The CDPD Public Domain Collection for CDTV 3/CDPDIII.bin/books/plutarch/alexander

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                                      75 AD
                                   ALEXANDER
                                  356-323 B.C.
                                  by Plutarch
                           translated by John Dryden
ALEXANDER

  IT being my purpose to write the lives of Alexander the king, and of
Caesar, by whom Pompey was destroyed, the multitude of their great
actions affords so large a field that I were to blame if I should
not by way of apology forewarn my reader that I have chosen rather
to epitomize the most celebrated parts of their story, than to
insist at large on every particular circumstance of it. It must be
borne in mind that my design is not to write histories, but lives. And
the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the
clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of
less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their
characters and inclinations, than the most famous sieges, the greatest
armaments, or the bloodiest battles whatsoever. Therefore as
portrait-painters are more exact in the lines and features of the
face, in which the character is seen, than in the other parts of the
body, so I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the
marks and indications of the souls of men, and while I endeavour by
these to portray their lives, may be free to leave more weighty
matters and great battles to be treated of by others.
  It is agreed on by all hands, that on the father's side, Alexander
descended from Hercules by Caranus, and from Aeacus by Neoptolemus
on the mother's side. His father Philip, being in Samothrace, when
he was quite young, fell in love there with Olympias, in company
with whom he was initiated in the religious ceremonies of the country,
and her father and mother being both dead, soon after, with the
consent of her brother, Arymbas, he married her. The night before
the consummation of their marriage, she dreamed that a thunderbolt
fell upon her body, which kindled a great fire, whose divided flames
dispersed themselves all about, and then were extinguished. And
Philip, some time after he was married, dreamt that he sealed up his
wife's body with a seal, whose impression, as be fancied, was the
figure of a lion. Some of the diviners interpreted this as a warning
to Philip to look narrowly to his wife; but Aristander of Telmessus,
considering how unusual it was to seal up anything that was empty,
assured him the meaning of his dream was that the queen was with child
of a boy, who would one day prove as stout and courageous as a lion.
Once, moreover, a serpent was found lying by Olympias as she slept,
which more than anything else, it is said, abated Philip's passion for
her; and whether he feared her as an enchantress, or thought she had
commerce with some god, and so looked on himself as excluded, he was
ever after less fond of her conversation. Others say, that the women
of this country having always been extremely addicted to the
enthusiastic Orphic rites, and the wild worship of Bacchus (upon which
account they were called Clodones, and Mimallones), imitated in many
things the practices of the Edonian and Thracian women about Mount
Haemus, from whom the word threskeuein seems to have been derived,
as a special term for superfluous and over-curious forms of adoration;
and that Olympias, zealously, affecting these fanatical and
enthusiastic inspirations, to perform them with more barbaric dread,
was wont in the dances proper to these ceremonies to have great tame
serpents about her, which sometimes creeping out of the ivy in the
mystic fans, sometimes winding themselves about the sacred spears, and
the women's chaplets, made a spectacle which men could not look upon
without terror.
  Philip, after this vision, sent Chaeron of Megalopolis to consult
the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, by which he was commanded to perform
sacrifice, and henceforth pay particular honour, above all other gods,
to Ammon; and was told he should one day lose that eye with which he
presumed to peep through that chink of the door, when he saw the
god, under the form of a serpent, in the company of his wife.
Eratosthenes says that Olympias, when she attended Alexander on his
way to the army in his first expedition, told him the secret of his
birth, and bade him behave himself with courage suitable to his divine
extraction. Others again affirm that she wholly disclaimed any
pretensions of the kind, and was wont to say, "When will Alexander
leave off slandering me to Juno?"
  Alexander was born the sixth of Hecatombaeon, which month the
Macedonians call Lous, the same day that the temple of Diana at
Ephesus was burnt; which Hegesias of Magnesia makes the occasion of
a conceit, frigid enough to have stopped the conflagration. The
temple, he says, took fire and was burnt while its mistress was
absent, assisting at the birth of Alexander. And all the Eastern
soothsayers who happened to be then at Ephesus, looking upon the
ruin of this temple to be the forerunner of some other calamity, ran
about the town, beating their faces, and crying that this day had
brought forth something that would prove fatal and destructive to
all Asia.
  Just after Philip had taken Potidaea, he received these three
messages at one time, that Parmenio had overthrown the Illyrians in
a great battle, that his race-horse had won the course at the
Olympic games, and that his wife had given birth to Alexander; with
which being naturally well pleased, as an addition to his
satisfaction, he was assured by the diviners that a son, whose birth
was accompanied with three such successes, could not fail of being
invincible.
  The statues that gave the best representation of Alexander's
person were those of Lysippus (by whom alone he would suffer his image
to be made), those peculiarities which many of his successors
afterwards and his friends used to affect to imitate, the
inclination of his head a little on one side towards his left
shoulder, and his melting eye, having been expressed by this artist
with great exactness. But Apelles, who drew him with thunderbolts in
his hand, made his complexion browner and darker than it was
naturally; for he was fair and of a light colour, passing into
ruddiness in his face and upon his breast. Aristoxenus in his
Memoirs tells us that a most agreeable odour exhaled from his skin,
and that his breath and body all over was so fragrant as to perfume
the clothes which he wore next him; the cause of which might
probably be the hot and adust temperament of his body. For sweet
smells, Theophrastus conceives, are produced by the concoction of
moist humours by heat, which is the reason that those parts of the
world which are driest and most burnt up afford spices of the best
kind and in the greatest quantity; for the heat of the sun exhausts
all the superfluous moisture which lies in the surface of bodies,
ready to generate putrefaction. And this hot constitution, it may
be, rendered Alexander so addicted to drinking, and so choleric. His
temperance, as to the pleasures of the body, was apparent in him in
his very childhood, as he was with much difficulty incited to them,
and always used them with great moderation; though in other things
be was extremely eager and vehement, and in his love of glory, and the
pursuit of it, he showed a solidity of high spirit and magnanimity far
above his age. For he neither sought nor valued it upon every
occasion, as his father Philip did (who affected to show his eloquence
almost to a degree of pedantry, and took care to have the victories of
his racing chariots at the Olympic games engraven on his coin), but
when he was asked by some about him, whether he would run a race in
the Olympic games, as he was very swift-footed, he answered, he would,
if he might have kings to run with him. Indeed, he seems in general to
have looked with indifference, if not with dislike, upon the professed
athletes. He often appointed prizes, for which not only tragedians and
musicians, pipers and harpers, but rhapsodists also, strove to
outvie one another; and delighted in all manner of hunting and
cudgel-playing, but never gave any encouragement to contests either of
boxing or of the pancratium.
  While he was yet very young, he entertained the ambassadors from the
King of Persia, in the absence of his father, and entering much into
conversation with them, gained so much upon them by his affability,
and the questions he asked them, which were far from being childish or
trifling (for he inquired of them the length of the ways, the nature
of the road into inner Asia, the character of their king, how he
carried himself to his enemies, and what forces he was able to bring
into the field), that they were struck with admiration of him, and
looked upon the ability so much famed of Philip to be nothing in
comparison with the forwardness and high purpose that appeared thus
early in his son. Whenever he heard Philip had taken any town of
importance, or won any signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it
altogether, he would tell his companions that his father would
anticipate everything, and leave him and them no opportunities of
performing great and illustrious actions. For being more bent upon
action and glory than either upon pleasure or riches, he esteemed
all that he should receive from his father as a diminution and
prevention of his own future achievements; and would have chosen
rather to succeed to a kingdom involved in troubles and wars, which
would have afforded him frequent exercise of his courage, and a
large field of honour, than to one already flourishing and settled,
where his inheritance would be an inactive life, and the mere
enjoyment of wealth and luxury.
  The care of his education, as it might be presumed, was committed to
a great many attendants, preceptors, and teachers, over the whole of
whom Leonidas, a near kinsman of Olympias, a man of an austere temper,
presided, who did not indeed himself decline the name of what in
reality is a noble and honourable office, but in general his
dignity, and his near relationship, obtained him from other people the
title of Alexander's foster-father and governor. But he who took
upon him the actual place and style of his pedagogue was Lysimachus
the Acarnanian, who, though he had nothing to recommend him, but his
lucky fancy of calling himself Phoenix, Alexander Achilles and
Philip Peleus, was therefore well enough esteemed, and ranked in the
next degree after Leonidas.
  Philonicus the Thessalian brought the horse Bucephalus to Philip,
offering to sell him for thirteen talents; but when they went into the
field to try him, they found him so very vicious and unmanageable,
that he reared up when they endeavoured to mount him, and would not so
much as endure the voice of any of Philip's attendants. Upon which, as
they were leading him away as wholly useless and untractable,
Alexander, who stood by, said, "What an excellent horse do they lose
for want of address and boldness to manage him!" Philip at first
took no notice of what he said; but when he heard him repeat the
same thing several times, and saw he was much vexed to see the horse
sent away, "Do you reproach," said he to him, "those who are older
than yourself, as if you knew more, and were better able to manage him
than they?" "I could manage this horse," replied he, "better than
others do." "And if you do not," said Philip, "what will you forfeit
for your rashness?" "I will pay," answered Alexander, "the whole price
of the horse." At this the whole company fell a-laughing; and as
soon as the wager was settled amongst them, he immediately ran to
the horse, and taking hold of the bridle, turned him directly
towards the sun, having, it seems, observed that he was disturbed at
and afraid of the motion of his own shadow; then letting him go
forward a little, still keeping the reins in his hands, and stroking
him gently when he found him begin to grow eager and fiery, he let
fall his upper garment softly, and with one nimble leap securely
mounted him, and when he was seated, by little and little drew in
the bridle, and curbed him without either striking or spurring him.
Presently, when he found him free from all rebelliousness, and only
impatient for the course, he let him go at full speed, inciting him
now with a commanding voice, and urging him also with his heel. Philip
and his friends looked on at first in silence and anxiety for the
result, till seeing him turn at the end of his career, and come back
rejoicing and triumphing for what he had performed, they all burst out
into acclamations of applause; and his father shedding tears, it is
said, for joy, kissed him as he came down from his horse, and in his
transport said, "O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy
of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee."
  After this, considering him to be of a temper easy to be led to
his duty by reason, but by no means to be compelled, he always
endeavoured to persuade rather than to command or force him to
anything; and now looking upon the instruction and tuition of his
youth to be of greater difficulty and importance than to be wholly
trusted to the ordinary masters in music and poetry, and the common
school subjects, and to require, as Sophocles says-

         "The bridle and the rudder too,"

he sent for Aristotle, the most learned and most celebrated
philosopher of his time, and rewarded him with a munificence
proportionable to and becoming the care he took to instruct his son.
For he repeopled his native city Stagira, which he had caused to be
demolished a little before, and restored all the citizens, who were in
exile or slavery, to their habitations. As a place for the pursuit
of their studies and exercise, he assigned the temple of the Nymphs,
near Mieza, where, to this very day, they show you Aristotle's stone
seats, and the shady walks which he was wont to frequent. It would
appear that Alexander received from him not only his doctrines of
Morals and of Politics, but also something of those more abstruse
and profound theories which these philosophers, by the very names they
gave them, professed to reserve for oral communication to the
initiated, and did not allow many to become acquainted with. For
when he was in Asia, and heard Aristotle had published some
treatises of that kind, he wrote to him, using very plain language
to him in behalf of philosophy, the following letter. "Alexander to
Aristotle, greeting. You have not done well to publish your books of
oral doctrine; for what is there now that we excel others in, if those
things which we have been particularly instructed in be laid open to
all? For my part, I assure you, I had rather excel others in the
knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and
dominion. Farewell." And Aristotle, soothing this passion for
pre-eminence, speaks, in his excuse for himself, of these doctrines as
in fact both published and not published: as indeed, to say the truth,
his books on metaphysics are written in a style which makes them
useless for ordinary teaching, and instructive only, in the way of
memoranda, for those who have been already conversant in that sort
of learning.
  Doubtless also it was to Aristotle that he owed the inclination he
had, not to the theory only, but likewise to the practice of the art
of medicine. For when any of his friends were sick, he would often
prescribe them their course of diet, and medicines proper to their
disease, as we may find in his epistles. He was naturally a great
lover of all kinds of learning and reading; and Onesicritus informs us
that he constantly laid Homer's Iliads, according to the copy
corrected by Aristotle, called the casket copy, with his dagger
under his pillow, declaring that he esteemed it a perfect portable
treasure of all military virtue and knowledge. When he was in the
upper Asia, being destitute of other books, he ordered Harpalus to
send him some; who furnished him with Philistus's History, a great
many of the plays of Euripides, Sophocles, and Aeschylus, and some
dithyrambic odes, composed by Telestes and Philoxenus. For a while
he loved and cherished Aristotle no less, as he was wont to say
himself, than if he had been his father, giving this reason for it,
that as he had received life from the one, so the other had taught him
to live well. But afterwards, upon some mistrust of him, yet not so
great as to make him do him any hurt, his familiarity and friendly
kindness to him abated so much of its former force and
affectionateness, as to make it evident he was alienated from him.
However, his violent thirst after and passion for learning, which were
once implanted, still grew up with him, and never decayed; as
appears by his veneration of Anaxarchus, by the present of fifty
talents which he sent to Xenocrates, and his particular care and
esteem of Dandamis and Calanus.
  While Philip went on his expedition against the Byzantines, he
left Alexander, then sixteen years old, his lieutenant in Macedonia,
committing the charge of his seal to him; who, not to sit idle,
reduced the rebellious Maedi, and having taken their chief town by
storm, drove out the barbarous inhabitants, and planting a colony of
several nations in their room, called the place after his own name,
Alexandropolis. At the battle of Chaeronea, which his father fought
against the Grecians, he is said to have been the first man that
charged the Thebans' sacred band. And even in my remembrance, there
stood an old oak near the river Cephisus, which people called
Alexander's oak, because his tent was pitched under it. And not far
off are to be seen the graves of the Macedonians who fell in that
battle. This early bravery made Philip so fond of him, that nothing
pleased him more than to hear his subjects call himself their
general and Alexander their king.
  But the disorders of his family, chiefly caused by his new marriages
and attachments (the troubles that began in the women's chambers
spreading, so to say, to the whole kingdom), raised various complaints
and differences between them, which the violence of Olympias, a
woman of a jealous and implacable temper, made wider, by
exasperating Alexander against his father. Among the rest, this
accident contributed most to their falling out. At the wedding of
Cleopatra, whom Philip fell in love with and married, she being much
too young for him, her uncle Attalus in his drink desired the
Macedonians would implore the gods to give them a lawful successor
to the kingdom by his niece. This so irritated Alexander, that
throwing one of the cups at his head, "You villain," said he, "what,
am I then a bastard?" Then Philip, taking Attalus's part, rose up
and would have run his son through; but by good fortune for them both,
either his over-hasty rage, or the wine he had drunk, made his foot
slip, so that he fell down on the floor. At which Alexander
reproachfully insulted over him: "See there," said he, "the man who
makes preparations to pass out of Europe into Asia, overturned in
passing from one seat to another." After this debauch, he and his
mother Olympias withdrew from Philip's company, and when he had placed
her in Epirus, he himself retired into Illyria.
  About this time, Demaratus the Corinthian, an old friend of the
family, who had the freedom to say anything among them without
offence, coming to visit Philip, after the first compliments and
embraces were over, Philip asked him whether the Grecians were at
amity with one another. "It ill becomes you," replied Demaratus, "to
be so solicitous about Greece, when you have involved your own house
in so many dissensions and calamities." He was so convinced by this
seasonable reproach, that he immediately sent for his son home, and by
Demaratus's mediation prevailed with him to return. But this
reconciliation lasted not long; for when Pixodorus, viceroy of
Caria, sent Aristocritus to treat for a match between his eldest
daughter and Philip's son, Arrhidaeus, hoping by this alliance to
secure his assistance upon occasion, Alexander's mother, and some
who pretended to be his friends, presently filled his head with
tales and calumnies, as if Philip, by a splendid marriage and
important alliance, were preparing the way for settling the kingdom
upon Arrhidaeus. In alarm at this, he despatched Thessalus, the tragic
actor, into Caria, to dispose Pixodorus to slight Arrhidaeus, both
illegitimate and a fool, and rather to accept of himself for his
son-in-law. This proposition was much more agreeable to Pixodorus than
the former. But Philip, as soon as he was made acquainted with this
transaction, went to his son's apartment, taking with him Philotas,
the son of Parmenio, one of Alexander's intimate friends and
companions, and there reproved him severely, and reproached him
bitterly, that he should be so degenerate, and unworthy of the power
he was to leave him, as to desire the alliance of a mean Carian, who
was at best but the slave of a barbarous prince. Nor did this
satisfy his resentment, for he wrote to the Corinthians to send
Thessalus to him in chains, and banished Harpalus, Nearchus, Erigyius,
and Ptolemy, his son's friends and favourites, whom Alexander
afterwards recalled and raised to great honour and preferment.
  Not long after this, Pausanias, having had an outrage done to him at
the instance of Attalus and Cleopatra, when he found he could get no
reparation for his disgrace at Philip's hands, watched his opportunity
and murdered him. The guilt of which fact was laid for the most part
upon Olympias, who was said to have encouraged and exasperated the
enraged youth to revenge; and some sort of suspicion attached even
to Alexander himself, who, it was said, when Pausanias came and
complained to him of the injury he had received, repeated the verse
out of Euripides's Medea-

