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Plutarch's Life of Alexander (c. 100 AD)
Translated by John Dryden (1676); revised by H.C. Clough (1864)
NOTE: below is only Alexander; the complete Plutarch, a 4.2 meg file, is at: ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext96/plivs10.txt
ALEXANDER
It being my purpose to write the lives of Alexander the king,
and of Caesar [omitted here]..., 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 endeavor 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 he 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 and the mystic fans, sometimes winding themselves
about the sacred spears, and the women's chaplets, made a spectacle
which the 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 honor, above all other
gods, to Ammon; and was told he should one day lose that eye with
which he presumed to peep through the 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 color, passing into ruddiness in
his face and upon his breast. Aristoxenus in his Memoirs tells
us that a most agreeable odor 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 adjust temperament of his body. For sweet smells,
Theophrastus conceives, are produced by the concoction of moist
humors 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 he 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 engraved 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 honor, 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 honorable 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 specially
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 Bucephalas 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 endeavored 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 hand, 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 on]y 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
endeavored 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 cerebrated 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 exercises, 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 preeminence, 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 awhile 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
offense, 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 Demartatus'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 dispatched Thessalus,
the tragic actor, into Caria, to dispose Pixodorus to slight Arrhidaeus,
both as 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 favorites, whom Alexander afterwards recalled, and
raised to great honor 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 buckle to any, to encourage all
to trample on him. In pursuit of this opinion, he reduced the
barbarians to tranquility, and put an end to all fear of war from
them, by a 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 favor, 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 offenses, but bade them to 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 after-time 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
answers 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 labor 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 harbor 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
honored 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 of 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 dispatched
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
Bucephalas, 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 the honor
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, in 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 favor, 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 favored 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 marketplace, after he had supped,
having drunk pretty plentifully, he went and danced about it,
and crowned it with garlands, honoring 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 corner-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 engages with a lesser force. Darius, instead of taking his
counsel, told him he was afraid the enemy would endeavor 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 towards 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 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 a 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 odors 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 livelily 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 woman 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, which
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 eye-sores. 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, no, 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 practice 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 everyone 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 splendor 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 hand, 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 favorer of Alexander. Another time, Alexander
dreamed he saw a Satyr mocking him at a distance, and when he
endeavored 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 he 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 labors himself to cheer and support
the Macedonians in any distress, he ran straight to one of the
nearest fires, and with his dagger dispatching 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 vigor, 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, where 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 a 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
be so profuse till he was master of the countries which those
sweet gums and spices came 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 main land
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 harbor, 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 semicircular 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 traveling
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
labors 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 splendor 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 Nicocreon.
Thessalus was most favored 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 theater, 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 being 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?" "Oh
king," replied the eunuch, "as to her funeral rites, or any respect
or honor 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 honored also with the tears of your very enemies;
for Alexander is as gentle after victory, as he is terrible in
the field." At the hearing 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 dishonor,
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 valor 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 of 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 the 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 sound 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 impute his overthrow to the disadvantage
of the night, as he did before to the mountains, the narrow passages,
and the sea. For while he had such numerous forces and large dominions
still remaining, it was not any want of men or arms that could
induce him to give up the war, but only the loss of all courage
and hope upon the conviction of an undeniable and manifest defeat.
After they were gone from him with this answer, he laid himself
down in his tent and slept the rest of the night more soundly
than was usual with him, to the astonishment of the commanders,
who came to him early in the morning, and were fain themselves
to give order that the soldiers should breakfast. But at last,
time not giving them leave to wait any longer, Parmenio went to
his bedside, and called him twice or thrice by his name, till
he waked him, and then asked him how it was possible, when he
was to fight the most important battle of all, he could sleep
as soundly as if he were already victorious. "And are we not so,
indeed," replied Alexander, smiling, "since we are at last relieved
from the trouble of wandering in pursuit of Darius through a wide
and wasted country, hoping in vain that he would fight us?" And
not only before the battle, but in the height of the danger, he
showed himself great, and manifested the self-possession of a
just foresight and confidence. For the battle for some time fluctuated
and was dubious. The left wing, where Parmenio commanded, was
so impetuously charged by the Bactrian horse that it was disordered
and forced to give ground, at the same time that Mazaeus had sent
a detachment round about to fall upon those who guarded the baggage,
which so disturbed Parmenio, that he sent messengers to acquaint
Alexander that the camp and baggage would be all lost unless he
immediately believed the rear by a considerable reinforcement
drawn out of the front. This message being brought him just as
he was giving the signal to those about him for the onset, he
bade them tell Parmenio that he must have surely lost the use
of his reason, and had forgotten, in his alarm, that soldiers,
if victorious, become masters of their enemies' baggage; and if
defeated, instead of taking care of their wealth or their slaves,
have nothing more to do but to fight gallantly and die with honor.
