CAPTURE OF AORNUS.—ARRIVAL AT THE INDUS.
On the first day his army constructed the mound the length of a stade;
and on the following day the slingers shooting at the Indians from the
part already finished, assisted by the missiles which were hurled from
the military engines, repulsed the sallies which they made against
the men who were constructing the mound. He went on with the work for
three days without intermission, and on the fourth day a few of the
Macedonians forcing their way occupied a small eminence which was on
a level with the rock. Without taking any rest, Alexander went on
with the mound, being desirous of connecting his artificial rampart
with the eminence which the few men were now occupying for him. But
then the Indians, being alarmed at the indescribable audacity of the
Macedonians, who had forced their way to the eminence, and seeing that
the mound was already united with it, desisted from attempting any
longer to resist. They sent their herald to Alexander, saying that
they were willing to surrender the rock, if he would grant them a
truce. But they had formed the design of wasting the day by continually
delaying the ratification of the truce, and of scattering themselves
in the night with the view of escaping one by one to their own abodes.
When Alexander discovered this plan of theirs, he allowed them time
to commence their retreat, and to remove the guard which was placed
all round the place. He remained quiet until they began their retreat;
then taking 700 of the body-guards and shield-bearing infantry, he
was the first to scale the rock at the part of it abandoned by the
enemy; and the Macedonians ascended after him, one in one place
another in another, drawing each other up. These men at the concerted
signal turned themselves upon the retreating barbarians, and killed
many of them in their flight. Others retreating with panic terror
perished by leaping down the precipices; and thus the rock which had
been inexpugnable to Heracles was occupied by Alexander. He offered
sacrifice upon it, and arranged a fort, committing the superintendence
of the garrison to Sisicottus, who long before had deserted from
the Indians to Bessus in Bactra, and after Alexander had acquired
possession of the country of Bactra, entered his army and appeared to
be eminently trustworthy.
He now set out from the rock and invaded the land of the Assacenians;
for he was informed that the brother of Assacenus, with his elephants
and many of the neighbouring barbarians had fled into the mountains
in this district. When he arrived at the city of Dyrta,[618] he found
none of the inhabitants either in it or in the land adjacent. On the
following day he sent out Nearchus and Antiochus, the colonels of the
shield-bearing guards, giving the former the command of the Agrianians
and the light-armed troops,[619] and the latter the command of his
own regiments and two others besides. They were despatched both to
reconnoitre the locality and to try if they could capture some of the
barbarians anywhere in order to get information about the general
affairs of the country; and he was especially anxious to learn news of
the elephants. He now directed his march towards the river Indus,[620]
the army going in advance to make a road for him, as otherwise this
district would have been impassable. Here he captured a few of the
barbarians, from whom he learnt that the Indians of that land had fled
for safety to Abisares, but that they had left their elephants there to
pasture near the river Indus. He ordered these men to show him the way
to the elephants. Many of the Indians are elephant-hunters, and these
Alexander kept in attendance upon him in high honour, going out to hunt
the elephants in company with them. Two of these animals perished in
the chase, by leaping down a precipice, but the rest were caught and
being ridden by drivers were marshalled with the army. He also as he
was marching along the river lighted upon a wood the timber of which
was suitable for building ships; this was cut down by the army, and
ships were built for him, which were brought down the river Indus to
the bridge, which had long since been constructed by Hephaestion and
Perdiccas at his command.
BOOK V.
CHAPTER I.
ALEXANDER AT NYSA.
In this country, lying between the rivers Cophen and Indus, which was
traversed by Alexander, the city of Nysa[621] is said to be situated.
The report is, that its foundation was the work of Dionysus, who built
it after he had subjugated the Indians.[622] But it is impossible
to determine who this Dionysus[623] was, and at what time, or from
what quarter he led an army against the Indians. For I am unable to
decide whether the Theban Dionysus, starting from Thebes or from the
Lydian Tmolus[624] came into India at the head of an army, and after
traversing the territories of so many warlike nations, unknown to the
Greeks of that time, forcibly subjugated none of them except that of
the Indians. But I do not think we ought to make a minute examination
of the legends which were promulgated in ancient times about the
divinity; for things which are not credible to the man who examines
them according to the rule of probability, do not appear to be wholly
incredible, if one adds the divine agency to the story. When Alexander
came to Nysa the citizens sent out to him their president, whose name
was Acuphis, accompanied by thirty of their most distinguished men as
envoys, to entreat Alexander to leave their city free for the sake of
the god. The envoys entered Alexander’s tent and found him seated in
his armour still covered with dust from the journey, with his helmet
on his head, and holding his spear in his hand. When they beheld the
sight they were struck with astonishment, and falling to the earth
remained silent a long time. But when Alexander caused them to rise,
and bade them be of good courage, then at length Acuphis began thus to
speak: “The Nysaeans beseech thee, O king, out of respect for Dionysus,
to allow them to remain free and independent; for when Dionysus had
subjugated the nation of the Indians, and was returning to the Grecian
sea, he founded this city from the soldiers who had become unfit for
military service, and were under his inspiration as Bacchanals, so
that it might be a monument both of his wandering and of his victory,
to men of after times; just as thou also hast founded Alexandria near
mount Caucasus, and another Alexandria in the country of the Egyptians.
Many other cities thou hast already founded, and others thou wilt found
hereafter, in the course of time, inasmuch as thou hast achieved more
exploits than Dionysus. The god indeed called the city Nysa, and the
land Nysaea after his nurse Nysa. The mountain also which is near the
city he named Meros (_i.e._ thigh), because, according to the legend,
he grew in the thigh of Zeus. From that time we inhabit Nysa, a free
city, and we ourselves are independent, conducting our government with
constitutional order. And let this be to thee a proof that our city
owes its foundation to Dionysus; for ivy, which does not grow in the
rest of the country of India, grows among us.”
CHAPTER II.
ALEXANDER AT NYSA.
All this was very pleasant to Alexander to hear; for he wished that
the legend about the wandering of Dionysus should be believed, as well
as that Nysa owed its foundation to that deity, since he had himself
reached the place where Dionysus came, and had even advanced beyond
the limits of the latter’s march. He also thought that the Macedonians
would not decline still to share his labours if he advanced further,
from a desire to surpass the achievements of Dionysus. He therefore
granted the inhabitants of Nysa the privilege of remaining free and
independent; and when he inquired about their laws, he commended them
because the government was in the hands of the aristocracy. He required
them to send 300 of their horsemen to accompany him, and to select
and send 100 of the aristocrats who presided over the government of
the State, who also were 300 in number. He ordered Acuphis to make
the selection, and appointed him governor of the land of Nysaea. When
Acuphis heard this, he is said to have smiled at the speech; whereupon
Alexander asked him why he laughed. Acuphis replied:—“How, O king,
could a single city deprived of 100 of its good men be still well
governed? But if thou carest for the welfare of the Nysaeans, lead
with thee the 300 horsemen, and still more than that number if thou
wishest: but instead of the hundred of the best men whom thou orderest
me to select lead with thee double the number of the others who are
bad, so that when thou comest here again the city may appear[625] in
the same good order in which it now is.” By these remarks he persuaded
Alexander; for he thought he was speaking with prudence. So he ordered
them to send the horsemen to accompany him, but no longer demanded the
hundred select men, nor indeed others in their stead. But he commanded
Acuphis to send his own son and his daughter’s son to accompany him.
He was now seized with a strong desire of seeing the place where the
Nysaeans boasted to have certain memorials of Dionysus. So he went to
Mount Merus with the Companion cavalry and the foot guard, and saw
the mountain, which was quite covered with ivy and laurel and groves
thickly shaded with all sorts of timber, and on it were chases of all
kinds of wild animals.[626] The Macedonians were delighted at seeing
the ivy, as they had not seen any for a long time; for in the land of
the Indians there was no ivy, even where they had vines. They eagerly
made garlands of it, and crowned themselves with them, as they were,
singing hymns in honour of Dionysus, and invoking the deity by his
various names.[627] Alexander there offered sacrifice to Dionysus, and
feasted in company with his companions.[628] Some authors have also
stated, but I do not know if any one will believe it, that many of
the distinguished Macedonians in attendance upon him, having crowned
themselves with ivy, while they were engaged in the invocation of the
deity, were seized with the inspiration of Dionysus, uttered cries of
Evoi in honour of the god, and acted as Bacchanals.[629]
CHAPTER III.
INCREDULITY OF ERATOSTHENES.—PASSAGE OF THE INDUS.
Any one who receives these stories may believe or disbelieve them
as he pleases. But I do not altogether agree with Eratosthenes the
Cyrenaean,[630] who says that everything which was attributed to the
divine agency by the Macedonians was really said to gratify Alexander
by their excessive eulogy. For he says that the Macedonians, seeing a
cavern in the land of the Parapamisadians,[631] and hearing a certain
legend which was current among the natives, or themselves forming a
conjecture, spread the report that this forsooth was the cave where
Prometheus had been bound, that an eagle frequented it to feast on his
inward parts, that when Heracles arrived there he killed the eagle and
set Prometheus free from his bonds. He also says that by their account
the Macedonians transferred Mount Caucasus from the Euxine Sea to the
eastern parts of the earth, and the land of the Parapamisadians to that
of the Indians;[632] calling what was really Mount Parapamisus by the
name of Caucasus, in order to enhance Alexander’s glory, seeing that
he forsooth had gone over the Caucasus. He adds, that when they saw in
India itself some oxen marked with the brand of a club, they concluded
from this that Heracles had penetrated into India. Eratosthenes also
disbelieves the similar tale of the wandering of Dionysus. Let me leave
the stories about these matters undecided as far as I am concerned.
When Alexander arrived at the river Indus, he found a bridge made over
it by Hephaestion, and two thirty-oared galleys, besides many smaller
craft.[633] He moreover found that 200 talents of silver,[634] 3,000
oxen, above 10,000 sheep for sacrificial victims, and thirty elephants
had arrived as gifts from Taxiles the Indian; 700 Indian horsemen also
arrived from Taxiles as a reinforcement, and that prince sent word that
he would surrender to him the city of Taxila,[635] the largest town
between the rivers Indus and Hydaspes.[636] Alexander there offered
sacrifice to the gods to whom he was in the habit of sacrificing, and
celebrated a gymnastic and horse contest near the river. The sacrifices
were favourable to his crossing.
CHAPTER IV.
DIGRESSION ABOUT INDIA.
The following are statements about the river Indus which are quite
unquestionable, and therefore let me record them. The Indus is the
largest of all the rivers in Asia and Europe, except the Ganges,[637]
which is also an Indian river. It takes its rise on this side mount
Parapamisus, or Caucasus, and discharges its water into the Great Sea
which lies near India in the direction of the south wind. It has two
mouths, both of which outlets are full of shallow pools like the five
outlets of the Ister (or Danube).[638] It forms a Delta in the land
of the Indians resembling that of Egypt[639]; and this is called
Pattala in the Indian language. The Hydaspes, Acesines, Hydraotes, and
Hyphasis are also Indian rivers,[640] and far exceed the other rivers
of Asia in size; but they are not only smaller but much smaller than
the Indus, just as that river itself is smaller than the Ganges. Indeed
Ctesias[641] says (if any one thinks his evidence to be depended upon),
that where the Indus is narrowest, its banks are forty stades apart;
where it is broadest, 100 stades; and most of it is the mean between
these breadths.[642] This river Indus Alexander crossed at daybreak
with his army into the country of the Indians; concerning whom, in
this history I have described neither what laws they enjoy, nor what
strange animals their land produces, nor how many and what sort of fish
and water-monsters are produced by the Indus, Hydaspes, Ganges, or the
other rivers of India. Nor have I described the ants which dig up the
gold for them,[643] nor the guardian griffins, nor any of the other
tales that have been composed rather to amuse than to be received as
the relation of facts; since the falsity of the strange stories which
have been fabricated about India cannot be exposed by any one.[644]
However, Alexander and those who served in his army exposed the
falsity of most of these tales; but there were even some of these very
men who fabricated other stories. They proved that the Indians whom
Alexander visited with his army, and he visited many tribes of them,
were destitute of gold; and also that they were by no means luxurious
in their mode of living. Moreover, they discovered that they were tall
in stature, in fact as tall as any men throughout Asia, most of them
being five cubits in height, or a little less. They were blacker than
the rest of men, except the Ethiopians[645]; and in war they were far
the bravest of all the races inhabiting Asia at that time. For I cannot
with any justice compare the race of the ancient Persians with those of
India, though at the head of the former Cyrus, son of Cambyses, set out
and deprived the Medes of the empire of Asia, and subdued many other
races partly by force and partly by voluntary surrender on their own
part. For at that time the Persians were a poor people and inhabitants
of a rugged land, having laws and customs very similar to the Laconian
discipline.[646] Nor am I able with certainty to conjecture whether the
defeat sustained by the Persians in the Scythian land was due to the
difficult nature of the country invaded or to some other error on the
part of Cyrus, or whether the Persians were really inferior in warlike
matters to the Scythians of that district.
CHAPTER V.
MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS OF ASIA.
But of the Indians I shall treat in a distinct work,[647] giving the
most credible accounts which were compiled by those who accompanied
Alexander in his expedition, as well as by Nearchus,[648] who sailed
right round the Great Sea which is near India. Then I shall add what
has been compiled by Megasthenes[649] and Eratosthenes, two men of
distinguished authority. I shall describe the customs peculiar to the
Indians and the strange animals which are produced in the country, as
well as the voyage itself in the external sea. But now let me describe
so much only as appears to me sufficient to explain Alexander’s
achievements. Mount Taurus divides Asia, beginning from Mycale, the
mountain which lies opposite the island of Samos; then, cutting through
the country of the Pamphylians and Cilicians, it extends into Armenia.
From this country it stretches into Media and through the land of the
Parthians and Chorasmians. In Bactria it unites with mount Parapamisus,
which the Macedonians who served in Alexander’s army called Caucasus,
in order, as it is said, to enhance their king’s glory; asserting that
he went even beyond the Caucasus with his victorious arms. Perhaps
it is a fact that this mountain range is a continuation of the other
Caucasus in Scythia, as the Taurus[650] is of the same. For this
reason I have on a previous occasion called this range Caucasus, and
by the same name I shall continue to call it in the future. This
Caucasus extends as far as the Great Sea which lies in the direction
of India and the East. Of the rivers in Asia worth consideration which
take their rise from the Taurus and Caucasus, some have their course
turned towards the north, discharging themselves either into the lake
Maeotis,[651] or into the sea called Hyrcanian, which in reality is a
gulf of the Great Sea.[652] Others flow towards the south, namely, the
Euphrates, Tigres, Indus, Hydaspes, Acesines, Hydraotes, Hyphasis, and
all those that lie between these and the river Ganges. All these either
discharge their water into the sea, or disappear by pouring themselves
out into marshes, as the river Euphrates[653] does.
CHAPTER VI.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF INDIA.
