the audience assenting shouts, mingled with lamentations and confused
voices, calling Alexander king, father, lord, and master. And now
also the other officers, especially the seniors, who from their age
possessed all the greater authority, and could with a better grace beg
to be excused from any more service, united in making the same request.
Alexander therefore found himself unable either to rebuke them for their
stubbornness or to appease their angry mood. Being thus quite at a loss
what to do, he leaped down from the tribunal and shut himself up in the
royal pavilion, into which he forbade any one to be admitted except his
ordinary attendants. For two days he indulged his anger, but on the third
day he emerged from his seclusion, and ordered twelve altars of square
stone to be erected as a monument of his expedition. He ordered also the
fortifications around the camp to be drawn out wide, and couches of a
larger size than was required for men of ordinary stature to be left, so
that by making things appear in magnificent proportions he might astonish
posterity by deceptive wonders.[279]
From this place he marched back the way he had come, and encamped near
the river Acesines. There Coenus caught an illness, which carried him
off.[280] The king was doubtless deeply grieved by his death, but yet
he could not forbear remarking that it was but for the sake of a few
days he had opened a long-winded speech as though he alone were destined
to see Macedonia again. The fleet which he had ordered to be built was
now riding in the stream ready for service. Memnon also had meanwhile
brought from Thrace a reinforcement of 5000 cavalry, together with 7000
infantry sent by Harpalus. He also brought 25,000 suits of armour inlaid
with silver and gold, and these Alexander distributed to the troops,
commanding the old suits to be burned.[281] Designing now to make for the
ocean with a thousand ships, he left Porus and Taxiles, the Indian kings
who had been disagreeing and raking up old feuds, in friendly relations
with each other, strengthened by a marriage alliance; and as they had
done their utmost to help him forward with the building of his fleet,
he confirmed each in his sovereignty. He built also two towns, one of
which he called Nicaea, and the other Bucephala, dedicating the latter to
the memory of the horse which he had lost. Then leaving orders for the
elephants and baggage to follow him by land, he sailed down the river,
proceeding every day about 40 stadia, to allow the troops to land from
time to time where they could conveniently be put ashore.[282]
_Chapter IV.—Alexander subdues various tribes on his way to the
Indus—Disasters to his fleet at the meeting of the rivers—His campaign
against the Sudracae and Malli—Assails their chief stronghold and is left
standing alone on the wall_
Thus he came at length into the country where the river Hydaspes falls
into the Acesines, and thence flows down to the territories of the
Sibi.[283] These people allege that their ancestors belonged to the
army of Hercules, and that being left behind on account of sickness had
possessed themselves of the seats which their posterity now occupied.
They dressed themselves with the skins of wild beasts, and had clubs for
their weapons. They showed besides many other traces of their origin,
though in the course of time Greek manners and institutions had grown
obsolete. He landed among them, and marching a distance of 250 stadia
into the country beyond their borders, laid it waste, and took its
capital town by an assault made against the walls all round. The nation,
consisting of 40,000 foot-soldiers, had been drawn up along the bank of
the river to oppose his landing, but he nevertheless crossed the stream,
put the enemy to flight, and, having stormed the town, compelled all who
were shut up within its walls to surrender. Those who were of military
age were put to the sword, and the rest were sold as slaves.
He then laid siege to another town, but the defenders made so gallant
a resistance that he was repulsed with the loss of many of his
Macedonians.[284] He persevered, however, with the siege till the
inhabitants, despairing of their safety, set fire to their houses, and
cast themselves along with their wives and children into the flames.
War then showed itself in a new form, for while the inhabitants were
destroying their city by spreading the flames, the enemy were striving
to save it by quenching them, so completely does war invert natural
relations. The citadel of the town had escaped damage, and Alexander
accordingly left a garrison behind in it. He was himself conveyed by
means of boats around the fortress, for the three largest rivers in India
(if we except the Ganges) washed the line of its fortifications. The
Indus on the north flows close up to it, and on the south the Acesines
unites with the Hydaspes.[285]
But the meeting of the rivers makes the waters swell in great billows
like those of the ocean, and the navigable way is compressed into a
narrow channel by extensive mud-banks kept continually shifting by the
force of the confluent waters. When the waves, therefore, in thick
succession dashed against the vessels, beating both on their prows
and sides, the sailors were obliged to take in sail; but partly from
their own flurry, and partly from the force of the currents, they were
unable to execute their orders in time, and before the eyes of all two
of the large ships were engulphed in the stream. The smaller craft,
however, though they also were unmanageable, were driven on shore
without sustaining injury. The ship which had the king himself on board
was caught in eddies of the greatest violence, and by their force was
irresistibly driven athwart and whirled onward without answering the helm.
