While Alexander was yet besieging Tyre, ambassadors arrived from Darius,
telling him that Darius would bestow upon him ten thousand talents of
silver, if he would set his mother, his wife, and children at liberty; as
also all the country between the Euphrates and the Hellespont; and if he
would take his daughter in marriage, he should be styled his friend and
confederate. Which embassy being debated in council, Parmenion is said to
have told him that if he were Alexander, he would accept the terms, and,
when the end of war was gained, no longer tempt the hazard thereof. To
which the other is said to have replied, “So would I if I were Parmenion;
but as I am Alexander, I must act worthily of Alexander.” He therefore
answered the ambassador that he neither wanted Darius’ money, nor would
accept of part of his empire, instead of the whole--since all the
treasure, and the country, were his; that he would marry his daughter,
if he pleased, without his consent: but if Darius had a mind to try his
humanity, let him come to him.
This answer being carried to Darius, he, despairing of peace, made
fresh preparations for war. Alexander then resolved upon an expedition
into Egypt, all the cities of that part of Syria called Palestine being
surrendered peaceably into his hands, except Gaza, which was kept by a
certain eunuch, named Batis, who, foreseeing this, had already hired many
troops of Arabians, and laid up vast stores of provisions, to serve for a
long siege. He also entirely trusted to the strength of the place, which
he looked upon as impregnable; for which reason, he was resolved that,
whenever Alexander approached, he should be denied entrance.
THE SIEGE OF GAZA ACCORDING TO ARRIAN
Gaza is only twenty furlongs distant from the seashore, and exceeding
difficult of access, because of the depth of the sand, and the
neighbouring sea, which is, everywhere, shallow. The city itself is large
and populous, seated on a high hill, and surrounded with a strong wall.
It is also the last inhabited place which travellers meet with in their
way from Phœnicia to Egypt, and borders upon a vast desert. Alexander,
immediately after his arrival there, encamped over against that part
of the wall which seemed most subject to an assault, and ordered his
engines to be brought thither; and notwithstanding the opinion of some
of his engineers, that the wall was not possible to be taken by force,
by reason of the height of the bulwarks, he thought fit to declare his
sentiments to the contrary; and that the more difficult the attempt was,
the more necessary it was to be undertaken; for that the very suddenness
and briskness of their assault would strike their enemies with no small
terror. He added that, if he were unable to reduce the city, it would
abundantly redound to his dishonour, when the news should be carried to
Greece, as well as to Darius.
He therefore ordered a rampart to be run round it, of such a height that
the engines placed thereupon might be upon a level with the top of the
wall, which rampart he then built over against the south part of the
wall, because it seemed, there, the least difficult to be assaulted.
And when the work was now brought to its full height, the Macedonian
engines were immediately placed thereon. About this time, as Alexander
was sacrificing, with a crown of gold upon his head, according to the
custom of Greece, and just entering upon the office, a certain bird of
prey hovered over the altar and let fall a stone from his claws upon his
head. Alexander immediately sent to consult Aristander, the soothsayer,
what this prodigy could portend. He returned answer: “Thou shalt indeed
take the city, O King; but beware of danger from thence, on the day it is
taken.” He, hearing this, retired out of the reach of their darts to the
engines on the rampart.
But when Alexander saw the Arabians make a furious sally out of the
city, and set fire to the engines, and, having the advantage of the
higher station, gall the Macedonians below and beat them from the rampart
which they had built--then, either forgetful of the divine warning, or
moved with the danger of his soldiers, he called his targeteers together
and hasted to succour the Macedonians where they were most exposed,
and by his presence kept them from betaking themselves to flight and
abandoning the rampart: but while he was thus pushing forward, an arrow
from an engine pierced his shield and breastplate and wounded him in the
shoulder; which, when he perceived, and thereby knew that Aristander’s
prediction was true, he rejoiced, because, by the same prediction, he was
to take the city.
In the meantime other engines, which had been used at the siege of Tyre,
arriving by sea, he ordered the rampart to be run quite round the city,
two stadia in breadth, and 250 feet in height. The engines then being
prepared, and planted thereupon, the wall was vehemently shaken, and
the miners in many places, working privately underneath the foundations
thereof and conveying the rubbish away, it fell down. The besiegers then
plying the citizens with their darts, beat them out of their towers; yet
thrice they sustained the Macedonian shocks, with the loss of abundance,
slain and wounded. But at the fourth attack, when Alexander had called
his men thither, he so levelled the wall, which had been undermined in
some places, and widened the breaches made by the engines in others, that
it seemed then a matter of no difficulty to the Macedonians to fix their
ladders to the ruins thereof and storm the city. As soon as the ladders
were fixed there arose a great emulation among the besiegers who should
first mount the breach. This honour was gained by Neoptolemus of the
race of the Æcidæ, one of his friends; and after him, other captains and
others still entered with their forces; and when many of the Macedonians
were now within the walls, they forced open the gates, one after another,
and gave entrance to the whole army. The citizens, notwithstanding they
saw the place thus taken by storm, were resolved to fight to the last;
and gathering together in a body, every one lost his life where he stood,
after a brave resistance. Alexander sold the wives and children for
slaves; and a colony being drawn thither from the neighbourhood, the city
was afterwards made use of as a garrison.[b]
The following incidents, not mentioned by Arrian, are characteristic
enough to be quoted from Quintus Curtius, IV. 6. The treatment of Batis,
who was in command at Gaza, if correctly reported,--which, however, is by
no means certain,--is one of those spasms of barbarity which now and then
marred a career otherwise full of dignity.[a]
INCIDENTS FROM QUINTUS CURTIUS
“A certain Arabian, one of Darius’ soldiers, ventured upon an action
above his fortune, and covering his sword with his buckler, fell upon
his knees before the king, as if he had deserted to him; whereupon the
king bid him rise, and ordered him to be received into his service; but
the barbarian, taking his sword courageously into his right hand, made
at the king’s head; who having declined the blow, at the same time cut
off the disappointed hand of the barbarian, and flattered himself that he
was now cleared of the danger of the day. However, fate, as I take it, is
unavoidable, for as he was fighting gallantly among the foremost he was
wounded with an arrow, which passed through his armour, and struck in his
shoulder, from whence Philip, his physician, drew it. Now the blood began
to run in a great quantity, and all that stood by were frightened, never
having known an arrow penetrate so deep through armour before.