Whoever arranges the position of Asia in such a way that it is divided
by the Taurus and the Caucasus from the west wind to the east wind,
will find that these two very large divisions are made by the Taurus
itself, one of which is inclined towards the south and the south
wind, and the other towards the north and the north wind. Southern
Asia again may be divided into four parts, of which Eratosthenes and
Megasthenes make India the largest. The latter author lived with
Sibyrtius,[654] the viceroy of Arachosia, and says that he frequently
visited Sandracotus, king of the Indians.[655] These authors say that
the smallest of the four parts is that which is bounded by the river
Euphrates and extends to our inland sea. The other two lying between
the rivers Euphrates and Indus are scarcely worthy to be compared with
India, if they were joined together. They say that India is bounded
towards the east and the east wind as far as the south by the Great
Sea, towards the north by mount Caucasus, as far as its junction with
the Taurus; and that the river Indus cuts it off towards the west and
the north-west wind, as far as the Great Sea. The greater part of it
is a plain, which, as they conjecture, has been formed by the alluvial
deposits of the rivers; just as the plains in the rest of the earth
lying near the sea are for the most part due to the alluvial action of
the rivers taken singly. Consequently, the names by which the countries
are called were attached in ancient times to the rivers. For instance,
a certain plain was called after the Hermus, which rises in the
country of Asia from the mountain of Mother Dindymene,[656] and after
flowing past the Aeolian city of Smyrna discharges its water into the
sea. Another Lydian plain is named after the Cayster, a Lydian river;
another from the Caïcus in Mysia; and the Carian plain, extending as
far as the Ionian city of Miletus, is named from the Maeander. Both
Herodotus and Hecataeus[657] the historians (unless the work about
the Egyptian country is by another person, and not by Hecataeus) in
like manner call Egypt a gift of the river[658]; and Herodotus has
shown by no uncertain proofs that such is the case[659]; so that even
the country itself perhaps received its name from the river. For that
the river which both the Egyptians and men outside Egypt now name the
Nile, was in ancient times called Aegyptus, Homer is sufficient to
prove; since he says that Menelaüs stationed his ships at the outlet
of the river Aegyptus.[660] If therefore single rivers by themselves,
and those not large ones, are sufficient to form an extensive tract
of country, while flowing forward into the sea, since they carry down
slime and mud from the higher districts whence they derive their
sources, surely it is unbecoming to exhibit incredulity about India,
how it has come to pass that most of it is a plain, which has been
formed by the alluvial deposits of its rivers. For if the Hermus, the
Cayster, the Caïcus, the Maeander, and all the other[661] rivers of
Asia which discharge their waters into the midland sea were all put
together, they would not be worthy of comparison for volume of water
with one of the Indian rivers. Not only do I mean the Ganges, which is
the largest, and with which neither the water of the Egyptian Nile nor
the Ister flowing through Europe is worthy to compare; but if all those
rivers were mingled together they would not even then become equal to
the river Indus, which is a large river as soon as it issues from its
springs, and after receiving fifteen rivers,[662] all larger than those
in the province of Asia, discharges its water into the sea, retaining
its own name and absorbing those of its tributaries. Let these remarks
which I have made about India suffice for the present, and let the rest
be reserved for my “Description of India.”
CHAPTER VII.
METHOD OF BRIDGING RIVERS.
How Alexander constructed his bridge over the river Indus, is explained
neither by Aristobulus nor Ptolemy, authors whom I usually follow; nor
am I able to form a decided opinion whether the passage was bridged
with boats, as the Hellespont was by Xerxes and the Bosporus and the
Ister were by Darius,[663] or whether he made a continuous bridge
over the river. To me it seems probable that the bridge was made of
boats; for the depth of the water would not have admitted of the
construction of a regular bridge, nor could so enormous a work have
been completed in so short a time.[664] If the passage was bridged with
boats, I cannot decide whether the vessels being fastened together
with ropes and moored in a row were sufficient to form the bridge,
as Herodotus the Halicarnassian says the Hellespont was bridged, or
whether the work was effected in the way in which the bridge upon the
Ister and that upon the Celtic Rhine[665] are made by the Romans, and
in the way in which they bridged the Euphrates and Tigres, as often
as necessity compelled them. However, as I know myself, the Romans
find the quickest way of making a bridge to be with vessels; and this
method I shall on the present occasion explain, because it is worth
describing. At a pre-concerted signal they let the vessels loose down
the stream, not with their prows forward, but as if backing water.[666]
As might naturally be expected, the stream carries them down, but a
skiff furnished with oars holds them back, until it settles them in the
place assigned to them. Then pyramidal wicker-baskets made of willow,
full of unhewn stones, are let down into the water from the prow of
each vessel, in order to hold it up against the force of the stream.
As soon as any one of these vessels has been held fast, another is in
the same way moored with its prow against the stream, distant from
the first as far as is consistent with their supporting what is put
upon them. On both of them are placed pieces of timber with sharp ends
projecting out, on which cross-planks are placed to bind them together;
and so proceeds the work through all the vessels which are required to
bridge the river. At each end of this bridge firmly fixed gangways are
thrown forward,[667] so that the approach may be safer for the horses
and beasts of burden, and at the same time to serve as a bond to the
bridge. In a short time the whole is finished with a great noise and
bustle; but yet discipline is not relaxed while the work is going on.
In each vessel the exhortations of the overseers to the men, or their
censures of sluggishness, neither prevent the orders being heard nor
impede the rapidity of the work.[668]
CHAPTER VIII.
MARCH FROM THE INDUS TO THE HYDASPES.
This has been the method of constructing bridges, practised by the
Romans from olden times; but how Alexander laid a bridge over the
river Indus I cannot say, because those who served in his army have
said nothing about it. But I should think that the bridge was made
as near as possible as I have described, or if it were effected by
some other contrivance so let it be. When Alexander had crossed to
the other side of the river Indus, he again offered sacrifice there,
according to his custom.[669] Then starting from the Indus, he arrived
at Taxila, a large and prosperous city, in fact the largest of those
situated between the rivers Indus and Hydaspes. He was received in
a friendly manner by Taxiles, the governor of the city, and by the
Indians of that place; and he added to their territory as much of the
adjacent country as they asked for. Thither also came to him envoys
from Abisares, king of the mountaineer Indians, the embassy including
the brother of Abisares as well as the other most notable men. Other
envoys also came from Doxareus, the chief of the province, bringing
gifts with them. Here again at Taxila Alexander offered the sacrifices
which were customary for him to offer, and celebrated a gymnastic and
equestrian contest. Having appointed Philip, son of Machatas, viceroy
of the Indians of that district, he left a garrison in Taxila, as
well as the soldiers who were invalided by sickness, and then marched
towards the river Hydaspes. For he was informed that Porus,[670] with
the whole of his army was on the other side of that river, having
determined either to prevent him from making the passage, or to attack
him while crossing. When Alexander ascertained this, he sent Coenus,
son of Polemocrates, back to the river Indus, with instructions to cut
in pieces all the vessels which he had prepared for the passage of
that river, and to bring them to the river Hydaspes. Coenus cut the
vessels in pieces and conveyed them thither, the smaller ones being cut
into two parts, and the thirty-oared galleys into three. The sections
were conveyed upon waggons, as far as the bank of the Hydaspes; and
there the vessels were fixed together again, and seen as a fleet upon
that river. Alexander took the forces which he had when he arrived at
Taxila, and the 5,000 Indians under the command of Taxiles and the
chiefs of that district, and marched towards the same river.
CHAPTER IX.
PORUS OBSTRUCTS ALEXANDER’S PASSAGE.
Alexander encamped on the bank of the Hydaspes, and Porus was seen
with all his army and his large troop of elephants lining the opposite
bank.[671] He remained to guard the passage at the place where he
saw Alexander had encamped; and sent guards to all the other parts
of the river which were easily fordable, placing officers over each
detachment, being resolved to obstruct the passage of the Macedonians.
When Alexander saw this, he thought it advisable to move his army in
various directions, to distract the attention of Porus, and render
him uncertain what to do. Dividing his army into many parts, he led
some of his troops now in one direction and now in another, at one
time ravaging the enemy’s country, at another looking out for a place
where the river might appear easier for him to ford it. The rest of
his troops he entrusted[672] to his different generals, and sent them
about in many directions. He also conveyed corn from all quarters into
his camp from the land on this side the Hydaspes, so that it might be
evident to Porus that he had resolved to remain quiet near the bank
until the water of the river subsided in the winter, and afforded him
a passage in many places. As his vessels were sailing up and down
the river, and skins were being filled with hay, and the whole bank
appeared to be covered in one place with cavalry and in another with
infantry, Porus was not allowed to keep at rest, or to bring his
preparations together from all sides to any one point if he selected
this as suitable for the defence of the passage. Besides at this season
all the Indian rivers were flowing with swollen and turbid waters and
with rapid currents; for it was the time of year when the sun is wont
to turn towards the summer solstice.[673] At this season incessant and
heavy rain falls in India; and the snows on the Caucasus, whence most
of the rivers have their sources, melt and swell their streams to a
great degree. But in the winter they again subside, become small and
clear, and are fordable in certain places, with the exception of the
Indus, Ganges, and perhaps one or two others. At any rate the Hydaspes
becomes fordable.
CHAPTER X.
ALEXANDER AND PORUS AT THE HYDASPES.
Alexander therefore spread a report that he would wait for that season
of the year, if his passage was obstructed at the present time; but
yet all the time he was waiting in ambush to see whether by rapidity
of movement he could steal a passage anywhere without being observed.
But he perceived that it was impossible for him to cross at the place
where Porus himself had encamped near the bank of the Hydaspes, not
only on account of the multitude of his elephants, but also because
his large army, arranged in order of battle and splendidly accoutred,
was ready to attack his men as they emerged from the water. Moreover
he thought that his horses would not be willing to mount the opposite
bank, because the elephants would at once fall upon them and frighten
them both by their aspect and trumpeting; nor even before that would
they remain upon the inflated hides during the passage of the river;
but when they looked across and saw the elephants they would become
frantic and leap into the water. He therefore resolved to steal a
crossing by the following manœuvre:—In the night he led most of his
cavalry along the bank in various directions, making a clamour and
raising the battle-cry in honour of Enyalius.[674] Every kind of noise
was raised, as if they were making all the preparations necessary for
crossing the river. Porus also marched along the river at the head of
his elephants opposite the places where the clamour was heard, and
Alexander thus gradually got him into the habit of leading his men
along opposite the noise. But when this occurred frequently, and there
was merely a clamour and a raising of the battle-cry, Porus no longer
continued to move about to meet the expected advance of the cavalry;
but perceiving that his fear had been groundless,[675] he kept his
position in the camp. However he posted his scouts at many places along
the bank. When Alexander had brought it about that the mind of Porus no
longer entertained any fear of his nocturnal attempts, he devised the
following stratagem.
CHAPTER XI.
ALEXANDER’S STRATAGEM TO GET ACROSS.
There was in the bank of the Hydaspes, a projecting headland, where the
river makes a remarkable bend. It was densely covered by a grove,[676]
containing all sorts of trees; and over against it in the river was an
island full of trees and without a foot-track, on account of its being
uninhabited. Perceiving that this island was right in front of the
headland, and that both the spots were woody and adapted to conceal his
attempt to cross the river, he resolved to convey his army over at this
place. The headland and island were 150 stades distant from his great
camp.[677] Along the whole of the bank, he posted sentries, separated
as far as was consistent with keeping each other in sight, and easily
hearing when any order should be sent along from any quarter. From
all sides also during many nights clamours were raised and fires were
burnt. But when he had made up his mind to undertake the passage of
the river, he openly prepared his measures for crossing opposite the
camp. Craterus had been left behind at the camp with his own division
of cavalry, and the horsemen from the Arachotians and Parapamisadians,
as well as the brigades of Alcetas and Polysperchon from the phalanx
of the Macedonian infantry, together with the chiefs of the Indians
dwelling this side of the Hyphasis, who had with them 5,000 men. He
gave Craterus orders not to cross the river before Porus moved off
with his forces against them, or before he ascertained that Porus was
in flight and that they were victorious.[678] “If however,” said he,
“Porus should take only a part of his army and march against me, and
leave the other part with the elephants in his camp, in that case do
thou also remain in thy present position. But if he leads all his
elephants with him against me, and a part of the rest of his army is
left behind in the camp, then do thou cross the river with all speed.
For it is the elephants alone,” said he, “which render it impossible
for the horses to land on the other bank. The rest of the army can
easily cross.”
CHAPTER XII.
PASSAGE OF THE HYDASPES.
Such were the injunctions laid upon Craterus. Between the island
and the great camp where Alexander had left this general, he posted
Meleager, Attalus, and Gorgias, with the Grecian mercenaries, cavalry
and infantry, giving them instructions to cross in detachments,
breaking up the army as soon as they saw the Indians already involved
in battle. He then picked the select body-guard called the Companions,
as well as the cavalry regiments of Hephaestion, Perdiccas, and
Demetrius, the cavalry from Bactria, Sogdiana, and Scythia, and the
Daan horse-archers; and from the phalanx of infantry the shield-bearing
guards, the brigades of Clitus and Coenus, with the archers and
Agrianians, and made a secret march, keeping far away from the bank
of the river, in order not to be seen marching towards the island
and headland, from which he had determined to cross. There the skins
were filled in the night with the hay which had been procured long
before, and they were tightly stitched up. In the night a furious
storm of rain occurred, by which his preparations and attempt to cross
were rendered still more unobserved, since the noise of the thunder
and the storm drowned with its din the clatter of the weapons and the
noise which arose from the orders given by the officers. Most of the
vessels, the thirty-oared galleys included with the rest, had been
cut in pieces by his order and conveyed to this place, where they had
been fixed together again[679] and hidden in the wood. At the approach
of daylight, both the wind and the rain calmed down; and the rest of
the army went over opposite the island, the cavalry mounting upon the
skins, and as many of the foot soldiers as the boats would receive
getting into them. They went so secretly that they were not observed by
the sentinels posted by Porus, before they had already got beyond the
island and were only a little way from the other bank.
CHAPTER XIII.
PASSAGE OF THE HYDASPES.
Alexander himself embarked in a thirty-oared galley and went over,
accompanied by Perdiccas, Lysimachus, the confidential body-guards,
Seleucus, one of the Companions, who was afterwards king,[680] and half
of the shield-bearing guards; the rest of these troops being conveyed
in other galleys of the same size. When the soldiers got beyond the
island, they openly directed their course to the bank; and when the
sentinels perceived that they had started, they at once rode off to
Porus as fast as each man’s horse could gallop. Alexander himself was
the first to land, and he at once took the cavalry as they kept on
landing from his own and the other thirty-oared galleys, and drew them
up in proper order. For the cavalry had received orders to land first;
and at the head of these in regular array he advanced. But through
ignorance of the locality he had effected a landing on ground which
was not a part of the mainland, but an island, a large one indeed and
where from the fact that it was an island, he more easily escaped
notice. It was cut off from the rest of the land by a part of the
river where the water was shallow. However, the furious storm of rain,
which lasted the greater part of the night, had swelled the water so
much that his cavalry could not find out the ford; and he was afraid
that he would have to undergo another labour in crossing as great as
the first. But when at last the ford was found, he led his men through
it with much difficulty; for where the water was deepest, it reached
higher than the breasts of the infantry; and of the horses only the
heads rose above the river.[681] When he had also crossed this piece
of water, he selected the choice guard of cavalry, and the best men
from the other cavalry regiments, and brought them up from column into
line on the right wing.[682] In front of all the cavalry he posted the
horse-archers, and placed next to the cavalry in front of the other
infantry the royal shield-bearing guards under the command of Seleucus.
Near these he placed the royal foot-guard, and next to these the other
shield-bearing guards, as each happened at the time to have the right
of precedence. On each side, at the extremities of the phalanx, his
archers, Agrianians and javelin-throwers were posted.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BATTLE AT THE HYDASPES.
