
with whom he fought hand-to-hand. But in the account which he gave Antipater
of the battle, though indeed he owns he was wounded in the thigh with a sword,
though not dangerously, yet he takes no notice who it was that wounded him.
Nothing was wanting to complete this victory, in which he overthrew above an
hundred and ten thousand of his enemies, but the taking the person of Darius,
who escaped very narrowly by flight. However, having taken his chariot and his
bow, he returned from pursuing him, and found his own men busy in pillaging
the barbarians' camp, which (though to disburden themselves they had left most
of their baggage at Damascus) was exceedingly rich. But Darius's tent, which
was full of splendid furniture and quantities of gold and silver, they
reserved for Alexander himself, who, after he had put off his arms, went to
bathe himself saying, "Let us now cleanse ourselves from the toils of war in
the bath of Darius." "Not so," replied one of his followers, "but in
Alexander's rather; for the property of the conquered is and should be called
the conqueror's." Here, when he beheld the bathing vessels, the water-pots,
the pans, and the ointment boxes, all of gold curiously wrought, and smelt the
fragrant odours with which the whole place was exquisitely perfumed, and from
thence passed into a pavilion of great size and height, where the couches and
tables and preparations for an entertainment were perfectly magnificent, he
turned to those about him and said, "This, it seems, is royalty."
But as he was going to supper, word was brought him that Darius's mother and
wife and two unmarried daughters, being taken among the rest of the prisoners,
upon the sight of his chariot and bow, were all in mourning and sorrow,
imagining him to be dead. After a little pause, more lively affected with
their affliction than with his own success, he sent Leonnatus to them, to let
them know Darius was not dead, and that they need not fear any harm from
Alexander, who made war upon him only for dominion; they should themselves be
provided with everything they had been used to receive from Darius. This kind
message could not but be very welcome to the captive ladies, especially being
made good by actions no less humane and generous. For he gave them leave to
bury whom they pleased of the Persians, and to make use for this purpose of
what garments and furniture they thought fit out of the booty. He diminished
nothing of their equipage, or of the attentions and respect formerly paid them,
and allowed larger pensions for their maintenance than they had before. But
the noblest and most royal part of their usage was, that he treated these
illustrious prisoners according to their virtue and character, not suffering
them to hear, or receive, or so much as to apprehend anything that was
unbecoming. So that they seemed rather lodged in some temple, or some holy
virgin chambers, where they enjoyed their privacy sacred and uninterrupted,
than in the camp of an enemy. Nevertheless Darius's wife was accounted the
most beautiful princess then living, as her husband the tallest and handsomest
man of his time, and the daughters were not unworthy of their parents. But
Alexander, esteeming it more kingly to govern himself than to conquer his
enemies, sought no intimacy with any one of them, nor indeed with any other
women before marriage, except Barsine, Memnon's widow, who was taken prisoner
at Damascus. She had been instructed in the Grecian learning, was of a gentle
temper, and by her father, Artabazus, royally descended, with good qualities,
added to the solicitations and encouragement of Parmenio, as Aristobulus tells
us, made him the more willing to attach himself to so agreeable and
illustrious a woman. Of the rest of the female captives, though remarkably
handsome and well proportioned, he took no further notice than to say
jestingly that Persian women were terrible eyesores. And he himself,
retaliating, as it were, by the display of the beauty of his own temperance
and self-control, bade them be removed, as he would have done so many lifeless
images. When Philoxenus, his lieutenant on the sea-coast, wrote to him to know
if he would buy two young boys of great beauty, whom one Theodorus, a
Tarentine, had to sell, he was so offended that he often expostulated with his
friends what baseness Philoxenus had ever observed in him that he should
presume to make him such a reproachful offer. And he immediately wrote him a
very sharp letter, telling him Theodorus and his merchandise might go with his
good-will to destruction. Nor was he less severe to Hagnon, who sent him word
he would buy a Corinthian youth named Crobylus, as a present for him. And
hearing that Damon and Timotheus, two of Parmenio's Macedonian soldiers, had
abused the wives of some strangers who were in his pay, he wrote to Parmenio,
charging him strictly, if he found them guilty, to put them to death, as wild
beasts that were only made for the mischief of mankind. In the same letter he
added, that he had not so much as seen or desired to see the wife of Darius,
nor suffered anybody to speak of her beauty before him. He was wont to say
that sleep and the act of generation chiefly made him sensible that he was
mortal; as much as to say, that weariness and pleasure proceed both from the
same frailty and imbecility of human nature.