“As for Alexander, he did not so much as change his countenance, but
bid them stop the bleeding, and tie up the wound. Thus he remained some
time at the head of the army, either dissembling or overcoming the pain;
but when the blood that had been stopped by an application began to
run afresh in a larger quantity, and the wound (which by reason of its
newness did not at first pain him) upon the cooling of the blood began
to swell, then he fainted and fell on his knees. They that were next to
him took him up, and carried him into his tent, and Batis concluding
him dead, returned into the town in a triumphing manner; but the king,
impatient of delay (before his wound was cured), gave orders for a
terrace to be raised as high as the city walls, which he commanded to be
undermined.
“The besieged, on their part, were not idle, for they had erected a new
fortification of equal height with the old wall, but that, however,
did not come upon the level with the towers which were planted on the
terrace, so that the inward parts of the town were exposed to the
enemies’ darts; and to complete their hard fate, the walls were now
overthrown by the mines, and gave the Macedonians an opportunity of
entering the city at the breaches. The king was at the head of the
foremost, and while he carelessly entered the place, his leg was hurt
with a stone; notwithstanding which, leaning on his weapon, he fought
among the first, though his old wound was not yet healed; his resentment
was the greater on account of his having received two wounds in the siege.
“Batis, having behaved himself gallantly, and received several wounds,
was at last forsaken by his men, yet this did not hinder him from
fighting on, though his arms were grown slippery with his own and his
enemies’ blood: but being attacked on all sides, he was taken alive, and
being brought before the king, who was overjoyed that he had him in his
power, insomuch that he used to admire virtue, even in an enemy, giving
way this time to revenge, told him:
“‘Thou shalt not, Batis, die as thou wouldst, but expect to undergo
whatever torments ingenuity can invent.’
“At which threats Batis, without making any reply, gave the king not
only an undaunted, but an insolent look; whereupon Alexander said, ‘Do
you take notice of this obstinate silence? Has he either offered to
kneel down, or made the least submission? However, I’ll overcome his
taciturnity, if by no other means, at least by groans.’ This said, his
anger turned to rage, his fortune having already corrupted his manners,
so that he ordered cords to be run through Batis’ heels and tied to the
hinder part of a cart, and in that manner had him dragged alive round
the city, valuing himself for having imitated Achilles (from whom he
descended) in punishing his enemy.”[c]
ALEXANDER IN EGYPT
The sieges of Tyre and Gaza, occupying together nine months, were, says
Grote, the hardest fighting that Alexander ever encountered.[21]
The siege of Gaza had occupied, it seems, three or four months; and it
was perhaps not before December 332, that Alexander began his expedition
to Egypt. Here he might safely reckon not merely on an easy conquest, but
on an ardent reception, from a people who burned to shake off the Persian
tyranny, and had even welcomed and supported the adventurer Amyntas.
Mazaces himself, as soon as he heard of the battle of Issus, became aware
that all resistance to Alexander would be useless, and met him with a
voluntary submission. At Pelusium he found the fleet, and having left a
garrison in the fortress, ordered it to proceed up the Nile as far as
Memphis, while he marched across the desert. Near Heliopolis he crossed
the river, and joined the fleet at Memphis. Here he conciliated the
Egyptians by the honours which he paid to all their gods, especially to
Apis, who had been so cruelly insulted by the Persian invaders; but at
the same time he exhibited a new spectacle to the natives--a musical and
gymnastic contest, for which he had collected the most celebrated artists
from all parts of Greece. He then embarked, and dropt down the western or
Canopic arm of the river to Canopus, to survey the extremity of the Delta
on that side; and having sailed round the lake Mareotis, landed on the
narrow belt of low ground which parts it from the sea, and is sheltered
from the violence of the northern gales, which would otherwise desolate
and overwhelm it, by a long ridge of rock, then separated from the main
land by a channel, nearly a mile (seven stadia) broad, and forming the
isle of Pharos. On this site stood the village of Racotis, where the
ancient kings of Egypt had stationed a permanent guard to protect this
entrance of their dominions from adventurers, especially Greeks, who
might visit it for the sake either of plunder or commerce; while for
greater security they granted the adjacent district to a pastoral tribe,
which regarded all strangers as enemies.
Alexander’s keen eye was immediately struck by the advantages of this
position for a city, which should become a great emporium of commerce,
and a link between the East and the West--one of the great objects which
already occupied his mind--while it secured the possession of Egypt to
his empire, and transmitted the name of its founder to distant ages. He
immediately gave orders for the beginning of the work, himself traced
the outline, which was suggested by the natural features of the ground
itself,[22] and marked the sites of some of the principal buildings,
squares, palaces, and temples. The two main streets, which intersected
each other at right angles in a great public place, one traversing the
whole length of the city, and forming a series of magnificent edifices,
provided for health and enjoyment by a free current of air; and the
inundations of the Nile secured it from the pernicious effects which
would otherwise have arisen from the vicinity of the lake. A causeway
connected the island--on which it is said Alexander at first thought of
building the city--with the main, and divided the intervening basin into
two harbours, which were only joined together by a canal near either end.
By the continual accumulation of sand, this isthmus has been so enlarged
that it now forms the site of the modern Alexandria. Still there were two
defects to counterbalance so many advantages of situation. The harbour
was on both sides difficult of entrance, and there was no other within
a great distance either on the east or the west. This inconvenience
could never be wholly remedied, though the danger of the approach from
the sea was afterwards much lessened by the erection of a magnificent
beacon-tower, on a rock, near the eastern point of Pharos, which threw
out its light to the distance, it is said, of nearly forty miles. The
other defect was the want of water; and for this ample provision was made
by a new canal, branching from the Nile, which brought a constant supply
into the cisterns over which the houses were built. Yet Alexandria was
thus placed at the mercy of every enemy who could make himself master of
the canal and deprive it of a main necessary of life. It was a part of
Alexander’s plan to people the city with a mixed colony of Greeks and
Egyptians, in which the prejudices of the two races might be effaced by
habitual intercourse, though Grecian arts and manners were to give their
character to the whole; and therefore, among the temples of the Grecian
gods, he ordered one to be founded for the worship of Isis.
