he had ordered Hêphaistiôn and Krateros to pitch their camps right
opposite each other, each on his own side of the river.[152] Having
waited here for two days until Philippos arrived with the rest of the
army, he sent that general forward with the detachment he had brought
with him to the river Akesinês, with orders to continue his march along
the banks of that river. He also sent Krateros and Hêphaistiôn off
again with instructions how they were to conduct the march. He himself
continued his voyage down the river Hydaspês, which was found throughout
the passage to be nowhere less than twenty stadia in breadth. Mooring his
boats wherever he could on the banks, he subjected the Indians who lived
near the Hydaspês to his authority, some having surrendered on terms
of capitulation, and such as resorted to arms, having been subdued by
force. He then sailed rapidly to the country of the Malloi and Oxydrakai,
because he had ascertained that they were the most numerous and warlike
of all the Indian tribes in those parts, and news had reached him that
they had conveyed their children, and their wives for safety into their
strongest cities, and that they meant themselves to give him a hostile
reception. He in consequence prosecuted the voyage with still greater
speed, so that he might attack them before they had settled their plans,
and while their preparations were still incomplete and they were in a
state of confusion and alarm. On the fifth day after he had started
from the place where he had halted, and been joined by Krateros and
Hêphaistiôn, he reached the junction of the Hydaspês and Akesinês. Where
these rivers unite the one river formed from them is very narrow, and
not only is the current swift from the narrowness of the channel, but
the waters whirl round in monstrous eddies, curl up in great billows,
and dash so violently that the roar of the surge is distinctly heard by
those who are still a great distance off. All this had been previously
reported by the natives to Alexander, and he had repeated the information
to the soldiers; but, notwithstanding, when the army in approaching the
confluence caught the roar of the stream, the sailors simultaneously
suspended the action of the oars, not at any order from the boatswains,
who had become mute from astonishment, but because they were stunned with
terror by the thundering noise.[153]
_Chapter V.—Dangers encountered by the fleet at the confluence—Plan of
the operations which followed—Voyage down the Akesinês_
When they were not far from the meeting of the rivers, the pilots
enjoined the rowers to put all their strength to the oars to clear the
rapids, so that the vessels might not be caught and capsized in the
eddies, but by the exertions of the rowers might overcome the whirling
of the waters. The merchant vessels accordingly, if they happened to be
whirled round by the current, suffered no damage from the eddy, beyond
the alarm caused to the men on board, for these vessels, being of a round
form, were kept upright by the current itself, and settled into the
proper course. But the ships of war did not escape so unscathed from the
eddying stream, for, owing to their length, they were not upheaved in
the same way as the others on the seething surges, and if they had two
banks of oars, the lower oars were not raised much above the level of the
water. When the broad sides, therefore, of these vessels were exposed
to the eddying current, their oars, if not lifted in proper time, were
caught by the water and the blades snapped asunder. Many of the ships
were thus damaged, and two which fell foul of each other sunk with the
greater part of their crews. But when the river began to widen out, the
current was no longer so rapid and dangerous, and the impetuosity of the
eddies diminished. Alexander therefore brought his fleet to moorings
on the right bank where there was a protection from the strength of
the current and a roadstead for the ships. Here was also a headland
projecting into the river which afforded facilities for collecting the
wrecks and whatever living freight they brought. He saved the survivors;
and when he had repaired the damaged craft, ordered Nearchos to sail
downward till he reached the confines of the nation called the Malloi. He
made himself an inroad into the territories of the barbarians who refused
their submission,[154] and prevented them sending succours to the Malloi.
He then rejoined the fleet.
Hêphaistiôn, Krateros, and Philippos had there already united their
forces. He then transported to the other side of the river Hydaspês
the elephants, the brigade of Polysperchôn, the archers, and Philippos
with the troops under his command, and appointed Krateros to conduct
this expedition. Nearchos he despatched in command of the fleet, and
instructed him to start on the voyage three days before the departure of
the army. The rest of his forces he divided into three parts. Hêphaistiôn
was directed to set out five days in advance, so that if any of the
enemy fled forward before the division commanded by the king in person
they might be captured, when endeavouring to escape in that direction,
by falling into Hêphaistiôn’s hands. He gave also a part of the army to
Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, with orders to follow him three days later, so
that such of the enemy as fled backward from his own troops might fall
into the hands of those under Ptolemy.[155] The detachment that marched
in advance he ordered to wait until he himself should come up at the
confluence of the Akesinês and Hydraôtês,[156] where Krateros and Ptolemy
had orders to join him with their divisions.