In his diet, also, he was most temperate, as appears, omitting many other
circumstances, by what he said to Ada, whom he adopted, with the title of
mother, and afterwards created Queen of Caria. For when she, out of kindness,
sent him every day many curious dishes and sweetmeats, and would have
furnished him with some cooks and pastry-men, who were thought to have great
skill, he told her he wanted none of them, his preceptor, Leonidas, having
already given him the best, which were a night march to prepare for breakfast,
and a moderate breakfast to create an appetite for supper. Leonidas also, he
added, used to open and search the furniture of his chamber and his wardrobe,
to see if his mother had left him anything that was delicate or superfluous.
He was much less addicted to wine than was generally believed; that which gave
people occasion to think so of him was, that when he had nothing else to do,
he loved to sit long and talk, rather than drink, and over every cup hold a
long conversation. For when his affairs called upon him, he would not be
detained, as other generals often were, either by wine, or sleep, nuptial
solemnities, spectacles, or any other diversion whatsoever; a convincing
argument of which is, that in the short time he lived, he accomplished so many
and so great actions. When he was free from employment, after he was up, and
had sacrificed to the gods he used to sit down to breakfast, and then spend
the rest of the day in hunting, or writing memoirs, giving decisions on some
military questions, or reading. In marches that required no great haste, he
would practise shooting as he went along, or to mount a chariot and alight
from it in full speed. Sometimes, for sport's sake, as his journals tell us,
he would hunt foxes and go fowling. When he came in for the evening, after he
had bathed and was anointed, he would call for his bakers and chief cooks, to
know if they had his dinner ready. He never cared to dine till it was pretty
late and beginning to be dark, and was wonderfully circumspect at meals that
every one who sat with him should be served alike and with proper attention:
and his love of talking, as was said before, made him delight to sit long at
his wine. And then, though otherwise no prince's conversation was ever so
agreeable, he would fall into a temper of ostentation and soldierly boasting,
which gave his flatterers a great advantage to ride him, and made his better
friends very uneasy. For though they thought it too base to strive who should
flatter him most, yet they found it hazardous not to do it; so that between
the shame and the danger, they were in a great strait how to behave themselves.
After such an entertainment, he was wont to bathe, and then perhaps he would
sleep till noon, and sometimes all day long. He was so very temperate in his
eating, that when any rare fish or fruits were sent him, he would distribute
them among his friends, and often reserve nothing for himself. His table,
however, was always magnificent, the expense of it still increasing with his
good fortune, till it amounted to ten thousand drachmas a day, to which sum he
limited it, and beyond this he would suffer none to lay out in any
entertainment where he himself was the guest.
After the battle of Issus, he sent to Damascus to seize upon the money and
baggage, the wives and children, of the Persians, of which spoil the
Thessalian horsemen had the greatest share; for he had taken particular notice
of their gallantry in the fight, and sent them thither on purpose to make
their reward suitable to their courage. Not but that the rest of the army had
so considerable a part of the booty as was sufficient to enrich them all. This
first gave the Macedonians such a taste of the Persian wealth and women and
barbaric splendour of living, that they were ready to pursue and follow upon
it with all the eagerness of hounds upon a scent. But Alexander, before he
proceeded any further, thought it necessary to assure himself of the sea-coast.
Those who governed in Cyprus put that island into his possession, and
Phoenicia, Tyre only excepted, was surrendered to him. During the siege of
this city, which, with mounds of earth cast up, and battering engines, and two
hundred galleys by sea, was carried on for seven months together, he dreamt
that he saw Hercules upon the walls, reaching out his hands, and calling to
him. And many of the Tyrians in their sleep fancied that Apollo told them he
was displeased with their actions, and was about to leave them and go over to
Alexander. Upon which, as if the god had been a deserting soldier, they seized
him, so to say, in the act, tied down the statue with ropes, and nailed it to
the pedestal, reproaching him that he was a favourer of Alexander. Another
time Alexander dreamed he saw a satyr mocking him at a distance, and when he
endeavoured to catch him, he still escaped from him, till at last with much
perseverance, and running about after him, he got him into his power. The
soothsayers, making two words of Satyrus, assured him that Tyre should be his
own. The inhabitants at this time show a spring of water, near which they say
Alexander slept when he fancied the satyr appeared to him.