[Sidenote: [331 B.C.]]
[Illustration: GREEK JUG]
A favourable omen is said to have afforded a presage of the prosperity
which awaited the new city. When he was about to trace the course of the
walls, no chalk was at hand for the purpose, and it was found necessary
instead to make use of flour, which soon attracted a large flock of
birds from all sides to devour it. Aristander--who was never at a
loss--construed this incident as a sign of the abundance which the city
should enjoy and diffuse. That indeed probably far exceeded its founder’s
most sanguine hopes; but still less could he have foreseen or calculated
all the elements of a new intellectual life, which were to be there
combined, and the influence which it was to exert over the opinions and
condition of a great part of the world.
He was still thus engaged when Hegelochus arrived with the news that
the Persians had been dislodged from the last holds of their power in
the Ægean. Tenedos had revolted from them, as soon as it became sure
of Macedonian protection. At Chios the democratical party had risen
against the government established by the Persian satraps, and had taken
Pharnabazus himself prisoner: and soon after Aristonicus, the tyrant of
Methymna, having sailed into the harbour, before he had heard of the
recent revolution, with some pirate ships, fell into their hands. The
crews were all put to death; he himself, together with the oligarchical
leaders, who had betrayed the city to the Persians, was sent to Alexander
to receive his sentence. Mytilene, too, where Chares, the Athenian
general, commanded the garrison, had been forced to capitulate, and the
whole of Lesbos had been recovered. Hegelochus had likewise left his
colleague Amphoterus in possession of Cos, which the islanders had freely
surrendered. There Pharnabazus had made his escape; but he had brought
the other prisoners with him, among whom, beside Aristonicus, were
several tyrants who had ruled under Persian patronage. These Alexander
abandoned to the mercy of the cities which they had governed, and they
all suffered a cruel death; the Chians, as both enemies and traitors,
he sent under a strong guard to a wretched exile in the stifling island
prison of Elephantine.
He was now on the confines of Egypt and Libya. In the region which
lay not many days’ march to the west, as some Greek legends told,
Hercules and Perseus had pursued their marvellous adventures: both, it
was believed, had consulted the oracle of Ammon in the heart of the
Libyan wilderness. Alexander may have been desirous of emulating the
achievements of his two heroic ancestors; or, if he had not heard of
them, might still have been attracted by the celebrity of the oracle, and
by the difficulty of reaching it. That he was impelled by curiosity about
its answers, is very doubtful; but it is highly probable that he did not
overlook the advantage which he might derive from them, however they
might run, and the mysterious dignity with which the expedition itself
might invest him in the eyes of his subjects. If however to these motives
for the enterprise it should be thought necessary to add any others of
a more intelligible policy, it might be conjectured that he also wished
to impress Cyrene with respect for his power, and to show that even her
secluded situation did not place her beyond the reach of his arms. On his
march to Parætonium he was met at about midway by envoys from Cyrene,
who brought a crown and other magnificent presents. After a march of
about two hundred miles along the coast--perhaps nearly as far as the
eastern frontier of the territory of Tripoli--he appears to have taken
the direction toward the southeast, which leads, in five or six days for
a private caravan, to the oasis.
THE VISIT TO AMMON
It was now for the first time that the Macedonians became acquainted
with the face of the Libyan desert--its pathless sands, naked rocks,
burning sky, and delusive images. That the journey should have furnished
numberless stories for the entertainment of the camp, may easily be
supposed. It is more difficult to understand how Alexander could have
been at a loss for guides well acquainted with the way, as both Ptolemy
and Aristobulus represented--though the one related that the perplexity
of the wanderers was relieved by two great serpents, which pointed out
the track, and were heard even when they could not be seen; the others
described two ravens as performing the same office. Whether these are
mere fictions of an idle fancy, or cover some fact which we are not able
to ascertain, it is hardly worth while to inquire.[23] That the army
was refreshed with the extraordinary occurrence of a shower of rain, in
which it saw a manifest interposition of the gods, cannot reasonably be
doubted. At length it descended safely into the green, well-watered, and
richly cultivated valley, where, embosomed in thick woods, stood, within
the same enclosure, the palace of the ancient priestly kings, and close
by the temple of Ammon.
It was a visit such as Ammon had probably never before received, and the
priests no doubt did their utmost, both to welcome the royal pilgrim with
due honours, and to impress him with the highest veneration for their
oracle. It was not, it seems, always in the temple itself that answers
were given. The god chose the place of his revelations for himself. His
visible symbol, a round disc formed of precious stones, was placed in a
golden ship, from which, on each side, hung sacred vessels of silver; and
borne on the shoulders of eighty priests, attended by a train of virgins
and matrons, who accompanied the procession with sacred chants, in which
they implored a propitious and certain answer, according to the secret
impulse of the deity which directed their steps. By such a procession
Alexander seems to have been met, as he approached at the head of his
army, and to have been conducted into the temple, where his questions
were answered by the chief priest. What these questions and answers were,
was perhaps never known to any but the interlocutors. It is indeed in
itself by no means improbable that the priest saluted him as a hero of
divine origin, and promised him the empire of the world: the address
would not have been more flattering, nor the prophecy bolder, than those
which the Greek oracles, less safe from exposure, had sometimes ventured
on. But it is well attested that Alexander did not, at least at the time,
disclose what he had heard; but merely declared to his followers that he
had received such answers as he had desired, and showed his satisfaction
by his offerings and donations.