_Chapter VI.—Alexander invades the territories of the Malloi_
Alexander selected for his own division the hypaspists, the archers,
the Agrianians, the corps of foot-guards under Peithôn, all the
horse-archers, and the half of the companion cavalry, and led them
through a waterless tract of country against the Malloi,[157] a race of
independent Indians. On the first day he encamped near a small stream
which was twenty stadia distant from the river Akesinês. Having dined
there and allowed the army a short time for repose, he ordered every
man to fill whatever vessel he had with water. He then marched during
the remainder of the day and all night a distance of about 400 stadia,
and with the dawn arrived before a city to which many of the Malloi had
fled for refuge. As they never imagined that Alexander would come to
attack them through the waterless desert, most of them were abroad in the
fields, and without their arms; and just as it was manifest that he led
his forces by this route because of the difficulties it presented, so did
it appear to the enemy past belief that he would conduct an army by a way
so perilous. He thus fell upon them unexpectedly, and slew most of them
without their even turning to offer resistance, since they were unarmed.
The rest he shut up within the city, and as the phalanx of infantry had
not yet arrived, he posted the cavalry in a cordon round the wall, thus
making it serve for a stockade. No sooner, however, did the infantry come
up than he despatched Perdikkas with his own cavalry regiment and that
of Kleitos, together with the Agrianians, to another city of the Malloi,
into which many of the Indians of that district had fled for refuge.
He was enjoined to blockade the men in the city, but not to attempt
to storm the place until his own arrival, so that no one might escape
and carry the news of Alexander’s approach to the other barbarians. He
then made an assault upon the wall, which the barbarians abandoned on
seeing it could no longer hold out, since many had been killed during
the siege, and others disabled for fighting by reason of their wounds.
They fled into the citadel, which, being seated on a commanding height
and difficult of access, they continued to defend for some time. As
the Macedonians, however, vigorously pressed the attack at all points,
while Alexander himself was seen everywhere urging forward the work, the
citadel was stormed, and all the men who had fled to it for refuge were
put to the sword to the number of 2000.[158]
Perdikkas meanwhile reached the city whither he had been sent, but on
learning that the inhabitants had not long before fled from it, he rode
away at full gallop on the track of the fugitives, while the light troops
followed him on foot as fast as they could. Some of the fugitives he
overtook and killed, but such as had been too quick for him made their
escape to the river marshes.[159]
_Chapter VII.—Siege and capture of several Mallian strongholds_
Alexander having dined and allowed his troops to rest till the first
watch of the night, began to march forward, and having travelled a great
distance in the night, arrived at the river Hydraôtês at daybreak. There
he learned that many of the Malloi had already crossed to the other bank,
but he fell upon others who were in the act of crossing and slew many
of them during the passage. He crossed the river along with them, just
as he was, and by the same ford. He then closely pursued the fugitives
who had outstripped him in their retreat. Many of these he slew and he
captured others, but most of them escaped to a position of great natural
strength which was also strongly fortified.[160] But when the infantry
came up with him, Alexander sent Peithôn with his own brigade and two
squadrons of cavalry against the fugitives. This detachment attacked the
stronghold, captured it at the first assault, and made slaves of all who
had fled into it, except, of course, those who had fallen in the attack.
Then Peithôn and his men, their task fulfilled, returned to the camp.
Alexander himself next led his army against a certain city of the
Brachmans,[161] because he had learned that many of the Malloi had fled
thither for refuge. On reaching it he led the phalanx in compact ranks
against all parts of the wall. The inhabitants, on finding the walls
undermined, and that they were themselves obliged to retire before the
storm of missiles, left the walls and fled to the citadel, and began
to defend themselves from thence. But as a few Macedonians had rushed
in along with them, they rallied, and turning round in a body upon the
pursuers, drove some from the citadel and killed twenty-five of them in
their retreat. Upon this Alexander ordered his men to apply the scaling
ladders to the citadel on all its sides, and to undermine its walls; and
when an undermined tower had fallen and a breach had been made in the
wall between two towers, thus exposing the citadel to attack in that
quarter, Alexander was seen to be the first man to scale and lay hold of
the wall. Upon seeing this, the rest of the Macedonians for very shame
ascended the wall at various points, and quickly had the citadel in their
hands. Some of the Indians set fire to their houses, in which they were
caught and killed, but most part fell fighting. About 5000 in all were
killed, and, as they were men of spirit, a few only were taken prisoners.