Having thus arranged his army, he ordered the infantry to follow at
a slow pace and in regular order, numbering as it did not much under
6,000 men; and because he thought he was superior in cavalry, he
took only his horse-soldiers, who were 5,000 in number, and led them
forward with speed. He also instructed Tauron, the commander of the
archers, to lead them on also with speed to back up the cavalry. He
had come to the conclusion that if Porus should engage him with all
his forces, he would easily be able to overcome him by attacking with
his cavalry, or to stand on the defensive until his infantry arrived
in the course of the action; but if the Indians should be alarmed at
his extraordinary audacity in making the passage of the river and take
to flight, he would be able to keep close to them in their flight, so
that the slaughter of them in the retreat being greater, there would
be only a slight work left for him. Aristobulus says that the son of
Porus arrived with about sixty chariots, before Alexander made his
later passage from the large island, and that he could have hindered
Alexander’s crossing (for he made the passage with difficulty even when
no one opposed him); if the Indians had leaped down from their chariots
and assaulted those who first emerged from the water. But he passed by
with the chariots and thus made the passage quite safe for Alexander;
who on reaching the bank discharged his horse-archers against the
Indians in the chariots, and these were easily put to rout, many of
them being wounded. Other writers say that a battle took place between
the Indians who came with the son of Porus and Alexander at the head
of his cavalry, that the son of Porus came with a greater force, that
Alexander himself was wounded by him, and that his horse Bucephalas,
of which he was exceedingly fond, was killed, being wounded, like his
master by the son of Porus. But Ptolemy, son of Lagus, with whom I
agree, gives a different account. This author also says that Porus
despatched his son, but not at the head of merely sixty chariots; nor
is it indeed likely that Porus hearing from his scouts that either
Alexander himself or at any rate a part of his army had effected the
passage of the Hydaspes, would despatch his son against him with
only sixty chariots. These indeed were too many to be sent out as a
reconnoitring party, and not adapted for speedy retreat; but they were
by no means a sufficient force to keep back those of the enemy who had
not yet got across, as well as to attack those who had already landed.
Ptolemy says that the son of Porus arrived at the head of 2000 cavalry
and 120 chariots; but that Alexander had already made even the last
passage from the island before he appeared.
CHAPTER XV.
ARRANGEMENTS OF PORUS.
Ptolemy also says that Alexander in the first place sent the
horse-archers against these, and led the cavalry himself, thinking
that Porus was approaching with all his forces, and that this body of
cavalry was marching in front of the rest of his army, being drawn up
by him as the vanguard. But as soon as he had ascertained with accuracy
the number of the Indians, he immediately made a rapid charge upon
them with the cavalry around him. When they perceived that Alexander
himself and the body of cavalry around him had made the assault, not
in line of battle regularly formed, but by squadrons, they gave way;
and 400 of their cavalry, including the son of Porus, fell in the
contest. The chariots also were captured, horses and all, being heavy
and slow in the retreat, and useless in the action itself on account
of the clayey ground. When the horsemen who had escaped from this rout
brought news to Porus that Alexander himself had crossed the river with
the strongest part of his army, and that his son had been slain in the
battle, he nevertheless could not make up his mind what course to take,
because the men who had been left behind under Craterus were seen to be
attempting to cross the river from the great camp which was directly
opposite his position. However, at last he preferred to march against
Alexander himself with all his army, and to come into a decisive
conflict with the strongest division of the Macedonians, commanded by
the king in person. But nevertheless he left a few of the elephants
together with a small army there at the camp to frighten the cavalry
under Craterus from the bank of the river. He then took all his cavalry
to the number of 4,000 men, all his chariots to the number of 300, with
200 of his elephants and 30,000 choice infantry, and marched against
Alexander. When he found a place where he saw there was no clay, but
that on account of the sand the ground was all level and hard, and
thus fit for the advance and retreat of horses, he there drew up his
army. First he placed the elephants in the front, each animal being not
less than a plethrum[683] apart, so that they might be extended in the
front before the whole of the phalanx of infantry, and produce terror
everywhere among Alexander’s cavalry. Besides he thought that none of
the enemy would have the audacity to push themselves into the spaces
between the elephants, the cavalry being deterred by the fright of
their horses; and still less would the infantry do so, it being likely
they would be kept off in front by the heavy-armed soldiers falling
upon them, and trampled down by the elephants wheeling round against
them. Near these he had posted the infantry, not occupying a line on a
level with the beasts, but in a second line behind them, only so far
distant that the companies of foot might be pushed forward a short
distance into the spaces between them. He had also bodies of infantry
standing beyond the elephants on the wings; and on both sides of the
infantry he had posted the cavalry, in front of which were placed the
chariots on both wings of his army.
CHAPTER XVI.
ALEXANDER’S TACTICS.
Such was the arrangement which Porus made of his forces. As soon as
Alexander observed that the Indians were drawn up in order of battle,
he stopped his cavalry from advancing farther, so that he might take
up the infantry as it kept on arriving; and even when the phalanx in
quick march had effected a junction with the cavalry, he did not at
once draw it out and lead it to the attack, not wishing to hand over
his men exhausted with fatigue and out of breath, to the barbarians
who were fresh and untired. On the contrary, he caused his infantry
to rest until their strength was recruited, riding along round the
lines to inspect them.[684] When he had surveyed the arrangement of
the Indians, he resolved not to advance against the centre, in front
of which the elephants had been posted, and in the gaps between them a
dense phalanx of men; for he was alarmed at the very arrangements which
Porus had made here with that express design. But as he was superior
in the number of his cavalry, he took the greater part of that force,
and marched along against the left wing of the enemy for the purpose
of making an attack in this direction. Against the right wing he sent
Coenus with his own regiment of cavalry and that of Demetrius, with
instructions to keep close behind the barbarians when they, seeing the
dense mass of cavalry opposed to them, should ride out to fight them.
Seleucus, Antigenes, and Tauron were ordered to lead the phalanx of
infantry, but not to engage in the action until they observed[685]
the enemy’s cavalry and phalanx of infantry thrown into disorder by
the cavalry under his own command. But when they came within range of
missiles, he launched the horse-archers, 1000 in number, against the
left wing of the Indians, in order to throw those of the enemy who were
posted there into confusion by the incessant storm of arrows and by the
charge of the horses. He himself with the Companion cavalry marched
along rapidly against the left wing of the barbarians, being eager to
attack them in flank while still in a state of disorder, before their
cavalry could be deployed.
CHAPTER XVII.
DEFEAT OF PORUS.
Meantime the Indians had collected their cavalry from all parts, and
were riding along, advancing out of their position to meet Alexander’s
charge. Coenus also appeared with his men in their rear, according
to his instructions. The Indians, observing this, were compelled to
make the line of their cavalry face both ways[686]; the largest and
best part against Alexander, while the rest wheeled round against
Coenus and his forces. This therefore at once threw the ranks as well
as the decisions of the Indians into confusion. Alexander, seeing
his opportunity, at the very moment the cavalry was wheeling round in
the other direction, made an attack on those opposed to him with such
vigour that the Indians could not sustain the charge of his cavalry,
but were scattered and driven to the elephants, as to a friendly wall,
for refuge. Upon this, the drivers of the elephants urged forward
the beasts against the cavalry; but now the phalanx itself of the
Macedonians was advancing against the elephants, the men casting darts
at the riders and also striking the beasts themselves, standing round
them on all sides. The action was unlike any of the previous contests;
for wherever the beasts could wheel round, they rushed forth against
the ranks of infantry and demolished the phalanx of the Macedonians,
dense as it was. The Indian cavalry also, seeing that the infantry
were engaged in the action, rallied again and advanced against the
Macedonian cavalry. But when Alexander’s men, who far excelled both in
strength and military discipline, got the mastery over them the second
time, they were again repulsed towards the elephants and cooped up
among them. By this time the whole of Alexander’s cavalry had collected
into one squadron, not by any command of his, but having settled
into this arrangement by the mere effect of the struggle itself; and
wherever it fell upon the ranks of the Indians they were broken up
with great slaughter. The beasts being now cooped up into a narrow
space, their friends were no less injured by them than their foes,
being trampled down in their wheeling and pushing about. Accordingly
there ensued a great slaughter of the cavalry, cooped up as it was in a
narrow space around the elephants. Most of the keepers of the elephants
had been killed by the javelins, and some of the elephants themselves
had been wounded, while others no longer kept apart in the battle on
account of their sufferings or from being destitute of keepers. But,
as if frantic with pain, rushing forward at friends and foes alike,
they pushed about, trampled down and killed them in every kind of way.
However, the Macedonians retired whenever they were assailed, for they
rushed at the beasts in a more open space, and in accordance with their
own plan; and when they wheeled round to return, they followed them
closely and hurled javelins at them; whereas the Indians retreating
among them were now receiving greater injury from them. But when the
beasts were tired out, and they were no longer able to charge with any
vigour, they began to retire, facing the foe like ships backing water,
merely uttering a shrill piping sound. Alexander himself surrounded
the whole line with his cavalry, and gave the signal that the infantry
should link their shields together so as to form a very densely closed
body, and thus advance in phalanx. By this means the Indian cavalry,
with the exception of a few men, was quite cut up in the action; as was
also the infantry, since the Macedonians were now pressing upon them
from all sides. Upon this, all who could do so turned to flight through
the spaces which intervened between the parts of Alexander’s cavalry.
CHAPTER XVIII.
LOSSES OF THE COMBATANTS.—PORUS SURRENDERS.
At the same time Craterus and the other officers of Alexander’s army
who had been left behind on the bank of the Hydaspes crossed the
river, when they perceived that Alexander was winning a brilliant
victory. These men, being fresh, followed up the pursuit instead
of Alexander’s exhausted troops, and made no less a slaughter of
the Indians in their retreat. Of the Indians little short of 20,000
infantry and 3,000 cavalry were killed in this battle.[687] All their
chariots were broken to pieces; and two sons of Porus were slain, as
were also Spitaces, the governor of the Indians of that district, the
managers of the elephants and of the chariots, and all the cavalry
officers and generals of Porus’s army. All the elephants which were
not killed there, were captured. Of Alexander’s forces, about 80 of
the 6,000 foot-soldiers who were engaged in the first attack, were
killed; 10 of the horse-archers, who were also the first to engage in
the action; about 20 of the Companion cavalry, and about 200 of the
other horsemen fell.[688] When Porus, who exhibited great talent in
the battle, performing the deeds not only of a general but also of a
valiant soldier, observed the slaughter of his cavalry, and some of his
elephants lying dead, others destitute of keepers straying about in a
forlorn condition, while most of his infantry had perished, he did not
depart as Darius the Great King did, setting an example of flight to
his men; but as long as any body of Indians remained compact in the
battle, he kept up the struggle. But at last, having received a wound
on the right shoulder, which part of his body alone was unprotected
during the battle, he wheeled round. His coat of mail warded off the
missiles from the rest of his body, being extraordinary both for its
strength and the close fitting of its joints, as it was afterwards
possible for those who saw him to observe. Then indeed he turned his
elephant round and began to retire. Alexander, having seen that he was
a great man and valiant in the battle, was very desirous of saving his
life. He accordingly sent first to him Taxiles the Indian; who rode
up as near to the elephant which was carrying Porus as seemed to him
safe, and bade him stop the beast, assuring him that it was no longer
possible for him to flee, and bidding him listen to Alexander’s
message. But when he saw his old foe Taxiles, he wheeled round and was
preparing to strike him with a javelin; and he would probably have
killed him, if he had not quickly driven his horse forward out of
the reach of Porus before he could strike him. But not even on this
account was Alexander angry with Porus; but he kept on sending others
in succession; and last of all Meroës an Indian, because he ascertained
that he was an old friend of Porus. As soon as the latter heard the
message brought to him by Meroës, being at the same time overcome by
thirst, he stopped his elephant and dismounted from it. After he had
drunk some water and felt refreshed, he ordered Meroës to lead him
without delay to Alexander; and Meroës led him thither.[689]
CHAPTER XIX.
ALLIANCE WITH PORUS.—DEATH OF BUCEPHALAS.
When Alexander heard that Meroës was bringing Porus to him, he rode
in front of the line with a few of the Companions to meet Porus;
and stopping his horse, he admired his handsome figure and his
stature,[690] which reached somewhat above five cubits. He was also
surprised that he did not seem to be cowed in spirit,[691] but advanced
to meet him as one brave man would meet another brave man, after having
gallantly struggled in defence of his own kingdom against another king.
Then indeed Alexander was the first to speak, bidding him say what
treatment he would like to receive. The report goes that Porus replied:
“Treat me, O Alexander, in a kingly way!” Alexander being pleased at
the expression, said: “For my own sake, O Porus, thou shalt be thus
treated; but for thy own sake do thou demand what is pleasing to thee!”
But Porus said that everything was included in that. Alexander, being
still more pleased at this remark, not only granted him the rule over
his own Indians, but also added another country to that which he had
before, of larger extent than the former.[692] Thus he treated the
brave man in a kingly way, and from that time found him faithful in
all things. Such was the result of Alexander’s battle with Porus and
the Indians living beyond the river Hydaspes, which was fought in the
archonship of Hegemon at Athens, in the month Munychion[693] (18 April
to 18 May, 326 B.C.).
Alexander founded two cities, one where the battle took place, and the
other on the spot whence he started to cross the river Hydaspes; the
former he named Nicaea,[694] after his victory over the Indians, and
the latter Bucephala in memory of his horse Bucephalas, which died
there, not from having been wounded by any one, but from the effects of
toil and old age; for he was about thirty years old, and quite worn out
with toil.[695] This Bucephalas had shared many hardships and incurred
many dangers with Alexander during many years, being ridden by none but
the king, because he rejected all other riders. He was both of unusual
size and generous in mettle. The head of an ox had been engraved upon
him as a distinguishing mark, and according to some this was the reason
why he bore that name; but others say, that though he was black he had
a white mark upon his head which bore a great resemblance to the head
of an ox. In the land of the Uxians this horse vanished from Alexander,
who thereupon sent a proclamation throughout the country that he would
kill all the inhabitants, unless they brought the horse back to him. As
a result of this proclamation it was immediately brought back. So great
was Alexander’s attachment to the horse, and so great was the fear of
Alexander entertained by the barbarians.[696] Let so much honour be
paid by me to this Bucephalas for the sake of his master.
CHAPTER XX.
CONQUEST OF THE GLAUSIANS.—EMBASSY FROM ABISARES.—PASSAGE OF THE
ACESINES.
When Alexander had paid all due honours to those who had been killed
in the battle, he offered the customary sacrifices to the gods in
gratitude for his victory, and celebrated a gymnastic and horse
contest upon the bank of the Hydaspes at the place where he first
crossed with his army.[697] He then left Craterus behind with a part
of the army, to erect and fortify the cities which he was founding
there; but he himself marched against the Indians conterminous with
the dominion of Porus. According to Aristobulus the name of this
nation was Glauganicians; but Ptolemy calls them Glausians. I am quite
indifferent which name it bore. Alexander traversed their land with
half the Companion cavalry, the picked men from each phalanx of the
infantry, all the horse-bowmen, the Agrianians, and the archers. All
the inhabitants came over to him on terms of capitulation; and he thus
took thirty-seven cities, the inhabitants of which, where they were
fewest, amounted to no less than 5,000, and those of many numbered
above 10,000. He also took many villages, which were no less populous
than the cities. This land also he granted to Porus to rule; and sent
Taxiles back to his own abode after affecting a reconciliation between
him and Porus. At this time arrived envoys from Abisares,[698] who told
him that their king was ready to surrender himself and the land which
he ruled. And yet before the battle which was fought between Alexander
and Porus, Abisares intended to join his forces with those of the
latter. On this occasion he sent his brother with the other envoys to
Alexander, taking with them money and forty elephants as a gift. Envoys
also arrived from the independent Indians, and from a certain other
Indian ruler named Porus.[699] Alexander ordered Abisares to come to
him as soon as possible, threatening that unless he came he would see
him arrive with his army at a place where he would not rejoice to see
him. At this time Phrataphernes, viceroy of Parthia and Hyrcania, came
to Alexander at the head of the Thracians who had been left with him.
Messengers also came from Sisicottus, viceroy of the Assacenians, to
inform him that those people had slain their governor and revolted from
Alexander. Against these he despatched Philip and Tyriaspes with an
army, to arrange and set in order the affairs of their land.
He himself advanced towards the river Acesines.[700] Ptolemy, son of
Lagus, has described the size of this river alone of those in India,
stating that where Alexander crossed it with his army upon boats and
skins, the stream was rapid and the channel was full of large and sharp
rocks, over which the water being violently carried seethed and dashed.