         "On husband, and on father, and on bride."

However, he took care to find out and punish the accomplices of the
conspiracy severely, and was very angry with Olympias for treating
Cleopatra inhumanly in his absence.
  Alexander was but twenty years old when his father was murdered, and
succeeded to a kingdom, beset on all sides with great dangers and
rancorous enemies. For not only the barbarous nations that bordered on
Macedonia were impatient of being governed by any but their own native
princes, but Philip likewise, though he had been victorious over the
Grecians, yet, as the time had not been sufficient for him to complete
his conquest and accustom them to his sway, had simply left all things
in a general disorder and confusion. It seemed to the Macedonians a
very critical time; and some would have persuaded Alexander to give up
all thought of retaining the Grecians in subjection by force of
arms, and rather to apply himself to win back by gentle means the
allegiance of the tribes who were designing revolt, and try the effect
of indulgence in arresting the first motions towards revolution. But
he rejected this counsel as weak and timorous, and looked upon it to
be more prudence to secure himself by resolution and magnanimity,
than, by seeming to truckle to any, to encourage all to trample on
him. In pursuit of this opinion, he reduced the barbarians to
tranquillity, and put an end to all fear of war from them, he gave
rapid expedition into their country as far as the river Danube,
where he gave Syrmus, King of the Triballians, an entire overthrow.
And hearing the Thebans were in revolt, and the Athenians in
correspondence with them, he immediately marched through the pass of
Thermopylae, saying that to Demosthenes, who had called him a child
while he was in Illyria and in the country of the Triballians, and a
youth when he was in Thessaly, he would appear a man before the
walls of Athens.
  When he came to Thebes, to show how willing he was to accept of
their repentance for what was past, he only demanded of them Phoenix
and Prothytes, the authors of the rebellion, and proclaimed a
general pardon to those who would come over to him. But when the
Thebans merely retorted by demanding Philotas and Antipater to be
delivered into their hands, and by a proclamation on their part
invited all who would assert the liberty of Greece to come over to
them, he presently applied himself to make them feel the last
extremities of war. The Thebans indeed defended themselves with a zeal
and courage beyond their strength, being much outnumbered by their
enemies. But when the Macedonian garrison sallied out upon them from
the citadel, they were so hemmed in on all sides that the greater part
of them fell in the battle; the city itself being taken by storm,
was sacked and razed. Alexander's hope being that so severe an example
might terrify the rest of Greece into obedience, and also in order
to gratify the hostility of his confederates, the Phocians and
Plataeans. So that, except the priests, and some few who had
heretofore been the friends and connections of the Macedonians, the
family of the poet Pindar, and those who were known to have opposed
the public vote for the war, all the rest, to the number of thirty
thousand, were publicly sold for slaves; and it is computed that
upwards of six thousand were put to the sword.
  Among the other calamities that befell the city, it happened that
some Thracian soldiers, having broken into the house of a matron of
high character and repute, named Timoclea, their captain, after he had
used violence with her, to satisfy his avarice as well as lust,
asked her, if she knew of any money concealed; to which she readily
answered she did, and bade him follow her into a garden, where she
showed him a well, into which, she told him, upon the taking of the
city, she had thrown what she had of most value. The greedy Thracian
presently stooping down to view the place where he thought the
treasure lay, she came behind him and pushed him into the well, and
then flung great stones in upon him, till she had killed him. After
which, when the soldiers led her away bound to Alexander, her very
mien and gait showed her to be a woman of dignity, and of a mind no
less elevated, not betraying the least sign of fear or astonishment.
And when the king asked her who she was, "I am," said she, "the sister
of Theagenes, who fought the battle of Chaeronea with your father
Philip, and fell there in command for the liberty of Greece."
Alexander was so surprised, both at what she had done and what she
said, that he could not choose but give her and her children their
freedom to go whither they pleased.
  After this he received the Athenians into favour, although they
had shown themselves so much concerned at the calamity of Thebes
that out of sorrow they omitted the celebration of the Mysteries,
and entertained those who escaped with all possible humanity.
Whether it were, like the lion, that his passion was now satisfied, or
that, after an example of extreme cruelty, he had a mind to appear
merciful, it happened well for the Athenians; for he not only
forgave them all past offences, but bade them look to their affairs
with vigilance, remembering that if he should miscarry, they were
likely to be the arbiters of Greece. Certain it is, too, that in
aftertime he often repented of his severity to the Thebans, and his
remorse had such influence on his temper as to make him ever after
less rigorous to all others. He imputed also the murder of Clitus,
which he committed in his wine, and the unwillingness of the
Macedonians to follow him against the Indians, by which his enterprise
and glory was left imperfect, to the wrath and vengeance of Bacchus,
the protector of Thebes. And it was observed that whatsoever any
Theban, who had the good fortune to survive this victory, asked of
him, he was sure to grant without the least difficulty.
  Soon after, the Grecians, being assembled at the Isthmus, declared
their resolution of joining with Alexander in the war against the
Persians, and proclaimed him their general. While he stayed here, many
public ministers and philosophers came from all parts to visit him and
congratulated him on his election, but contrary to his expectation,
Diogenes of Sinope, who then was living at Corinth, thought so
little of him, that instead of coming to compliment him, he never so
much as stirred out of the suburb called the Cranium, where
Alexander found him lying along in the sun. When he saw so much
company near him, he raised himself a little, and vouchsafed to look
upon Alexander; and when he kindly asked him whether he wanted
anything, "Yes," said he, "I would have you stand from between me
and the sun." Alexander was so struck at this answer, and surprised at
the greatness of the man, who had taken so little notice of him,
that as he went away he told his followers, who were laughing at the
moroseness of the philosopher, that if he were not Alexander, he would
choose to be Diogenes.
  Then he went to Delphi, to consult Apollo concerning the success
of the war he had undertaken, and happening to come on one of the
forbidden days, when it was esteemed improper to give any answer
from the oracle, he sent messengers to desire the priestess to do
her office; and when she refused, on the plea of a law to the
contrary, he went up himself, and began to draw her by force into
the temple, until tired and overcome with his importunity, "My son,"
said she, "thou art invincible." Alexander taking hold of what she
spoke, declared he had received such an answer as he wished for, and
that it was needless to consult the god any further. Among other
prodigies that attended the departure of his army, the image of
Orpheus at Libethra, made of cypress-wood, was seen to sweat in
great abundance, to the discouragement of many. But Aristander told
him that, far from presaging any ill to him, it signified he should
perform acts so important and glorious as would make the poets and
musicians of future ages labour and sweat to describe and celebrate
them.
  His army, by their computation who make the smallest amount,
consisted of thirty thousand foot and four thousand horse; and those
who make the most of it, speak but of forty-three thousand foot and
three thousand horse. Aristobulus says, he had not a fund of above
seventy talents for their pay, nor had he more than thirty days'
provision, if we may believe Duris; Onesicritus tells us he was two
hundred talents in debt. However narrow and disproportionable the
beginnings of so vast an undertaking might seem to be, yet he would
not embark his army until he had informed himself particularly what
means his friends had to enable them to follow him, and supplied
what they wanted, by giving good farms to some, a village to one,
and the revenue of some hamlet or harbour-town to another. So that
at last he had portioned out or engaged almost all the royal property;
which giving Perdiccas an occasion to ask him what he would leave
himself, he replied, his hopes. "Your soldiers," replied Perdiccas,
"will be your partners in those," and refused to accept of the
estate he had assigned him. Some others of his friends did the like,
but to those who willingly received or desired assistance of him, he
liberally granted it, as far as his patrimony in Macedonia would
reach, the most part of which was spent in these donations.
  With such vigorous resolutions, and his mind thus disposed, he
passed the Hellespont, and at Troy sacrificed to Minerva, and honoured
the memory of the heroes who were buried there, with solemn libations;
especially Achilles, whose gravestone he anointed, and with his
friends, as the ancient custom is, ran naked about his sepulchre,
and crowned it with garlands, declaring how happy he esteemed him,
in having while he lived so faithful a friend, and when he was dead,
so famous a poet to proclaim his actions. While he was viewing the
rest of the antiquities and curiosities of the place, being told he
might see Paris's harp, if he pleased, he said he thought it not worth
looking on, but he should be glad to see that of Achilles, to which he
used to sing the glories and great actions of brave men.
  In the meantime, Darius's captains, having collected large forces,
were encamped on the further bank of the river Granicus, and it was
necessary to fight, as it were, in the gate of Asia for an entrance
into it. The depth of the river, with the unevenness and difficult
ascent of the opposite bank, which was to be gained by main force, was
apprehended by most, and some pronounced it an improper time to
engage, because it was unusual for the kings of Macedonia to march
with their forces in the month called Daesius. But Alexander broke
through these scruples, telling them they should call it a second
Artemisius. And when Parmenio advised him not to attempt anything that
day, because it was late, he told him that he should disgrace the
Hellespont should he fear the Granicus. And so, without more saying,
he immediately took the river with thirteen troops of horse, and
advanced against whole showers of darts thrown from the steep opposite
side, which was covered with armed multitudes of the enemy's horse and
foot, notwithstanding the disadvantage of the ground and the
rapidity of the stream; so that the action seemed to have more
frenzy and desperation in it, than of prudent conduct. However, he
persisted obstinately to gain the passage, and at last with much ado
making his way up the banks, which were extremely muddy and
slippery, he had instantly to join in a mere confused hand-to-hand
combat with the enemy, before he could draw up his men, who were still
passing over, into any order. For the enemy pressed upon him with loud
and warlike outcries; and charging horse against horse, with their
lances, after they had broken and spent these, they fell to it with
their swords. And Alexander, being easily known by his buckler, and
a large plume of white feathers on each side of his helmet, was
attacked on all sides, yet escaped wounding, though his cuirass was
pierced by a javelin in one of the joinings. And Rhoesaces and
Spithridates, two Persian commanders, falling upon him at once, he
avoided one of them, and struck at Rhoesaces, who had a good cuirass
on, with such force that, his spear breaking in his hand, he was
glad to betake himself to his dagger. While they were thus engaged,
Spithridates came up on one side of him, and raising himself upon
his horse, gave him such a blow with his battle-axe on the helmet that
he cut off the crest of it, with one of his plumes, and the helmet was
only just so far strong enough to save him, that the edge of the
weapon touched the hair of his head. But as he was about to repeat his
stroke, Clitus, called the black Clitus, prevented him, by running him
through the body with his spear. At the same time Alexander despatched
Rhoesaces with his sword. While the horse were thus dangerously
engaged, the Macedonian phalanx passed the river, and the foot on each
side advanced to fight. But the enemy hardly sustaining the first
onset soon gave ground and fled, all but the mercenary Greeks, who,
making a stand upon a rising ground, desired quarter, which Alexander,
guided rather by passion than judgment, refused to grant, and charging
them himself first, had his horse (not Bucephalus, but another) killed
under him. And this obstinacy of his to cut off these experienced
desperate men cost him the lives of more of his own soldiers than
all the battle before, besides those who were wounded. The Persians
lost in this battle twenty thousand foot and two thousand five hundred
horse. On Alexander's side, Aristobulus says there were not wanting
above four-and-thirty, of whom nine were foot-soldiers; and in
memory of them he caused so many statues of brass, of Lysippus's
making, to be erected. And that the Grecians might participate in
the honour of his victory he sent a portion of the spoils home to them
particularly to the Athenians three hundred bucklers, and upon all the
rest he ordered this inscription to be set: "Alexander the son of
Philip, and the Grecians, except the Lacedaemonians, won these from
the barbarians who inhabit Asia." All the plate and purple garments,
and other things of the same kind that he took from the Persians,
except a very small quantity which he reserved for himself, he sent as
a present to his mother.
  This battle presently made a great change of affairs to
Alexander's advantage. For Sardis itself, the chief seat of the
barbarian's power in the maritime provinces, and many other
considerable places, were surrendered to him; only Halicarnassus and
Miletus stood out, which he took by force, together with the territory
about them. After which he was a little unsettled in his opinion how
to proceed. Sometimes he thought it best to find out Darius as soon as
he could, and put all to the hazard of a battle; another while he
looked upon it as a more prudent course to make an entire reduction of
the sea-coast, and not to seek the enemy till he had first exercised
his power here and made himself secure of the resources of these
provinces. While he was thus deliberating what to do, it happened that
a spring of water near the city of Xanthus in Lycia, of its own
accord, swelled over its banks, and threw up a copper plate, upon
the margin of which was engraven in ancient characters, that the
time would come when the Persian empire should be destroyed by the
Grecians. Encouraged by this accident, he proceeded to reduce the
maritime parts of Cilicia and Phoenicia, and passed his army along the
sea-coasts of Pamphylia with such expedition that many historians have
described and extolled it with that height of admiration, as if it
were no less than a miracle, and an extraordinary effect of divine
favour, that the waves which usually come rolling in violently from
the main, and hardly ever leave so much as a narrow beach under the
steep, broken cliffs at any time uncovered, should on a sudden
retire to afford him passage. Menander, in one of his comedies,
alludes to this marvel when he says-