ALEXANDER LEAVES EGYPT
Aristobulus perhaps only expressed himself carelessly when he said
that the army returned by the same route: we cannot hesitate to prefer
Ptolemy’s statement, that it took the direct road to Memphis; unless
indeed we should adopt a supposition which might render the two accounts
more consistent--that Alexander struck across the desert in a third
direction, which leads directly to the lake Mareotis. At Memphis he
received reinforcements which had been sent to him by Antipater, and
embassies to present congratulations or petitions from several states
of Greece: among them, it seems, one which brought a golden crown, that
had been decreed by a congress assembled at the isthmus on the occasion
of the Isthmian games. It now only remained for him to settle the mode
of administration by which Egypt was to be governed in his absence.
It was his object at once to gain the good-will of the Egyptians, and
to secure a province so important, and so easily defended, from the
ambition of his own officers. The system which he established served
in some points as a model for the policy of Rome under the emperors.
He retained the ancient distribution of the country into the districts
called nomes, and not only permitted them to be still governed by the
native magistrates, the nomarchs, but placed them all under the authority
of two Egyptians. Garrisons were stationed at Memphis and Pelusium. The
country on the western side of the Delta was committed to the care of
Apollonius; that on the east, towards Arabia, to Cleomenes, an Egyptian
Greek of Naucratis, who afterwards became unhappily celebrated for his
rapacity and financial stratagems. An army was left under the command of
Peucestas and Balacrus, and a fleet under that of Polemon. The mutual
jealousy of these officers was a sufficient pledge for their loyalty.
In the spring of 331 he set out from Memphis on his return to Phœnicia.
At Tyre he found his fleet arrived, and celebrated another sacrifice
to Melkarth, and received an embassy which had been brought over from
Athens in the _Paralus_. Its chief object was to obtain the release of
the Athenian prisoners taken at the battle of the Granicus; and this
Alexander now granted, with several other requests which were urged by
the crew of the _Paralus_, who accompanied the envoys in a body. The
accounts which came from Peloponnesus indicated that it was threatened
with a commotion through the restlessness of Sparta; and Amphoterus
was ordered to lead a squadron to the aid of the Peloponnesians, who
were well affected towards the Macedonian interest and the war with
Persia, and to recover Crete from the Spartans. A new fleet of one
hundred sail was ordered to be fitted out in the ports of Phœnicia and
Cyprus to follow and reinforce Amphoterus. Whether on this occasion
Alexander visited Jerusalem is doubtful; but it seems that he made an
expedition into Samaria, to punish the Samaritans, who--goaded perhaps
by ill-treatment--had revolted against Andromachus, had taken him
prisoner, and burnt him alive. On Alexander’s approach, the authors of
this atrocity were delivered up to him, and tranquillity was restored. He
then began his march towards the Euphrates, and before the end of August
arrived at Thapsacus.
[Illustration: COSTUME OF A PERSIAN MAGISTRATE
(After Bardon)]
A body of troops had been sent forward to throw a bridge across the
river. When he had crossed, Alexander did not follow the route which
Cyrus had taken through the Mesopotamian desert, but directed his march
towards the northeast, through a country which afforded a more abundant
supply of food, and where the army had less to suffer from the heat. On
the road some Persian scouts fell into his hands, from whom he learnt
that Darius, with an army far greater than he had before brought into the
field, lay on the left bank of the Tigris, prepared to guard the passage
against him. He now advanced at full speed towards the Tigris: but when
he reached it found neither Darius himself nor any hostile force, and
met with no other obstacle than the rapidity of the stream. On the left
bank he gave his troops a few days’ rest after their forced march, during
which there occurred an eclipse of the moon. Aristander expounded it as a
sign that, during that month, the Persian monarchy was destined to lose
its power and glory; and when Alexander sacrificed to the moon, the sun,
and the earth, as the powers which concurred to produce the portent, the
victims were found to announce a victory. He then marched southward along
the river, and four days after his reconnoitring parties brought word
that a body of cavalry was in sight. They fled at his approach, but some
were overtaken, and slain or made prisoners. From these he learned that
Darius with his whole army was encamped at no great distance.
The Persian king had employed the long interval allowed him by
Alexander’s operations after the battle of Issus, to collect the
remaining strength of his empire; and he had assembled a host with which,
if superiority of numbers could have ensured success, he might reasonably
have hoped to crush his adversary. It was also composed for the most
part of more warlike troops. The division which was most formidable,
both for numbers and martial qualities, consisted of the hardy tribes
which inhabited the plains on the eastern side of the Caspian, and the
valleys above Cabul on the borders of India. They were led by Bessus,
the powerful satrap of Bactria; and he was also followed by a body of
horse-bowmen, furnished by the Sacæ, who wandered in the valleys east
of Transoxiana, and though they did not acknowledge his authority,
willingly joined him as allies for the sake of pay and plunder. All the
provinces between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, and from Syria
and Cappadocia to the mountains west of the Indus, had poured forth their
choicest warriors.
The whole amount was stated by some authors at a million of foot and
forty thousand horse; this may be a great exaggeration, but it was
probably reduced as much too low by those who reckoned no more than
two hundred thousand infantry. There were beside two hundred scythed
chariots, and fifteen elephants brought from the west of India. With this
host Darius had encamped in one of the wide plains between the Tigris and
the mountains of Kurdistan, near the Bumadus, a tributary of the Lycus,
and a village named Gaugamela (the camel’s house), which should have
given its name to the battle fought near it, but was forced, through a
caprice of which we have many examples, to surrender this distinction to
the town of Arbela, which lay more than twenty miles off, where Darius
had left his baggage and his treasure. He had been persuaded by his
courtiers that his defeat at Issus was entirely owing to the disadvantage
of the ground, and he had therefore chosen a field on which he might
fully display his forces, and where the enemy would have neither sea nor
mountains to cover his flanks; and he had ordered a large tract of the
plain to be cleared and levelled for the evolutions of his cavalry and
chariots.[d]
THE BATTLE OF ARBELA
The position of the Persian king near Mesopotamia was chosen with great
military skill. It was certain that Alexander on his return from Egypt
must march northward along the Syrian coast, before he attacked the
central provinces of the Persian empire. A direct eastward march from the
lower part of Palestine across the great Syrian desert was then, as now,
utterly impracticable. Marching eastward from Syria, Alexander would,
on crossing the Euphrates, arrive at the vast Mesopotamian plains. The
wealthy capitals of the empire, Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, would then
lie to his south; and if he marched down through Mesopotamia to attack
them, Darius might reasonably hope to follow the Macedonians with his
immense force of cavalry, and, without even risking a pitched battle, to
harass and finally overwhelm them. We may remember that three centuries
afterwards a Roman army under Crassus was thus actually destroyed by
the oriental archers and horsemen in these very plains; and that the
ancestors of the Parthians who thus vanquished the Roman legions, served
by thousands under King Darius. If, on the contrary, Alexander should
defer his march against Babylon, and first seek an encounter with the
Persian army, the country on each side of the Tigris in this latitude
was highly advantageous for such an army as Darius commanded; and he had
close in his rear the mountainous districts of northern Media, where he
himself had in early life been satrap, where he had acquired reputation
as a soldier and a general, and where he justly expected to find loyalty
to his person, and a safe refuge in case of defeat.