He says also that its breadth amounted to fifteen stades; that those
who went over upon skins had an easy passage; but that not a few of
those who crossed in the boats perished there in the water, many of
the boats being wrecked upon the rocks and dashed to pieces. From this
description then it would be possible for one to come to a conclusion
by comparison, that the size of the river Indus has been stated not
far from the fact by those who think that its mean breadth is forty
stades, but that it contracts to fifteen stades where it is narrowest
and therefore deepest; and that this is the width of the Indus in many
places. I come then to the conclusion that Alexander chose a part of
the Acesines where the passage was widest, so that he might find the
stream slower than elsewhere.
CHAPTER XXI.
ADVANCE BEYOND THE HYDRAOTES.
After crossing the river,[701] he left Coenus with his own brigade
there upon the bank, with instructions to superintend the passage of
the part of the army which had been left behind for the purpose of
collecting[702] corn and other supplies from the country of the Indians
which was already subject to him. He now sent Porus away to his own
abode, commanding him to select the most warlike of the Indians and
take all the elephants he had and come to him. He resolved to pursue
the other Porus, the bad one, with the lightest troops in his army,
because he was informed that he had left the land which he ruled and
had fled. For this Porus, while hostilities subsisted between Alexander
and the other Porus, sent envoys to Alexander offering to surrender
both himself and the land subject to him, rather out of enmity to Porus
than from friendship to Alexander. But when he ascertained that the
former had been released, and that he was ruling over another large
country in addition to his own, then, fearing not so much Alexander as
the other Porus, his namesake, he fled from his own land, taking with
him as many of his warriors as he could persuade to share his flight.
Against this man Alexander marched, and arrived at the Hydraotes,[703]
which is another Indian river, not less than the Acesines in breadth,
but less in swiftness of current. He traversed the whole country as far
as the Hydraotes, leaving garrisons in the most suitable places, in
order that Craterus and Coenus might advance with safety, scouring most
of the land for forage. Then he despatched Hephaestion into the land of
the Porus who had revolted, giving him a part of the army, comprising
two brigades of infantry, his own regiment of cavalry with that of
Demetrius and half of the archers, with instructions to hand the
country over to the other Porus, to subdue any independent tribes of
Indians which dwelt near the banks of the river Hydraotes, and to give
them also into the hands of Porus to rule. He himself then crossed the
river Hydraotes, not with difficulty, as he had crossed the Acesines.
As he was advancing into the country beyond the Hydraotes, it happened
that most of the people yielded themselves up on terms of capitulation;
but some came to meet him with arms, while others who tried to escape
he captured and forcibly reduced to obedience.
CHAPTER XXII.
INVASION OF THE LAND OF THE CATHAEANS.
Meantime he received information that the tribe called Cathaeans
and some other tribes of the independent Indians were preparing for
battle, if he approached their land; and that they were summoning to
the enterprise all the tribes conterminous with them who were in like
manner independent. He was also informed that the city, Sangala by
name,[704] near which they were thinking of having the struggle, was
a strong one. The Cathaeans themselves were considered very daring
and skilful in war; and two other tribes of Indians, the Oxydracians
and Mallians, were in the same temper as the Cathaeans. For a short
time before it happened that Porus and Abisares had marched against
them with their own forces and had roused many other tribes of the
independent Indians to arms, but were forced to retreat without
effecting anything worthy of the preparations they had made. When
Alexander was informed of this, he made a forced march against the
Cathaeans, and on the second day after starting from the river
Hydraotes he arrived at a city called Pimprama, inhabited by a
tribe of Indians named Adraistaeans, who yielded to him on terms of
capitulation. Giving his army a rest the next day, he advanced on the
third day to Sangala, where the Cathaeans and the other neighbouring
tribes had assembled and marshalled themselves in front of the city
upon a hill which was not precipitous on all sides. They had posted
their waggons all round this hill and were encamping within them in
such a way that they were surrounded by a triple palisade of waggons.
When Alexander perceived the great number of the barbarians and the
nature of their position, he drew up his forces in the order which
seemed to him especially adapted to his present circumstances, and sent
his horse-archers at once without any delay against them, ordering
them to ride along and shoot at them from a distance; so that the
Indians might not be able to make any sortie, before his army was in
proper array, and that even before the battle commenced they might be
wounded within their stronghold. Upon the right wing he posted the
guard of cavalry and the cavalry regiment of Clitus; next to these
the shield-bearing guards, and then the Agrianians. Towards the left
he had stationed Perdiccas with his own regiment of cavalry, and the
battalions of foot Companions. The archers he divided into two parts
and placed them on each wing. While he was marshalling his army, the
infantry and cavalry of the rear-guard came up. Of these, he divided
the cavalry into two parts and led them to the wings, and with the
infantry which came up he made the ranks of the phalanx more dense and
compact. He then took the cavalry which had been drawn up on the right,
and led it towards the waggons on the left wing of the Indians; for
here their position seemed to him more easy to assail, and the waggons
had not been placed together so densely.
CHAPTER XXIII.
ASSAULT UPON SANGALA.
As the Indians did not run out from behind the waggons against the
advancing cavalry, but mounted upon them and began to shoot from
the top of them, Alexander, perceiving that it was not the work for
cavalry, leaped down from his horse, and on foot led the phalanx of
infantry against them. The Macedonians without difficulty forced the
Indians from the first row of waggons; but then the Indians, taking
their stand in front of the second row, more easily repulsed the
attack, because they were posted in denser array in a smaller circle.
Moreover the Macedonians were attacking them likewise in a confined
space, while the Indians were secretly creeping under the front row
of waggons, and without regard to discipline were assaulting their
enemy through the gaps left between the waggons as each man found a
chance.[705] But nevertheless even from these the Indians were forcibly
driven by the phalanx of infantry. They no longer made a stand at
the third row, but fled as fast as possible into the city and shut
themselves up in it. During that day Alexander with his infantry
encamped round the city, as much of it, at least, as his phalanx
could surround; for he could not with his camp completely encircle
the wall, so extensive was it. Opposite the part unenclosed by his
camp, near which also was a lake, he posted the cavalry, placing them
all round the lake, which he discovered to be shallow. Moreover, he
conjectured that the Indians, being terrified at their previous defeat,
would abandon the city in the night; and it turned out just as he had
conjectured; for about the second watch of the night most of them
dropped down from the wall, but fell in with[706] the sentinels of
cavalry. The foremost of them were cut to pieces by these; but the men
behind them perceiving that the lake was guarded all round, withdrew
into the city again. Alexander now surrounded the city with a double
stockade, except in the part where the lake shut it in, and round the
lake he posted more perfect guards. He also resolved to bring military
engines up to the wall, to batter it down. But some of the men in the
city deserted to him, and told him that the Indians intended that very
night to steal out of the city and escape by the lake, where the gap in
the stockade existed. He accordingly stationed Ptolemy, son of Lagus,
there, giving him three regiments of the shield-bearing guards, all
the Agrianians, and one line of archers, pointing out to him the place
where he especially conjectured the barbarians would try to force their
way. “When thou perceivest the barbarians forcing their way here,”
said he, “do thou, with the army obstruct their advance, and order
the bugler to give the signal. And do you, O officers, as soon as the
signal has been given, each being arrayed in battle order with your own
men, advance towards the noise, wherever the bugle summons you. Nor
will I myself withdraw from the action.”
CHAPTER XXIV.
CAPTURE OF SANGALA.
Such were the orders he gave; and Ptolemy collected there as many
waggons as he could from those which had been left behind in the first
flight, and placed them athwart, so that there might seem to the
fugitives in the night to be many difficulties in their way; and as
the stockade had been knocked down, or had not been firmly fixed in
the ground, he ordered his men to heap up a mound of earth in various
places between the lake and the wall. This his soldiers effected in
the night. When it was about the fourth watch,[707] the barbarians,
just as Alexander had been informed, opened the gates towards the
lake, and made a run in that direction. However they did not escape
the notice of the guards there, nor that of Ptolemy, who had been
placed behind them to render aid. But at this moment the buglers gave
him the signal, and he advanced against the barbarians with his army
fully equipped and drawn up in battle array. Moreover the waggons and
the stockade which had been placed in the intervening space, were an
obstruction to them. When the bugle sounded and Ptolemy attacked them,
killing the men as they kept on stealing out through the waggons, then
indeed they were driven back again into the city; and in their retreat
500 of them were killed. In the meanwhile Porus arrived, bringing with
him the elephants that were left to him, and 5,000 Indians. Alexander
had constructed his military engines and they were being led up to the
wall; but before any of it was battered down, the Macedonians took the
city by storm, digging under the wall, which was made of brick, and
placing scaling ladders against it all round. In the capture 17,000 of
the Indians were killed, and above 70,000 were captured, besides 300
chariots and 500 cavalry. In the whole siege a little less than 100 of
Alexander’s army were killed; but the number of the wounded was greater
than the proportion of the slain, being more than 1,200, among whom
were Lysimachus, the confidential body-guard, and other officers. After
burying the dead according to his custom, Alexander sent Eumenes, the
secretary,[708] with 300 cavalry to the two cities which had joined
Sangala in revolt, to tell those who held them about the capture of
Sangala, and to inform them that they would receive no harsh treatment
from Alexander if they stayed there and received him as a friend; for
no harm had happened to any of the other independent Indians who had
surrendered to him of their own accord. But they had become frightened,
and had abandoned the cities and were fleeing; for the news had already
reached them that Alexander had taken Sangala by storm. When Alexander
was informed of their flight he pursued them with speed; but most of
them were too quick for him, and effected their escape, because the
pursuit began from a distant starting-place. But all those who were
left behind in the retreat from weakness, were seized by the army and
killed, to the number of about 500. Then, giving up the design of
pursuing the fugitives any further, he returned to Sangala, and razed
the city to the ground. He added the land to that of the Indians who
had formerly been independent, but who had then voluntarily submitted
to him. He then sent Porus with his forces to the cities which had
submitted to him, to introduce garrisons into them; whilst he himself,
with his army, advanced to the river Hyphasis,[709] to subjugate the
Indians beyond it. Nor did there seem to him any end of the war, so
long as anything hostile to him remained.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE ARMY REFUSES TO ADVANCE.—ALEXANDER’S SPEECH TO THE OFFICERS.
It was reported that the country beyond the river Hyphasis was fertile,
and that the men were good agriculturists, and gallant in war; and
that they conducted their own political affairs in a regular and
constitutional manner. For the multitude was ruled by the aristocracy,
who governed in no respect contrary to the rules of moderation. It was
also stated that the men of that district possessed a much greater
number of elephants than the other Indians, and that those men were
of very great stature, and excelled in valour. These reports excited
in Alexander an ardent desire to advance farther; but the spirit of
the Macedonians now began to flag, when they saw the king raising
one labour after another, and incurring one danger after another.
Conferences were held throughout the camp, in which those who were the
most moderate bewailed their lot, while others resolutely declared that
they would not follow Alexander any farther, even if he should lead
the way. When he heard of this, before the disorder and pusillanimity
of the soldiers should advance to a great degree, he called a council
of the officers of the brigades and addressed them as follows:—“O
Macedonians and Grecian allies, seeing that you no longer follow me
into dangerous enterprises with a resolution equal to that which
formerly animated you, I have collected you together into the same
spot, so that I may either persuade you to march forward with me, or
may be persuaded by you to return. If indeed the labours which you
have already undergone up to our present position seem to you worthy
of disapprobation, and if you do not approve of my leading you into
them, there can be no advantage in my speaking any further. But, if as
the result of these labours, you hold possession of Ionia,[710] the
Hellespont, both the Phrygias, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Lydia, Caria,
Lycia, Pamphylia, Phoenicia, Egypt together with Grecian Libya, as
well as part of Arabia, Hollow Syria, Syria between the rivers,[711]
Babylon, the nation of the Susians, Persia, Media, besides all the
nations which the Persians and the Medes ruled, and many of those which
they did not rule, the land beyond the Caspian Gates, the country
beyond the Caucasus, the Tanais, as well as the land beyond that river,
Bactria, Hyrcania, and the Hyrcanian Sea; if we have also subdued
the Scythians as far as the desert; if, in addition to these, the
river Indus flows through our territory, as do also the Hydaspes, the
Acesines, and the Hydraotes, why do ye shrink from adding the Hyphasis
also, and the nations beyond this river, to your empire of Macedonia?
Do ye fear that your advance will be stopped in the future by any other
barbarians? Of whom some submit to us of their own accord, and others
are captured in the act of fleeing, while others, succeeding in their
efforts to escape, hand over to us their deserted land, which we add to
that of our allies, or to that of those who have voluntarily submitted
to us.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ALEXANDER’S SPEECH (_continued_).
“I, for my part, think, that to a brave man there is no end to labours
except the labours themselves, provided they lead to glorious
achievements. But if any one desires to hear what will be the end to
the warfare itself, let him learn that the distance still remaining
before we reach the river Ganges and the Eastern Sea is not great; and
I inform you that the Hyrcanian Sea will be seen to be united with
this, because the Great Sea encircles the whole earth. I will also
demonstrate both to the Macedonians and to the Grecian allies, that the
Indian Gulf is confluent with the Persian, and the Hyrcanian Sea with
the Indian Gulf. From the Persian Gulf our expedition will sail round
into Libya as far as the Pillars of Heracles.[712] From the pillars all
the interior of Libya[713] becomes ours, and so the whole of Asia[714]
will belong to us, and the limits of our empire, in that direction,
will be those which God has made also the limits of the earth. But, if
we now return, many warlike nations are left unconquered beyond the
Hyphasis as far as the Eastern Sea, and many besides between these and
Hyrcania in the direction of the north wind, and not far from these the
Scythian races. Wherefore, if we go back, there is reason to fear that
the races which are now held in subjection, not being firm in their
allegiance, may be excited to revolt by those who are not yet subdued.
Then our many labours will prove to have been in vain; or it will be
necessary for us to incur over again fresh labours and dangers, as
at the beginning. But, O Macedonians and Grecian allies, stand firm!
Glorious are the deeds of those who undergo labour and run the risk
of danger; and it is delightful to live a life of valour and to die
leaving behind immortal glory. Do ye not know that our ancestor[715]
reached so great a height of glory as from being a man to become a god,
or to seem to become one, not by remaining in Tiryns[716] or Argos, or
even in the Peloponnese or at Thebes? The labours of Dionysus were not
few, and he was too exalted a deity to be compared with Heracles. But
we, indeed, have penetrated into regions beyond Nysa[717]; and the rock
of Aornus, which Heracles was unable to capture, is in our possession.
Do ye also add the parts of Asia still left unsubdued to those already
acquired, the few to the many. But what great or glorious deed could
we have performed, if, sitting at ease in Macedonia, we had thought
it sufficient to preserve our own country without any labour, simply
repelling the attacks of the nations on our frontiers, the Thracians,
Illyrians, and Triballians, or even those Greeks who were unfriendly
to our interests? If, indeed, without undergoing labour and being free
from danger I were acting as your commander, while you were undergoing
labour and incurring danger, not without reason would you be growing
faint in spirit and resolution, because you alone would be sharing
the labours, while procuring the rewards of them for others. But now
the labours are common to you and me, we have an equal share of the
dangers, and the rewards are open to the free competition of all. For
the land is yours, and you act as its viceroys. The greater part also
of the money now comes to you; and when we have traversed the whole of
Asia, then, by Zeus, not merely having satisfied your expectations, but
having even exceeded the advantages which each man hopes to receive,
those of you who wish to return home I will send back to their own
land, or I will myself lead them back; while those who remain here, I
will make objects of envy to those who go back.”[718]
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE ANSWER OF COENUS.