While the body of the army lay before Tyre, he made an excursion against the
Arabians who inhabit the Mount Antilibanus, in which he hazarded his life
extremely to bring off his master Lysimachus, who would needs go along with
him, declaring he was neither older nor inferior in courage to Phoenix,
Achilles's guardian. For when, quitting their horses, they began to march up
the hills on foot, the rest of the soldiers outwent them a great deal, so that
night drawing on, and the enemy near, Alexander was fain to stay behind so
long, to encourage and help up the lagging and tired old man, that before he
was aware he was left behind, a great way from his soldiers, with a slender
attendance, and forced to pass an extremely cold night in the dark, and in a
very inconvenient place; till seeing a great many scattered fires of the enemy
at some distance, and trusting to his agility of body, and as he was always
wont by undergoing toils and labours himself to cheer and support the
Macedonians in any distress, he ran straight to one of the nearest fires, and
with his dagger despatching two of the barbarians that sat by it, snatched up
a lighted brand, and returned with it to his own men. They immediately made a
great fire, which so alarmed the enemy that most of them fled, and those that
assaulted them were soon routed and thus they rested securely the remainder of
the night. Thus Chares writes.
But to return to the siege, it had this issue. Alexander, that he might
refresh his army, harassed with many former encounters, had led only a small
party towards the walls, rather to keep the enemy busy than with any prospect
of much advantage. It happened at this time that Aristander, the soothsayer,
after he had sacrificed, upon view of the entrails, affirmed confidently to
those who stood by that the city should be certainly taken that very month,
upon which there was a laugh and some mockery among the soldiers, as this was
the last day of it. The king, seeing him in perplexity, and always anxious to
support the credit of the predictions, gave order that they should not count
it as the thirtieth, but as the twenty-third of the month, and ordering the
trumpets to sound, attacked the walls more seriously than he at first intended.
The sharpness of the assault so inflamed the rest of his forces who were left
in the camp, that they could not hold from advancing to second it, which they
performed with so much vigour that the Tyrians retired, and the town was
carried that very day. The next place he sat down before was Gaza, one of the
largest cities of Syria, when this accident befell him. A large bird flying
over him let a clod of earth fall upon his shoulder, and then settling upon
one of the battering engines, was suddenly entangled and caught in the nets,
composed of sinews, which protected the ropes with which the machine was
managed. This fell out exactly according to Aristander's prediction, which was,
that Alexander should be wounded and the city reduced.
From hence he sent great part of the spoils to Olympias, Cleopatra, and the
rest of his friends, not omitting his preceptor Leonidas, on whom he bestowed
five hundred talents' weight of frankincense and an hundred of myrrh, in
remembrance of the hopes he had once expressed of him when he was but a child.
For Leonidas, it seems, standing by him one day while he was sacrificing, and
seeing him take both his hands full of incense to throw into the fire, told
him it became him to be more sparing in his offerings, and not to be so
profuse till he was master of the countries which those sweet gums and saying,
come from. So Alexander now wrote to him, saying, "We have sent you abundance
of myrrh and frankincense, that for the future you may not be stingy to the
gods." Among the treasures and other booty that was taken from Darius, there
was a very precious casket, which being brought to Alexander for a great
rarity, he asked those about him what they thought fittest to be laid up in it;
and when they had delivered their various opinions, he told them he should
keep Homer's Iliad in it. This is attested by many credible authors, and if
what those of Alexandria tell us, relying upon the authority of Heraclides, be
true, Homer was neither an idle nor an unprofitable companion to him in his
expedition. For when he was master of Egypt, designing to settle a colony of
Grecians there, he resolved to build a large and populous city, and give it
his own name. In order to which, after he had measured and staked out the
ground with the advice of the best architects, he chanced one night in his
sleep to see a wonderful vision; a grey-headed old man, of a venerable aspect,
appeared to stand by him, and pronounce these verses:-
"An island lies, where loud the billows roar,
Pharos they call it, on the Egyptian shore."