         "Was Alexander ever favoured more?
          Each man I wish for meets me at my door,
          And should I ask for passage through the sea,
          The sea I doubt not would retire for me."

  But Alexander himself in his epistles mentions nothing unusual in
this at all, but says he went from Phaselis, and passed through what
they call the Ladders. At Phaselis he stayed some time, and finding
the statue of Theodectes, who was a native of this town and was now
dead, erected in the market-place, after he had supped, having drunk
pretty plentifully, he went and danced about it, and crowned it with
garlands, honouring not ungracefully, in his sport, the memory of a
philosopher whose conversation he had formerly enjoyed when he was
Aristotle's scholar.
  Then he subdued the Pisidians who made head against him, and
conquered the Phrygians, at whose chief city, Gordium, which is said
to be the seat of the ancient Midas, he saw the famous chariot
fastened with cords made of the rind of the cornel-tree, which
whosoever should untie, the inhabitants had a tradition, that for
him was reserved the empire of the world. Most authors tell the
story that Alexander finding himself unable to untie the knot, the
ends of which were secretly twisted round and folded up within it, cut
it asunder with his sword. But Aristobulus tells us it was easy for
him to undo it, by only pulling the pin out of the pole, to which
the yoke was tied, and afterwards drawing off the yoke itself from
below. From hence he advanced into Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, both
which countries he soon reduced to obedience, and then hearing of
the death of Memnon, the best commander Darius had upon the
sea-coasts, who, if he had lived, might, it was supposed, have put
many impediments and difficulties in the way of the progress of his
arms, he was the rather encouraged to carry the war into the upper
provinces of Asia.
  Darius was by this time upon his march from Susa, very confident,
not only in the number of his men, which amounted to six hundred
thousand, but likewise in a dream, which the Persian soothsayers
interpreted rather in flattery to him than according to the natural
probability. He dreamed that he saw the Macedonian phalanx all on
fire, and Alexander waiting on him, clad in the same dress which he
himself had been used to wear when he was courier to the late king;
after which, going into the temple of Belus, he vanished out of his
sight. The dream would appear to have supernaturally signified to
him the illustrious actions the Macedonians were to perform, and
that as he, from a courier's place, had risen to the throne, so
Alexander should come to be master of Asia, and not long surviving his
conquests, conclude his life with glory. Darius's confidence increased
the more, because Alexander spent so much time in Cilicia, which he
imputed to his cowardice. But it was sickness that detained him there,
which some say he contracted from his fatigues, others from bathing in
the river Cydnus, whose waters were exceedingly cold. However it
happened, none of his physicians would venture to give him any
remedies, they thought his case so desperate, and were so afraid of
the suspicions and ill-will of the Macedonians if they should fail
in the cure; till Philip, the Acarnanian, seeing how critical his case
was, but relying on his own well-known friendship for him, resolved to
try the last efforts of his art, and rather hazard his own credit
and life than suffer him to perish for want of physic, which he
confidently administered to him, encouraging him to take it boldly, if
he desired a speedy recovery, in order to prosecute the war. At this
very time, Parmenio wrote to Alexander from the camp, bidding him have
a care of Philip, as one who was bribed by Darius to kill him, with
great sums of money, and a promise of his daughter in marriage. When
he had perused the letter, he put it under his pillow, without showing
it so much as to any of his most intimate friends, and when Philip
came in with the potion, he took it with great cheerfulness and
assurance, giving him meantime the letter to read. This was a
spectacle well worth being present at, to see Alexander take the
draught and Philip read the letter at the same time, and then turn and
look upon one another, but with different sentiments; for
Alexander's looks were cheerful and open, to show his kindness to
and confidence in his physician, while the other was full of
surprise and alarm at the accusation, appealing to the gods to witness
his innocence, sometimes lifting up his hands to heaven, and then
throwing himself down by the bedside, and beseeching Alexander to
lay aside all fear, and follow his directions without apprehension.
For the medicine at first worked so strongly as to drive, so to say,
the vital forces into the interior; he lost his speech, and falling
into a swoon, had scarce any sense or pulse left. However in no long
time, by Philip's means, his health and strength returned, and he
showed himself in public to the Macedonians, who were in continual
fear and dejection until they saw him abroad again.
  There was at this time in Darius's army a Macedonian refugee,
named Amyntas, one who was pretty well acquainted with Alexander's
character. This man, when he saw Darius intended to fall upon the
enemy in the passes and defiles, advised him earnestly to keep where
he was, in the open and extensive plains, it being the advantage of
a numerous army to have field-room enough when it engaged with a
lesser force. Darius, instead of taking his counsel, told him he was
afraid the enemy would endeavour to run away, and so Alexander would
escape out of his hands. "That fear," replied Amyntas, "is needless,
for assure yourself that far from avoiding you, he will make all the
speed he can to meet you, and is now most likely on his march toward
you." But Amyntas's counsel was to no purpose, for Darius
immediately decamping, marched into Cilicia at the same time that
Alexander advanced into Syria to meet him; and missing one another
in the night, they both turned back again. Alexander, greatly
pleased with the event, made all the haste he could to fight in the
defiles, and Darius to recover his former ground, and draw his army
out of so disadvantageous a place. For now he began to perceive his
error in engaging himself too far in a country in which the sea, the
mountains, and the river Pinarus running through the midst of it,
would necessitate him to divide his forces, render his horse almost
unserviceable, and only cover and support the weakness of the enemy.
Fortune was not kinder to Alexander in the choice of the ground,
than he was careful to improve it to his advantage. For being much
inferior in numbers, so far from allowing himself to be outflanked, he
stretched his right wing much further out than the left wing of his
enemies, and fighting there himself in the very foremost ranks, put
the barbarians to flight. In this battle he was wounded in the
thigh, Chares says, by Darius, with whom he fought hand-to-hand. But
in the account which he gave Antipater of the battle, though indeed he
owns he was wounded in the thigh with a sword, though not dangerously,
yet he takes no notice who it was that wounded him.
  Nothing was wanting to complete this victory, in which he
overthrew above an hundred and ten thousand of his enemies, but the
taking the person of Darius, who escaped very narrowly by flight.
However, having taken his chariot and his bow, he returned from
pursuing him, and found his own men busy in pillaging the
barbarians' camp, which (though to disburden themselves they had
left most of their baggage at Damascus) was exceedingly rich. But
Darius's tent, which was full of splendid furniture and quantities
of gold and silver, they reserved for Alexander himself, who, after he
had put off his arms, went to bathe himself saying, "Let us now
cleanse ourselves from the toils of war in the bath of Darius." "Not
so," replied one of his followers, "but in Alexander's rather; for the
property of the conquered is and should be called the conqueror's."
Here, when he beheld the bathing vessels, the water-pots, the pans,
and the ointment boxes, all of gold curiously wrought, and smelt the
fragrant odours with which the whole place was exquisitely perfumed,
and from thence passed into a pavilion of great size and height, where
the couches and tables and preparations for an entertainment were
perfectly magnificent, he turned to those about him and said, "This,
it seems, is royalty."
  But as he was going to supper, word was brought him that Darius's
mother and wife and two unmarried daughters, being taken among the
rest of the prisoners, upon the sight of his chariot and bow, were all
in mourning and sorrow, imagining him to be dead. After a little
pause, more lively affected with their affliction than with his own
success, he sent Leonnatus to them, to let them know Darius was not
dead, and that they need not fear any harm from Alexander, who made
war upon him only for dominion; they should themselves be provided
with everything they had been used to receive from Darius. This kind
message could not but be very welcome to the captive ladies,
especially being made good by actions no less humane and generous. For
he gave them leave to bury whom they pleased of the Persians, and to
make use for this purpose of what garments and furniture they
thought fit out of the booty. He diminished nothing of their equipage,
or of the attentions and respect formerly paid them, and allowed
larger pensions for their maintenance than they had before. But the
noblest and most royal part of their usage was, that he treated
these illustrious prisoners according to their virtue and character,
not suffering them to hear, or receive, or so much as to apprehend
anything that was unbecoming. So that they seemed rather lodged in
some temple, or some holy virgin chambers, where they enjoyed their
privacy sacred and uninterrupted, than in the camp of an enemy.
Nevertheless Darius's wife was accounted the most beautiful princess
then living, as her husband the tallest and handsomest man of his
time, and the daughters were not unworthy of their parents. But
Alexander, esteeming it more kingly to govern himself than to
conquer his enemies, sought no intimacy with any one of them, nor
indeed with any other women before marriage, except Barsine,
Memnon's widow, who was taken prisoner at Damascus. She had been
instructed in the Grecian learning, was of a gentle temper, and by her
father, Artabazus, royally descended, with good qualities, added to
the solicitations and encouragement of Parmenio, as Aristobulus
tells us, made him the more willing to attach himself to so
agreeable and illustrious a woman. Of the rest of the female captives,
though remarkably handsome and well proportioned, he took no further
notice than to say jestingly that Persian women were terrible
eyesores. And he himself, retaliating, as it were, by the display of
the beauty of his own temperance and self-control, bade them be
removed, as he would have done so many lifeless images. When
Philoxenus, his lieutenant on the sea-coast, wrote to him to know if
he would buy two young boys of great beauty, whom one Theodorus, a
Tarentine, had to sell, he was so offended that he often
expostulated with his friends what baseness Philoxenus had ever
observed in him that he should presume to make him such a
reproachful offer. And he immediately wrote him a very sharp letter,
telling him Theodorus and his merchandise might go with his
good-will to destruction. Nor was he less severe to Hagnon, who sent
him word he would buy a Corinthian youth named Crobylus, as a
present for him. And hearing that Damon and Timotheus, two of
Parmenio's Macedonian soldiers, had abused the wives of some strangers
who were in his pay, he wrote to Parmenio, charging him strictly, if
he found them guilty, to put them to death, as wild beasts that were
only made for the mischief of mankind. In the same letter he added,
that he had not so much as seen or desired to see the wife of
Darius, nor suffered anybody to speak of her beauty before him. He was
wont to say that sleep and the act of generation chiefly made him
sensible that he was mortal; as much as to say, that weariness and
pleasure proceed both from the same frailty and imbecility of human
nature.
  In his diet, also, he was most temperate, as appears, omitting
many other circumstances, by what he said to Ada, whom he adopted,
with the title of mother, and afterwards created Queen of Caria. For
when she, out of kindness, sent him every day many curious dishes
and sweetmeats, and would have furnished him with some cooks and
pastry-men, who were thought to have great skill, he told her he
wanted none of them, his preceptor, Leonidas, having already given him
the best, which were a night march to prepare for breakfast, and a
moderate breakfast to create an appetite for supper. Leonidas also, he
added, used to open and search the furniture of his chamber and his
wardrobe, to see if his mother had left him anything that was delicate
or superfluous. He was much less addicted to wine than was generally
believed; that which gave people occasion to think so of him was, that
when he had nothing else to do, he loved to sit long and talk,
rather than drink, and over every cup hold a long conversation. For
when his affairs called upon him, he would not be detained, as other
generals often were, either by wine, or sleep, nuptial solemnities,
spectacles, or any other diversion whatsoever; a convincing argument
of which is, that in the short time he lived, he accomplished so
many and so great actions. When he was free from employment, after
he was up, and had sacrificed to the gods he used to sit down to
breakfast, and then spend the rest of the day in hunting, or writing
memoirs, giving decisions on some military questions, or reading. In
marches that required no great haste, he would practise shooting as he
went along, or to mount a chariot and alight from it in full speed.
Sometimes, for sport's sake, as his journals tell us, he would hunt
foxes and go fowling. When he came in for the evening, after he had
bathed and was anointed, he would call for his bakers and chief cooks,
to know if they had his dinner ready. He never cared to dine till it
was pretty late and beginning to be dark, and was wonderfully
circumspect at meals that every one who sat with him should be
served alike and with proper attention: and his love of talking, as
was said before, made him delight to sit long at his wine. And then,
though otherwise no prince's conversation was ever so agreeable, he
would fall into a temper of ostentation and soldierly boasting,
which gave his flatterers a great advantage to ride him, and made
his better friends very uneasy. For though they thought it too base to
strive who should flatter him most, yet they found it hazardous not to
do it; so that between the shame and the danger, they were in a
great strait how to behave themselves. After such an entertainment, he
was wont to bathe, and then perhaps he would sleep till noon, and
sometimes all day long. He was so very temperate in his eating, that
when any rare fish or fruits were sent him, he would distribute them
among his friends, and often reserve nothing for himself. His table,
however, was always magnificent, the expense of it still increasing
with his good fortune, till it amounted to ten thousand drachmas a
day, to which sum he limited it, and beyond this he would suffer
none to lay out in any entertainment where he himself was the guest.
  After the battle of Issus, he sent to Damascus to seize upon the
money and baggage, the wives and children, of the Persians, of which
spoil the Thessalian horsemen had the greatest share; for he had taken
particular notice of their gallantry in the fight, and sent them
thither on purpose to make their reward suitable to their courage. Not
but that the rest of the army had so considerable a part of the
booty as was sufficient to enrich them all. This first gave the
Macedonians such a taste of the Persian wealth and women and
barbaric splendour of living, that they were ready to pursue and
follow upon it with all the eagerness of hounds upon a scent. But
Alexander, before he proceeded any further, thought it necessary to
assure himself of the sea-coast. Those who governed in Cyprus put that
island into his possession, and Phoenicia, Tyre only excepted, was
surrendered to him. During the siege of this city, which, with
mounds of earth cast up, and battering engines, and two hundred
galleys by sea, was carried on for seven months together, he dreamt
that he saw Hercules upon the walls, reaching out his hands, and
calling to him. And many of the Tyrians in their sleep fancied that
Apollo told them he was displeased with their actions, and was about
to leave them and go over to Alexander. Upon which, as if the god
had been a deserting soldier, they seized him, so to say, in the
act, tied down the statue with ropes, and nailed it to the pedestal,
reproaching him that he was a favourer of Alexander. Another time
Alexander dreamed he saw a satyr mocking him at a distance, and when
he endeavoured to catch him, he still escaped from him, till at last
with much perseverance, and running about after him, he got him into
his power. The soothsayers, making two words of Satyrus, assured him
that Tyre should be his own. The inhabitants at this time show a
spring of water, near which they say Alexander slept when he fancied
the satyr appeared to him.
  While the body of the army lay before Tyre, he made an excursion
against the Arabians who inhabit the Mount Antilibanus, in which he
hazarded his life extremely to bring off his master Lysimachus, who
would needs go along with him, declaring he was neither older nor
inferior in courage to Phoenix, Achilles's guardian. For when,
quitting their horses, they began to march up the hills on foot, the
rest of the soldiers outwent them a great deal, so that night
drawing on, and the enemy near, Alexander was fain to stay behind so
long, to encourage and help up the lagging and tired old man, that
before he was aware he was left behind, a great way from his soldiers,
with a slender attendance, and forced to pass an extremely cold
night in the dark, and in a very inconvenient place; till seeing a
great many scattered fires of the enemy at some distance, and trusting
to his agility of body, and as he was always wont by undergoing
toils and labours himself to cheer and support the Macedonians in
any distress, he ran straight to one of the nearest fires, and with
his dagger despatching two of the barbarians that sat by it,
snatched up a lighted brand, and returned with it to his own men. They
immediately made a great fire, which so alarmed the enemy that most of
them fled, and those that assaulted them were soon routed and thus
they rested securely the remainder of the night. Thus Chares writes.
  But to return to the siege, it had this issue. Alexander, that he
might refresh his army, harassed with many former encounters, had
led only a small party towards the walls, rather to keep the enemy
busy than with any prospect of much advantage. It happened at this
time that Aristander, the soothsayer, after he had sacrificed, upon
view of the entrails, affirmed confidently to those who stood by
that the city should be certainly taken that very month, upon which
there was a laugh and some mockery among the soldiers, as this was the
last day of it. The king, seeing him in perplexity, and always anxious
to support the credit of the predictions, gave order that they
should not count it as the thirtieth, but as the twenty-third of the
month, and ordering the trumpets to sound, attacked the walls more
seriously than he at first intended. The sharpness of the assault so
inflamed the rest of his forces who were left in the camp, that they
could not hold from advancing to second it, which they performed
with so much vigour that the Tyrians retired, and the town was carried
that very day. The next place he sat down before was Gaza, one of
the largest cities of Syria, when this accident befell him. A large
bird flying over him let a clod of earth fall upon his shoulder, and
then settling upon one of the battering engines, was suddenly
entangled and caught in the nets, composed of sinews, which
protected the ropes with which the machine was managed. This fell
out exactly according to Aristander's prediction, which was, that
Alexander should be wounded and the city reduced.
  From hence he sent great part of the spoils to Olympias,
Cleopatra, and the rest of his friends, not omitting his preceptor
Leonidas, on whom he bestowed five hundred talents' weight of
frankincense and an hundred of myrrh, in remembrance of the hopes he
had once expressed of him when he was but a child. For Leonidas, it
seems, standing by him one day while he was sacrificing, and seeing
him take both his hands full of incense to throw into the fire, told
him it became him to be more sparing in his offerings, and not to be
so profuse till he was master of the countries which those sweet
gums and saying, come from. So Alexander now wrote to him, saying, "We
have sent you abundance of myrrh and frankincense, that for the future
you may not be stingy to the gods." Among the treasures and other
booty that was taken from Darius, there was a very precious casket,
which being brought to Alexander for a great rarity, he asked those
about him what they thought fittest to be laid up in it; and when they
had delivered their various opinions, he told them he should keep
Homer's Iliad in it. This is attested by many credible authors, and if
what those of Alexandria tell us, relying upon the authority of
Heraclides, be true, Homer was neither an idle nor an unprofitable
companion to him in his expedition. For when he was master of Egypt,
designing to settle a colony of Grecians there, he resolved to build a
large and populous city, and give it his own name. In order to
which, after he had measured and staked out the ground with the advice
of the best architects, he chanced one night in his sleep to see a
wonderful vision; a grey-headed old man, of a venerable aspect,
appeared to stand by him, and pronounce these verses:-