When Alexander had uttered these remarks, and others in the same
strain, a long silence ensued, for the auditors neither had the
audacity to speak in opposition to the king without constraint, nor did
they wish to acquiesce in his proposal. Hereupon, he repeatedly urged
any one who wished it, to speak, if he entertained different views
from those which he had himself expressed. Nevertheless the silence
still continued a long time; but at last, Coenus, son of Polemocrates,
plucked up courage and spoke as follows[719]:—“O king, inasmuch as
thou dost not wish to rule Macedonians by compulsion, but sayest thou
wilt lead them by persuasion, or yielding to their persuasion wilt not
use violence towards them, I am going to make a speech, not on my own
behalf and that of my colleagues here present, who are held in greater
honour than the other soldiers, and most of us have already carried off
the rewards of our labours, and from our pre-eminence are more zealous
than the rest to serve thee in all things; but I am going to speak on
behalf of the bulk of the army. On behalf of this army I am not going
to say what may be gratifying to the men, but what I consider to be
both advantageous to thee at present, and safest for the future. I feel
it incumbent upon me not to conceal what I think the best course to
pursue, both on account of my age, the honour paid to me by the rest
of the army at thy behest, and the boldness which I have without any
hesitation displayed up to the present time in incurring dangers and
undergoing labours. The more numerous and the greater the exploits
have been, which were achieved by thee as our commander, and by those
who started from home with thee, the more advantageous does it seem to
me that some end should be put to our labours and dangers. For thou
thyself seest how many Macedonians and Greeks started with thee, and
how few of us have been left. Of our number thou didst well in sending
back home the Thessalians at once from Bactra, because thou didst
perceive that they were no longer eager to undergo labours.[720] Of the
other Greeks, some have been settled as colonists in the cities which
thou hast founded; where they remain not indeed all of them of their
own free will. The Macedonian soldiers and the other Greeks who still
continued to share our labours and dangers, have either perished in
the battles, become unfit for war on account of their wounds, or been
left behind in the different parts of Asia. The majority, however, have
perished from disease, so that few are left out of many; and these few
are no longer equally vigorous in body, while in spirit they are much
more exhausted. All those whose parents still survive, feel a great
yearning to see them once more; they feel a yearning after their wives
and children, and a yearning for their native land itself; which it is
surely pardonable for them to yearn to see again with the honour and
dignity they have acquired from thee, returning as great men, whereas
they departed small, and as rich men instead of being poor. Do not
lead us now against our will; for thou wilt no longer find us the same
men in regard to dangers, since free-will will be wanting to us in
the contests. But, rather, if it seem good to thee, return to thy own
land, see thy mother, regulate the affairs of the Greeks, and carry to
the home of thy fathers these victories so many and great. Then start
afresh on another expedition, if thou wishest, against these very
tribes of Indians situated towards the east; or, if thou wishest, into
the Euxine Sea[721]; or else against Carchedon and the parts of Libya
beyond the Carchedonians.[722] It is now thy business to manage these
matters; and the other Macedonians and Greeks will follow thee, young
men in place of old, fresh men in place of exhausted ones, and men to
whom warfare has no terrors, because up to the present time they have
had no experience of it; and they will be eager to set out, from hope
of future reward. The probability also is, that they will accompany
thee with still more zeal on this account, when they see that those who
in the earlier expedition shared thy labours and dangers have returned
to their own abodes as rich men instead of being poor, and renowned
instead of being obscure as they were before. Self-control in the midst
of success is the noblest of all virtues, O king! For thou hast nothing
to fear from enemies, while thou art commanding and leading such an
army as this; but the visitations of the deity are unexpected, and
consequently men can take no precautions against them.”
CHAPTER XXVIII.
ALEXANDER RESOLVES TO RETURN.
When Coenus had concluded this speech, loud applause was given to his
words by those who were present; and the fact that many even shed
tears, made it still more evident that they were disinclined to incur
further hazards, and that return would be delightful to them. Alexander
then broke up the conference, being annoyed at the freedom of speech
in which Coenus indulged, and the hesitation displayed by the other
officers. But the next day he called the same men together again in
wrath, and told them that he intended to advance farther, but would
not force any Macedonian to accompany him against his will; that he
would have those only who followed their king of their own accord; and
that those who wished to return home were at liberty to return and
carry back word to their relations that they were come back, having
deserted their king in the midst of his enemies. Having said this, he
retired into his tent, and did not admit any of the Companions on that
day, or until the third day from that, waiting to see if any change
would occur in the minds of the Macedonians and Grecian allies, as is
wont to happen, as a general rule among a crowd of soldiers, rendering
them more disposed to obey. But on the contrary, when there was a
profound silence throughout the camp, and the soldiers were evidently
annoyed at his wrath, without being at all changed by it, Ptolemy, son
of Lagus, says that he none the less offered sacrifice there for the
passage of the river, but the victims were unfavourable to him when he
sacrificed. Then indeed he collected the oldest of the Companions and
especially those who were friendly to him, and as all things indicated
the advisability of returning, he made known to the army that he had
resolved to march back again.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ALEXANDER RECROSSES THE HYDRAOTES AND ACESINES.
Then they shouted as a mixed multitude would shout when rejoicing;
and most of them shed tears of joy. Some of them even approached the
royal tent, and prayed for many blessings upon Alexander; because by
them alone he suffered himself to be conquered. Then he divided the
army into brigades, and ordered twelve altars to be prepared, equal in
height to very large towers, and in breadth much larger than towers,
to serve as thank-offerings to the gods who had led him so far as a
conqueror, and also to serve as monuments of his own labours.[723] When
the altars were completed, he offered sacrifice upon them according to
his custom, and celebrated a gymnastic and equestrian contest. After
adding the country as far as the river Hyphasis to the dominion of
Porus, he marched back to the Hydraotes. Having crossed this river, he
continued his return march to the Acesines, where he found the city
which Hephaestion had been ordered to fortify, quite built. In this
city he settled as many of the neighbouring people as volunteered
to live in it, as well as those of the Grecian mercenaries who were
now unfit for military service; and then began to make the necessary
preparations for a voyage down the river into the Great Sea. At this
time Arsaces, the ruler of the land bordering on that of Abisares, and
the brother of the latter, with his other relations, came to Alexander,
bringing the gifts which are reckoned most valuable among the Indians,
including some elephants from Abisares, thirty in number. They declared
that Abisares himself was unable to come on account of illness; and
with these men the ambassadors sent by Alexander to Abisares agreed.
Readily believing that such was the case, he granted that prince the
privilege of ruling his own country as his viceroy, and placed Arsaces
also under his power. After arranging what tribute they were to pay, he
again offered sacrifice near the river Acesines. He then crossed that
river again, and came to the Hydaspes, where he employed the army in
repairing the damage caused to the cities of Nicaea and Bucephala by
the rain, and put the other affairs of the country in order.
BOOK VI.
CHAPTER I.
PREPARATIONS FOR A VOYAGE DOWN THE INDUS.
Alexander now resolved to sail down the Hydaspes to the Great Sea,
after he had prepared on the banks of that river many thirty-oared
galleys and others with one and a half bank of oars, as well as a
number of vessels for conveying horses, and all the other things
requisite for the easy conveyance of an army on a river. At first
he thought he had discovered the origin of the Nile, when he saw
crocodiles in the river Indus, which he had seen in no other river
except the Nile,[724] as well as beans growing near the banks of
the Acesines of the same kind as those which the Egyptian land
produces.[725] This conjecture was confirmed when he heard that the
Acesines falls into the Indus. He thought the Nile rises somewhere or
other in India, and after flowing through an extensive tract of desert
country loses the name of Indus there; but afterwards when it begins to
flow again through the inhabited land, it is called Nile both by the
Aethiopians of that district and by the Egyptians, and finally empties
itself into the Inner Sea.[726] In like manner Homer made the river
Egypt give its name to the country of Egypt.[727] Accordingly when he
wrote to Olympias about the country of India, after mentioning other
things, he said that he thought he had discovered the sources of the
Nile, forming his conclusions about things so great from such small and
trivial premisses. However, when he had made a more careful inquiry
into the facts relating to the river Indus, he learned the following
details from the natives:—That the Hydaspes unites its water with
the Acesines, as the latter does with the Indus, and that they both
yield up their names to the Indus; that the last-named river has two
mouths, through which it discharges itself into the Great Sea; but that
it has no connection with the Egyptian country. He then removed from
the letter to his mother the part he had written about the Nile.[728]
Planning a voyage down the rivers as far as the Great Sea, he ordered
ships for this purpose to be prepared for him. The crews of his ships
were fully supplied from the Phoenicians, Cyprians, Carians, and
Egyptians who accompanied the army.
CHAPTER II.
VOYAGE DOWN THE HYDASPES.
At this time Coenus, who was one of Alexander’s most faithful
Companions, fell ill and died, and the king buried him with as much
magnificence as circumstances allowed. Then collecting the Companions
and the Indian envoys who had come to him, he appointed Porus king of
the part of India which had already been conquered, seven nations
in all, containing more than 2,000 cities. After this he made the
following distribution of his army.[729] With himself he placed on
board the ships all the shield-bearing guards, the archers, the
Agrianians, and the body-guard of cavalry.[730] Craterus led a part
of the infantry and cavalry along the right bank of the Hydaspes,
while along the other bank Hephaestion advanced at the head of the
most numerous and efficient part of the army, including the elephants,
which now numbered about 200. These generals were ordered to march
as quickly as possible to the place where the palace of Sopeithes
was situated,[731] and Philip, the viceroy of the country beyond the
Indus[732] extending to Bactria, was ordered to follow them with his
forces after an interval of three days. He sent the Nysaean cavalry
back to Nysa.[733] The whole of the naval force was under the command
of Nearchus; but the pilot of Alexander’s ship was Onesicritus,
who, in the narrative which he composed of Alexander’s campaigns,
falsely asserted that he was admiral, while in reality he was only
a pilot.[734] According to Ptolemy, son of Lagus, whose statements
I chiefly follow, the entire number of the ships was about eighty
thirty-oared galleys; but the whole number of vessels, including the
horse transports and boats, and all the other river craft, both those
previously plying on the rivers and those built at that time, fell not
far short of 2,000.[735]
CHAPTER III.
VOYAGE DOWN THE HYDASPES (_continued_).
When he had made all the necessary preparations the army began to
embark at the approach of the dawn; while according to custom he
offered sacrifice to the gods and to the river Hydaspes, as the
prophets directed.[736] When he had embarked he poured a libation into
the river from the prow of the ship out of a golden goblet, invoking
the Acesines as well as the Hydaspes, because he had ascertained that
it is the largest of all the rivers which unite with the Hydaspes, and
that their confluence was not far off. He also invoked the Indus, into
which the Acesines flows after its junction with the Hydaspes. Moreover
he poured out libations to his forefather Heracles, to Ammon,[737]
and the other gods to whom he was in the habit of sacrificing, and
then he ordered the signal for starting seawards to be given with the
trumpet. As soon as the signal was given they commenced the voyage in
regular order; for directions had been given at what distance apart
it was necessary for the baggage vessels to be arranged, as also for
the vessels conveying the horses and for the ships of war; so that
they might not fall foul of each other by sailing down the channel at
random. He did not allow even the fast-sailing ships to get out of rank
by outstripping the rest. The noise of the rowing was never equalled on
any other occasion, inasmuch as it proceeded from so many ships rowed
at the same time; also the shouting of the boatswains giving the time
for beginning and stopping the stroke of the oars, and the clamour of
the rowers, when keeping time all together with the dashing of the
oars, made a noise like a battle-cry. The banks of the river also,
being in many places higher than the ships, and collecting the sound
into a narrow space, sent back to each other an echo which was very
much increased by its very compression. In some parts too the groves
of trees on each side of the river helped to swell the sound, both
from the solitude and the reverberation of the noise. The horses which
were visible on the decks of the transports struck the barbarians who
saw them with such surprise that those of them who were present at
the starting of the fleet accompanied it a long way from the place of
embarkation. For horses had never before been seen on board ships in
the country of India; and the natives did not call to mind that the
expedition of Dionysus into India was a naval one. The shouting of the
rowers and the noise of the rowing were heard by the Indians who had
already submitted to Alexander, and these came running down to the
river’s bank and accompanied him singing their native songs. For the
Indians have been eminently fond of singing and dancing since the time
of Dionysus and those who under his bacchic inspiration traversed the
land of the Indians with him.[738]
CHAPTER IV.
VOYAGE DOWN THE HYDASPES INTO THE ACESINES.
Sailing thus, he stopped on the third day at the spot where he had
instructed Hephaestion and Craterus to encamp on opposite banks of
the river at the same place. Here he remained two days, until Philip
with the rest of the army came up with him. He then sent this general
with the men he brought with him to the river Acesines, with orders
to march along the bank of that river. He also sent Craterus and
Hephaestion off again with instructions how they were to conduct the
march. But he himself continued his voyage down the river Hydaspes,
the channel of which is nowhere less than twenty stades broad. Mooring
his vessels near the banks wherever he could, he received some of the
Indians dwelling near into allegiance by their voluntary surrender,
while he reduced by force those who came into a trial of strength
with him. Then he sailed rapidly towards the country of the Mallians
and Oxydracians, having ascertained that these tribes were the most
numerous and the most warlike of the Indians in that region; and
having been informed that they had put their wives and children for
safety into their strongest cities, with the resolution of fighting
a battle with him, he made the voyage with the greater speed with
the express design of attacking them before they had arranged their
plans, and while there was still lack of preparation and a state of
confusion among them. Thence he made his second start, and on the
fifth day reached the junction of the Hydaspes and Acesines. Where
these rivers unite, one very narrow river is formed out of the two;
and on account of its narrowness the current is swift. There are also
prodigious eddies in the whirling stream, and the water rises in waves
and plashes exceedingly, so that the noise of the swell of waters is
distinctly heard by people while they are still far off. These things
had previously been reported to Alexander by the natives, and he had
told his soldiers; and yet, when his army approached the junction
of the rivers, the noise made by the stream produced so great an
impression upon them that the sailors stopped rowing, not from any word
of command, but because the very boatswains who gave the time to the
rowers became silent from astonishment and stood aghast at the noise.
CHAPTER V.
VOYAGE DOWN THE ACESINES.
When they came near the junction of the rivers, the pilots passed on
the order that the men should row as hard as possible to get out of
the narrows, so that the ships might not fall into the eddies and be
overturned by them, but might by the vigorous rowing overcome the
whirlings of the water. Being of a round form, the merchant vessels
which happened to be whirled round by the current received no damage
from the eddy, but the men who were on board were thrown into disorder
and fright. For being kept upright by the force of the stream itself,
these vessels settled again into the onward course. But the ships
of war, being long, did not emerge so scatheless from the whirling
current, not being raised aloft in the same way as the others upon
the plashing swell of water. These ships had two ranks of oars on
each side, the lower oars being only a little out of the water. These
vessels getting athwart in the eddies, their oars could not be raised
aloft in proper time and were consequently caught by the water and came
into collision with each other. Thus many of the ships were damaged;
two indeed fell foul of each other and were destroyed, and many of
those sailing in them perished.[739] But when the river widened out,
there the current was no longer so rapid, and the eddies did not whirl
round with so much violence. Alexander therefore moored his fleet on
the right bank, where there was a protection from the force of the
stream and a roadstead for the ships. A certain promontory also in the
river jutted out conveniently for collecting the wrecks. He preserved
the lives of the men who were still being conveyed upon them; and when
he had repaired the damaged ships, he ordered Nearchus to sail down
the river until he reached the confines of the nation called Mallians.
He himself made an inroad into the territories of the barbarians who
would not yield to him, and after preventing them from succouring the
Mallians, he again formed a junction with the naval armament.[740]
Hephaestion, Craterus, and Philip had already united their forces here.