Alexander upon this immediately rose up and went to Pharos, which, at that
time, was an island lying a little above the Canobic mouth of the river Nile,
though it has now been joined to the mainland by a mole. As soon as he saw the
commodious situation of the place, it being a long neck of land, stretching
like an isthmus between large lagoons and shallow waters on one side and the
sea on the other, the latter at the end of it making a spacious harbour, he
said, Homer, besides his other excellences, was a very good architect, and
ordered the plan of a city to be drawn out answerable to the place. To do
which, for want of chalk, the soil being black, they laid out their lines with
flour, taking in a pretty large compass of ground in a semi-circular figure,
and drawing into the inside of the circumference equal straight lines from
each end, thus giving it something of the form of a cloak or cape; while he
was pleasing himself with his design, on a sudden an infinite number of great
birds of several kinds, rising like a black cloud out of the river and the
lake, devoured every morsel of the flour that had been used in setting out the
lines; at which omen even Alexander himself was troubled, till the augurs
restored his confidence again by telling him it was a sign the city he was
about to build would not only abound in all things within itself, but also be
the nurse and feeder of many nations. He commanded the workmen to proceed,
while he went to visit the temple of Ammon.
This was a long and painful, and, in two respects, a dangerous journey; first,
if they should lose their provision of water, as for several days none could
be obtained; and, secondly, if a violent south wind should rise upon them,
while they were travelling through the wide extent of deep sands, as it is
said to have done when Cambyses led his army that way, blowing the sand
together in heaps, and raising, as it were, the whole desert like a sea upon
them, till fifty thousand were swallowed up and destroyed by it. All these
difficulties were weighed and represented to him; but Alexander was not easily
to be diverted from anything he was bent upon. For fortune having hitherto
seconded him in his designs, made him resolute and firm in his opinions, and
the boldness of his temper raised a sort of passion in him for surmounting
difficulties; as if it were not enough to be always victorious in the field,
unless places and seasons and nature herself submitted to him. In this journey,
the relief and assistance the gods afforded him in his distresses were more
remarkable, and obtained greater belief than the oracles he received
afterwards, which, however, were valued and credited the more on account of
those occurrences. For first, plentiful rains that fell preserved them from
any fear of perishing by drought, and, allaying the extreme dryness of the
sand, which now became moist and firm to travel on, cleared and purified the
air. Besides this, when they were out of their way, and were wandering up and
down, because the marks which were wont to direct the guides were disordered
and lost, they were set right again by some ravens, which flew before them
when on their march, and waited for them when they lingered and fell behind;
and the greatest miracle, as Callisthenes tells us, was that if any of the
company went astray in the night, they never ceased croaking and making a
noise till by that means they had brought them into the right way again.
Having passed through the wilderness, they came to the place where the high
priest, at the first salutation, bade Alexander welcome from his father Ammon.
And being asked by him whether any of his father's murderers had escaped
punishment, he charged him to speak with more respect, since his was not a
mortal father. Then Alexander, changing his expression, desired to know of him
if any of those who murdered Philip were yet unpunished, and further
concerning dominion, whether the empire of the world was reserved for him?
This, the god answered, he should obtain, and that Philip's death was fully
revenged, which gave him so much satisfaction that he made splendid offerings
to Jupiter, and gave the priests very rich presents. This is what most authors
write concerning the oracles. But Alexander, in a letter to his mother, tells
her there were some secret answers, which at his return he would communicate
to her only. Others say that the priest, desirous as a piece of courtesy to
address him in Greek, "O Paidion," by a slip in pronunciation ended with the s
instead of the n, and said "O Paidios," which mistake Alexander was well
enough pleased with, and it went for current that the oracle had called him so.
Among the sayings of one Psammon, a philosopher, whom he heard in Egypt, he
most approved of this, that all men are governed by God, because in everything,
that which is chief and commands is divine. But what he pronounced himself
upon this subject was even more like a philosopher, for he said God was the
common father of us all, but more particularly of the best of us. To the
barbarians he carried himself very haughtily, as if he were fully persuaded of
his divine birth and parentage; but to the Grecians more moderately, and with
less affectation of divinity, except it were once in writing to the Athenians
about Samos, when he tells them that he should not himself have bestowed upon
them that free and glorious city; "You received it," he says, "from the bounty
of him who at that time was called my lord and father," meaning Philip.