         "An island lies, where loud the billows roar,
          Pharos they call it, on the Egyptian shore."

  Alexander upon this immediately rose up and went to Pharos, which,
at that time, was an island lying a little above the Canobic mouth
of the river Nile, though it has now been joined to the mainland by
a mole. As soon as he saw the commodious situation of the place, it
being a long neck of land, stretching like an isthmus between large
lagoons and shallow waters on one side and the sea on the other, the
latter at the end of it making a spacious harbour, he said, Homer,
besides his other excellences, was a very good architect, and
ordered the plan of a city to be drawn out answerable to the place. To
do which, for want of chalk, the soil being black, they laid out their
lines with flour, taking in a pretty large compass of ground in a
semi-circular figure, and drawing into the inside of the circumference
equal straight lines from each end, thus giving it something of the
form of a cloak or cape; while he was pleasing himself with his
design, on a sudden an infinite number of great birds of several
kinds, rising like a black cloud out of the river and the lake,
devoured every morsel of the flour that had been used in setting out
the lines; at which omen even Alexander himself was troubled, till the
augurs restored his confidence again by telling him it was a sign
the city he was about to build would not only abound in all things
within itself, but also be the nurse and feeder of many nations. He
commanded the workmen to proceed, while he went to visit the temple of
Ammon.
  This was a long and painful, and, in two respects, a dangerous
journey; first, if they should lose their provision of water, as for
several days none could be obtained; and, secondly, if a violent south
wind should rise upon them, while they were travelling through the
wide extent of deep sands, as it is said to have done when Cambyses
led his army that way, blowing the sand together in heaps, and
raising, as it were, the whole desert like a sea upon them, till fifty
thousand were swallowed up and destroyed by it. All these difficulties
were weighed and represented to him; but Alexander was not easily to
be diverted from anything he was bent upon. For fortune having
hitherto seconded him in his designs, made him resolute and firm in
his opinions, and the boldness of his temper raised a sort of
passion in him for surmounting difficulties; as if it were not
enough to be always victorious in the field, unless places and seasons
and nature herself submitted to him. In this journey, the relief and
assistance the gods afforded him in his distresses were more
remarkable, and obtained greater belief than the oracles he received
afterwards, which, however, were valued and credited the more on
account of those occurrences. For first, plentiful rains that fell
preserved them from any fear of perishing by drought, and, allaying
the extreme dryness of the sand, which now became moist and firm to
travel on, cleared and purified the air. Besides this, when they
were out of their way, and were wandering up and down, because the
marks which were wont to direct the guides were disordered and lost,
they were set right again by some ravens, which flew before them
when on their march, and waited for them when they lingered and fell
behind; and the greatest miracle, as Callisthenes tells us, was that
if any of the company went astray in the night, they never ceased
croaking and making a noise till by that means they had brought them
into the right way again. Having passed through the wilderness, they
came to the place where the high priest, at the first salutation, bade
Alexander welcome from his father Ammon. And being asked by him
whether any of his father's murderers had escaped punishment, he
charged him to speak with more respect, since his was not a mortal
father. Then Alexander, changing his expression, desired to know of
him if any of those who murdered Philip were yet unpunished, and
further concerning dominion, whether the empire of the world was
reserved for him? This, the god answered, he should obtain, and that
Philip's death was fully revenged, which gave him so much satisfaction
that he made splendid offerings to Jupiter, and gave the priests
very rich presents. This is what most authors write concerning the
oracles. But Alexander, in a letter to his mother, tells her there
were some secret answers, which at his return he would communicate
to her only. Others say that the priest, desirous as a piece of
courtesy to address him in Greek, "O Paidion," by a slip in
pronunciation ended with the s instead of the n, and said "O Paidios,"
which mistake Alexander was well enough pleased with, and it went
for current that the oracle had called him so.
  Among the sayings of one Psammon, a philosopher, whom he heard in
Egypt, he most approved of this, that all men are governed by God,
because in everything, that which is chief and commands is divine. But
what he pronounced himself upon this subject was even more like a
philosopher, for he said God was the common father of us all, but more
particularly of the best of us. To the barbarians he carried himself
very haughtily, as if he were fully persuaded of his divine birth
and parentage; but to the Grecians more moderately, and with less
affectation of divinity, except it were once in writing to the
Athenians about Samos, when he tells them that he should not himself
have bestowed upon them that free and glorious city; "You received
it," he says, "from the bounty of him who at that time was called my
lord and father," meaning Philip. However, afterwards being wounded
with an arrow, and feeling much pain, he turned to those about him,
and told them, "This, my friends, is real flowing blood, not Ichor-

         "Such as immortal gods are wont to shed."