Alexander then transported the elephants, the brigade of Polysperchon,
the horse-archers, and Philip with his army, across the river Hydaspes,
and instructed Craterus to lead them. He sent Nearchus with the fleet
with orders to set sail three days before the army started. He divided
the rest of his army into three parts, and ordered Hephaestion to
go five days in advance, so that if any should flee before the men
under his own command and go rapidly forward they might fall in with
Hephaestion’s brigade and thus be captured. He also gave a part of the
army to Ptolemy, son of Lagus, with orders to follow him after the
lapse of three days, so that all those who fled from him and turned
back again might fall in with Ptolemy’s brigade. He ordered those in
advance to wait, when they arrived at the confluence of the rivers
Acesines and Hydraotes, until he himself came up; and he instructed
Craterus and Ptolemy also to form a junction with him at the same place.
CHAPTER VI.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE MALLIANS.
He then took the shield-bearing guards, the bowmen, the Agrianians,
Peithon’s brigade of men, who were called foot Companions, all the
horse bowmen and half the cavalry Companions, and marched through a
tract of country destitute of water against the Mallians, a tribe of
the independent Indians.[741] On the first day he encamped near a
small piece of water which was about 100 stades distant from the river
Acesines. Having dined there and caused his army to rest a short time,
he ordered every man to fill whatever vessel he had with water. After
travelling the remaining part of that day and all the ensuing night
a distance of about 400 stades, he at daybreak reached the city into
which many of the Mallians had fled for refuge. Most of them were
outside the city and unarmed, supposing that Alexander would never come
against them through the waterless country. It was evident that he led
his army by this route for this very reason, because it was difficult
to lead an army this way, and consequently it appeared incredible to
the enemy that he would lead his forces in this direction. He therefore
fell upon them unexpectedly, and killed most of them without their
even turning to defend themselves, since they were unarmed. He cooped
the rest up in the city, and posted his cavalry all round the wall,
because the phalanx of infantry had not yet[742] come up with him.
He thus made use of his cavalry in place of a stockade. As soon as
the infantry arrived, he sent Perdiccas with his own cavalry regiment
and that of Clitus, as well as the Agrianians, against another city
of the Mallians, whither many of the Indians of that region had fled
for refuge. He ordered Perdiccas to blockade the men in the city, but
not to commence the action until he himself should arrive, so that
none might escape from this city and carry news to the rest of the
barbarians that Alexander was already approaching. He then began to
assault the wall; but the barbarians abandoned it, finding that they
were no longer able to defend it, since many had been killed in the
capture, and others had been rendered unfit for fighting on account
of their wounds. Fleeing for refuge into the citadel, they defended
themselves for some time from a position commanding from its height
and difficult of access. But as the Macedonians pressed on vigorously
from all sides, and Alexander himself appeared now in this part of the
action and now in that, the citadel was taken by storm, and all the men
who had fled into it for refuge were killed, to the number of 2,000.
Perdiccas also reached the city to which he had been despatched and
found it deserted; but learning that the inhabitants had fled from it
not long before, he made a forced march on the track of the fugitives.
The light-armed troops followed him as quickly as they could on foot,
so that he took and massacred as many of the fugitives as could not
outstrip him and flee for safety into the river-marshes.
CHAPTER VII.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE MALLIANS (_continued_).
After dining and causing his men to rest until the first watch of the
night, Alexander marched forward; and travelling a great distance
through the night, he arrived at the river Hydraotes[743] at daybreak.
There he ascertained that most of the Mallians had already crossed the
river; but coming upon those who were still in the act of crossing, he
slew many of them in their passage. Having crossed with them in pursuit
without any delay by the same ford, he kept close up with those who had
outstripped him in their retreat. Many also of these he slew; some he
took prisoners; but the majority of them escaped into a place strong by
nature and made more so by fortifications. When the infantry reached
him, Alexander despatched Peithon against the men in the fortress,
giving him the command of his own brigade of infantry and two regiments
of cavalry. These, attacking the place, took it at the first assault,
and made slaves of all those who had fled thither for safety, at least
as many of them as had not perished in the attack. After accomplishing
this, Peithon returned again to the camp. Alexander in person led
his forces against a certain city of the Brachmans,[744] because he
ascertained that some of the Mallians had fled for refuge into it. When
he reached it, he led his phalanx in serried ranks close up to the wall
on all sides. The enemy seeing that their walls were being undermined,
and being themselves repulsed by the missiles, abandoned the walls, and
having fled for safety into the citadel, began to defend themselves
from thence. A few Macedonians having rushed in with them, turning
round and drawing together into a close body, drove some of them back
and killed five-and-twenty of them in their retreat. Hereupon Alexander
ordered the scaling-ladders to be placed against the citadel on all
sides, and the wall to be undermined; and when one of the towers, being
undermined, fell down, and a part of the wall between two towers was
breached, and thus rendered the citadel more accessible to assault
in this quarter, he was seen to be the first man to scale the wall
and get hold of it. The other Macedonians seeing him were ashamed of
themselves and mounted the ladders in various places. The citadel was
soon in their possession. Some of the Indians began to set fire to the
houses, and being caught in them were killed; but most of them were
slain fighting. About 5,000 in all were killed; and on account of their
valour, only a few were taken prisoners.
CHAPTER VIII.
DEFEAT OF THE MALLIANS AT THE RIVER HYDRAOTES.
Having remained there one day to give his army rest, he advanced on the
morrow against the other Mallians. He found the cities abandoned, and
ascertained that the men had fled into the desert. There he again gave
the army one day’s rest, and on the next day sent Peithon and Demetrius
the cavalry general back to the river, in command of their own troops,
giving them in addition as many battalions of the light-armed infantry
as were sufficient for the enterprise. Their instructions were to go
along the bank of the river, and if they met any of those who had fled
for safety into the woods, of which there were many near the river’s
bank, to kill all who refused to surrender. Peithon and Demetrius
captured many of these in the woods and killed them. He himself led
his forces against the largest city of the Mallians, whither he was
informed many from the other cities had taken refuge. But this also the
Indians abandoned when they heard that Alexander was marching against
it. Crossing the river Hydraotes, they remained with their forces drawn
up upon its bank, because it was high, and they thought they could
obstruct Alexander’s passage. When he heard this, he took all the
cavalry which he had with him, and went to the part of the river where
he was informed that the Mallians had drawn themselves up for battle;
and the infantry was ordered to follow. When he reached the river and
beheld the enemy drawn up on the opposite bank, he made no delay, but
instantly plunged into the ford with the cavalry alone. When they saw
that he was now in the middle of the river, though they were drawn
up ready for battle, they withdrew from the bank with all speed; and
Alexander followed them with his cavalry alone. But when the Indians
perceived only cavalry, they wheeled round and fought with desperate
valour, being about 50,000 in number. When Alexander perceived that
their phalanx was densely compact, and that his own infantry was
absent, he rode right round their army and made charges upon them, but
did not come to close fighting with them. Meanwhile the archers, the
Agrianians and the other battalions of light-armed infantry, being
picked men whom he was leading with him, arrived, and his phalanx of
infantry was seen not far off. As all kinds of danger were threatening
them at once, the Indians now wheeled round again and began to flee
with headlong speed into the strongest of their adjacent cities; but
Alexander followed them and slew many, while those who escaped into the
city were cooped up within it. At first indeed he surrounded the city
with the horse-soldiers as they came up from the march; but when the
infantry arrived, he encamped all round the wall for this day, because
not much of it was left for making the assault, and his army had been
exhausted, the infantry by the long march, and the cavalry by the
uninterrupted pursuit, and especially by the passage of the river.
CHAPTER IX.
STORMING OF THE MALLIAN STRONGHOLD.
On the following day, dividing the army into two parts, he himself
assaulted the wall at the head of one, and Perdiccas led on the
other. Upon this the Indians did not wait to receive the attack of
the Macedonians, but abandoned the walls of the city and fled for
safety into the citadel. Alexander and his troops therefore split
open a small gate, and got within the city long before the others;
for those who had been put under Perdiccas were behind time, having
experienced difficulty in scaling the walls, as most of them did not
bring ladders, thinking that the city had been captured, when they
observed that the walls were deserted by the defenders. But when the
citadel was seen to be still in the possession of the enemy, and many
of them were observed drawn up in front of it to repel attacks, some
of the Macedonians tried to force an entry by undermining the wall,
and others by placing scaling ladders against it, wherever it was
practicable to do so. Alexander, thinking that the men who carried the
ladders were too slow, snatched one from a man who was carrying it,
placed it against the wall, and began to mount it, crouching under his
shield. After him mounted Peucestas, the man who carried the sacred
shield which Alexander took from the temple of the Trojan Athena and
used to keep with him, and have it carried before him in all his
battles.[745] After Peucestas, by the same ladder ascended Leonnatus
the confidential body-guard; and up another ladder went Abreas, one of
the soldiers who received double pay for distinguished services.[746]
The king was now near the battlement of the wall, and leaning his
shield against it was pushing some of the Indians within the fort,
and had cleared that part of the wall, by killing others with his
sword. The shield-bearing guards becoming very anxious for the king’s
safety, pushed each other with ardour up the same ladder and broke it;
so that those who were already mounting fell down and made the ascent
impracticable for the rest. Alexander then, standing upon the wall,
was being assailed all round from the adjacent towers; for none of the
Indians dared approach him. He was also being assailed by the men in
the city, who were throwing darts at him from no great distance; for
a mound of earth happened to have been heaped up there opposite the
wall. Alexander was conspicuous both by the brightness of his weapons
and by his extraordinary display of audacity. He therefore perceived
that if he remained where he was, he would be incurring danger without
being able to perform anything at all worthy of consideration; but
if he leaped down within the fort he might perhaps by this very act
strike the Indians with terror, and if he did not, but should only
thereby be incurring danger, at any rate he would die not ignobly
after performing great deeds of valour worthy of recollection by men
of after times.[747] Forming this resolution, he leaped down from the
wall into the citadel; where, supporting himself against the wall, he
struck with his sword and killed some of the Indians who came to close
quarters with him, including their leader, who rushed upon him too
boldly. Another man who approached him he kept in check by hurling a
stone at him, and a third in like manner. Those who advanced nearer to
him he again kept off with his sword; so that the barbarians were no
longer willing to approach him, but standing round him cast at him from
all sides whatever any one happened to have or could get hold of at the
time.
CHAPTER X.
ALEXANDER DANGEROUSLY WOUNDED.
Meantime Peucestas and Abreas, the soldier entitled to double pay,
and after them Leonnatus, being the only men who happened to have
scaled the wall before the ladders were broken, had leaped down and
were fighting in front of the king. Abreas, the man entitled to double
pay, fell there, being shot with an arrow in the forehead. Alexander
himself also was wounded with an arrow under the breast through his
breastplate into the chest, so that Ptolemy says air was breathed out
from the wound together with the blood. But although he was faint with
exhaustion, he defended himself, as long as his blood was still warm.
But the blood streaming out copiously and without ceasing at every
expiration of breath, he was seized with a dizziness and swooning,
and bending over fell upon his shield. After he had fallen Peucestas
defended him, holding over him in front the sacred shield brought
from Troy; and on the other side he was defended by Leonnatus. But
both these men were themselves wounded, and Alexander was now nearly
fainting away from loss of blood. For the Macedonians had experienced
great difficulty in the assault also on this account, because those
who saw Alexander being shot at upon the wall and then leaping down
into the citadel within, in their ardour arising from fear lest their
king should meet with any mishap by recklessly exposing himself to
danger, broke the ladders. Then some began to devise one plan and
others another to mount upon the wall, as well as they could in their
state of embarrassment, some fixing pegs into the wall, which was made
of earth, and suspending themselves from these hoisted themselves up
with difficulty by their means; others got up by mounting one upon
the other. The first man who got up threw himself down from the wall
into the city, and so on in succession; and when they saw the king
lying there on the ground they all raised a loud lamentation and howl
of grief. Now ensued a desperate conflict around his fallen body, one
Macedonian after another holding his shield in front of him. In the
meantime some of the soldiers having shivered in pieces the bar by
which the gate in the space of wall between the towers was secured,
entered the city a few at the time; while others, inasmuch as a gap
had been made in the gate, put their shoulders under it and forced it
into the space inside the wall, and thus laid the citadel open in that
quarter.
CHAPTER XI.
ALEXANDER WOUNDED.
Hereupon some of them began to kill the Indians, all of whom they slew,
sparing not even a woman or child. Others carried off the king, who
was lying in a faint condition, upon his shield; and they could not
yet tell whether he was likely to survive. Some authors have stated
that Critodemus, a physician of Cos, an Asclepiad by birth,[748]
made an incision into the injured part and drew the weapon out of
the wound. Other authors say that as there was no physician present
at the critical moment, Perdiccas, the confidential body-guard, at
Alexander’s bidding, made an incision with his sword into the wounded
part and removed the weapon. On its removal there was such a copious
effusion of blood that Alexander swooned again; and the effect of
the swoon was, that the effusion of blood was stanched.[749] Many
other things concerning this catastrophe have been recorded by the
historians; and Rumour having received the statements as they were
given by the first falsifiers of the facts, still preserves them even
to our times, nor will she desist from handing the falsehoods on to
others also in regular succession, unless a stop is put to it by this
history.[750] For example, the common account is, that this calamity
befell Alexander among the Oxydracians; whereas, it really occurred
among the Mallians, an independent tribe of Indians; the city belonged
to the Mallians,[751] and the men who wounded him were Mallians. These
people, indeed, had resolved to join their forces with the Oxydracians
and then to make a desperate struggle; but he forestalled them by
marching against them through the waterless country, before any aid
could reach them from the Oxydracians, or they could render any help
to the latter. Moreover, the common account is, that the last battle
fought with Darius was near Arbela, at which battle he fled and did not
desist from flight until he was arrested by Bessus and put to death
at Alexander’s approach; just as the battle before this was at Issus,
and the first cavalry battle near the Granicus. The cavalry battle did
really take place near the Granicus, and the next battle with Darius
near Issus; but those authors who make Arbela most distant say that it
is 600[752] stades distant from the place where the last battle between
Alexander and Darius was fought, while those who make it least distant,
say that it is 500 stades off. Moreover, Ptolemy and Aristobulus say
that the battle was fought at Gaugamela near the river Bumodus. But as
Gaugamela was not a city, but only a large village, the place is not
celebrated, nor is the name pleasing to the ear; hence, it seems to
me, that Arbela, being a city, has carried off the glory of the great
battle. But if it is necessary to consider that this engagement took
place near Arbela, being in reality so far distant from it, then it is
allowable to say that the sea-battle fought at Salamis occurred near
the isthmus[753] of the Corinthians, and that fought at Artemisium, in
Euboea, occurred near Aegina or Sunium. Moreover, in regard to those
who covered Alexander with their shields in his peril, all agree that
Peucestas did so; but they no longer agree in regard to Leonnatus or
Abreas, the soldier in receipt of double pay for his distinguished
services. Some say that Alexander, having received a blow on the head
with a piece of wood, fell down in a fit of dizziness; and that having
risen again he was wounded with a dart through the corselet in the
chest. But Ptolemy, son of Lagus, says that he received only this wound
in the chest. However, in my opinion, the greatest error made by those
who have written the history of Alexander is the following. There are
some who have recorded[754] that Ptolemy, son of Lagus, in company with
Peucestas, mounted the ladder with Alexander; that Ptolemy held his
shield over him when he lay wounded, and that he was called Soter (the
preserver) on that account.[755] And yet Ptolemy himself has recorded
that he was not even present at this engagement, but was fighting
battles against other barbarians at the head of another army. Let me
mention these facts as a digression from the main narrative, so that
the correct account of such great deeds and calamities may not be a
matter of indifference to men of the future.[756]
CHAPTER XII.
ANXIETY OF THE SOLDIERS ABOUT ALEXANDER.