However, afterwards being wounded with an arrow, and feeling much pain, he
turned to those about him, and told them, "This, my friends, is real flowing
blood, not Ichor-
"Such as immortal gods are wont to shed." And another time, when it thundered
so much that everybody was afraid, and Anaxarchus, the sophist, asked him if
he who was Jupiter's son could do anything like this, "Nay," said Alexander,
laughing, "I have no desire to be formidable to my friends, as you would have
me, who despised my table for being furnished with fish, and not with the
heads of governors of provinces." For in fact it is related as true, that
Anaxarchus, seeing a present of small fishes, which the king sent to
Hephaestion, had used this expression, in a sort of irony, and disparagement
of those who undergo vast labours and encounter great hazards in pursuit of
magnificent objects which after all bring them little more pleasure or
enjoyment than what others have. From what I have said upon this subject, it
is apparent that Alexander in himself was not foolishly affected, or had the
vanity to think himself really a god, but merely used his claims to divinity
as a means of maintaining among other people the sense of his superiority.
At his return out of Egypt into Phoenicia, he sacrificed and made solemn
processions, to which were added shows of lyric dances and tragedies,
remarkable not merely for the splendour of the equipage and decorations, but
for the competition among those who exhibited them. For the kings of Cyprus
were here the exhibitors, just in the same manner as at Athens those who are
chosen by lot out of the tribes. And, indeed, they showed the greatest
emulation to outvie each other; especially Nicocreon, King of Salamis, and
Pasicrates of Soli, who furnished the chorus, and defrayed the expenses of the
two most celebrated actors, Athenodorus and Thessalus, the former performing
for Pasicrates, and the latter for Nicocrean. Thessalus was most favoured by
Alexander, though it did not appear till Athenodorus was declared victor by
the plurality of votes. For then at his going away, he said the judges
deserved to be commended for what they had done, but that he would willingly
have lost part of his kingdom rather than to have seen Thessalus overcome.
However, when he understood Athenodorus was fined by the Athenians for being
absent at the festivals of Bacchus, though he refused his request that he
would write a letter in his behalf, he gave him a sufficient sum to satisfy
the penalty. Another time, when Lycon of Scarphia happened to act with great
applause in the theatre, and in a verse which he introduced into the comic
part which he was acting, begged for a present of ten talents, he laughed and
gave him the money.
Darius wrote him a letter, and sent friends to intercede with him, requesting
him to accept as a ransom of his captives the sum of a thousand talents, and
offering him in exchange for his amity and alliance all the countries on this
side the river Euphrates, together with one of his daughters in marriage.
These propositions he communicated to his friends, and when Parmenio told him
that, for his part, if he were Alexander, he should readily embrace them, "So
would I," said Alexander, "if I were Parmenio." Accordingly, his answer to
Darius was, that if he would come and yield himself up into his power he would
treat him with all possible kindness; if not, he was resolved immediately to
go himself and seek him. But the death of Darius's wife in childbirth made him
soon after regret one part of this answer, and he showed evident marks of
grief at thus deprived of a further opportunity of exercising his clemency and
good nature, which he manifested, however, as far as he could, by giving her a
most sumptuous funeral.
Among the eunuchs who waited in the queen's chamber, and were taken prisoners
with the women, there was one Tireus, who, getting out of the camp, fled away
on horseback to Darius, to inform him of his wife's death. He, when he heard
it, beating his head, and bursting into tears and lamentations, said, "Alas!
how great is the calamity of the Persians! Was it not enough that their king's
consort and sister was a prisoner in her lifetime, but she must, now she is
dead, also be but meanly and obscurely buried?" "O king," replied the eunuch,
"as to her funeral rites, or any respect or honour that should have been shown
in them, you have not the least reason to accuse the ill fortune of your
country; for to my knowledge neither your queen Statira when alive, nor your
mother, nor children, wanted anything of their former happy condition, unless
it were the light of your countenance, which I doubt not but the lord
Oromasdes will yet restore to its former glory. And after her decease, I
assure you, she had not only all due funeral ornaments, but was honoured also
with the tears of your very enemies; for Alexander is as gentle after victory
as he is terrible in the field." At the bearing of these words, such was the
grief and emotion of Darius's mind, that they carried him into extravagant
suspicions; and taking Tireus aside into a more private part of his tent, "Unless
thou likewise," said he to him, "hast deserted me, together with the good
fortune of Persia, and art become a Macedonian in thy heart; if thou yet
ownest me for thy master Darius, tell me, I charge thee, by the veneration
thou payest the light of Mithras, and this right hand of thy king, do I not
lament the least of Statira's misfortunes in her captivity and death? Have I
not suffered something more injurious and deplorable in her lifetime? And had
I not been miserable with less dishonour if I had met with a more severe and
inhuman enemy? For how is it possible a young man as he is should treat the
wife of his opponent with so much distinction, were it not from some motive
that does me disgrace?" Whilst he was yet speaking, Tireus threw himself at
his feet, and besought him neither to wrong Alexander so much, nor his dead
wife and sister, as to give utterance to any such thoughts, which deprived him
of the greatest consolation left him in his adversity, the belief that he was
overcome by a man whose virtues raised him above human nature; that he ought
to look upon Alexander with love and admiration, who had given no less proofs
of his continence towards the Persian women, than of his valour among the men.