And another time, when it thundered so much that everybody was afraid,
and Anaxarchus, the sophist, asked him if he who was Jupiter's son
could do anything like this, "Nay," said Alexander, laughing, "I
have no desire to be formidable to my friends, as you would have me,
who despised my table for being furnished with fish, and not with
the heads of governors of provinces." For in fact it is related as
true, that Anaxarchus, seeing a present of small fishes, which the
king sent to Hephaestion, had used this expression, in a sort of
irony, and disparagement of those who undergo vast labours and
encounter great hazards in pursuit of magnificent objects which
after all bring them little more pleasure or enjoyment than what
others have. From what I have said upon this subject, it is apparent
that Alexander in himself was not foolishly affected, or had the
vanity to think himself really a god, but merely used his claims to
divinity as a means of maintaining among other people the sense of his
superiority.
  At his return out of Egypt into Phoenicia, he sacrificed and made
solemn processions, to which were added shows of lyric dances and
tragedies, remarkable not merely for the splendour of the equipage and
decorations, but for the competition among those who exhibited them.
For the kings of Cyprus were here the exhibitors, just in the same
manner as at Athens those who are chosen by lot out of the tribes.
And, indeed, they showed the greatest emulation to outvie each
other; especially Nicocreon, King of Salamis, and Pasicrates of
Soli, who furnished the chorus, and defrayed the expenses of the two
most celebrated actors, Athenodorus and Thessalus, the former
performing for Pasicrates, and the latter for Nicocrean. Thessalus was
most favoured by Alexander, though it did not appear till
Athenodorus was declared victor by the plurality of votes. For then at
his going away, he said the judges deserved to be commended for what
they had done, but that he would willingly have lost part of his
kingdom rather than to have seen Thessalus overcome. However, when
he understood Athenodorus was fined by the Athenians for being
absent at the festivals of Bacchus, though he refused his request that
he would write a letter in his behalf, he gave him a sufficient sum to
satisfy the penalty. Another time, when Lycon of Scarphia happened
to act with great applause in the theatre, and in a verse which he
introduced into the comic part which he was acting, begged for a
present of ten talents, he laughed and gave him the money.
  Darius wrote him a letter, and sent friends to intercede with him,
requesting him to accept as a ransom of his captives the sum of a
thousand talents, and offering him in exchange for his amity and
alliance all the countries on this side the river Euphrates,
together with one of his daughters in marriage. These propositions
he communicated to his friends, and when Parmenio told him that, for
his part, if he were Alexander, he should readily embrace them, "So
would I," said Alexander, "if I were Parmenio." Accordingly, his
answer to Darius was, that if he would come and yield himself up
into his power he would treat him with all possible kindness; if
not, he was resolved immediately to go himself and seek him. But the
death of Darius's wife in childbirth made him soon after regret one
part of this answer, and he showed evident marks of grief at thus
deprived of a further opportunity of exercising his clemency and
good nature, which he manifested, however, as far as he could, by
giving her a most sumptuous funeral.
  Among the eunuchs who waited in the queen's chamber, and were
taken prisoners with the women, there was one Tireus, who, getting out
of the camp, fled away on horseback to Darius, to inform him of his
wife's death. He, when he heard it, beating his head, and bursting
into tears and lamentations, said, "Alas! how great is the calamity of
the Persians! Was it not enough that their king's consort and sister
was a prisoner in her lifetime, but she must, now she is dead, also be
but meanly and obscurely buried?" "O king," replied the eunuch, "as to
her funeral rites, or any respect or honour that should have been
shown in them, you have not the least reason to accuse the ill fortune
of your country; for to my knowledge neither your queen Statira when
alive, nor your mother, nor children, wanted anything of their
former happy condition, unless it were the light of your
countenance, which I doubt not but the lord Oromasdes will yet restore
to its former glory. And after her decease, I assure you, she had
not only all due funeral ornaments, but was honoured also with the
tears of your very enemies; for Alexander is as gentle after victory
as he is terrible in the field." At the bearing of these words, such
was the grief and emotion of Darius's mind, that they carried him into
extravagant suspicions; and taking Tireus aside into a more private
part of his tent, "Unless thou likewise," said he to him, "hast
deserted me, together with the good fortune of Persia, and art
become a Macedonian in thy heart; if thou yet ownest me for thy master
Darius, tell me, I charge thee, by the veneration thou payest the
light of Mithras, and this right hand of thy king, do I not lament the
least of Statira's misfortunes in her captivity and death? Have I
not suffered something more injurious and deplorable in her
lifetime? And had I not been miserable with less dishonour if I had
met with a more severe and inhuman enemy? For how is it possible a
young man as he is should treat the wife of his opponent with so
much distinction, were it not from some motive that does me disgrace?"
Whilst he was yet speaking, Tireus threw himself at his feet, and
besought him neither to wrong Alexander so much, nor his dead wife and
sister, as to give utterance to any such thoughts, which deprived
him of the greatest consolation left him in his adversity, the
belief that he was overcome by a man whose virtues raised him above
human nature; that he ought to look upon Alexander with love and
admiration, who had given no less proofs of his continence towards the
Persian women, than of his valour among the men. The eunuch
confirmed all he said with solemn and dreadful oaths, and was
further enlarging upon Alexander's moderation and magnanimity on other
occasions, when Darius, breaking away from him into the other division
of the tent, where his friends and courtiers were, lifted up his hands
to heaven and uttered this prayer, "Ye gods," said he, "of my
family, and of my kingdom, if it be possible, I beseech you to restore
the declining affairs of Persia, that I may leave them in as
flourishing a condition as I found them, and have it in my power to
make a grateful return to Alexander for the kindness which in my
adversity he has shown to those who are dearest to me. But if, indeed,
the fatal time be come, which is to give a period to the Persian
monarchy, if our ruin be a debt that must be paid to the divine
jealousy and the vicissitude of things, then I beseech you grant
that no other man but Alexander may sit upon the throne of Cyrus."
Such is the narrative given by the greater number of the historians.
  But to return to Alexander. After he had reduced all Asia on this
side the Euphrates, he advanced towards Darius, who was coming down
against him with a million of men. In his march a very ridiculous
passage happened. The servants who followed the camp for sport's
sake divided themselves into two parties, and named the commander of
one of them Alexander, and the other Darius. At first they only pelted
one another with clods of earth, but presently took to their fists,
and at last, heated with contention, they fought in good earnest
with stones and clubs, so that they had much ado to part them; till
Alexander, upon hearing of it, ordered the two captains to decide
the quarrel by single combat, and armed him who bore his name himself,
while Philotas did the same to him who represented Darius. The whole
army were spectators of this encounter, willing from the event of it
to derive an omen of their own future success. After they had fought
stoutly a pretty long while, at last he who was called Alexander had
the better, and for a reward of his prowess had twelve villages
given him, with leave to wear the Persian dress. So we are told by
Eratosthenes.
  But the great battle of all that was fought with Darius was not,
as most writers tell us, at Arbela, but at Gaugamela, which, in
their language, signifies the camel's house, forasmuch as one of their
ancient kings having escaped the pursuit of his enemies on a swift
camel, in gratitude to his beast, settled him at this place, with an
allowance of certain villages and rents for his maintenance. It came
to pass that in the month Boedromion, about the beginning of the feast
of Mysteries at Athens, there was an eclipse of the moon, the eleventh
night after which, the two armies being now in view of one another,
Darius kept his men in arms, and by torchlight took a general review
of them. But Alexander, while his soldiers slept, spent the night
before his tent with his diviner, Aristander, performing certain
mysterious ceremonies, and sacrificing to the god Fear. In the
meanwhile the oldest of his commanders, and chiefly Parmenio, when
they beheld all the plain between Niphates and the Gordyaean mountains
shining with the lights and fires which were made by the barbarians,
and heard the uncertain and confused sounds of voices out of their
camp, like the distant roaring of a vast ocean, were so amazed at
the thoughts of such a multitude, that after some conference among
themselves, they concluded it an enterprise too difficult and
hazardous for them to engage so numerous an enemy in the day, and
therefore meeting the king as he came from sacrificing, besought him
to attack Darius by night, that the darkness might conceal the
danger of the ensuing battle. To this he gave them the celebrated
answer, "I will not steal a victory," which though some at the time
thought a boyish and inconsiderate speech, as if he played with
danger, others, however, regarded as an evidence that he confided in
his present condition, and acted on a true judgment of the future, not
wishing to leave Darius, in case he were worsted, the pretext of
trying his fortune again, which he might suppose himself to have, if
he could 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 relieved 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, became 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 honour. 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 a coat of the Sicilian make,
girt close about him, and over that a breast-piece 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
armour. It was a work of the ancient Helicon, and had been presented
to him by the Rhodians, as a 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 Bucephalus, 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 be 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
flight 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 frightened 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
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. Eager to gain honour 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 honour 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 for a good
while after. Thus it is not without some plausibility that they
endeavour 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... of 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,
succeeding 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 an hundred and ninety years, and yet kept its colour 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 lustre. 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 Greeks 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 monarches. 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 suffering, 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 soldiers 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 honour 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 on this account, he bore her ill-humour 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 favourites 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 single battles did not know by experience,
that those who labour sleep more sweetly and soundly than those who
are laboured 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 and royal to
undergo pain and labour. He argued with them further, how it was
possible for any one who pretended to be a soldier, either to look
well after his horse, or to keep his armour 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 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 sea-side.
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 commanded
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 an 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 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 three-score 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 endeavoured 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 some time 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 Bucephalus, took them
prisoners, and carried the horse away with them. at which Alexander
was so much vexed that he sent an 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 ransom 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 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
diarrhoea.
  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 good-will 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 honourable way.
  Noticing also that among his chief friends and favourites,
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 quarrelled 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 favour 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 any one 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 defeated in
Cilicia, and an immense booty was taken at Damascus, among the rest of
the prisoners who were brought into the camp, there was one Antigone
of Pydna, a very handsome woman, who fell to Philotas's share. The
young man one day in his cups, in the vaunting, outspoken, soldier's
manner, declared to his mistress, that all the great actions were
performed by him and his father, the glory and benefit of which, he
said, together with the title of king, the boy Alexander reaped and
enjoyed by their means. She could not hold, but discovered what he had
said to one of her acquaintance, and he, as is usual in such cases, to
another, till at last the story came to the ears of Craterus, who
brought the woman secretly to the king. When Alexander had heard
what she had to say, he commanded her to continue her intrigue with
Philotas, and give him an account from time to time of all that should
fall from him to this purpose. He, thus unwittingly caught in a snare,
to gratify sometimes a fit of anger, sometimes a love of vainglory,
let himself utter numerous foolish, indiscreet speeches against the
king in Antigone's hearing, of which, though Alexander was informed
and convinced by strong evidence, yet he would take no notice of it at
present, whether it was that he confided in Parmenio's affection and
loyalty, or that he apprehended their authority and interest in the
army. But about this time, one Limnus, a Macedonian of Chalastra,
conspired against Alexander's life, and communicated his design to a
youth whom he was fond of, named Nicomachus, inviting him to be of the
party. But he not relishing the thing, revealed it to his brother
Balinus, who immediately addressed himself to Philotas, requiring
him to introduce them both to Alexander, to whom they had something of
great moment to impart which very nearly concerned him. But he, for
what reason is uncertain, went not with them, professing that the king
was engaged with affairs of more importance. And when they had urged
him a second time, and were still slighted by him, they applied
themselves to another, by whose means being admitted into
Alexander's presence, they first told about Limnus' conspiracy, and by
the way let Philotas's negligence appear who had twice disregarded
their application to him. Alexander was greatly incensed, and upon
finding that Limnus had defended himself, and had been killed by the
soldier who was sent to seize him, he was still more discomposed,
thinking he had thus lost the means of detecting the plot. As soon
as his displeasure against Philotas began to appear, presently all his
old enemies showed themselves, and said openly, the king was too
easily imposed on, to imagine that one so inconsiderable as Limnus,
a Chalastrian, should of his own head undertake such an enterprise;
that in all likelihood he was but subservient to the design, an
instrument that was moved by some greater spring; that those ought
to be more strictly examined about the matter whose interest it was so
much to conceal it. When they had once gained the king's ear for
insinuations of this sort, they went on to show a thousand grounds
of suspicion against Philotas, till at last they prevailed to have him
seized and put to the torture, which was done in the presence of the
principal officers, Alexander himself being placed behind some
tapestry to understand what passed. Where, when he heard in what a
miserable tone, and with what abject submissions Philotas applied
himself to Hephaestion, he broke out, it is said, in this manner: "Are
you so mean-spirited and effeminate, Philotas, and yet can engage in
so desperate a design?" After his death, he presently sent into Media,
and put also Parmenio, his father, to death, who had done brave
service under Philip, and was the only man of his older friends and
counsellors who had encouraged Alexander to invade Asia. Of three sons
whom he had had in the army, he had already lost two, and now was
himself put to death with the third. These actions rendered
Alexander an object of terror to many of his friends, and chiefly to
Antipater, who, to strengthen himself, sent messengers privately to
treat for an alliance with the Aetolians, who stood in fear of
Alexander, because they had destroyed the town of the Oeniadae; on
being informed of which, Alexander had said the children of the
Oeniadae need not revenge their father's quarrel, for he would himself
take care to punish the Aetolians.
  Not long after this happened, the deplorable end of Clitus, which,
to those who barely hear the matter, may seem more inhuman than that
of Philotas; but if we consider the story with its circumstance of
time, and weigh the cause, we shall find it to have occurred rather
through a sort of mischance of the king's, whose anger and
over-drinking offered an occasion to the evil genius of Clitus. The
king had a present of Grecian fruit brought him from the sea-coast,
which was so fresh and beautiful that he was surprised at it, and
called Clitus to him to see it, and to give him a share of it.
Clitus was then sacrificing, but he immediately left off and came,
followed by three sheep, on whom the drink-offering had been already
poured preparatory to sacrificing them. Alexander, being informed of
this, told his diviners, Aristander and Cleomantis the
Lacedaemonian, and asked them what it meant; on whose assuring him
it was an ill omen, he commanded them in all haste to offer sacrifices
for Clitus' safety, forasmuch as three days before he himself had seen
a strange vision in his sleep, of Clitus all in mourning, sitting by
Parmenio's sons who were dead. Clitus, however, stayed not to finish
his devotions, but came straight to supper with the king, who had
sacrificed to Castor and Pollux. And when they had drunk pretty
hard, some of the company fell a-singing the verses of one
Pranichus, or as others say of Pierion, which were made upon those
captains who had been lately worsted by the barbarians, on purpose
to disgrace and turn them to ridicule. This gave offence to the
older men who were there, and they upbraided both the author and the
singer of the verses, though Alexander and the younger men about him
were much amused to hear them, and encouraged them to go on, till at
last Clitus, who had drunk too much, and was besides of a forward
and willful temper, was so nettled that he could hold no longer,
saying it was not well done to expose the Macedonians before the
barbarians and their enemies, since though it was their unhappiness to
be overcome, yet they were much better men than those who laughed at
them. And when Alexander remarked, that Clitus was pleading his own
cause, giving cowardice the name of misfortune, Clitus started up:
"This cowardice, as you are pleased to term it," said he to him,
"saved the life of a son of the gods, when in flight from
Spithridates's sword; it is by the expense of Macedonian blood, and by
these wounds, that you are now raised to such a height as to be able
to disown your father Philip, and call yourself the son of Ammon."
"Thou base fellow," said Alexander, who was now thoroughly
exasperated, "dost thou think to utter these things everywhere of
me, and stir up the Macedonians to sedition, and not be punished for
it?" "We are sufficiently punished already," answered Clitus, "if this
be the recompense of our toils, and we must esteem theirs a happy
lot who have not lived to see their countrymen scourged with Median
rods and forced to sue to the Persians to have access to their
king." While he talked thus at random, and those near Alexander got up
from their seats and began to revile him in turn, the elder men did
what they could to compose the disorder. Alexander, in the meantime
turning about to Xenodochus, the Pardian, and Artemius, the
Colophonian, asked him if they were not of opinion that the Greeks, in
comparison with the Macedonians, behaved themselves like so many
demigods among wild beasts. But Clitus for all this would not give
over, desiring Alexander to speak out if he had anything more to
say, or else why did he invite men who were freeborn and accustomed to
speak their minds openly without restraint to sup with him. He had
better live and converse with barbarians and slaves who would not
scruple to bow the knee to his Persian girdle and his white tunic.
Which words so provoked Alexander that, not able to suppress his anger
any longer, he threw one of the apples that lay upon the table at him,
and hit him, and then looked about for his sword. But Aristophanes,
one of his life-guard, had hid that out of the way, and others came
about him and besought him, but in vain; for, breaking from them, he
called out aloud to his guards in the Macedonian language, which was a
certain sign of some great disturbance in him, and commanded a
trumpeter to sound, giving him a blow with his clenched fist for not
instantly obeying him; though afterwards the same man was commended
for disobeying an order which would have put the whole army into
tumult and confusion. Clitus still refusing to yield, was with much
trouble forced by his friends out of the room. But he came in again
immediately at another door, very irreverently and confidently singing
the verses out of Euripides's Andromache,-