While Alexander was remaining in this place until his wound was cured,
the first news which reached the camp from which he had set out to
attack the Mallians was that he had died of the wound; and at first
there arose a sound of lamentation from the entire army, as one man
handed the rumour on to another. When they ceased their lamentation,
they became spiritless, and felt perplexed as to the man who was to
become the leader of the army; for many of the officers seemed to have
stood in equal rank and merit, both in the opinion of Alexander and
in that of the Macedonians. They were also in a state of perplexity
how to get back in safety to their own country, being quite enclosed
by so many warlike nations, some of whom had not yet submitted, and
who they conjectured would fight stoutly for their freedom; while
others would no doubt revolt as soon as they were relieved of their
fear of Alexander. Besides, they seemed at that time to be in the
midst of impassable rivers, and all things appeared to them uncertain
and impracticable now that they were bereft of Alexander. But when at
length the news came that he was still alive, they with difficulty
acquiesced in it; and did not yet believe that he was likely to
survive. Even when a letter came from the king, saying that he was
coming down to the camp in a short time, this did not appear to most
of them worthy of credit, on account of their excessive fear; for
they conjectured that the letter was concocted by his confidential
body-guards and generals.
CHAPTER XIII.
JOY OF THE SOLDIERS AT ALEXANDER’S RECOVERY.
When Alexander became acquainted with this, for fear some attempt at a
revolution might be made in the army, he had himself conveyed, as soon
as it could be done with safety, to the bank of the river Hydraotes,
and placed in a boat to sail down the river. For the camp was at the
confluence of the Hydraotes and Acesines, where Hephaestion was at the
head of the army, and Nearchus of the fleet. When the ship bearing the
king approached the camp, he ordered the tent covering to be removed
from the stern, that he might be visible to all. But they were still
incredulous, thinking, forsooth, that Alexander’s corpse was being
conveyed on the vessel; until at length he stretched out his hand to
the multitude, when the ship was nearing the bank. Then the men raised
a cheer, lifting their hands, some towards the sky and others to the
king himself. Many even shed involuntary tears at the unexpected sight.
Some of the shield-bearing guards brought a litter for him when he
was conveyed out of the ship; but he ordered them to fetch his horse.
When he was seen again mounting his horse, the whole army re-echoed
with loud clapping of hands, so that the banks of the river and the
groves near them reverberated with the sound. On approaching his tent
he dismounted from his horse, so that he might be seen walking. Then
the men came near, some on one side, others on the other, some touching
his hands, others his knees, others only his clothes. Some only came
close to get a sight of him, and went away having chanted his praise,
while others threw garlands upon him, or the flowers which the country
of India supplied at that season of the year. Nearchus says that some
of his friends incurred his displeasure, reproaching him for exposing
himself to danger in the front of the army in battle; which they said
was the duty of a private soldier, and not that of the general.[757]
It seems to me that Alexander was offended at these remarks, because
he knew that they were correct, and that he deserved the censure.
However, like those who are mastered by any other pleasure, he had
not sufficient self-control to keep aloof from danger, through his
impetuosity in battle and his passion for glory. Nearchus also says
that a certain old Boeotian, whose name he does not mention, perceiving
that Alexander was offended at the censures of his friends and was
looking sullenly at them, came near him, and speaking in the Boeotian
dialect, said: “O Alexander, it is the part of heroes to perform great
deeds!” and repeated a certain Iambic verse, the purport of which
is, that the man who performs anything great is destined also to
suffer.[758] This man was not only acceptable to Alexander at the time,
but was afterwards received into his more intimate acquaintance.
CHAPTER XIV.
VOYAGE DOWN THE HYDRAOTES AND ACESINES INTO THE INDUS.
At this time arrived envoys from the Mallians who still survived,
offering the submission of the nation; also from the Oxydracians came
both the leaders of the cities and the governors of the provinces,
accompanied by the other 150 most notable men, with full powers to make
a treaty, bringing the gifts which are considered most valuable among
the Indians, and also, like the Mallians, offering the submission of
their nation. They said that their error in not having sent an embassy
to him before was pardonable, because they excelled other races in the
desire to be free and independent, and their freedom had been secure
from the time Dionysus came into India until Alexander came; but if
it seemed good to him, inasmuch as there was a general report that
he also was sprung from gods, they were willing to receive whatever
viceroy he might appoint, pay the tribute decreed by him, and give
him as many hostages as he might demand. He therefore demanded the
thousand best men of the nation, whom he might hold as hostages, if he
pleased; and if not, that he might keep them as soldiers in his army,
until he had finished the war which he was waging against the other
Indians. They accordingly selected the thousand best and tallest men
of their number, and sent them to him, together with 500 chariots and
charioteers, though these were not demanded. Alexander appointed Philip
viceroy over these people and the Mallians who were still surviving.
He sent back the hostages to them, but retained the chariots. When
he had satisfactorily arranged these matters, since many vessels had
been built during the delay arising from his being wounded,[759] he
embarked 1,700 of the cavalry Companions, as many of the light-armed
troops as before, and 10,000 infantry, and sailed a short distance down
the river Hydraotes. But when that river mingled its waters with the
Acesines, the latter giving its name to the united stream, he continued
his voyage down the Acesines, until he reached its junction with the
Indus. For these four large rivers,[760] which are all navigable,
discharge their water into the river Indus, though each does not
retain its distinct name. For the Hydaspes discharges itself into the
Acesines, and after the junction the whole stream forms what is called
the Acesines. Again this same river unites with the Hydraotes, and
after absorbing this river, still retains its own name. After this
the Acesines takes in the Hyphasis, and finally flows into the Indus
under its own name; but after the junction it yields its name to the
Indus. From this point I have no doubt that the Indus proceeds 100
stades,[761] and perhaps more, before it is divided so as to form the
Delta; and there it spreads out more like a lake than a river.
CHAPTER XV.
VOYAGE DOWN THE INDUS TO THE LAND OF MUSICANUS.
There, at the confluence of the Acesines and Indus, he waited until
Perdiccas with the army arrived, after having routed on his way the
independent tribe of the Abastanians.[762] Meantime, he was joined by
other thirty-oared galleys and trading vessels which had been built
for him among the Xathrians, another independent tribe of Indians who
had yielded to him. From the Ossadians, who were also an independent
tribe of Indians, came envoys to offer the submission of their nation.
Having fixed the confluence of the Acesines and Indus as the limit
of Philip’s viceroyalty, he left with him all the Thracians and as
many men from the infantry regiments as appeared to him sufficient to
provide for the security of the country. He then ordered a city to be
founded there at the very junction of the two rivers, expecting that
it would become large and famous among men.[763] He also ordered a
dockyard to be made there. At this time the Bactrian Oxyartes, father
of his wife Roxana, came to him, to whom he gave the viceroyalty over
the Parapamisadians, after dismissing the former viceroy, Tiryaspes,
because he was reported to be exercising his authority improperly.[764]
Then he transported Craterus with the main body of the army and the
elephants to the left bank of the river Indus, both because it seemed
easier for a heavy-armed force to march along that side of the river,
and the tribes dwelling near were not quite friendly. He himself sailed
down to the capital of the Sogdians; where he fortified another city,
made another dockyard, and repaired his shattered vessels. He appointed
Oxyartes viceroy, and Peithon general of the land extending from the
confluence of the Indus and Acesines as far as the sea, together with
all the coastland of India. He then again despatched Craterus with
his army through the country of the Arachotians and Drangians; and
himself sailed down the river into the dominions of Musicanus, which
was reported to be the most prosperous part of India. He advanced
against this king because he had not yet come to meet him to offer the
submission of himself and his land, nor had he sent envoys to seek
his alliance. He had not even sent him the gifts which were suitable
for a great king, or asked any favour from him. He accelerated his
voyage down the river to such a degree that he succeeded in reaching
the confines of the land of Musicanus before he had even heard that
Alexander had started against him. Musicanus was so greatly alarmed
that he went as fast as he could to meet him, bringing with him
the gifts valued most highly among the Indians, and taking all his
elephants. He offered to surrender both his nation and himself, at
the same time acknowledging his error, which was the most effectual
way with Alexander for any one to get what he requested. Accordingly
for these considerations Alexander granted him an indemnity for his
offences. He also granted him the privilege of ruling the city and
country, both of which Alexander admired. Craterus was directed to
fortify the citadel in the capital; which was done while Alexander was
still present. A garrison was also placed in it, because he thought the
place suitable for keeping the circumjacent tribes in subjection.
CHAPTER XVI.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST OXYCANUS AND SAMBUS.
Then he took the archers, Agrianians, and cavalry sailing with him,
and marched against the governor of that country, whose name was
Oxycanus,[765] because he neither came himself nor did envoys come
from him, to offer the surrender of himself and his land. At the very
first assault he took by storm the two largest cities under the rule
of Oxycanus; in the second of which that prince himself was captured.
The booty he gave to his army, but the elephants he led with himself.
The other cities in the same land surrendered to him as he advanced,
nor did any one turn to resist him; so cowed in spirit[766] had all
the Indians now become at the thought of Alexander and his fortune.
He then marched back against Sambus, whom he had appointed viceroy of
the mountaineer Indians and who was reported to have fled, because
he learned that Musicanus had been pardoned by Alexander and was
ruling over his own land. For he was at war with Musicanus. But when
Alexander approached the city which the country of Sambus held as its
metropolis, the name of which was Sindimana, the gates were thrown
open to him at his approach, and the relations of Sambus reckoned up
his money and went out to meet him, taking with them the elephants
also. They assured him that Sambus had fled, not from any hostile
feeling towards Alexander, but fearing on account of the pardon of
Musicanus.[767] He also captured another city which had revolted
at this time, and slew as many of the Brachmans[768] as had been
instigators of this revolt. These men are the philosophers of the
Indians, of whose philosophy, if such it may be called, I shall give an
account in my book descriptive of India.[769]
CHAPTER XVII.
MUSICANUS EXECUTED.—CAPTURE OF PATALA.
Meantime he was informed that Musicanus had revolted. He despatched the
viceroy, Peithon, son of Agenor, with a sufficient army against him,
while he himself marched against the cities which had been put under
the rule of Musicanus. Some of these he razed to the ground, reducing
the inhabitants to slavery; and into others he introduced garrisons and
fortified the citadels. After accomplishing this, he returned to the
camp and fleet. By this time Musicanus had been captured by Peithon,
who was bringing him to Alexander. The king ordered him to be hanged
in his own country, and with him as many of the Brachmans as had
instigated him to the revolt. Then came to him the ruler of the land of
the Patalians,[770] who said that the Delta formed by the river Indus
was still larger than the Egyptian Delta.[771] This man surrendered
to him the whole of his own land and entrusted both himself and his
property to him. Alexander sent him away again in possession of his own
dominions, with instructions to provide whatever was needful for the
reception of the army. He then sent Craterus into Carmania with the
brigades of Attalus, Meleager, and Antigenes, some of the archers, and
as many of the Companions and other Macedonians as, being now unfit
for military service, he was despatching to Macedonia by the route
through the lands of the Arachotians and Zarangians. To Craterus he
also gave the duty of leading the elephants; but the rest of the army,
except the part of it which was sailing with himself down to the sea,
he put under the command of Hephaestion. He transported Peithon with
the cavalry-lancers and Agrianians to the opposite bank of the Indus,
not the one along which Hephaestion was about to lead the army. Peithon
was ordered to collect men to colonize the cities which had just been
fortified, and to form a junction with the king at Patala, after having
settled the affairs of the Indians of that region, if they attempted
any revolutionary proceedings. On the third day of his voyage,
Alexander was informed that the governor of the Patalians[772] had
collected most of his subjects and was going away by stealth, having
left his land deserted. For this reason Alexander sailed down the river
with greater speed than before[773]; and when he arrived at Patala, he
found both the country and the city deserted by the inhabitants and
tillers of the soil. He however despatched the lightest troops in his
army in pursuit of the fugitives; and when some of them were captured,
he sent them away to the rest, bidding them be of good courage and
return, for they might inhabit the city and till the country as before.
Most of them accordingly returned.
CHAPTER XVIII.
VOYAGE DOWN THE INDUS.
After instructing Hephaestion to fortify the citadel in Patala, he sent
men into the adjacent country, which was waterless, to dig wells and to
render the land fit for habitation. Certain of the native barbarians
attacked these men, and falling upon them unawares slew some of them;
but having lost many of their own men, they fled into the desert.
The work was therefore accomplished by those who had been sent out,
another army having joined them, which Alexander had despatched to take
part in the work, when he heard of the attack of the barbarians. Near
Patala the water of the Indus is divided into two large rivers, both
of which retain the name of Indus as far as the sea. Here Alexander
constructed a harbour and dockyard; and when his works had advanced
towards completion he resolved to sail down as far as the mouth of the
right branch of the river.[774] He gave Leonnatus the command of 1,000
cavalry and 8,000 heavy and light-armed infantry, and sent him to march
through the island of Patala opposite the naval expedition; while he
himself took the fastest sailing vessels, having one and a half bank of
oars, all the thirty-oared galleys, and some of the boats, and began
to sail down the right branch of the river. The Indians of that region
had fled, and consequently he could get no pilot for the voyage, and
the navigation of the river was very difficult. On the day after the
start a storm arose, and the wind blowing right against the stream made
the river hollow[775] and shattered the hulls of the vessels violently,
so that most of his ships were injured, and some of the thirty-oared
galleys were entirely broken up. But they succeeded in running them
aground before they quite fell to pieces in the water; and others were
therefore constructed. He then sent the quickest of the light-armed
troops into the land beyond the river’s bank and captured some Indians,
who from this time piloted him down the channel. But when they arrived
at the place where the river expands, so that where it was widest it
extended 200 stades, a strong wind blew from the outer sea, and the
oars could hardly be raised in the swell; they therefore took refuge
again in a canal into which his pilots conducted them.
CHAPTER XIX.
VOYAGE DOWN THE INDUS INTO THE SEA.
While their vessels were moored here, the phenomenon of the ebb and
flow of the tide in the great sea occurred, so that their ships were
left upon dry ground. This caused Alexander and his companions no small
alarm, inasmuch as they were previously quite unacquainted with it.
But they were much more alarmed when, the time coming round again, the
water approached and the hulls of the vessels were raised aloft.[776]
The ships which it caught settled in the mud were raised aloft without
any damage, and floated again without receiving any injury; but those
that had been left on the drier land and had not a firm settlement,
when an immense compact wave advanced, either fell foul of each other
or were dashed against the land and thus shattered to pieces. When
Alexander had repaired these vessels as well as his circumstances
permitted, he sent some men on in advance down the river in two boats
to explore the island at which the natives said he must moor his
vessels in his voyage to the sea. They told him that the name of the
island was Cilluta.[777] As he was informed that there were harbours
in this island, that it was a large one and had plenty of water in it,
he made the rest of his fleet put in there; but he himself with the
best sailing ships advanced beyond, to see if the mouth of the river
afforded an easy voyage out into the open sea. After advancing about
200 stades from the first island, they descried another which was quite
out in the sea. Then indeed they returned to the island in the river;
and having moored his vessels near the extremity of it, Alexander
offered sacrifice to those gods to whom he said he had been directed by
Ammon to sacrifice. On the following day he sailed down to the other
island which was in the deep sea; and having come to shore here also,
he offered other sacrifices to other gods and in another manner. These
sacrifices he also offered according to the oracular instructions
of Ammon. Then having gone beyond the mouths of the river Indus, he
sailed out into the open sea, as he said, to discover if any land lay
anywhere near in the sea; but in my opinion, chiefly that he might be
able to say that he had navigated the great outer sea of India. There
he sacrificed some bulls to Poseidon and cast them into the sea; and
having poured out a libation after the sacrifice, he threw the goblet
and bowls, which were golden, into the deep as thank-offerings,
praying the god to escort safely for him the fleet, which he intended
to despatch to the Persian Gulf and the mouths of the Euphrates and
Tigres.[778]
CHAPTER XX.