The eunuch confirmed all he said with solemn and dreadful oaths, and was
further enlarging upon Alexander's moderation and magnanimity on other
occasions, when Darius, breaking away from him into the other division of the
tent, where his friends and courtiers were, lifted up his hands to heaven and
uttered this prayer, "Ye gods," said he, "of my family, and of my kingdom, if
it be possible, I beseech you to restore the declining affairs of Persia, that
I may leave them in as flourishing a condition as I found them, and have it in
my power to make a grateful return to Alexander for the kindness which in my
adversity he has shown to those who are dearest to me. But if, indeed, the
fatal time be come, which is to give a period to the Persian monarchy, if our
ruin be a debt that must be paid to the divine jealousy and the vicissitude of
things, then I beseech you grant that no other man but Alexander may sit upon
the throne of Cyrus." Such is the narrative given by the greater number of the
historians.
But to return to Alexander. After he had reduced all Asia on this side the
Euphrates, he advanced towards Darius, who was coming down against him with a
million of men. In his march a very ridiculous passage happened. The servants
who followed the camp for sport's sake divided themselves into two parties,
and named the commander of one of them Alexander, and the other Darius. At
first they only pelted one another with clods of earth, but presently took to
their fists, and at last, heated with contention, they fought in good earnest
with stones and clubs, so that they had much ado to part them; till Alexander,
upon hearing of it, ordered the two captains to decide the quarrel by single
combat, and armed him who bore his name himself, while Philotas did the same
to him who represented Darius. The whole army were spectators of this
encounter, willing from the event of it to derive an omen of their own future
success. After they had fought stoutly a pretty long while, at last he who was
called Alexander had the better, and for a reward of his prowess had twelve
villages given him, with leave to wear the Persian dress. So we are told by
Eratosthenes.
But the great battle of all that was fought with Darius was not, as most
writers tell us, at Arbela, but at Gaugamela, which, in their language,
signifies the camel's house, forasmuch as one of their ancient kings having
escaped the pursuit of his enemies on a swift camel, in gratitude to his beast,
settled him at this place, with an allowance of certain villages and rents for
his maintenance. It came to pass that in the month Boedromion, about the
beginning of the feast of Mysteries at Athens, there was an eclipse of the
moon, the eleventh night after which, the two armies being now in view of one
another, Darius kept his men in arms, and by torchlight took a general review
of them. But Alexander, while his soldiers slept, spent the night before his
tent with his diviner, Aristander, performing certain mysterious ceremonies,
and sacrificing to the god Fear. In the meanwhile the oldest of his commanders,
and chiefly Parmenio, when they beheld all the plain between Niphates and the
Gordyaean mountains shining with the lights and fires which were made by the
barbarians, and heard the uncertain and confused sounds of voices out of their
camp, like the distant roaring of a vast ocean, were so amazed at the thoughts
of such a multitude, that after some conference among themselves, they
concluded it an enterprise too difficult and hazardous for them to engage so
numerous an enemy in the day, and therefore meeting the king as he came from
sacrificing, besought him to attack Darius by night, that the darkness might
conceal the danger of the ensuing battle. To this he gave them the celebrated
answer, "I will not steal a victory," which though some at the time thought a
boyish and inconsiderate speech, as if he played with danger, others, however,
regarded as an evidence that he confided in his present condition, and acted
on a true judgment of the future, not wishing to leave Darius, in case he were
worsted, the pretext of trying his fortune again, which he might suppose
himself to have, if he could im
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