         "In Greece, alas! how ill things ordered are

Upon this, at last, Alexander, snatching a spear from one of the
soldiers met Clitus as he was coming forward and was putting by the
curtain that hung before the door, and ran him through the body. He
fell at once wit a cry and a groan. Upon which the king's anger
immediately vanishing, he came perfectly to himself, and when he saw
his friends about him all in a profound silence, he pulled the spear
out of the dead body, and would have thrust it into his own throat, if
the guards had not held his hands and by main force carried him away
into his chamber, where all that night and the next day he wept
bitterly, till being quite spent with lamenting and exclaiming, he lay
as it were speechless, only fetching deep sighs. His friends
apprehending some harm from his silence, broke into the room, but he
took no notice of what any of them said, till Aristander putting him
in mind of the vision he had seen concerning Clitus, and the prodigy
that followed, as if all had come to pass by an unavoidable
fatality, he then seemed to moderate his grief. They now brought
Callisthenes, the philosopher, who was the near friend of Aristotle,
and Anaxarchus of Abdera, to him. Callisthenes used moral language,
and gentle and soothing means, hoping to find access for words of
reason, and get a hold upon the passion. But Anaxarchus, who had
always taken a course of his own in philosophy, and had a name for
despising and slighting his contemporaries, as soon as he came in,
cried aloud, "Is this the Alexander whom the whole world looks to,
lying here weeping like a slave, for fear of the censure and
reproach of men, to whom he himself ought to be a law and measure of
equity, if he would use the right his conquests have given him as
supreme lord and governor of all, and not be the victim of a vain
and idle opinion? Do not you know," said he, "that Jupiter is
represented to have Justice and Law on each hand of him, to signify
that all the actions of a conqueror are lawful and just?" With these
and the like speeches, Anaxarchus indeed allayed the king's grief, but
withal corrupted his character, rendering him more audacious and
lawless than he had been. Nor did he fail these means to insinuate
himself into his favour, and to make Callisthenes's company, which
at all times, because of his austerity, was not very acceptable,
more uneasy and disagreeable to him.
  It happened that these two philosophers met at an entertainment
where conversation turned on the subject of climate and the
temperature of the air. Callisthenes joined with their opinion, who
held that those countries were colder, and the winter sharper there
than in Greece. Anaxarchus would by no means allow this, but argued
against it with some heat. "Surely," said Callisthenes, "you cannot
but admit this country to be colder than Greece, for there you used to
have but one threadbare cloak to keep out the coldest winter, and here
you have three good warm mantles one over another." This piece of
raillery irritated Anaxarchus and the other pretenders to learning,
and the crowd of flatterers in general could not endure to see
Callisthenes so much admired and followed by the youth, and no less
esteemed by the older men for his orderly life and his gravity and for
being contented with his condition; and confirming what he had
professed about the object he had in his journey to Alexander, that it
was only to get his countrymen recalled from banishment, and to
rebuild and repeople his native town. Besides the envy which his great
reputation raised, he also, by his own deportment, gave those who
wished him ill opportunity to do him mischief. For when he was invited
to public entertainments, he would most times refuse to come, or if he
were present at any, he put a constraint upon the company by his
austerity and silence, which seemed to intimate his disapproval of
what he saw. So that Alexander himself said in application to him,-

         "That vain pretence to wisdom I detest,
          Where a man's blind to his own interest."

Being with many more invited to sup with the king, he was called
upon when the cup came to him, to make an oration extempore in
praise of the Macedonians; and he did it with such a flow of
eloquence, that all who heard it rose from their seats to clap and
applaud him, and threw their garland upon him; only Alexander told him
out of Euripides,-

         "I wonder not that you have spoke so well,
         'Tis easy on good subjects to excel."

"Therefore," said he, "if you will show the force of your eloquence,
tell my Macedonians their faults, and dispraise them, that by
hearing their errors they may learn to be better for the future."
Callisthenes presently obeyed him, retracting all he had said
before, and, inveighing against the Macedonians with great freedom,
added, that Philip thrived and grew powerful, chiefly by the discord
of the Grecians, applying this verse to him,-

         "In civil strife e'en villains rise to fame;"

which so offended the Macedonians, that he was odious to them ever
after. And Alexander said, that instead of his eloquence, he had
only made his ill-will appear in what he had spoken. Hermippus assures
us that one Stroebus, a servant whom Callisthenes kept to read to him,
gave this account of these passages afterwards to Aristotle; and
that when he perceived the king grow more and more averse to him,
two or three times, as he was going away, he repeated the verses,-

         "Death seiz'd at last on great Patroclus too,
          Though he in virtue far exceeded you."