When he had said this, he put on his helmet, having the rest of
his arms on before he came out of his tent, which were coat of
the Sicilian make, girt close about him, and over that a breastpiece
of thickly quilted linen, which was taken among other booty at
the battle of Issus. The helmet, which was made by Theophilus,
though of iron, was so well wrought and polished, that it was
as bright as the most refined silver. To this was fitted a gorget
of the same metal, set with precious stones. His sword, which
was the weapon he most used in fight, was given him by the king
of the Citieans, and was of an admirable temper and lightness.
The belt which he also wore in all engagements, was of much richer
workmanship than the rest of his armor. It was a work of the ancient
Helicon, and had been presented to him by the Rhodians, as mark
of their respect to him. So long as he was engaged in drawing
up his men, or riding about to give orders or directions, or to
view them, he spared Bucephalas, who was now growing old, and
made use of another horse; but when he was actually to fight,
he sent for him again, and as soon as he was mounted, commenced
the attack.
He made the longest address that day to the Thessalians and other
Greeks, who answered him with loud shouts, desiring him to lead
them on against the barbarians, upon which he shifted his javelin
into his left hand, and with his right lifted up towards heaven,
besought the gods, as Callisthenes tells us, that if he was of
a truth the son of Jupiter, they would he pleased to assist and
strengthen the Grecians. At the same time the augur Aristander,
who had a white mantle about him, and a crown of gold on his head,
rode by and showed them an eagle that soared just over Alexander,
and directed his Right towards the enemy; which so animated the
beholders, that after mutual encouragements and exhortations,
the horse charged at full speed, and were followed in a mass by
the whole phalanx of the foot. But before they could well come
to blows with the first ranks, the barbarians shrunk back, and
were hotly pursued by Alexander, who drove those that fled before
him into the middle of the battle, where Darius himself was in
person, whom he saw from a distance over the foremost ranks, conspicuous
in the midst of his life-guard, a tall and fine-looking man, drawn
in a lofty chariot, defended by an abundance of the best horse,
who stood close in order about it, ready to receive the enemy.
But Alexander's approach was so terrible, forcing those who gave
back upon those who yet maintained their ground, that he beat
down and dispersed them almost all. Only a few of the bravest
and valiantest opposed the pursuit, who were slain in their king's
presence, falling in heaps upon one another, and in the very pangs
of death striving to catch hold of the horses. Darius now seeing
all was lost, that those who were placed in front to defend him
were broken and beat back upon him, that he could not turn or
disengage his chariot without great difficulty, the wheels being
clogged and entangled among the dead bodies, which lay in such
heaps as not only stopped, but almost covered the horses, and
made them rear and grow so unruly, that the frighted charioteer
could govern them no longer, in this extremity was glad to quit
his chariot and his arms, and mounting, it is said, upon a mare
that had been taken from her foal, betook himself to flight. But
he had not escaped so either, if Parmenio had not sent fresh messengers
to Alexander, to desire him to return and assist him against a
considerable body of the enemy which yet stood together, and would
not give ground. For, indeed, Parmenio is on all hands accused
of having been sluggish and unserviceable in this battle, whether
age had impaired his courage, or that, as Callisthenes says, he
secretly disliked and envied Alexander's growing greatness. Alexander,
though he was not a little vexed to be so recalled and hindered
from pursuing his victory, yet concealed the true reason from
his men, and causing a retreat to be sounded, as if it were too
late to continue the execution any longer, marched back towards
the place of danger, and by the way met with the news of the enemy's
total overthrow and flight.