He had already stripped off his clothes preparatory to throwing himself
into the river, while his friends were swimming about not far off ready
to pick him up, but as it was evident that the danger was about equal
whether he threw himself into the water or remained on board, the boatmen
vied with each other in stretching to their oars, and made every exertion
possible for human beings to force their vessel through the raging
surges. It then seemed as though the waves were being cloven asunder,
and as though the whirling eddies were retreating, and the ship was thus
at length rescued from their grasp. It did not, however, gain the shore
in safety, but was stranded on the nearest shallows. One would suppose
that a war had been waged against the river. Alexander there erected as
many altars as there were rivers, and having offered sacrifices upon them
marched onward, accomplishing a distance of thirty stadia.
Thence he came into the dominions of the Sudracae and the Malli, who
hitherto had usually been at war with each other, but now drew together
in presence of the common danger. Their army consisted of 90,000
foot-soldiers, all fit for active service, together with 10,000 cavalry
and 900 war chariots. But when the Macedonians, who believed that they
had by this time got past all their dangers, found that they had still on
hand a fresh war, in which the most warlike nations in all India would
be their antagonists, they were struck with an unexpected terror, and
began again to upbraid the king in the language of sedition. “Though he
had been driven,” they said, “to give up the river Ganges and regions
beyond it, he had not ended the war, but only shifted it. They were now
exposed to fierce nations that with their blood they might open for him
a way to the ocean. They were dragged onward outside the range of the
constellations and the sun of their own zone, and forced to go to places
which nature meant to be hidden from mortal eyes.[286] New enemies were
for ever springing up with arms ever new, and though they put them all to
rout and flight, what reward awaited them? What but mists and darkness
and unbroken night hovering over the abyss of ocean? What but a sea
teeming with multitudes of frightful monsters—stagnating waters in which
expiring nature has given way in despair?”[287]
The king, troubled not by any fears for himself, but by the anxiety of
the soldiers about their safety, called them together, and pointed out
to them that those of whom they were afraid were weak and unwarlike;
that after the conquest of these tribes there was nothing in their way,
once they had traversed the distance now between them and the ocean, to
prevent their coming to the end of the world, which would be also the
end of their labours; that he had given way to their fears of the Ganges
and of the numerous tribes beyond that river, and turned his arms to a
quarter where the glory would be equal but the hazard less; that they
were already in sight of the ocean, and were already fanned by breezes
from the sea.[288] They should not then grudge him the glory to which he
aspired. They would overpass the limits reached by Hercules and Father
Bacchus, and thus at a small cost bestow upon their king an immortality
of fame. They should permit him to return from India with honour, and not
to escape from it like a fugitive.
Every assemblage, and especially one of soldiers, is readily carried
away by any chance impulse, and hence the measures for quelling a mutiny
are less important than the circumstances in which it originates. Never
before did so eager and joyous a shout ring out as was now sent forth by
the army asking him to lead them forward, and expressing the hope that
the gods would prosper his arms and make him equal in glory to those
whom he was emulating. Alexander, elated by these acclamations, at once
broke up his camp and advanced against the enemy, which was the strongest
in point of numbers of all the Indian tribes. They were making active
preparations for war, and had selected as their head a brave warrior of
the nation of the Sudracae.[289] This experienced general had encamped at
the foot of a mountain, and had ordered fires to be kindled over a wide
circuit to make his army appear so much the more numerous. He endeavoured
also at times, but in vain, to alarm the Macedonians when at rest by
making his men shout and howl in their own barbarous manner.
As soon as day dawned, the king, full of hope and confidence, ordered
his soldiers, who were eager for action, to take their arms and march
to battle. The barbarians, however, fled all of a sudden, but whether
through fear or dissensions that had arisen among them, there is no
record to show. At any rate, they escaped timeously to their mountain
recesses, which were difficult of approach. The king pursued the
fugitives, but to no purpose; however, he took their baggage.