Not without reason, therefore, did Aristotle give this character of
Callisthenes, that he was, indeed, a powerful speaker, but had no
judgment. He acted certainly a true philosopher's part in positively
refusing, as he did, to pay adoration; and by speaking out openly
against that which the best and gravest of the Macedonians only
repined at in secret, he delivered the Grecians and Alexander
himself from a great disgrace, when the practice was given up. But
he ruined himself by it, because he went too roughly to work, as if he
would have forced the king to that which he should have effected by
reason and persuasion. Chares of Mitylene writes, that at a banquet
Alexander, after he had drunk, reached the cup to one of his
friends, who, on receiving it, rose up towards the domestic altar, and
when he had drunk, first adored and then kissed Alexander, and
afterwards laid himself down at the table with the rest. Which they
all did one after another, till it came to Callisthenes's turn, who
took the cup and drank, while the king, who was engaged in
conversation with Hephaestion, was not observing, and then came and
offered to kiss him. But Demetrius, surnamed Phidon, interposed,
saying, "Sir, by no means let him kiss you, for he only of us all
has refused to adore you." upon which the king declined it, and all
the concern Callisthenes showed was, that he said aloud, "Then I go
away with a kiss less than the rest." The displeasure he incurred by
this action procured credit for Hephaestion's declaration that he
had broken his word to him in not paying the king the same
veneration that others did, as he had faithfully promised to do. And
to finish his disgrace, a number of such men as Lysimachus and
Hagnon now came in with their asseverations that the sophist went
about everywhere boasting of his resistance to arbitrary power, and
that the young men all ran after him, and honoured him as the only man
among so many thousands who had the courage to preserve his liberty.
Therefore when Hermolaus's conspiracy came to be discovered, the
charges which his enemies brought against him were the more easily
believed, particularly that when the young man asked him what he
should do to be the most illustrious person on earth, he told him
the readiest way was to kill him who was already so, and that to
incite him to commit the deed, he bade him not be awed by the golden
couch, but remember Alexander was a man equally infirm and
vulnerable as another. However, none of Hermolaus's accomplices, in
the utmost extremity, made any mention of Callisthenes's being engaged
in the design. Nay, Alexander himself, in the letters which he wrote
soon after to Craterus, Attalus, and Alcetas, tells them that the
young men who were put to the torture declared they had entered into
the conspiracy of themselves, without any others being privy to or
guilty of it. But yet afterwards, in a letter to Antipater, he accuses
Callisthenes. "The young men," he says, "were stoned to death by the
Macedonians, but for the sophist" (meaning Callisthenes), "I will take
care to punish him with them too who sent him to me, and who harbour
those in their cities who conspire against my life," an unequivocal
declaration against Aristotle, in whose house Callisthenes, for his
relationship's sake, being his niece Hero's son, had been educated.
His death is variously related. Some say he was hanged by
Alexander's orders; others, that he died of sickness in prison; but
Chares writes he was kept in chains seven months after he was
apprehended, on purpose that he might be proceeded against in full
council, when Aristotle should be present; and that growing very
fat, and contracting a disease of vermin, he there died, about the
time that Alexander was wounded in India, in the country of the
Malli Oxydracae, all which came to pass afterwards.
  For to go on in order, Demaratus of Corinth, now quite an old man,
had made a great effort, about this time, to pay Alexander a visit;
and when he had seen him, said he pitied the misfortune of those
Grecians, who were so unhappy as to die before they had beheld
Alexander seated on the throne of Darius. But he did not long enjoy
the benefit of the king's kindness for him, any otherwise than that
soon after falling sick and dying, he had a magnificent funeral, and
the army raised him a monument of earth fourscore cubits high, and
of a vast circumference. His ashes were conveyed in a very rich
chariot, drawn by four horses, to the seaside.
  Alexander, now intent upon his expedition into India, took notice
that his soldiers were so charged with booty that it hindered their
marching. Therefore, at break of day, as soon as the baggage wagons
were laden first he set fire to his own, and to those of his
friends, and then commanded those to be burnt which belonged to the
rest of the army. An act which in the deliberation of it had seemed
more dangerous and difficult than it proved in the execution, with
which few were dissatisfied for most of the soldiers, as if they had
been inspired, uttering loud outcries and warlike shoutings,
supplied one another with what was absolutely necessary, and burnt and
destroyed all that was superfluous, the sight of which redoubled
Alexander's zeal and eagerness for his design. And, indeed, he was now
grown very severe and inexorable in punishing those who committed
any fault. For he put Menander, one of his friends, to death for
deserting a fortress where he had placed him in garrison, and shot
Orsodates, one of the barbarians who revolted from him, with his own
hand.
  At this time a sheep happened to yean a lamb, with the perfect shape
and colour of a tiara upon the head, and testicles on each side; which
portent Alexander regarded with such dislike, that he immediately
caused his Babylonian priests, whom he usually carried about with
him for such purposes, to purify him, and told his friends he was
not so much concerned for his own sake as for theirs, out of an
apprehension that after his death the divine power might suffer his
empire to fall into the hands of some degenerate, impotent person. But
this fear was soon removed by a wonderful thing that happened not long
after, and was thought to presage better. For Proxenus, a
Macedonian, who was the chief of those who looked to the king's
furniture, as he was breaking up the ground near the river Oxus, to
set up the royal pavilion, discovered a spring of a fat oily liquor,
which, after the top was taken off, ran pure, clear oil, without any
difference either of taste or smell, having exactly the same
smoothness and brightness, and that, too, in a country where no olives
grew. The water, indeed, of the river Oxus, is said to be the
smoothest to the feeling of all waters, and to leave a gloss on the
skins of those who bathe themselves in it. Whatever might be the
cause, certain it is that Alexander was wonderfully pleased with it,
as appears by his letters to Antipater, where he speaks of it as one
of the most remarkable presages that God had ever favoured him with.
The diviners told him it signified his expedition would be glorious in
the event, but very painful and attended with many difficulties; for
oil, they said, was bestowed on mankind by God as a refreshment of
their labours.
  Nor did they judge amiss, for he exposed himself to many hazards
in the battles which he fought, and received very severe wounds, but
the greatest loss in his army was occasioned through the
unwholesomeness of the air and the want of necessary provisions. But
he still applied himself to overcome fortune and whatever opposed him,
by resolution and virtue, and thought nothing impossible to true
intrepidity, and on the other hand nothing secure or strong for
cowardice. It is told of him that when he besieged Sisimithres, who
held an inaccessible, impregnable rock against him, and his soldiers
began to despair of taking it, he asked Oxyartes whether Sisimithres
was a man of courage, who assuring him he was the greatest coward
alive, "Then you tell me," said he, "that the place may easily be
taken, since what is in command of it is weak." And in a little time
he so terrified Sisimithres that he took it without any difficulty. At
an attack which he made upon such another precipitous place with
some of his Macedonian soldiers, he called to one whose name was
Alexander, and told him he at any rate must fight bravely if it were
but for his name's sake. The youth fought gallantly and was killed
in the action, at which he was sensibly afflicted. Another time,
seeing his men march slowly and unwillingly to the siege of the
place called Nysa, because of a deep river between them and the
town, he advanced before them, and standing upon the bank, "What a
miserable man," said he, "am I, that I have not learned to swim!"
and then was hardly dissuaded from endeavouring to pass it upon his
shield. Here, after the assault was over, the ambassadors who from
several towns which he had blocked up came to submit to him and make
their peace, were surprised to find him still in his armour, without
any one in waiting or attendance upon him, and when at last some one
brought him a cushion, he made the eldest of them, named Acuphis, take
it and sit down upon it. The old man, marvelling at his magnanimity
and courtesy, asked him what his countrymen should do to merit his
friendship. "I would have them," said Alexander, "choose you to govern
them, and send one hundred of the most worthy men among them to remain
with me as hostages." Acuphis laughed and answered, "I shall govern
them with more ease, sir, if I send you so many of the worst, rather
than the best of my subjects."
  The extent of King Taxiles's dominions in India was thought to be as
large as Egypt, abounding in good pastures, and producing beautiful
fruits. The king himself had the reputation of a wise man, and at
his first interview with Alexander he spoke to him in these terms: "To
what purpose," said he, "should we make war upon one another, if the
design of your coming into these parts be not to rob us of our water
or our necessary food, which are the only things that wise men are
indispensably obliged to fight for? As for other riches and
possessions, as they are accounted in the eye of the world, if I am
better provided of them than you, I am ready to let you share with me;
but if fortune has been more liberal to you than me, I have no
objection to be obliged to you." This discourse pleased Alexander so
much that, embracing him, "Do you think," said he to him, "your kind
words and courteous behaviour will bring you off in this interview
without a contest? No, you shall not escape so. I shall contend and do
battle with you so far, that how obliging soever you are, you shall
not have the better of me." Then receiving some presents from him,
he returned him others of greater value, and to complete his bounty
gave him in money ready coined one thousand talents; at which his
old friends were much displeased, but it gained him the hearts of many
of the barbarians. But the best soldiers of the Indians now entering
into the pay of several of the cities, undertook to defend them, and
did it so bravely, that they put Alexander to a great deal of trouble,
till at last, after a capitulation, upon the surrender of the place,
he fell upon them as they were marching away, and put them all to
the sword. This one breach of his word remains as a blemish upon his
achievements in war, which he otherwise had performed throughout
with that justice and honour that became a king. Nor was he less
incommoded by the Indian philosophers, who inveighed against those
princes who joined his party, and solicited the free nations to oppose
him. He took several of these also and caused them to be hanged.
  Alexander, in his own letters, has given us an account of his war
with Porus. He says the two armies were separated by the river
Hydaspes, on whose opposite bank Porus continually kept his
elephants in order of battle, with their heads towards their
enemies, to guard the passage; that he, on the other hand, made
every day a great noise and clamour in his camp, to dissipate the
apprehensions of the barbarians; that one stormy dark night he
passed the river, at a distance from the place where the enemy lay,
into a little island, with part of his foot and the best of his horse.
Here there fell a most violent storm of rain, accompanied with
lightning and whirlwinds, and seeing some of his men burnt and dying
with the lightning, he nevertheless quitted the island and made over
to the other side. The Hydaspes, he says, now after the storm, was
so swollen and grown so rapid as to have made a breach in the bank,
and a part of the river was now pouring in here, so that when he
came across it was with difficulty he got a footing on the land, which
was slippery and unsteady, and exposed to the force of the currents on
both sides. This is the occasion when he is related to have said, "O
ye Athenians, will ye believe what dangers I incur to merit your
praise?" This, however, is Onesicritus's story. Alexander says, here
the men left their boats, and passed the breach in their armour, up to
the breast in water, and that then he advanced with his horse about
twenty furlongs before his foot, concluding that if the enemy
charged him with their cavalry he should be too strong for them; if
with their foot, his own would come up time enough to his
assistance. Nor did he judge amiss; for being charged by a thousand
horse and sixty armed chariots, which advanced before their main body,
he took all the chariots, and killed four hundred horse upon the
place. Porus, by this time, guessing that Alexander himself had
crossed over, came on with his whole army, except a party which he
left behind, to hold the rest of the Macedonians in play, if they
should attempt to pass the river. But he, apprehending the multitude
of the enemy, and to avoid the shock of their elephants, dividing
his forces, attacked their left wing himself, and commanded Coenus
to fall upon the right, which was performed with good success. For
by this means both wings being broken, the enemies fell back in
their retreat upon the centre, and crowded in upon their elephants.
There rallying, they fought a hand-to-hand battle, and it was the
eighth hour of the day before they were entirely defeated. This
description the conqueror himself has left us in his own epistles.
  Almost all the historians agree in relating that Porus was four
cubits and a span high, and that when he was upon his elephant,
which was of the largest size, his stature and bulk were so
answerable, that he appeared to be proportionately mounted, as a
horseman on his horse. This elephant, during the whole battle, gave
many singular proofs of sagacity and of particular care of the king,
whom as long as he was strong and in a condition to fight, he defended
with great courage, repelling those who set upon him; and as soon as
he perceived him overpowered with his numerous wounds and the
multitude of darts that were thrown at him, to prevent his falling
off, he softly knelt down and began to draw out the darts with his
proboscis. When Porus was taken prisoner, and Alexander asked him
how he expected to be used, he answered, "As a king." For that
expression, he said, when the same question was put to him a second
time, comprehended everything. And Alexander, accordingly, not only
suffered him to govern his own kingdom as satrap under himself, but
gave him also the additional territory of various independent tribes
whom he subdued, a district which, it is said, contained fifteen
several nations, and five thousand considerable towns, besides
abundance of villages. To another government, three times as large
as this, he appointed Philip, one of his friends.
  Some little time after the battle with Porus, Bucephalus died, as
most of the authorities state, under cure of his wounds, or, as
Onesicritus says, of fatigue and age, being thirty years old.
Alexander was no less concerned at his death than if he had lost an
old companion or an intimate friend, and built a city, which he
named Bucephalia, in memory of him, on the bank of the river Hydaspes.
He also, we are told, built another city, and called it after the name
of a favourite dog, Peritas, which he had brought up himself. So
Sotion assures us he was informed by Potamon of Lesbos.
  But this last combat with Porus took off the edge of the
Macedonians' courage, and stayed their further progress into India.
For having found it hard enough to defeat an enemy who brought but
twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse into the field, they
thought they had reason to oppose Alexander's design of leading them
on to pass the Ganges, too, which they were told was thirty-two
furlongs broad and a fathoms deep, and the banks on the further side
covered with multitudes of enemies. For they were told the kings of
the Gandaritans and Praesians expected them there with eighty thousand
horse, two hundred thousand foot, eight thousand armed chariots, and
six thousand fighting elephants. Nor was this a mere vain report,
spread to discourage them. For Androcottus, who not long after reigned
in those parts, made a present of five hundred elephants at once to
Seleucus, and with an army of six hundred thousand men subdued all
India. Alexander at first was so grieved and enraged at his men's
reluctancy that he shut himself up in his tent and threw himself
upon the ground, declaring, if they would not pass the Ganges, he owed
them no thanks for anything they had hitherto done, and that to
retreat now was plainly to confess himself vanquished. But at last the
reasonable persuasions of his friends and the cries and lamentations
of his soldiers, who in a suppliant manner crowded about the
entrance of his tent, prevailed with him to think of returning. Yet he
could not refrain from leaving behind him various deceptive
memorials of his expedition, to impose upon aftertimes, and to
exaggerate his glory with posterity, such as arms larger than were
really worn, and mangers for horses, with bits and bridles above the
usual size, which he set up, and distributed in several places. He
erected altars, also, to the gods, which the kings of the Praesians
even in our time do honour to when they pass the river, and offer
sacrifice upon them after the Grecian manner. Androcottus, then a boy,
saw Alexander there, and is said often afterwards to have been heard
to say, that he missed but little of making himself master of those
countries; their king, who then reigned, was so hated and despised for
the viciousness of his life and the meanness of his extraction.
  Alexander was now eager to see the ocean. To which purpose he caused
a great many tow-boats and rafts to be built, in which he fell
gently down the rivers at his leisure, yet so that his navigation
was neither unprofitable nor inactive. For by several descents upon
the bank, he made himself master of the fortified towns, and
consequently of the country on both sides. But at a siege of a town of
the Mallians, who have the repute of being the bravest people of
India, he ran in great danger of his life. For having beaten off the
defendants with showers of arrows, he was the first man that mounted
the wall by a scaling-ladder, which, as soon as he was up, broke and
left him almost alone, exposed to the darts which the barbarians threw
at him in great numbers from below. In this distress, turning
himself as well as he could, he leaped down in the midst of his
enemies, and had the good fortune to light upon his feet. The
brightness and clattering of his armour when he came to the ground
made the barbarians think they saw rays of light, or some bright
phantom playing before his body, which frightened them so at first
that they ran away and dispersed. Till seeing him seconded but by
two of his guards, they fell upon him hand-to-hand, and some, while he
bravely defended himself, tried to wound him through his armour with
their swords and spears. And one who stood further off drew a bow with
such strength that the arrow, finding its way through his cuirass,
stuck in his ribs under the breast. This stroke was so violent that it
made him give back, and set one knee to the ground, upon which the man
ran up with his drawn scimitar, thinking to despatch him, and had done
it, if Peucestes and Limnaeus had not interposed, who were both
wounded, Limnaeus mortally, but Peucestes stood his ground, while
Alexander killed the barbarians. But this did not free him from
danger; for, besides many other wounds, at last he received so weighty
a stroke of a club upon his neck that he was forced to lean his body
against the wall, still, however, facing the enemy. At this extremity,
the Macedonians made their way in and gathered round him. They took
him up, just as he was fainting away, having lost all sense of what
was done near him, and conveyed him to his tent, upon which it was
presently reported all over the camp that he was dead. But when they
had with great difficulty and pains sawed off the shaft of the
arrow, which was of wood, and so with much trouble got off his
cuirass, they came to cut the head of it, which was three fingers
broad and four long, and stuck fast in the bone. During the
operation he was taken with almost mortal swoonings, but when it was
out he came to himself again. Yet though all danger was past, he
continued very weak, and confined himself a great while to a regular
diet and the method of his cure, till one day hearing the
Macedonians clamouring outside in their eagerness to see him, he
took his cloak and went out. And having sacrificed to the gods,
without more delay he went on board again, and as he coasted along
subdued a great deal of the country on both sides, and several
considerable cities.
  In this voyage he took ten of the Indian philosophers prisoners
who had been most active in persuading Sabbas to revolt, and had
caused the Macedonians a great deal of trouble. These men, called
Gymnosophists, were reputed to be extremely ready and succinct in
their answers, which he made trial of, by putting difficult
questions to them, letting them know that those whose answers were not
pertinent should be put to death, on which he made the eldest of
them judge. The first being asked which he thought the most
numerous, the dead or the living, answered, "The living because
those who are dead are not at all." Of the second, he desired to
know whether the earth or the sea produced the largest beasts; who
told him, "The earth, for the sea is but a part of it." His question
to the third was, Which is the cunningest of beasts? "That," said
he, "which men have not yet found out." He bade the fourth tell him
what argument he used to Sabbas to persuade him to revolt. "No other,"
said he, "than that he should either live or die nobly." Of the
fifth he asked, Which was the eldest, night or day? The philosopher
replied, "Day was eldest, by one day at least." But perceiving
Alexander not well satisfied with that account, he added, that he
ought not to wonder if strange questions had as strange answers made
to them. Then he went on and inquired of the next, what a man should
do to be exceedingly beloved. "He must be very powerful," said he,
"without making himself too much feared." The answer of the seventh to
his question, how a man might become a god, was, "By doing that
which was impossible for men to do." The eighth told him, "Life is
stronger than death, because it supports so many miseries." And the
last being asked, how long he thought it decent for a man to live,
said, "Till death appeared more desirable than life." Then Alexander
turned to him whom he had made judge, and commanded him to give
sentence. "All that I can determine," said he, "is, that they have
every one answered worse than another." "Nay," said the king, "then
you shall die first, for giving such a sentence." "Not so, O king,"
replied the gymnosophist, "unless you said falsely that he should
die first who made the worst answer." In conclusion he gave them