His great antagonist came on across the Euphrates against him, at the
head of an army which Arrian, copying from the journals of Macedonian
officers, states to have consisted of forty thousand foot, and seven
thousand horse. In studying the campaigns of Alexander, we possess the
peculiar advantage of deriving our information from two of Alexander’s
generals of division, who bore an important part in all his enterprises.
In fact, in reading Arrian, we read General Aristobulus and General
Ptolemy on the campaigns of the Macedonians; and it is like reading
General Jomini or General Foy on the campaigns of the French.
The estimate which we find in Arrian of the strength of Alexander’s army,
seems reasonable when we take into account both the losses which he had
sustained, and the reinforcements which he had received since he left
Europe. Indeed, to Englishmen, who know with what mere handfuls of men
their own generals have, at Plassy, at Assaye, at Meeanee, and other
Indian battles, routed large hosts of Asiatics, the disparity of numbers
that we read of in the victories won by the Macedonians over the Persians
presents nothing incredible. The army which Alexander now led, was wholly
composed of veteran troops in the highest possible state of equipment
and discipline, enthusiastically devoted to their leader, and full of
confidence in his military genius and his victorious destiny.
The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main strength of his
infantry. His men were veterans; and he could obtain from them an
accuracy of movement and steadiness of evolution, such as probably the
recruits of his father would only have floundered in attempting, and
such as certainly were impracticable in the phalanx when handled by his
successors: especially as under them it ceased to be a standing force,
and became only a militia. The main strength of his cavalry consisted in
two chosen corps of cuirassiers, one Macedonian, and one Thessalian, each
of which was about fifteen hundred strong. They were provided with long
lances and heavy swords, and horse as well as man was fully equipped with
defensive armour. Other regiments of regular cavalry were less heavily
armed, and there were several bodies of light horsemen, whom Alexander’s
conquests in Egypt and Syria had enabled him to mount superbly.
The Persian king availed himself to the utmost of every advantage in his
power. He caused a large space of ground to be carefully levelled for the
operation of his scythe-armed chariots; and he deposited his military
stores in the strong town of Arbela, about twenty miles in his rear. The
rhetoricians of after ages have loved to describe Darius Codomannus as
a second Xerxes in ostentation and imbecility; but a fair examination
of his generalship in this his last campaign, shows that he was worthy
of bearing the same name as his great predecessor, the royal son of
Hystaspes.
On learning that Darius was with a large army on the left of the Tigris,
Alexander hurried forward and crossed that river without opposition. He
was at first unable to procure any certain intelligence of the precise
position of the enemy, and after giving his army a short interval of
rest, he marched for four days down the left bank of the river. A
moralist may pause upon the fact, that Alexander must in this march have
passed within a few miles of the remains of Nineveh, the great city of
the primeval conquerors of the human race. Neither the Macedonian king
nor any of his followers knew what those vast mounds had once been.
They had already become nameless masses of grass-grown ruins; and it is
only within the last century that the intellectual energy of Layard has
rescued Nineveh from its long centuries of oblivion.
On the fourth day of Alexander’s southward march, his advanced guard
reported that a body of the enemy’s cavalry was in sight. He instantly
formed his army in order for battle, and directing them to advance
steadily, he rode forward at the head of some squadrons of cavalry,
and charged the Persian horse whom he found before him. This was a
mere reconnoitring party, and they broke and fled immediately; but the
Macedonians made some prisoners, and from them Alexander found that
Darius was posted only a few miles off, and learned the strength of the
army that he had with him. On receiving this news, Alexander halted,
and gave his men repose for four days, so that they should go into
action fresh and vigorous. He also fortified his camp, and deposited
in it all his military stores, and all his sick and disabled soldiers;
intending to advance upon the enemy with the serviceable part of his
army perfectly unencumbered. After this halt, he moved forward, while it
was yet dark, with the intention of reaching the enemy, and attacking
them at break of day. About halfway between the camps there were some
undulations of the ground, which concealed the two armies from each
other’s view. But, on Alexander arriving at their summit, he saw by the
early light the Persian host arrayed before him; and he probably also
observed traces of some engineering operation having been carried on
along part of the ground in front of them. Not knowing that these marks
had been caused by the Persians having levelled the ground for the free
use of their war-chariots, Alexander suspected that hidden pitfalls had
been prepared with a view of disordering the approach of his cavalry.
He summoned a council of war forthwith. Some of the officers were for
attacking instantly at all hazards, but the more prudent opinion of
Parmenion prevailed, and it was determined not to advance farther till
the battle-ground had been carefully surveyed.