This battle being thus over, seemed to put a period to the Persian
empire; and Alexander, who was now proclaimed king of Asia, returned
thanks to the gods in magnificent sacrifices, and rewarded his
friends and followers with great sums of money, and places, and
governments of provinces. And eager to gain honor with the Grecians,
he wrote to them that he would have all tyrannies abolished, that
they might live free according to their own laws, and specially
to the Plataeans, that their city should be rebuilt, because their
ancestors had permitted their countrymen of old to make their
territory the seat of the war, when they fought with the barbarians
for their common liberty. He sent also part of the spoils into
Italy, to the Crotoniats, to honor the zeal and courage of their
citizen Phayllus, the wrestler, who, in the Median war, when the
other Grecian colonies in Italy disowned Greece, that he might
have a share in the danger, joined the fleet at Salamis, with
a vessel set forth at his own charge. So affectionate was Alexander
to all kind of virtue, and so desirous to preserve the memory
of laudable actions.
From hence he marched through the province of Babylon, which immediately
submitted to him, and in Ecbatana was much surprised at the sight
of the place where fire issues in a continuous stream, like a
spring of water, out of a cleft in the earth, and the stream of
naphtha, which, not far from this spot, flows out so abundantly
as to form a sort of lake. This naphtha, in other respects resembling
bitumen, is so subject to take fire, that before it touches the
flame, it will kindle at the very light that surrounds it, and
often inflame the intermediate air also. The barbarians, to show
the power and nature of it, sprinkled the street that led to the
king's lodgings with little drops of it, and when it was almost
night, stood at the further end with torches, which being applied
to the moistened places, the first at once taking fire, instantly,
as quick as a man could think of it, it caught from one end to
another, in such a manner that the whole street was one continued
flame. Among those who used to wait on the king and find occasion
to amuse him when he anointed and washed himself, there was one
Athenophanes, an Athenian, who desired him to make an experiment
of the naphtha upon Stephanus, who stood by in the bathing place,
a youth with a ridiculously ugly face, whose talent was singing
well, "For," said he, "if it take hold of him and is not put out,
it must undeniably be allowed to be of the most invincible strength."
The youth, as it happened, readily consented to undergo the trial,
and as soon as he was anointed and rubbed with it, his whole body
broke out into such a flame, and was so seized by the fire, that
Alexander was in the greatest perplexity and alarm for him, and
not without reason; for nothing could have prevented his being
consumed by it, if by good chance there had not been people at
hand with a great many vessels of water for the service of the
bath, with all which they had much ado to extinguish the fire;
and his body was so burned all over, that he was not cured of
it a good while after. And thus it is not without some plausibility
that they endeavor to reconcile the fable to truth, who say this
was the drug in the tragedies with which Medea anointed the crown
and veil which she gave to Creon's daughter. For neither the things
themselves, nor the fire could kindle of its own accord, but being
prepared for it by the naphtha, they imperceptibly attracted and
caught a flame which happened to be brought near them. For the
rays and emanations of fire at a distance have no other effect
upon some bodies than bare light and heat, but in others, where
they meet with airy dryness, and also sufficient rich moisture,
they collect themselves and soon kindle and create a transformation.
The manner, however, of the production of naphtha admits of a
diversity of opinion on whether this liquid substance that feeds
the flame does not rather proceed from a soil that is unctuous
and productive of fire, as that of the province of Babylon is,
where the ground is so very hot, that oftentimes the grains of
barley leap up, and are thrown out, as if the violent inflammation
had made the earth throb; and in the extreme heats the inhabitants
are wont to sleep upon skins filled with water. Harpalus, who
was left governor of this country, and was desirous to adorn the
palace gardens and walks with Grecian plants, succeeded in raising
all but ivy, which the earth would not bear, but constantly killed.
For being a plant that loves a cold soil, the temper of this hot
and fiery earth was improper for it. But such digressions as these
the impatient reader will be more willing to pardon, if they are
kept within a moderate compass.
At the taking of Susa, Alexander found in the palace forty thousand
talents in money ready coined, besides an unspeakable quantity
of other furniture and treasure; amongst which was five thousand
talents' worth of Hermionian purple, that had been laid up there
a hundred and ninety years, and yet kept its color as fresh and
lively as at first. The reason of which, they say, is that in
dyeing the purple they made use of honey, and of white oil in
the white tincture, both which after the like space of time preserve
the clearness and brightness of their luster. Dinon also relates
that the Persian kings had water fetched from the Nile and the
Danube, which they laid up in their treasuries as a sort of testimony
of the greatness of their power and universal empire.