_Chapter VIII.—Alexander defeats the Malloi at the Hydraôtês_
He remained there one day to give his army rest, and next day he
moved forward to attack the rest of the Malloi. He found their cities
abandoned, and ascertained that the inhabitants had fled into the desert.
There he again allowed the army a day’s rest, and next day sent Peithôn
and Dêmêtrios, the cavalry commander, back to the river with their own
troops, and as many battalions of light-armed infantry as the nature of
the work required. He directed them to march along the edge of the river,
and if they came upon any of those who had fled for refuge to the jungle,
of which there were numerous patches along the river-bank, to put them
all to death unless they voluntarily surrendered. The troops under these
two officers captured many of the fugitives in these jungles and killed
them.
He marched himself against the largest city of the Malloi, to which
he was informed many men from their other cities had fled for safety.
The Indians, however, abandoned this place also when they heard that
Alexander was approaching. They then crossed the Hydraôtês, and with
a view to obstruct Alexander’s passage, remained drawn up in order of
battle upon the banks, because they were very steep. On learning this,
he took all the cavalry which he had with him, and marched to that part
of the Hydraôtês where he had been told the Malloi were posted; and the
infantry were directed to follow after him. When he came to the river
and descried the enemy drawn up on the opposite bank, he plunged at
once, just as he was after the march, into the ford, with the cavalry
only. When the enemy saw Alexander now in the middle of the stream they
withdrew in haste, but yet in good order, from the bank, and Alexander
pursued them with the cavalry only. But when the Indians perceived he
had nothing but a party of horse with him, they faced round and fought
stoutly, being about 50,000 in number. Alexander, perceiving that their
phalanx was very compact, and his own infantry not on the ground, rode
along all round them, and sometimes charged their ranks, but not at close
quarters. Meanwhile the Agrianians and other battalions of light-armed
infantry, which consisted of picked men, arrived on the field along with
the archers, while the phalanx of infantry was showing in sight at no
great distance off. As they were threatened at once with so many dangers,
the Indians wheeled round, and with headlong speed fled to the strongest
of all the cities that lay near.[162] Alexander killed many of them in
the pursuit, while those who escaped to the city were shut up within its
walls. At first, therefore, he surrounded the place with his horsemen as
soon as they came up from the march. But when the infantry arrived he
encamped around the wall on every side for the remainder of this day—a
time too short for making an assault, to say nothing of the great fatigue
his army had undergone, the infantry from their long march, and the
cavalry by the continuous pursuit, and especially by the passage of the
river.
_Chapter IX.—Alexander assails the chief stronghold of the Malloi, scales
the wall of the citadel, into which he leaps down though alone_
On the following day, dividing his army into two parts, he himself
assaulted the wall at the head of one division, while Perdikkas led
forward the other. Upon this the Indians, without waiting to receive the
attack of the Macedonians, abandoned the walls and fled for refuge to the
citadel. Alexander and his troops therefore burst open a small gate, and
entered the city long before the others. But Perdikkas and the troops
under his command entered it much later, having found it no easy work to
surmount the walls. The most of them, in fact, had neglected to bring
scaling ladders, for when they saw the wall left without defenders they
took it for granted that the city had actually been captured. But when
it became clear that the enemy was still in possession of the citadel,
and that many of them were drawn up in front of it to repel attack, the
Macedonians endeavoured to force their way into it, some by sapping the
walls, and others by applying the scaling ladders wherever that was
practicable. Alexander, thinking that the Macedonians who carried the
ladders were loitering too much, snatched one from the man who carried
it, placed it against the wall, and began to ascend, cowering the while
under his shield. The next to follow was Peukestas, who carried the
sacred shield which Alexander had taken from the temple of the Ilian
Athênâ, and which he used to keep with him and have carried before
him in all his battles.[163] Next to him Leonnatos, an officer of the
bodyguard, ascended by the same ladder; and by a different ladder Abreas,
one of those soldiers who for superior merit drew double pay[164] and
allowances. The king was now near the coping of the wall, and resting his
shield against it, was pushing some of the Indians within the fort, and
had cleared the parapet by killing others with his sword. The hypaspists,
now alarmed beyond measure for the king’s safety, pushed each other in
their haste up the same ladder and broke it, so that those who were
already mounting it fell down and made the ascent impracticable for
others.