[Illustration: GREEK SOLDIER, TIME OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT]
Alexander halted his army on the heights; and taking with him some
light-armed infantry and some cavalry, he passed part of the day in
reconnoitring the enemy, and observing the nature of the ground which he
had to fight on. Darius wisely refrained from moving from his position to
attack the Macedonians on the eminences which they occupied, and the two
armies remained until night without molesting each other. On Alexander’s
return to his headquarters, he summoned his generals and superior
officers together, and telling them that he well knew that their zeal
wanted no exhortation, he besought them to do their utmost in encouraging
and instructing those whom each commanded, to do their best in the next
day’s battle. They were to remind them that they were now not going to
fight for a province, as they had hitherto fought, but they were about
to decide by their swords the dominion of all Asia. Each officer ought
to impress this upon his subalterns, and they should urge it on their
men. Their natural courage required no long words to excite its ardour;
but they should be reminded of the paramount importance of steadiness
in action. The silence in the ranks must be unbroken as long as silence
was proper; but when the time came for the charge, the shout and the
cheer must be full of terror for the foe. The officers were to be alert
in receiving and communicating orders; and every one was to act as if he
felt that the whole result of the battle depended on his own single good
conduct.
Having thus briefly instructed his generals, Alexander ordered that the
army should sup, and take their rest for the night. Darkness had closed
over the tents of the Macedonians, when Alexander’s veteran general,
Parmenion, came to him, and proposed that they should make a night attack
on the Persians. The king is said to have answered, that he scorned to
filch a victory, and that Alexander must conquer openly and fairly.
Arrian justly remarks that Alexander’s resolution was as wise as it was
spirited. Besides the confusion and uncertainty which are inseparable
from night engagements, the value of Alexander’s victory would have been
impaired, if gained under circumstances which might supply the enemy with
any excuse for his defeat, and encourage him to renew the contest. It
was necessary for Alexander not only to beat Darius, but to gain such a
victory as should leave his rival without apology for defeat, and without
hope of recovery.
The Persians, in fact, expected, and were prepared to meet, a night
attack. Such was the apprehension that Darius entertained of it, that he
formed his troops at evening in order of battle, and kept them under arms
all night. The effect of this was, that the morning found them jaded and
dispirited, while it brought their adversaries all fresh and vigorous
against them.
The written order of battle, which Darius himself caused to be drawn
up, fell into the hands of the Macedonians after the engagement, and
Aristobulus copied it into his journal. We thus possess, through Arrian,
unusually authentic information as to the composition and arrangement
of the Persian army. On the extreme left were the Bactrian, Dahean, and
Arachosian cavalry. Next to these Darius placed the troops from Persia
proper, both horse and foot. Then came the Susians, and next to these the
Cadusians. These forces made up the left wing. Darius’ own station was in
the centre. This was composed of the Indians, the Carians, the Mardian
archers, and the division of Persians who were distinguished by the
golden apples that formed knobs of their spears. Here also were stationed
the bodyguard of the Persian nobility. Besides these, there were in
the centre, formed in deep order, the Uxian and Babylonian troops, and
the soldiers from the Red Sea. The brigade of Greek mercenaries, whom
Darius had in his service, and who were alone considered fit to stand
in the charge of the Macedonian phalanx, was drawn up on either side of
the royal chariot. The right wing was composed of the Cœlo-Syrians and
Mesopotamians, the Medes, the Parthians, the Sacians, the Tapurians,
Hyrcanians, Albanians, and Sacesinæ. In advance of the line on the left
wing were placed the Scythian cavalry, with a thousand of the Bactrian
horse, and a hundred scythe-armed chariots. The elephants and the fifty
scythe-armed chariots were ranged in front of the centre; and fifty more
chariots, with the Armenian and Cappadocian cavalry, were drawn up in
advance of the right wing.
Thus arrayed, the great host of King Darius passed the night, that to
many thousands of them was the last of their existence. The morning of
the first of October dawned slowly to their wearied watching, and they
could hear the note of the Macedonian trumpet sounding to arms, and could
see King Alexander’s forces descend from their tents on the heights, and
form in order of battle on the plain.
There was deep need of skill, as well as of valour, on Alexander’s side;
and few battle-fields have witnessed more consummate generalship than was
now displayed by the Macedonian king.[24] There were no natural barriers
by which he could protect his flanks; and not only was he certain to be
overlapped on either wing by the vast lines of the Persian army, but
there was imminent risk of their circling round him and charging him in
the rear, while he advanced against their centre. He formed, therefore,
a second or reserve line, which was to wheel round, if required, or
to detach troops to either flank, as the enemy’s movements might
necessitate: and thus with their whole army ready at any moment to be
thrown into one vast hollow square, the Macedonians advanced in two lines
against the enemy, Alexander himself leading on the right wing, and the
renowned phalanx forming the centre, while Parmenion commanded on the
left.
Such was the general nature of the disposition which Alexander made of
his army. But we have in Arrian the details of the position of each
brigade and regiment; and as we know that these details were taken from
the journals of Macedonian generals, it is interesting to examine them,
and to read the names and stations of King Alexander’s generals and
colonels in this the greatest of his battles.
The eight troops of the royal horse-guards formed the right of
Alexander’s line. Their captains were Clitus (whose regiment was on the
extreme right, the post of peculiar danger), Glaucias, Ariston, Sopolis,
Heraclides, Demetrias, Meleager, and Hagelochus. Philotas was general of
the whole division. Then came the shield-bearing infantry; Nicanor was
their general. Then came the phalanx, in six brigades. Cœnus’ brigade was
on the right, and nearest to the shield-bearers; next to this stood the
brigade of Perdiccas, then Meleager’s, then Polysperchon’s; and then the
brigade of Amyntas, but which was now commanded by Simmias, as Amyntas
had been sent to Macedonia to levy recruits. Then came the infantry of
the left wing, under the command of Craterus. Next to Craterus’ infantry
was placed the cavalry regiments of the allies, with Erigyius for their
general. The Thessalian cavalry, commanded by Philippus, were next,
and held the extreme left of the whole army. The whole left wing was
entrusted to the command of Parmenion, who had round his person the
Pharsalian troop of cavalry, which was the strongest and best amid all
the Thessalian horse-regiments.