The entrance into Persia was through a most difficult country,
and was guarded by the noblest of the Persians, Darius himself
having escaped further. Alexander, however, chanced to find a
guide in exact correspondence with what the Pythia had foretold
when he was a child, that a lycus should conduct him into Persia.
For by such an one, whose father was a Lycian, and his mother
a Persian, and who spoke both languages, he was now led into the
country, by a way something about, yet without fetching any considerable
compass. Here a great many of the prisoners were put to the sword,
of which himself gives this account, that he commanded them to
be killed in the belief that it would be for his advantage. Nor
was the money found here less, he says, than at Susa, besides
other movables and treasure, as much as ten thousand pair of mules
and five thousand camels could well carry away. Amongst other
things he happened to observe a large statue of Xerxes thrown
carelessly down to the ground in the confusion made by the multitude
of soldiers pressing; into the palace. He stood still, and accosting
it as if it had been alive, "Shall we," said he, "neglectfully
pass thee by, now thou art prostrate on the ground, because thou
once invadedst Greece, or shall we erect thee again in consideration
of the greatness of thy mind and thy other virtues?" But at last,
after he had paused some time, and silently considered with himself,
he went on without taking any further notice of it. In this place
he took up his winter quarters, and stayed four months to refresh
his soldiers. It is related that the first time he sat on the
royal throne of Persia, under the canopy of gold, Demaratus, the
Corinthian, who was much attached to him and had been one of his
father's friends, wept, in an old man's manner, and deplored the
misfortune of those Creeks whom death had deprived of the satisfaction
of seeing Alexander seated on the throne of Darius.
From hence designing to march against Darius, before he set out,
he diverted himself with his officers at an entertainment of drinking
and other pastimes, and indulged so far as to let every one's
mistress sit by and drink with them. The most celebrated of them
was Thais, an Athenian, mistress of Ptolemy, who was afterwards
king of Egypt. She, partly as a sort of well-turned compliment
to Alexander, partly out of sport, as the drinking went on, at
last was carried so far as to utter a saying, not misbecoming
her native country's character, though somewhat too lofty for
her own condition. She said it was indeed some recompense for
the toils she had undergone in following the camp all over Asia,
that she was that day treated in, and could insult over, the stately
palace of the Persian monarchs. But, she added, it would please
her much better, if while the king looked on, she might in sport,
with her own hands, set fire to the court of that Xerxes who reduced
the city of Athens to ashes, that it might be recorded to posterity,
that the women who followed Alexander had taken a severer revenge
on the Persians for the sufferings and affronts of Greece, than
all the famed commanders had been able to do by sea or land. What
she said was received with such universal liking and murmurs of
applause, and so seconded by the encouragement and eagerness of
the company, that the king himself, persuaded to be of the party,
started from his seat, and with a chaplet of flowers on his head,
and a lighted torch in his hand, led them the way, while they
went after him in a riotous manner, dancing and making loud cries
about the place; which when the rest of the Macedonians perceived,
they also in great delight ran thither with torches; for they
hoped the burning and destruction of the royal palace was an argument
that he looked homeward, and had no design to reside among the
barbarians. Thus some writers give their account of this action,
while others say it was done deliberately; however, all agree
that he soon repented of it, and gave order to put out the fire.