EXPLORATION OF THE MOUTHS OF THE INDUS.
Returning to Patala, he found that the citadel had been fortified and
that Peithon had arrived with his army, having accomplished everything
for which he was despatched. He ordered Hephaestion to prepare what was
needful for the fortification of a naval station and the construction
of dockyards; for he resolved to leave behind here a fleet of many
ships near the city of Patala, where the river Indus divides itself
into two streams. He himself sailed down again into the Great Sea by
the other mouth of the Indus, to ascertain which branch of the river is
easier to navigate. The mouths of the river Indus are about 1800 stades
distant from each other.[779] In the voyage down he arrived at a large
lake in the mouth of the river, which the river makes by spreading
itself out; or perhaps the waters of the surrounding district draining
into it make it large, so that it very much resembles a gulf of the
sea.[780] For in it were seen fish like those in the sea, larger indeed
than those in our sea. Having moored his ships then in this lake, where
the pilots directed, he left there most of the soldiers and all the
boats with Leonnatus; but he himself with the thirty-oared galleys and
the vessels with one and a half row of oars passed beyond the mouth of
the Indus, and advancing into the sea also this way, ascertained that
the outlet of the river on this side (_i.e._ the west) was easier to
navigate than the other. He moored his ships near the shore, and taking
with him some of the cavalry went along the sea-coast three days’
journey, exploring what kind of country it was for a coasting voyage,
and ordering wells to be dug, so that the sailors might have water to
drink. He then returned to the ships and sailed back to Patala; but he
sent a part of his army along the sea-coast to effect the same thing,
instructing them to return to Patala when they had dug the wells.
Sailing again down to the lake, he there constructed another harbour
and dockyard; and leaving a garrison for the place, he collected
sufficient food to supply the army for four months, as well as whatever
else he could procure for the coasting voyage.
CHAPTER XXI.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ORITIANS.
The season of the year was then unfit for voyaging; for the periodical
winds prevailed, which at that season do not blow there from the
north, as with us, but from the Great Sea, in the direction of the
south wind.[781] Moreover it was reported that there the sea was fit
for navigation after the beginning of winter, from the setting of
the Pleiades[782] until the winter solstice; for at that season mild
breezes usually blow from the land, drenched as it has been with
great rains; and these winds are convenient on a coasting voyage both
for oars and sails. Nearchus, who had been placed in command of the
fleet, waited for the coasting season; but Alexander, starting from
Patala, advanced with all his army as far as the river Arabius.[783]
He then took half of the shield-bearing guards and archers, the
infantry regiments called foot Companions, the guard of the Companion
cavalry, a squadron of each of the other cavalry regiments, and all
the horse-bowmen, and turned away thence on the left towards the sea
to dig wells, so that there might be abundance of them for the fleet
sailing along on the coasting voyage; and at the same time to make an
unexpected attack upon the Oritians,[784] a tribe of the Indians in
this region, which had long been independent. This he meditated doing
because they had performed no friendly act either to himself or his
army. He placed Hephaestion in command of the forces left behind. The
Arabitians,[785] another independent tribe dwelling near the river
Arabius, thinking that they could not cope with Alexander in battle,
and yet being unwilling to submit to him, fled into the desert when
they heard that he was approaching. But crossing the river Arabius,
which was both narrow and shallow, and travelling by night through
the greater part of the desert, he came near the inhabited country at
daybreak. Then ordering the infantry to follow him in regular line, he
took the cavalry with him, dividing it into squadrons, that it might
occupy a very large part of the plain, and thus marched into the land
of the Oritians. All those who turned to defend themselves were cut to
pieces by the cavalry, and many of the others were taken prisoners. He
then encamped near a small piece of water; but when Hephaestion formed
a junction with him, he advanced farther. Arriving at the largest
village of the tribe of the Oritians, which was called Rhambacia,[786]
he commended the place and thought that if he colonized a city there it
would become great and prosperous. He therefore left Hephaestion behind
to carry out this project.[787]
CHAPTER XXII.
MARCH THROUGH THE DESERT OF GADROSIA.
Again he took half of the shield-bearing guards and Agrianians, the
guard of cavalry and the horse-bowmen, and marched forward to the
confines of the Gadrosians and Oritians, where he was informed that
the passage was narrow, and the Oritians were drawn up with the
Gadrosians and were encamping in front of the pass, with the purpose
of barring Alexander’s passage. They had indeed marshalled themselves
there; but when it was reported that he was already approaching, most
of them fled from the pass, deserting their guard. The chiefs of the
Oritians, however, came to him, offering to surrender both themselves
and their nation. He instructed these to collect the multitude of their
people together and send them to their own abodes, since they were not
about to suffer any harm. Over these people he placed Apollophanes as
viceroy, and with him he left Leonnatus the confidential body-guard in
Ora,[788] at the head of all the Agrianians, some of the bowmen and
cavalry, and the rest of the Grecian mercenary infantry and cavalry. He
instructed him to wait until the fleet had sailed round the land, to
colonize the city, and to regulate the affairs of the Oritians so that
they might pay the greater respect to the viceroy. He himself, with the
main body of the army (for Hephaestion had arrived at the head of the
men who had been left behind), advanced into the land of the Gadrosians
by a route most of which was desert. Aristobulus says that in this
desert many myrrh-trees grew, larger than the ordinary kind; and that
the Phoenicians, who accompanied the army for trafficking, gathered the
gum of myrrh, and loading the beasts of burden, carried it away.[789]
For there was a great quantity of it, inasmuch as it exuded from large
stems and had never before been gathered. He also says that this desert
produces many odoriferous roots of nard,[790] which the Phoenicians
likewise gathered; but much of it was trampled down by the army, and a
sweet perfume was diffused far and wide over the land by the trampling;
so great was the abundance of it. In the desert there were also other
kinds of trees, one of which had foliage like that of the bay-tree,
and grew in places washed by the waves of the sea. These trees were on
ground which was left dry by the ebb-tide; but when the water advanced
they looked as if they had grown in the sea. Of others the roots were
always washed by the sea, because they grew in hollow places, from
which the water could not retire; and yet the trees were not destroyed
by the sea. Some of these trees in this region were even thirty cubits
high. At that season they happened to be in bloom; and the flower was
very much like the white violet,[791] but the perfume was far superior
to that of the latter. There was also another thorny stalk growing out
of the earth, the thorn on which was so strong that, piercing the
clothes of some men just riding past, it pulled the horseman down from
his horse rather than be itself torn off the stalk. It is also said
that when hares run past these bushes, the thorns cling to their fur;
and thus these animals are caught, as birds are with bird-lime, or
fish with hooks. However they were easily cut through with steel; and
when the thorns are cut the stalk gives forth much juice, still more
abundantly than fig-trees do in the springtime, and more pungent.[792]
CHAPTER XXIII.
MARCH THROUGH THE DESERT OF GADROSIA.
Thence Alexander marched through the land of the Gadrosians, by a
difficult route, which was also destitute of all the necessaries of
life; and in many places there was no water for the army. Moreover they
were compelled to march most of the way by night, and a great distance
from the sea. However he was very desirous of coming to the part of the
country along the sea, both to see what harbours were there, and to
make what preparations he could on his march for the fleet, either by
employing his men in digging wells, or by making arrangements somewhere
for a market and anchorage. But the part of the country of the
Gadrosians near the sea was entirely desert. He therefore sent Thoas,
son of Mandrodorus, with a few horsemen down to the sea, to reconnoitre
and see if there happened to be any haven anywhere near, or whether
there was water or any other of the necessaries of life not far from
the sea. This man returned and reported that he found some fishermen
upon the shore living in stifling huts, which were made by putting
together mussel-shells, and the back-bones of fishes were used to form
the roofs.[793] He also said that these fishermen used little water,
obtaining it with difficulty by scraping away the gravel, and that what
they got was not at all fresh. When Alexander reached a certain place
in Gadrosia, where corn was more abundant, he seized it and placed
it upon the beasts of burden; and marking it with his own seal, he
ordered it to be conveyed down to the sea. But while he was marching
to the halting stage nearest to the sea, the soldiers paying little
regard to the seal, the guards made use of the corn themselves, and
gave a share of it to those who were especially pinched with hunger.
To such a degree were they overcome by their misery that after mature
deliberation they resolved to take account of the visible and already
impending destruction rather than the danger of incurring the king’s
wrath, which was not before their eyes and still remote. When Alexander
ascertained the necessity which constrained them so to act, he pardoned
those who had done the deed. He himself hastened forward to collect
from the land all he could for victualling the army which was sailing
round with the fleet; and sent Cretheus the Callatian[794] to convey
the supplies to the coast. He also ordered the natives to grind as much
corn as they could and convey it down from the interior of the country,
together with dates[795] and sheep for sale to the soldiers. Moreover
he sent Telephus, one of the confidential Companions, down to another
place on the coast with a small quantity of ground corn.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MARCH THROUGH GADROSIA.
He then advanced towards the capital of the Gadrosians, which was
named Pura[796]; and he arrived there in sixty days after starting
from Ora. Most of the historians of Alexander’s reign assert that
all the hardships which his army suffered in Asia were not worthy of
comparison with the labours undergone here. Nearchus alone asserts that
Alexander pursued this route, not from ignorance of the difficulty
of the journey, but because he heard that no one had ever hitherto
passed that way with an army and emerged in safety from the desert,
except Semiramis, when she fled from India. The natives said that even
she emerged with only twenty men of her army; and that Cyrus, son of
Cambyses, escaped with only seven of his men.[797] For they say that
Cyrus also marched into this region for the purpose of invading India;
but that he did not effect his retreat before losing the greater part
of his army, from the desert and the other difficulties of this route.
When Alexander received this information he was seized with a desire of
excelling Cyrus and Semiramis. Nearchus says that he turned his march
this way, both for this reason and at the same time for the purpose of
conveying provisions near the fleet. The scorching heat and lack of
water destroyed a great part of the army, and especially the beasts of
burden; most of which perished from thirst and some of them even from
the depth and heat of the sand, because it had been thoroughly scorched
by the sun. For they met with lofty ridges of deep sand, not closely
pressed and hardened, but such as received those who stepped upon it
just as if they were stepping into mud, or rather into untrodden snow.
At the same time too the horses and mules suffered still more, both in
going up and coming down the hills, from the unevenness of the road as
well as from its instability. The length of the marches between the
stages also exceedingly distressed the army; for the lack of water
often compelled them to make the marches of unusual length.[798]
When they travelled by night on a journey which it was necessary to
complete, and at daybreak came to water, they suffered no hardship at
all; but if, while still on the march, on account of the length of
the way, they were caught by the heat, then they did indeed suffer
hardships from the blazing sun, being at the same time oppressed by
unassuageable thirst.[799]
CHAPTER XXV.
SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMY.
The soldiers killed many of the beasts of burden of their own accord;
for when provisions were lacking, they came together, and slaughtered
most of the horses and mules. They ate the flesh of these, and said
that they had died of thirst or had perished from the heat. There was
no one who divulged the real truth of their conduct, both on account of
the men’s distress and because all alike were implicated in the same
offence. What was being done had not escaped Alexander’s notice; but
he saw that the best cure for the present state of affairs would be
to pretend to be ignorant of it, rather than to permit it as a thing
known to himself. The consequence was, that it was no longer easy to
convey the soldiers who were suffering from disease, or those who were
left behind on the roads on account of the heat, partly from the want
of beasts of burden and partly because the men themselves were knocking
the waggons to pieces, not being able to draw them on account of the
depth of the sand. They did this also because in the first stages they
were compelled on this account to go, not by the shortest routes, but
by those which were easiest for the carriages. Thus some were left
behind along the roads on account of sickness, others from fatigue or
the effects of the heat, or from not being able to bear up against the
drought; and there was no one either to show them the way or to remain
and tend them in their sickness. For the expedition was being made
with great urgency; and the care of individual persons was necessarily
neglected in the zeal displayed for the safety of the army as a whole.
As they generally made the marches by night, some of the men were
overcome by sleep on the road; afterwards rousing up again, those who
still had strength followed upon the tracks of the army; but only a few
out of many overtook the main body in safety. Most of them perished in
the sand, like men shipwrecked on the sea.[800] Another calamity also
befell the army, which greatly distressed men, horses, and beasts of
burden; for the country of the Gadrosians is supplied with rain by the
periodical winds, just as that of the Indians is; not the plains of
Gadrosia, but only the mountains where the clouds are carried by the
wind and are dissolved into rain without passing beyond the summits of
the mountains. On one occasion, when the army bivouacked, for the sake
of its water, near a small brook which was a winter torrent, about the
second watch of the night the brook which flowed there was suddenly
swelled by the rains in the mountains which had fallen unperceived by
the soldiers. The torrent advanced with so great a flood as to destroy
most of the wives and children of the men who followed the army, and to
sweep away all the royal baggage as well as all the beasts of burden
still remaining. The soldiers, after great exertions, were hardly able
to save themselves together with their weapons, many of which they lost
beyond recovery. When, after enduring the burning heat and thirst, they
lighted upon abundance of water, many of them perished from drinking to
excess, not being able to check their appetite for it. For this reason
Alexander generally pitched his camp, not near the water itself, but
at a distance of about twenty stades from it, to prevent the men and
beasts from pressing in crowds into the river and thus perishing, and
at the same time to prevent those who had no control over themselves
from fouling the water for the rest of the army by stepping into the
springs or streams.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ALEXANDER’S MAGNANIMOUS CONDUCT.
Here I have resolved not to pass over in silence the most noble deed
perhaps ever performed by Alexander, which occurred either in this land
or, according to the assertion of some other authors, still earlier,
among the Parapamisadians.[801] The army was continuing its march
through the sand, though the heat of the sun was already scorching,
because it was necessary to reach water before halting. They were far
on the journey, and Alexander himself, though oppressed with thirst,
was nevertheless with great pain and difficulty leading the army on
foot, so that his soldiers, as is usual in such a case, might more
patiently bear their hardships by the equalization of the distress. At
this time some of the light-armed soldiers, starting away from the army
in quest of water, found some collected in a shallow cleft, a small and
mean spring. Collecting this water with difficulty, they came with all
speed to Alexander, as if they were bringing him some great boon. As
soon as they approached the king, they poured the water into a helmet
and carried it to him. He took it, and commending the men who brought
it, immediately poured it upon the ground in the sight of all. As a
result of this action, the entire army was re-invigorated to so great
a degree that any one would have imagined that the water poured away
by Alexander had furnished a draught to every man. This deed beyond
all others I commend as evidence of Alexander’s power of endurance
and self-control, as well as of his skill in managing an army. The
following adventure also occurred to the army in that country. At last
the guides declared that they no longer remembered the way, because
the tracks of it had been rendered invisible by the wind blowing the
sand over them. Moreover, in the deep sand which had been everywhere
reduced to one level, there was nothing by which they could conjecture
the right way, not even the usual trees growing along it, nor any solid
hillock rising up; and they had not practised themselves in making
journeys by the stars at night or by the sun in the daytime, as sailors
do by the constellations of the Bears—the Phoenicians by the Little
Bear, and other men by the Greater Bear.[802] Then at length Alexander
perceived that it was necessary for him to lead the way by declining to
the left; and taking a few horsemen with him he advanced in front of
the army. But when the horses even of these were exhausted by the heat,
he left most of these men behind, and rode away with only five men and
found the sea. Having scraped away the shingle on the sea-beach, he
found water fresh and pure, and then went and fetched the whole army.
For seven days they marched along the sea-coast, supplying themselves
with water from the shore. Thence he led his expedition into the
interior, for now the guides knew the way.
CHAPTER XXVII.
MARCH THROUGH CARMANIA.—PUNISHMENT OF VICEROYS.