The centre of the second line was occupied by a body of Phalangite
infantry, formed of companies, which were drafted for this purpose from
each of the brigades of their phalanx. The officers in command of this
corps were ordered to be ready to face about, if the enemy should
succeed in gaining the rear of the army. On the right of this reserve of
infantry, in the second line, behind the royal horse-guards, Alexander
placed half the Agrianian light-armed infantry under Attalus, and with
them Brison’s body of Macedonian archers, and Cleander’s regiment of
foot. He also placed in this part of his army Menidas’ squadron of
cavalry, and Aretes’ and Ariston’s light horse. Menidas was ordered to
watch if the enemy’s cavalry tried to turn the flank, and if they did so,
to charge them before they wheeled completely round, and so take them in
flank themselves. A similar force was arranged on the left of the second
line for the same purpose. The Thracian infantry of Sitalces was placed
there, and Cœranus’ regiment of the cavalry of the Greek allies, and
Agathon’s troops of the Odrysian irregular horse. The extreme left of the
second line in this quarter was held by Andromachus’ cavalry. A division
of Thracian infantry was left in guard of the camp. In advance of the
right wing and centre was scattered a number of light-armed troops, of
javelin-men and bowmen, with the intention of warding off the charge of
the armed chariots.[25]
Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armour, and by the chosen band of
officers who were round his person, Alexander took his own station, as
his custom was, in the right wing, at the head of his cavalry; and when
all the arrangements for the battle were complete, and his generals were
fully instructed how to act in each probable emergency, he began to lead
his men towards the enemy.
It was ever his custom to expose his life freely in battle, and to
emulate the personal prowess of his great ancestor, Achilles. Perhaps in
the bold enterprise of conquering Persia, it was politic for Alexander to
raise his army’s daring to the utmost by the example of his own heroic
valour; and, in his subsequent campaigns, the love of the excitement, of
“the rapture of the strife,” may have made him, like Murat, continue from
choice a custom which he commenced from duty. But he never suffered the
ardour of the soldier to make him lose the coolness of the general; and
at Arbela, in particular, he showed that he could act up to his favourite
Homeric maxim of being
Ἀμφότερον, βασιλεύς τ’ ἀγαθὸς κρατερός τ’ αἰχμητής.[26]
Great reliance had been placed by the Persian king on the effects of the
scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed to launch these against the
Macedonian phalanx, and to follow them up by a heavy charge of cavalry,
which it was hoped would find the ranks of the spearmen disordered by
the rush of the chariots, and easily destroy this most formidable part
of Alexander’s force. In front, therefore, of the Persian centre, where
Darius took his station, and which it was supposed the phalanx would
attack, the ground had been carefully levelled and smoothed, so as to
allow the chariots to charge over it with their full sweep and speed.
As the Macedonian army approached the Persian, Alexander found that the
front of his whole line barely equalled the front of the Persian centre,
so that he was outflanked on his right by the entire left wing of the
enemy, and by their entire right wing on his left. His tactics were to
assail some one point of the hostile army, and gain a decisive advantage,
while he refused, as far as possible, the encounter along the rest of
the line. He therefore inclined his order of march to the right, so as to
enable his right wing and centre to come into collision with the enemy
on as favourable terms as possible, though the manœuvre might in some
respects compromise his left.
The effect of this oblique movement was to bring the phalanx and his
own wing nearly beyond the limits of the ground which the Persians had
prepared for the operations of the chariots; and Darius, fearing to
lose the benefit of this arm against the most important parts of the
Macedonian force, ordered the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, who were
drawn up on his extreme left, to charge upon Alexander’s right wing, and
check its further lateral progress. Against these assailants Alexander
sent from his second line Menidas’ cavalry. As these proved too few to
make head against the enemy, he ordered Ariston also from the second
line with his light horse, and Cleander with his foot, in support of
Menidas. The Bactrians and Scythians now began to give way, but Darius
reinforced them by the mass of Bactrian cavalry from his main line, and
an obstinate cavalry fight now took place. The Bactrians and Scythians
were numerous, and were better armed than the horsemen under Menidas and
Ariston; and the loss at first was heaviest on the Macedonian side. But
still the European cavalry stood the charge of the Asiatics, and at last,
by their superior discipline, and by acting in squadrons that supported
each other instead of fighting in a confused mass like the barbarians,
the Macedonians broke their adversaries, and drove them off the field.
[Illustration: SCYTHE-BEARING CHARIOT
(Showing the Attachment of the Scythe to the Axle)]
Darius now directed the scythe-armed chariots to be driven against
Alexander’s horse-guards and the phalanx; and these formidable vehicles
were accordingly sent rattling across the plain, against the Macedonian
line. When we remember the alarm which the war-chariots of the Britons
created among Cæsar’s legions, we shall not be prone to deride this arm
of ancient warfare as always useless. The object of the chariots was
to create unsteadiness in the ranks against which they were driven,
and squadrons of cavalry followed close upon them, to profit by such
disorder. But the Asiatic chariots were rendered ineffective at Arbela
by the light-armed troops whom Alexander had specially appointed for the
service, and who, wounding the horses and drivers with their missile
weapons, and running alongside so as to cut the traces or seize the
reins, marred the intended charge; and the few chariots that reached the
phalanx passed harmlessly through the intervals which the spearmen opened
for them, and were easily captured in the rear.
A mass of the Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second time, collected
against Alexander’s extreme right, and moved round it, with the view of
gaining the flank of his army. At the critical moment, Aretes, with his
horsemen from Alexander’s second line, dashed on the Persian squadrons
when their own flanks were exposed by this evolution. While Alexander
thus met and baffled all the flanking attacks of the enemy with troops
brought up from his second line, he kept his own horse-guards and the
rest of the front line of his wing fresh, and ready to take advantage of
the first opportunity for striking a decisive blow. This soon came. A
large body of horse, who were posted on the Persian left wing nearest to
the centre, quitted their station, and rode off to help their comrades
in the cavalry fight that still was going on at the extreme right of
Alexander’s wing against the detachments from his second line. This made
a huge gap in the Persian array, and into this space Alexander instantly
dashed with his guard; and then pressing towards his left, he soon began
to make havoc in the left flank of the Persian centre. The shield-bearing
infantry now charged also among the reeling masses of the Asiatics; and
five of the brigades of the phalanx, with the irresistible might of their
sarissas, bore down the Greek mercenaries of Darius, and dug their way
through the Persian centre. In the early part of the battle, Darius had
shown skill and energy; and he now for some time encouraged his men, by
voice and example, to keep firm. But the lances of Alexander’s cavalry
and the pikes of the phalanx now gleamed nearer and nearer to him. His
charioteer was struck down by a javelin at his side; and at last Darius’
nerve failed him; and, descending from his chariot, he mounted on a
fleet horse and galloped from the plain, regardless of the state of the
battle in other parts of the field, where matters were going on much more
favourably for his cause.