Alexander, while standing on the wall, was then assailed on every side
from the adjacent towers, for none of the Indians had the courage to come
near him. He was assailed also by men in the city, who threw darts at
him from no great distance off, for it so happened that a mound of earth
had been thrown up in that quarter close to the wall. Alexander was,
moreover, a conspicuous object both by the splendour of his arms[165]
and the astonishing audacity he displayed. He then perceived that if he
remained where he was, he would be exposed to danger without being able
to achieve anything noteworthy, but if he leaped down into the citadel
he might perhaps by this very act paralyse the Indians with terror, and
if he did not, but necessarily incurred danger, he would in that case
not die ignobly, but after performing great deeds worth being remembered
by the men of after times. Having so resolved, he leaped down from the
wall into the citadel. Then, supporting himself against the wall, he slew
with his sword some who assailed him at close quarters, and in particular
the governor of the Indians, who had rushed upon him too boldly. Against
another Indian whom he saw approaching, he hurled a stone to check his
advance, and another he similarly repelled. If any one came within nearer
reach, he again used his sword. The barbarians had then no further wish
to approach him, but standing around assailed him from all quarters with
whatever missiles they carried or could lay their hands on.
_Chapter X.—Alexander is dangerously wounded within the citadel_
At this crisis Peukestas, and Abreas the dimoirite, and after them
Leonnatos, the only men who succeeded in reaching the top of the wall
before the ladder broke, leaped down and began fighting in front of
the king. But there Abreas fell, pierced in the forehead by an arrow.
Alexander himself was also struck by one which pierced through his
cuirass into his chest above the pap, so that, as Ptolemy says, air
gurgled from the wound along with the blood. But sorely wounded as he
was, he continued to defend himself as long as his blood was still warm.
Since much blood, however, kept gushing out with every breath he drew,
a dizziness and faintness seized him, and he fell where he stood in a
collapse upon his shield. Peukestas then bestrode him where he fell,
holding up in front of him the sacred shield which had been taken from
Ilion, while Leonnatos protected him from side attacks. But both these
men were severely wounded, and Alexander was now on the point of swooning
away from the loss of blood. As for the Macedonians, they were at a
loss how to make their way into the citadel, because those who had seen
Alexander shot at upon the wall and then leap down inside it had broken
down the ladders up which they were rushing in all haste, dreading lest
their king, in recklessly exposing himself to danger, should come by some
hurt. In their perplexity they devised various plans for ascending the
wall. It was made of earth, and so some drove pegs into it, and swinging
themselves up by means of these, scrambled with difficulty to the top.
Others ascended by mounting one upon the other. The man who first reached
the top flung himself headlong from the wall into the city, and was
followed by the others. There, when they saw the king fallen prostrate,
they all raised loud lamentations and outcries of grief. And now around
his fallen form a desperate struggle ensued, one Macedonian after another
holding his shield in front of him. In the meantime, some of the soldiers
having shattered the bar by which the gate in the wall between the towers
was secured, made their way into the city a few at a time, and others,
when they saw that a rift was made in the gate, put their shoulders
under it, and having then pushed it into the space within the wall,
opened an entrance into the citadel in that quarter.
_Chapter XI.—Dangerous nature of Alexander’s wound—Arrian refutes some
current fictions relating to this accident_
Upon this some began to kill the Indians, and in the massacre spared
none, neither man, woman, nor child. Others bore off the king upon his
shield. His condition was very low, and they could not yet tell whether
he was likely to survive. Some writers have asserted that Kritodêmos, a
physician of Kôs, an Asklêpiad by birth,[166] extracted the weapon from
the wound by making an incision where the blow had struck. Other writers,
however, say that as no surgeon was present at this terrible crisis,
Perdikkas, an officer of the bodyguard, at Alexander’s own desire, made
an incision into the wound with his sword and removed the weapon. Its
removal was followed by such a copious effusion of blood that Alexander
again swooned, and the swoon had the effect of staunching the flux. Many
fictions also have been recorded by historians concerning this accident,
and Fame, receiving them from the original inventors, has preserved
them to our own day, nor will she cease to transmit the falsehoods to
one generation after another except they be finally suppressed by this
history.