presents and dismissed them.
  But to those who were in greatest reputation among them, and lived a
private quiet life, he sent Onesicritus, one of Diogenes the Cynic's
disciples, desiring them to come to him. Calanus, it is said, very
arrogantly and roughly commanded him to strip himself and hear what he
said naked, otherwise he would not speak a word to him, though he came
from Jupiter himself. But Dandamis received him with more civility,
and hearing him discourse of Socrates, Pythagoras, and Diogenes,
told him he thought them men of great parts and to have erred in
nothing so much as in having too great respect for the laws and
customs of their country. Others say Dandamis only asked him the
reason why Alexander undertook so long a journey to come into those
parts. Taxiles, however, persuaded Calanus to wait upon Alexander. His
proper name was Sphines, but because he was wont to say Cale, which in
the Indian tongue is a form of salutation to those he met with
anywhere, the Greeks called him Calanus. He is said to have shown
Alexander an instructive emblem of government, which was this. He
threw a dry shrivelled bide upon the ground, and trod upon the edges
of it. The skin when it was pressed in one place still rose up in
another, wheresoever he trod round about it, till he set his foot in
the middle, which made all the parts lie even and quiet. The meaning
of this similitude being that he ought to reside most in the middle of
his empire, and not spend too much time on the borders of it.
  His voyage down the rivers took up seven months' time, and when he
came to the sea, he sailed to an island which he himself called
Scillustis, others Psiltucis, where going ashore, he sacrificed, and
made what observations he could as to the nature of the sea and the
sea-coast. Then having besought the gods that no other man might
ever go beyond the bounds of this expedition, he ordered his fleet, of
which he made Nearchus admiral and Onesicritus pilot, to sail round
about, keeping the Indian shore on the right hand, and returned
himself by land through the country of the Orites, where he was
reduced to great straits for want of provisions, and lost a vast
number of his men, so that of an army of one hundred and twenty
thousand foot and fifteen thousand horse, he scarcely brought back
above a fourth part out of India, they were so diminished by
disease, ill diet, and the scorching heats, but most by famine. For
their march was through an uncultivated country whose inhabitants
fared hardly, possessing only a few sheep, and those of a wretched
kind, whose flesh was rank and unsavoury, by their continual feeding
upon sea-fish.
  After sixty days' march he came into Gedrosia, where he found
great plenty of all things, which the neighbouring kings and governors
of provinces, hearing of his approach, had taken care to provide. When
he had here refreshed his army, he continued his march through
Carmania, feasting all the way for seven days together. He with his
most intimate friends banqueted and revelled night and day upon a
platform erected on a lofty, conspicuous scaffold, which was slowly
drawn by eight horses. This was followed by a great many chariots,
some covered with purple and embroidered canopies, and some with green
boughs, which were continually supplied afresh, and in them the rest
of his friends and commanders drinking, and crowned with garlands of
flowers. Here was now no target or helmet or spear to be seen; instead
of armour, the soldiers handled nothing but cups and goblets and
Thericlean drinking vessels, which, along the whole way, they dipped
into large bowls and jars, and drank healths to one another, some
seating themselves to it, others as they went along. All places
resounded with music of pipes and flutes, with harping and singing,
and women dancing as in the rites of Bacchus. For this disorderly,
wandering march, besides the drinking part of it, was accompanied with
all the sportiveness and insolence of bacchanals, as much as if the
god himself had been there to countenance and lead the procession.
As soon as he came to the royal palace of Gedrosia, he again refreshed
and feasted his army; and one day after he had drunk pretty hard, it
is said, he went to see a prize of dancing contended for, in which his
favourite Bagoas, having gained the victory, crossed the theatre in
his dancing habit, and sat down close by him, which so pleased the
Macedonians that they made loud acclamations for him to kiss Bagoas,
and never stopped clapping their hands and shouting till Alexander put
his arms round him and kissed him.
  Here his admiral, Nearchus, came to him, and delighted him so with
the narrative of his voyage, that he resolved himself to sail out of
the mouth of the Euphrates with a great fleet, with which he
designed to go round by Arabia and Africa, and so by Hercules's
Pillars into the Mediterranean; in order for which, he directed all
sorts of vessels to be built at Thapsacus, and made great provisions
everywhere of seamen and pilots. But the tidings of the difficulties
he had gone through in his Indian expedition, the danger of his person
among the Mallians, the reported loss of a considerable part of his
forces, and a general doubt as to his own safety, had begun to give
occasion for revolt among many of the conquered nations, and for
acts of great injustice, avarice, and insolence on the part of the
satraps and commanders in the provinces, so that there seemed to be an
universal fluctuation and disposition to change. Even at home,
Olympias and Cleopatra had raised a faction against Antipater, and
divided his government between them, Olympias seizing upon Epirus, and
Cleopatra upon Macedonia. When Alexander was told of it, he said his
mother had made the best choice, for the Macedonians would never
endure to be ruled by a woman. Upon this he despatched Nearchus
again to his fleet, to carry the war into the maritime provinces,
and as he marched that way himself he punished those commanders who
had behaved ill, particularly Oxyartes, one of the sons of Abuletes,
whom he killed with his own hand, thrusting him through the body
with his spear. And when Abuletes, instead of the necessary provisions
which he ought to have furnished, brought him three thousand talents
in coined money, he ordered it to be thrown to his horses, and when
they would not touch it, "What good," he said, "will this provision do
us?" and sent him away to prison.
  When he came into Persia, he distributed money among the women, as
their own kings had been wont to do, who as often as they came thither
gave every one of them a piece of gold; on account of which custom,
some of them, it is said, had come but seldom, and Ochus was so
sordidly covetous that, to avoid this expense, he never visited his
native country once in all his reign. Then finding Cyrus's sepulchre
opened and rifled, he put Polymachus, who did it, to death, though
he was a man of some distinction, a born Macedonian of Pella. And
after he had read the inscription, he caused it to be cut again
below the old one in Greek characters; the words being these: "O
man, whosoever thou art, and from whencesoever thou comest (for I know
thou wilt come), I am Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire; do not
grudge me this little earth which covers my body." The reading of this
sensibly touched Alexander, filling him with the thought of the
uncertainty and mutability of human affairs. At the same time Calanus,
having been a little while troubled with a disease in the bowels,
requested that he might have a funeral pile erected, to which he
came on horseback, and, after he had said some prayers and sprinkled
himself and cut off some of his hair to throw into the fire, before he
ascended it, he embraced and took leave of the Macedonians who stood
by, desiring them to pass that day in mirth and good-fellowship with
their king, whom in a little time, he said, he doubted not to see
again at Babylon. Having this said, he lay down, and covering up his
face, he stirred not when the fire came near him, but continued
still in the same posture as at first, and so sacrificed himself, as
it was the ancient custom of the philosophers in those countries to
do. The same thing was done long after by another Indian who came with
Caesar to Athens, where they still show you, "the Indian's
monument." At his return from the funeral pile, Alexander invited a
great many of his friends and principal officers to supper, and
proposed a drinking match, in which the victor should receive a crown.
Promachus drank twelve quarts of wine, and won the prize, which was
a talent from them all; but he survived his victory but three days,
and was followed, as Chares says, by forty-one more, who died of the
same debauch, some extremely cold weather having set in shortly after.
  At Susa, he married Darius's daughter Statira, and celebrated also
the nuptials of his friends, bestowing the noblest of the Persian
ladies upon the worthiest of them, at the same time making it an
entertainment in honour of the other Macedonians whose marriages had
already taken place. At this magnificent festival, it is reported,
there were no less than nine thousand guests, to each of whom he
gave a golden cup for the libations. Not to mention other instances of
his wonderful magnificence, he paid the debts of his army, which
amounted to nine thousand eight hundred and seventy talents. But
Antigenes, who had lost one of his eyes, though he owed nothing, got
his name set down in the list of those who were in debt, and
bringing one who pretended to be his creditor, and to have supplied
him from the bank, received the money. But when the cheat was found
out, the king was so incensed at it, that he banished him from
court, and took away his command, though he was an excellent soldier
and a man of great courage. For when he was but a youth, and served
under Philip at the siege of Perinthus, where he was wounded in the
eye by an arrow shot out of an engine, he would neither let the
arrow be taken out nor be persuaded to quit the field till he had
bravely repulsed the enemy and forced them to retire into the town.
Accordingly he was not able to support such a disgrace with any
patience, and it was plain that grief and despair would have made
him kill himself, but the king fearing it, not only pardoned him,
but let him also enjoy the benefit of his deceit.
  The thirty thousand boys whom he left behind him to be taught and
disciplined were so improved at his return, both in strength and
beauty, and performed their exercises with such dexterity and
wonderful agility, that he was extremely pleased with them, which
grieved the Macedonians. and made them fear he would have the less
value for them. And when he proceeded to send down the infirm and
maimed soldiers to the sea, they said they were unjustly and
infamously dealt with, after they were worn out in his service upon
all occasions, now to be turned away with disgrace and sent home
into their country among their friends and relations in a worse
condition than when they came out; therefore they desired him to
dismiss them one and all, and to account his Macedonians useless,
now he was so well furnished with a set of dancing boys, with whom, if
he pleased, he might go on and conquer the world. These speeches so
incensed Alexander that, after he had given them a great deal of
reproachful language in his passion, he drove them away, and committed
the watch to Persians, out of whom he chose his guards and attendants.
When the Macedonians saw him escorted by these men, and themselves
excluded and shamefully disgraced, their high spirits fell, and
conferring with one another, they found that jealousy and rage had
almost distracted them. But at last coming to themselves again, they
went without their arms, with only their under garments on, crying and
weeping to offer themselves at his tent, and desired him to deal
with them as their baseness and ingratitude deserved. However, this
would not prevail; for though his anger was already something
mollified, yet he would not admit them into his presence, nor would
they stir from thence, but continued two days and nights before his
tent, bewailing themselves, and imploring him as their lord to have
compassion on them. But the third day he came out to them, and
seeing them very humble and penitent, he wept himself a great while,
after a gentle reproof spoke kindly to them, and dismissed those who
were unserviceable with magnificent rewards, and with his
recommendation to Antipater, that when they came home, at all public
shows and in the theatres, they should sit on the best and foremost
seats, crowned with chaplets of flowers. He ordered, also, that the
children of those who had lost their lives in his service should
have their father's pay continued to them.
  When he came to Ecbatana in Media, and had despatched his most
urgent affairs, he began to divert himself again with spectacles and
public entertainments, to carry on which he had a supply of three
thousand actors and artists, newly arrived out of Greece. But they
were soon interrupted by Hephaestion's falling sick of a fever, in
which, being a young man and a soldier, too, he could not confine
himself to so exact a diet as was necessary; for whilst his physician,
Glaucus, was gone to the theatre, he ate a fowl for his dinner, and
drank a large draught of wine, upon which he became very ill, and
shortly after died. At this misfortune, Alexander was so beyond. all
reason transported that, to express his sorrow, he immediately ordered
the manes and tails of all his horses and mules to be cut, and threw
down the battlements of the neighbouring cities. The poor physician he
crucified, and forbade playing on the flute or any other musical
instrument in the camp a great while, till directions came from the
oracle of Ammon, and enjoined him to honour Hephaestion, and sacrifice
to him as a hero. Then seeking to alleviate his grief in war, he set
out, as it were, to a hunt and chase of men, for he fell upon the
Cossaeans, and put the whole nation to the sword. This was called a
sacrifice to Hephaestion's ghost. In his sepulchre and monument and
the adorning of them he intended to bestow ten thousand talents; and
designing that the excellence of the workmanship and the singularity
of the design might outdo the expense, his wishes turned, above all
other artists, to Stasicrates, because he always promised something
very bold, unusual, and magnificent in his projects. Once when they
had met before, he had told him that, of all the mountains he knew,
that of Athos in Thrace was the most capable of being adapted to
represent the shape and lineaments of a man; that if he pleased to
command him, he would make it the noblest and most durable statue in
the world, which in its left hand should hold a city of ten thousand
inhabitants, and out of its right should pour a copious river into the
sea. Though Alexander declined this proposal, yet now he spent a great
deal of time with workmen to invent and contrive others even more
extravagant and sumptuous.
  As he was upon his way to Babylon, Nearchus, who had sailed back out
of the ocean up the mouth of the river Euphrates, came to tell him
he had met with some Chaldaean diviners, who had warned him against
Alexander's going thither. Alexander, however, took no thought of
it, and went on, and when he came near the walls of the place, he
saw a great many crows fighting with one another, some of whom fell
down just by him. After this, being privately informed that
Apollodorus, the governor of Babylon, had sacrificed, to know what
would become of him, he sent for Pythagoras, the soothsayer, and on
his admitting the thing, asked him in what condition he found the
victim; and when he told him the liver was defective in its lobe, "A
great presage indeed!" said Alexander. However, he offered
Pythagoras no injury, but was sorry that he had neglected Nearchus's
advice, and stayed for the most part outside the town, removing his
tent from place to place, and sailing up and down the Euphrates.
Besides this, he was disturbed by many other prodigies. A tame ass
fell upon the biggest and handsomest lion that he kept, and killed him
by a kick. And one day after he had undressed himself to be
anointed, and was playing at ball, just as they were going to bring
his clothes again, the young men who played with him perceived a man
clad in the king's robes with a diadem upon his head, sitting silently
upon his throne. They asked him who he was, to which he gave no answer
a good while, till at last, coming to himself, he told them his name
was Dionysius that he was of Messenia, that for some crime of which he
was accused he was brought thither from the seaside, and had been kept
long in prison, that Serapis appeared to him, had freed him from his
chains, conducted him to that place, and commanded him to that
place, and commanded him to put on the king's robe and diadem, and
to sit where they found him, and to say nothing. Alexander, when he
heard this, by the direction of his soothsayers, put the fellow to
death, but he lost his spirits, and grew diffident of the protection
and assistance of the gods, and suspicious of his friends. His
greatest apprehension was of Antipater and his sons, one of whom,
Iolaus, was his chief cupbearer; and Cassander, who had lately
arrived, and had been bred up in Greek manners, the first time he
saw some of the barbarians adore the king could not forbear laughing
at it aloud, which so incensed Alexander he took him by the hair
with both hands and dashed his head against the wall. Another time,
Cassander would have said something in defence of Antipater to those
who accused him, but Alexander interrupting him, said, "What is it you
say? Do you think people, if they had received no injury, would come
such a journey only to calumniate your father?" To which when
Cassander replied, that their coming so far from the evidence was a
great proof of the falseness of their charges, Alexander smiled, and
said those were some of Aristotle's sophisms, which would serve
equally on both sides; and added, that both he and his father should
be severely punished, if they were found guilty of the least injustice
towards those who complained. All which made such a deep impression of
terror in Cassander's mind that, long after, when he was King of
Macedonia and master of Greece, as he was walking up and down at
Delphi, and looking at the statues, at the sight of that of
Alexander he was suddenly struck with alarm, and shook all over, his
eyes rolled, his head grew dizzy, and it was long before he
recovered himself.
  When once Alexander had given way to fears of supernatural
influence, his mind grew so disturbed and so easily alarmed that, if
the least unusual or extraordinary thing happened, he thought it a
prodigy or a presage, and his court was thronged with diviners and
priests whose business was to sacrifice and purify and foretell the
future. So miserable a thing is incredulity and contempt of divine
power on the one hand, and so miserable, also, superstition on the
other, which like water, where the level has been lowered, flowing
in and never stopping, fills the mind with slavish fears and
follies, as now in Alexander's case. But upon some answers which
were brought him from the oracle concerning Hephaestion, he laid aside
his sorrow, and fell again to sacrificing and drinking; and having
given Nearchus a splendid entertainment, after he had bathed, as was
his custom, just as he was going to bed, at Medius's request he went
to supper with him. Here he drank all the next day, and was attacked
with a fever, which seized him, not as some write, after he had
drunk of the bowl of Hercules, nor was he taken with any sudden pain
in his back, as if he had been struck with a lance, for these are
the inventions of some authors who thought it their duty to make the
last scene of so great an action as tragical and moving as they could.
Aristobulus tells us, that in the rage of his fever and a violent
thirst, he took a draught of wine, upon which he fell into delirium,
and died on the thirtieth day of the month Daesius.
  But the journals give the following record. On the eighteenth day of
the month he slept in the bathing-room on account of his fever. The
next day he bathed and removed into his chamber, and spent his time in
playing at dice with Medius. In the evening he bathed and
sacrificed, and ate freely, and had the fever on him through the
night. On the twentieth, after the usual sacrifices and bathing, he
lay in the bathing-room and heard Nearchus's narrative of his
voyage, and the observations he had made in the great sea. The
twenty-first he passed in the same manner, his fever still increasing,
and suffered much during the night. The next day the fever was very
violent, and he had himself removed and his bed set by the great bath,
and discoursed with his principal officers about finding fit men to
fill up the vacant places in the army. On the twenty-fourth he was
much worse, and was carried out of his bed to assist at the
sacrifices, and gave order that the general officers should wait
within the court, whilst the inferior officers kept watch without
doors. On the twenty-fifth he was removed to his palace on the other
side the river, where he slept a little, but his fever did not
abate, and when the generals came into his chamber he was speechless
and continued so the following day. The Macedonians, therefore,
supposing he was dead, came with great clamours to the gates, and
menaced his friends so that they were forced to admit them, and let
them all pass through unarmed by his bedside. The same day Python
and Seleucus were despatched to the temple of Serapis to inquire if
they should bring Alexander thither, and were answered by the god that
they should not remove him. On the twenty-eighth, in the evening, he
died. This account is most of it word for word as it is written in the
diary.
  At the time, nobody had any suspicion of his being poisoned, but
upon some information given six years after, they say Olympias put
many to death, and scattered the ashes of Iolaus, then dead, as if
he had given it him. But those who affirm that Aristotle counselled
Antipater to do it, and that by his means the poison was brought,
adduced one Hagnothemis as their authority, who, they say, heard
King Antigonus speak of it, and tell us that the poison was water,
deadly cold as ice, distilled from a rock in the district of Nonacris,
which they gathered like a thin dew, and kept in an ass's hoof; for it
was so very cold and penetrating that no other vessel would hold it.
However, most are of opinion that all this is a mere made-up story, no
slight evidence of which is, that during the dissensions among the
commanders, which lasted several days, the body continued clear and
fresh, without any sign of such taint or corruption, though it lay
neglected in a close sultry place.
  Roxana, who was now with child, and upon that account much
honoured by the Macedonians, being jealous of Statira, sent for her by
a counterfeit letter, as if Alexander had been still alive; and when
she had her in her power, killed her and her sister, and threw their
bodies into a well, which they filled up with earth, not without the
privity and assistance of Perdiccas, who in the time immediately
following the king's death, under cover of the name of Arrhidaeus,
whom he carried about him as a sort of guard to his person,
exercised the chief authority. Arrhidaeus, who was Philip's son by
an obscure woman of the name of Philinna, was himself of weak
intellect, not that he had been originally deficient either in body or
mind, on the contrary, in his childhood, he had showed a happy and
promising character enough. But a diseased habit of body, caused by
drugs which Olympias gave him, had ruined, not only his health, but
his understanding.


                               THE END