Alexander’s operations with his right and centre had exposed his left
to an immensely preponderating force of the enemy. Parmenion kept out
of action as long as possible; but Mazæus, who commanded the Persian
right wing, advanced against him, completely outflanked him, and pressed
him severely with reiterated charges by superior numbers. Seeing the
distress of Parmenion’s wing, Simmias, who commanded the sixth brigade
of the phalanx, which was next to the left wing, did not advance with
the other brigades in the great charge upon the Persian centre, but kept
back to cover Parmenion’s troops on their right flank; as otherwise they
would have been completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the
Macedonian army. By so doing, Simmias had unavoidably opened a gap in
the Macedonian left centre; and a large column of Indian and Persian
horse, from the Persian right centre, had galloped forward through this
interval, and right through the troops of the Macedonian second line.
Instead of then wheeling round upon Parmenion, or upon the rear of
Alexander’s conquering wing, the Indian and Persian cavalry rode straight
on to the Macedonian camp, overpowered the Thracians who were left in
charge of it, and began to plunder. This was stopped by the phalangite
troops of the second line, who, after the enemy’s horsemen had rushed
by them, faced about, countermarched upon the camp, killed many of the
Indians and Persians in the act of plundering, and forced the rest to
ride off again. Just at this crisis, Alexander had been recalled from his
pursuit of Darius, by tidings of the distress of Parmenion, and of his
inability to bear up any longer against the hot attacks of Mazæus. Taking
his horse-guards with him, Alexander rode towards the part of the field
where his left wing was fighting; but on his way thither he encountered
the Persian and Indian cavalry on their return from his camp.
These men now saw that their only chance of safety was to cut their
way through; and in one huge column they charged desperately upon the
Macedonians. There was here a close hand-to-hand fight, which lasted
some time, and sixty of the royal horse-guards fell, and three generals,
who fought close to Alexander’s side, were wounded. At length the
Macedonian discipline and valour again prevailed, and a large number of
the Persian and Indian horsemen were cut down; some few only succeeded in
breaking through and riding away. Relieved of these obstinate enemies,
Alexander again formed his horse-guards, and led them towards Parmenion;
but by this time that general also was victorious. Probably the news
of Darius’ flight had reached Mazæus, and had damped the ardour of the
Persian right wing; while the tidings of their comrades’ success must
have proportionally encouraged the Macedonian forces under Parmenion.
His Thessalian cavalry particularly distinguished themselves by their
gallantry and persevering good conduct; and by the time that Alexander
had ridden up to Parmenion, the whole Persian army was in full flight
from the field.[27]
It was of the deepest importance to Alexander to secure the person of
Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. The Upper Zab was between the
field of battle and the city of Arbela, whither the fugitives directed
their course, and the passage of this river was even more destructive
to the Persians than the swords and spears of the Macedonians had been
in the engagement. The narrow bridge was soon choked up by the flying
thousands who rushed towards it, and vast numbers of the Persians threw
themselves, or were hurried by others, into the rapid stream, and
perished in its waters. Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on through
Arbela without halting. Alexander reached that city on the next day, and
made himself master of all Darius’ treasure and stores; but the Persian
king had fled too fast for his conqueror.
A few days after the battle Alexander entered Babylon, “the oldest seat
of earthly empire” then in existence, as its acknowledged lord and
master. There were yet some campaigns of his brief and bright career
to be accomplished. Central Asia was yet to witness the march of his
phalanx. He was yet to effect that conquest of Afghanistan in which
England since has failed. His generalship, as well as his valour,
were yet to be signalised on the banks of the Hydaspes, and the field
of Chillianwallah; and he was yet to precede the queen of England in
annexing the Punjab to the dominions of a European sovereign. But the
crisis of his career was reached; the great object of his mission was
accomplished; and the ancient Persian empire, which once menaced all
the nations of the earth with subjection, was irreparably crushed, when
Alexander had won his crowning victory at Arbela.[j]
FOOTNOTES
[21] [Somewhere about this period belongs a picturesque tradition which
Grote, Bury, Holm, and others do not mention at all, even to deny; and
that is, Alexander’s reception in Palestine as described by Josephus.
While it is disbelieved, even by such Jewish historians as Ewald and
Milman, it is not entirely impossible. Thirlwall, unlike Mitford, found it
credible.]
[22] [“The city was, in form, like unto a soldier’s coat,” says Diodorus.]
[23] As to the ravens, there is no reason to doubt the literal fact. It
appears that these birds are looked upon as indicating the vicinity of a
well in the African desert. Two ravens met Belzoni, as he was approaching
the oasis El Wak. Ritter, _Afrika_, p. 969.
[24] [“In so far as we can follow the dispositions of Alexander they
appear the most signal example recorded in integrity of military genius
and sagacious combination,” says Grote.[h] “He had really as great an
available force as his enemy, because every company in his army was turned
to account.”]
[25] Kleber’s arrangement of his troops at the battle of Heliopolis,
where, with ten thousand Europeans, he had to encounter eighty thousand
Asiatics in an open plain, is worth comparing with Alexander’s tactics at
Arbela. See Thiers’ _Histoire du Consulat_, etc., vol. ii. book v.
[26] [“Both a good king and a valiant warrior.”]
[27] [The Persian dead were 300,000 according to Arrian, 90,000 according
to Diodorus; 40,000 according to Curtius. Arrian says the Macedonians lost
100; Curtius, 300; Diodorus, 500.]
[Illustration]