The common account, for example, is that this accident befell Alexander
among the Oxydrakai, but in fact it occurred among the Malloi an
independent Indian nation. The city belonged to the Malloi, and the men
who wounded Alexander were Malloi. They had certainly agreed to combine
with the Oxydrakai and give battle to the common enemy, but Alexander had
thwarted this design by his sudden and rapid march through the waterless
country, whereby these tribes were prevented from giving each other
mutual help. To take another instance, according to the common account,
the last battle fought with Darius (that at which he fled, nor paused in
his flight till he was seized by the soldiers of Bêssos and murdered at
Alexander’s approach) took place at Arbêla, just as the previous battle
came off at Issos, and the first cavalry action at the Granikos. Now this
cavalry action was really fought at the Granikos, and the next battle
with Darius at Issos. But Arbêla is distant from the field where Darius
and Alexander had their last battle 600 stadia according to those authors
who make the distance greatest, and 500 stadia according to those who
make it least. But Ptolemy and Aristoboulos say that the battle took
place at Gaugamêla near the river Boumodos. Gaugamêla, however, was not
a city, but merely a good-sized village, a place of no distinction,
and bearing a name which offends the ear. This seems to me the reason
why Arbêla, which was a city, has carried off the glory of the great
battle.[167] But if we must perforce consider that this battle took
place near Arbêla, though fought at so great a distance off, then we may
as well say that the sea fight at Salamis came off near the Isthmus of
Corinth, and the sea-fight at Artemision in Euboia, near Aigina or Sunium.
With regard again to those who protected Alexander with their shields in
his peril, all agree that Peukestas was of the number, but with respect
to Leonnatos and Abreas the dimoirite, they are no longer in harmony.
Some say that Alexander received a blow on his helmet from a bludgeon
and fell down in an access of dizziness, and that on regaining his
feet he was hit by a dart which pierced through his breastplate into
his chest. But Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, says that this wound in his
chest was the only one he received. I take, however, the following to be
the greatest error into which the historians of Alexander have fallen.
Some have written that Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, along with Peukestas
mounted the ladder together with Alexander; that Ptolemy held his shield
over him when he was lying on the ground, and that he thence received
the surname of Sôtêr.[168] And yet Ptolemy himself has recorded that he
was not present at this conflict, but was fighting elsewhere against
other barbarians, in command of a different division of the army. Let me
mention these facts in digressing from my narrative that the men of after
times may not regard it as a matter of indifference how these great deeds
and great sufferings are reported.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.—PTOLEMY SÔTÊR.]
_Chapter XII.—Distress and anxiety of the army at the prospect of
Alexander’s death_
While Alexander remained at this place to be cured of his wound, the
first news which reached the camp whence he had started to attack the
Malloi was that he had died of his wound. Then there arose at first a
loud lamentation from the whole army, as the mournful tidings spread
from man to man. But when their lamentation was ended, they gave way
to despondency and anxious doubts about the appointment of a commander
to the army, for among the officers many could advance claims to that
dignity which both to Alexander and the Macedonians seemed of equal
weight. They were also in fear and doubt how they could be conducted
home in safety, surrounded as they were on all hands by warlike nations,
some not yet reduced, but likely to fight resolutely for their freedom,
while others would to a certainty revolt when relieved from their fear of
Alexander. They seemed besides to be just then among impassable rivers,
while the whole outlook presented nothing but inextricable difficulties
when they wanted their king. But on receiving word that he was still
alive, they could hardly think it true, or persuade themselves that he
was likely to recover. Even when a letter came from the king himself
intimating that he would soon come down to the camp, most of them from
the excess of fear which possessed them distrusted the news, for they
fancied that the letter was a forgery concocted by his body-guards and
generals.
_Chapter XIII.—Joy of the army on seeing Alexander after his recovery—His
officers rebuke him for his rashness_