Alexander was naturally most munificent, and grew more so as his
fortune increased, accompanying what he gave with that courtesy
and freedom, which, to speak truth, is necessary to make a benefit
really obliging. I will give a few instances of this kind. Ariston,
the captain of the Paeonians, having killed an enemy, brought
his head to show him, and told him that in his country, such a
present was recompensed with a cup of gold. "With an empty one,"
said Alexander, smiling, "but I drink to you in this, which I
give you full of wine." Another time, as one of the common soldier
was driving a mule laden with some of the king's treasure, the
beast grew tired, and the soldier took it upon his own back, and
began to march with it, till Alexander seeing the man so overcharged,
asked what was the matter; and when he was informed, just as he
was ready to lay down his burden for weariness, "Do not faint
now," said he to him, "but finish the journey, and carry what
you have there to your own tent for yourself." He was always more
displeased with those who would not accept of what he gave than
with those who begged of him. And therefore he wrote to Phocion,
that he would not own him for his friend any longer, if he refused
his presents. He had never given anything to Serapion, one of
the youths that played at ball with him, because he did not ask
of him, till one day, it coming to Serapion's turn to play, he
still threw the ball to others, and when the king asked him why
he did not direct it to him, "Because you do not ask for it,"
said he; which answer pleased him so, that he was very liberal
to him afterwards. One Proteas, a pleasant, jesting, drinking
fellow, having incurred his displeasure, got his friends to intercede
for him, and begged his pardon himself with tears, which at last
prevailed, and Alexander declared he was friends with him. "I
cannot believe it," said Proteas, "unless you first give me some
pledge of it." The king understood his meaning, and presently
ordered five talents to be given him. How magnificent he was in
enriching his friends, and those who attended on his person, appears
by a letter which Olympias wrote to him, where she tells him he
should reward and honor those about him in a more moderate way,
For now," said she, "you make them all equal to kings, you give
them power and opportunity of making many friends of their own,
and in the meantime you leave yourself destitute." She often wrote
to him to this purpose, and he never communicated her letters
to anybody, unless it were one which he opened when Hephaestion
was by, whom he permitted, as his custom was, to read it along
with him; but then as soon as he had done, he took off his ring,
and set the seal upon Hephaestion's lips. Mazaeus, who was the
most considerable man in Darius's court, had a son who was already
governor of a province. Alexander bestowed another upon him that
was better; he, however, modestly refused, and told him, instead
of one Darius, he went the way to make many Alexanders. To Parmenio
he gave Bagoas's house, in which he found a wardrobe of apparel
worth more than a thousand talents. He wrote to Antipater, commanding
him to keep a life-guard about him for the security of his person
against conspiracies. To his mother he sent many presents, but
would never suffer her to meddle with matters of state or war,
not indulging her busy temper, and when she fell out with him
upon this account, he bore her ill-humor very patiently. Nay more,
when he read a long letter from Antipater, full of accusations
against her, "Antipater," he said, "does not know that one tear
of a mother effaces a thousand such letters as these."
But when he perceived his favorites grow so luxurious and extravagant
in their way of living and expenses, that Hagnon, the Teian, wore
silver nails in his shoes, that Leonnatus employed several camels,
only to bring him powder out of Egypt to use when he wrestled,
and that Philotas had hunting nets a hundred furlongs in length,
that more used precious ointment than plain oil when they went
to bathe, and that they carried about servants everywhere with
them to rub them and wait upon them in their chambers, he reproved
them in gentle and reasonable terms, telling them he wondered
that they who had been engaged in so many signal battles did not
know by experience, that those who labor sleep more sweetly and
soundly than those who are labored for, and could fail to see
by comparing the Persians' manner of living with their own, that
it was the most abject and slavish condition to be voluptuous,
but the most noble arid royal to undergo pain and labor. He argued
with them further, how it was possible for anyone who pretended
to be a soldier, either to look well after his horse, or to keep
his armor bright and in good order, who thought it much to let
his hands be serviceable to what was nearest to him, his own body.
"Are you still to learn," said he, "that the end and perfection
of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those
whom we subdue?" And to strengthen his precepts by example, he
applied himself now more vigorously than ever to hunting and warlike
expeditions, embracing all opportunities of hardship and danger,
insomuch that a Lacedaemonian, who was there on an embassy to
him, and chanced to be by when he encountered with and mastered
a huge lion, told him he had fought gallantly with the beast,
which of the two should be king. Craterus caused a representation
to be made of this adventure, consisting of the lion and the dogs,
of the king engaged with the lion, and himself coming in to his
assistance, all expressed in figures of brass, some of which were
by Lysippus, and the rest by Leochares; and had it dedicated in
the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Alexander exposed his person to
danger in this manner, with the object both of inuring himself,
and inciting others to the performance of brave and virtuous actions.
But his followers, who were grown rich, and consequently proud,
longed to indulge themselves in pleasure and idleness, and were
weary of marches and expeditions, and at last went on so far as
to censure and speak ill of him. All which at first he bore very
patiently, saying, it became a king well to do good to others,
and be evil spoken of. Meantime, on the smallest occasions that
called for a show of kindness to his friends, there was every
indication on his part of tenderness and respect. Hearing Peucestes
was bitten by a bear, he wrote to him, that he took it unkindly
he should send others notice of it, and not make him acquainted
with it; "But now," said he, "since it is so, let me know how
you do, and whether any of your companions forsook you when you
were in danger, that I may punish them." He sent Hephaestion,
who was absent about some business, word how while they were fighting
for their diversion with an ichneumon, Craterus was by chance
run through both thighs with Perdiccas's javelin. And upon Peucestes's
recovery from a fit of sickness, he sent a letter of thanks to
his physician Alexippus. When Craterus was ill, he saw a vision
in his sleep, after which he offered sacrifices for his health,
and bade him to do so likewise. He wrote also to Pausanias, the
physician, who was about to purge Craterus with hellebore, partly
out of an anxious concern for him, and partly to give him a caution
how he used that medicine. He was so tender of his friends' reputation
that he imprisoned Ephialtes and Cissus, who brought him the first
news of Harpalus's flight and withdrawal from his service, as
if they had falsely accused him. When he sent the old and infirm
soldiers home, Eurylochus, a citizen of Aegae, got his name enrolled
among the sick, though he ailed nothing, which being discovered,
he confessed he was in love with a young woman named Telesippa,
and wanted to go along with her to the seaside. Alexander inquired
to whom the woman belonged, and being told she was a free courtesan,
"I will assist you," said he to Eurylochus, "in your amour, if
your mistress be to be gained either by presents or persuasions;
but we must use no other means, because she is free-born."
It is surprising to consider upon what slight occasions he would
write letters to serve his friends. As when he wrote one in which
he gave order to search for a youth that belonged to Seleucus,
who was run away into Cilicia; and in another, thanked and commended
Peucestes for apprehending Nicon, a servant of Craterus; and in
one to Megabyzus, concerning a slave that had taken sanctuary
in a temple, gave direction that he should not meddle with him
while he was there, but if he could entice him out by fair means,
then he gave him leave to seize him. It is reported of him that
when he first sat in judgment upon capital causes, he would lay
his hand upon one of his ears while the accuser spoke, to keep
it free and unprejudiced in behalf of the party accused. But afterwards
such a multitude of accusations were brought before him, and so
many proved true, that he lost his tenderness of heart, and gave
credit to those also that were false; and especially when anybody
spoke ill of him, he would be transported out of his reason, and
show himself cruel and inexorable, valuing his glory and reputation
beyond his life or kingdom.
He now, as we said, set forth to seek Darius, expecting he should
be put to the hazard of another battle, but heard he was taken
and secured by Bessus, upon which news he sent home the Thessalians,
and gave them a largess of two thousand talents over and above
the pay that was due to them. This long and painful pursuit of
Darius, for in eleven days he marched thirty-three hundred furlongs,
harassed his soldiers so that most of them were ready to give
it up, chiefly for want of water. While they were in this distress,
it happened that some Macedonians who had fetched water in skins
upon their mules from a river they had found out, came about noon
to the place where Alexander was, and seeing him almost choked
with thirst, presently filled a helmet and offered it him. He
asked them to whom they were carrying the water; they told him
to their children, adding, that if his life were but saved, it
was no matter for them, they should be able well enough to repair
that loss, though they all perished. Then he took the helmet into
his hands, and looking round about, when he saw all those who
were near him stretching their heads out and looking, earnestly
after the drink, he returned it again with thanks without tasting
a drop of it, "For," said he, "if I alone should drink, the rest
will be out of heart." The soldiers no sooner took notice of his
temperance and magnanimity upon this occasion, but they one and
all cried out to him to lead them forward boldly, and began whipping
on their horses. For whilst they had such a king, they said they
defied both weariness and thirst, and looked upon themselves to
be little less than immortal. But though they were all equally
cheerful and willing, yet not above threescore horse were able,
it is said, to keep up, and to fall in with Alexander upon the
enemy's camp, where they rode over abundance of gold and silver
that lay scattered about, and passing by a great many chariots
full of women that wandered here and there for want of drivers,
they endeavored to overtake the first of those that fled, in hopes
to meet with Darius among them. And at last, after much trouble,
they found him lying in a chariot, wounded all over with darts,
just at the point of death. However, he desired they would give
him some drink, and when he had drunk a little cold water, he
told Polystratus, who gave it him, that it had become the last
extremity of his ill fortune, to receive benefits and not be able
to return them. "But Alexander," said he, "whose kindness to my
mother, my wife, and my children I hope the gods will recompense,
will doubtless thank you for your humanity to me. Tell him, therefore,
in token of my acknowledgment, I give him this right hand," with
which words he took hold of Polystratus's hand and died. When
Alexander came up to them, he showed manifest tokens of sorrow,
and taking off his own cloak, threw it upon the body to cover
it. And sometime afterwards, when Bessus was taken, he ordered
him to be torn in pieces in this manner. They fastened him to
a couple of trees which were bound down so as to meet, and then
being let loose, with a great force returned to their places,
each of them carrying that part of the body along with it that
was tied to it. Darius's body was laid in state, and sent to his
mother with pomp suitable to his quality. His brother Exathres,
Alexander received into the number of his intimate friends.
And now with the flower of his army he marched into Hyrcania,
where he saw a large bay of an open sea, apparently not much less
than the Euxine, with water, however, sweeter than that of other
seas, but could learn nothing of certainty concerning it, further
than that in all probability it seemed to him to be an arm issuing
from the lake of Maeotis. However, the naturalists were better
informed of the truth, and had given an account of it many years
before Alexander's expedition; that of four gulfs which out of
the main sea enter into the continent, this, known indifferently
as the Caspian and as the Hyrcanian sea, is the most northern.
Here the barbarians, unexpectedly meeting with those who led Bucephalas,
took them prisoners, and carried the horse away with them, at
which Alexander was so much vexed, that he sent a herald to let
them know he would put them all to the sword, men, women, and
children, without mercy, if they did not restore him. But on their
doing so, and at the same time surrendering their cities into
his hands, he not only treated them kindly, but also paid a ramsom
for his horse to those who took him.
From hence he marched into Parthia, where not having much to do,
he first put on the barbaric dress, perhaps with the view of making
the work of civilizing them the easier, as nothing gains more
upon men than a conformity to their fashions and customs. Or it
may have been as a first trial, whether the Macedonians might
be brought to adore him, as the Persians did their kings, by accustoming
them by little and little to bear with the alteration of his rule
and course of life in other things. However, he followed not the
Median fashion, which was altogether foreign and uncouth, and
adopted neither the trousers nor the sleeved vest, nor the tiara
for the head, but taking a middle way between the Persian mode
and the Macedonian, so contrived his habit that it was not so
flaunting as the one, and yet more pompous and magnificent than
the other. At first he wore this habit only when he conversed
with the barbarians, or within doors, among his intimate friends
and companions, but afterwards he appeared in it abroad, when
he rode out, and at public audiences, a sight which the Macedonians
beheld with grief; but they so respected his other virtues and
good qualities, that they felt it reasonable in some things to
gratify his fancies and his passion of glory, in pursuit of which
he hazarded himself so far, that, besides his other adventures,
he had but lately been wounded in the leg by an arrow, which had
so shattered the shank-bone that splinters were taken out. And
on another occasion he received a violent blow with a stone upon
the nape of the neck, which dimmed his sight for a good while
afterwards. And yet all this could not hinder him from exposing
himself freely to any dangers, insomuch that he passed the river
Orexartes, which he took to be the Tanais, and putting the Scythians
to flight, followed them above a hundred furlongs, though suffering
all the time from a diarrhea.
Here many affirm that the Amazon came to give him a visit. So
Clitarchus, Polyclitus, Onesicritus, Antigenes, and Ister, tell
us. But Aristobulus and Chares, who held the office of reporter
of requests, Ptolemy and Anticlides, Philon the Theban, Philip
of Theangela, Hecataeus the Eretrian, Philip the Chalcidian, and
Duris the Samian, say it is wholly a fiction. And truly Alexander
himself seems to confirm the latter statement, for in a letter
in which he gives Antipater an account of all that happened, he
tells him that the king of Scythia offered him his daughter in
marriage, but makes no mention at all of the Amazon. And many
years after, when Onesicritus read this story in his fourth book
to Lysimachus, who then reigned, the king laughed quietly and
asked, "Where could I have been at that time?"
But it signifies little to Alexander whether this be credited
or no. Certain it is, that apprehending the Macedonians would
be weary of pursuing the war, he left the greater part of them
in their quarters; and having with him in Hyrcania the choice
of his men only, amounting to twenty thousand foot, and three
thousand horse, he spoke to them to this effect: That hitherto
the barbarians had seen them no otherwise than as it were in a
dream, and if they should think of returning when they had only
alarmed Asia, and not conquered it, their enemies would set upon
them as upon so many women. However, he told them he would keep
none of them with him against their will, they might go if they
pleased; he should merely enter his protest, that when on his
way to make the Macedonians the masters of the world, he was left
alone with a few friends and volunteers. This is almost word for
word, as he wrote in a letter to Antipater, where he adds, that
when he had thus spoken to them, they all cried out, they would
go along with him whithersoever it was his pleasure to lead them.
After succeeding with these, it was no hard matter for him to
bring over the multitude, which easily followed the example of
their betters. Now, also, he more and more accommodated himself
in his way of living to that of the natives, and tried to bring
them, also, as near as he could to the Macedonian customs, wisely
considering that whilst he was engaged in an expedition which
would carry him far from thence, it would be wiser to depend upon
the goodwill which might arise from intermixture and association
as a means of maintaining tranquillity, than upon force and compulsion.
In order to this, he chose out thirty thousand boys, whom he put
under masters to teach them the Greek tongue, and to train them
up to arms in the Macedonian discipline. As for his marriage with
Roxana, whose youthfulness and beauty had charmed him at a drinking
entertainment, where he first happened to see her, taking part
in a dance, it was, indeed, a love affair, yet it seemed at the
same time to be conducive to the object he had in hand. For it
gratified the conquered people to see him choose a wife from among
themselves, and it made them feel the most lively affection for
him, to find that in the only passion which he, the most temperate
of men, was overcome by, he yet forbore till he could obtain her
in a lawful and honorable way.
Noticing, also, that among his chief friends and favorites, Hephaestion
most approved all that he did, and complied with and imitated
him in his change of habits, while Craterus continued strict in
the observation of the customs and fashions of his own country,
he made it his practice to employ the first in all transactions
with the Persians, and the latter when he had to do with the Greeks
or Macedonians. And in general he showed more affection for Hephaestion,
and more respect for Craterus; Hephaestion, as he used to say,
being Alexander's, and Craterus the king's friend. And so these
two friends always bore in secret a grudge to each other, and
at times quarreled openly, so much so, that once in India they
drew upon one another, and were proceeding in good earnest, with
their friends on each side to second them, when Alexander rode
up and publicly reproved Hephaestion, calling him fool and madman,
not to be sensible that without his favor he was nothing. He rebuked
Craterus, also, in private, severely, and then causing them both
to come into his presence, he reconciled them, at the same time
swearing by Ammon and the rest of the gods, that he loved them
two above all other men, but if ever he perceived them fall out
again he would be sure to put both of them to death, or at least
the aggressor. After which they neither ever did or said anything,
so much as in jest, to offend one another.
There was scarcely anyone who had greater repute among the Macedonians
than Philotas, the son of Parmenio. For besides that he was valiant
and able to endure any fatigue of war, he was also next to Alexander
himself the most munificent, and the greatest lover of his friends,
one of whom asking him for some money, he commanded his steward
to give it him; and when he told him he had not wherewith, "Have
you not any plate then," said he, "or any clothes of mine to sell?"
But he carried his arrogance and his pride of wealth and his habits
of display and luxury to a degree of assumption unbecoming a private
man, and affecting all the loftiness without succeeding in showing
any of the grace or gentleness of true greatness, by this mistaken
and spurious majesty he gained so much envy and ill-will, that
Parmenio would sometimes tell him, "My son, to be not quite so
great would be better." For he had long before been complained
of, and accused to Alexander. Particularly when Darius was defea |