Thence he came into the city of the Sudracae, into which most of the
enemy had fled,[290] trusting for safety as much to their arms as to the
strength of the fortifications. The king was now advancing to attack
the place, when a soothsayer warned him not to undertake the siege, or
at all events to postpone it, since the omens indicated that his life
would be in danger. The king fixing his eyes upon Demophon (for this was
the name of the soothsayer), said: “If any one should in this manner
interrupt thyself, while busied with thine art and inspecting entrails,
wouldst thou not regard him as impertinent and troublesome?” “I certainly
would so regard him,” said Demophon. Then rejoined Alexander, “Dost thou
not think then that when I am occupied with such important matters,
and not with the inspection of the entrails of cattle, there can be
any interruption more unseasonable to me than a soothsayer enslaved by
superstition?”[291] Without more loss of time than was required for
returning the answer, he ordered the scaling-ladders to be applied to
the wall, and while the others were hesitating to mount them, he himself
scaled the ramparts.[292]
The parapet which ran round the rampart was narrow, and was not marked
out along the coping with battlements and embrasures, but was built in an
unbroken line of breastwork, which obstructed assailants in attempting
to get over. The king then was clinging to the edge of the parapet,
rather than standing upon it, warding off with his shield the darts that
fell upon him from every side, for he was assailed by missiles from all
the surrounding towers. Nor were the soldiers able to mount the wall
under the storm of arrows discharged against them from above.[293] Still
at last a sense of shame overcame their fear of the greatness of the
danger, for they saw that by their hesitation the king would fall into
the hands of his enemies. But their help was delayed by their hurry, for
while every one strove to get soonest to the top of the wall, they were
precipitated from the ladders which they overloaded till they broke, thus
balking the king of his only hope. He was in consequence left standing in
sight of his numerous army, like a man in a solitude, whom all the world
has forsaken.
_Chapter V.—Alexander is severely wounded by an arrow within the
stronghold of the Sudracae—The arrow is extracted by Critobulus_
By this time his left hand, with which he was shifting his buckler
about, became tired with parrying the blows directed against him from
all round, and his friends cried out to him that he should leap down,
and were standing ready to catch him when he fell. But instead of taking
this course, he did an act of daring past all belief and unheard of—an
act notable as adding far more to his reputation for rashness than to his
true glory. For with a headlong spring he flung himself into the city
filled with his enemies, even though he could scarcely expect to die
fighting, since before he could rise from the ground he was likely to be
overpowered and taken prisoner. But, as luck would have it, he had flung
his body with such nice poise that he alighted on his feet, which gave
him the advantage of an erect attitude when he began fighting. Fortune
had also so provided that he could not possibly be surrounded, for an
aged tree which grew not far from the wall, had thrown out branches
thickly covered with leaves, as if for the very purpose of sheltering
the king. Against the huge bole of this tree he so planted himself that
he could not be surrounded, and as he was thus protected in rear, he
received on his buckler the darts with which he was assailed in front;
for single-handed though he was, not one of the many who set upon him
ventured to come to close-quarters with him, and their missiles lodged
more frequently in the branches of the tree than in his buckler.
What served him well at this juncture was the far-spread renown of his
name, and next to that despair, which above everything nerves men to die
gloriously. But as the numbers of the enemy were constantly increasing,
his buckler was by this time loaded with darts, and his helmet shattered
by stones, while his knees sank under him from the fatigue of his
protracted exertions. On seeing this, they who stood nearest incautiously
rushed upon him in contempt of the danger. Two of these he smote with his
sword, and laid them dead at his feet, and after that no one could muster
up courage enough to go near him. They only plied him with darts and
arrows from a distance off.
But though thus exposed as a mark for every shot, he had no great
difficulty in protecting himself while crouching on his knees, until an
Indian let fly an arrow two cubits long (for the Indians, as remarked
already, use arrows of this length), and pierced him through his armour
a little above his right side. Struck down by this wound, from which the
blood spirted in great jets, he let his weapon drop as if he were dying
without strength enough left to let his right hand extract the arrow. The
archer, accordingly, who had wounded him, exulting in his success, ran
forward with eager haste to strip his body. But Alexander no sooner felt
him lay hands on his person, than he became so exasperated by the supreme
indignity, I imagine, of the outrage, that he recalled his swooning
spirit, and with an upward thrust of his sword pierced the exposed side
of his antagonist. Thus there lay dead around the king three of his
assailants, while the others stood off like men stupefied.
Meanwhile he endeavoured to raise himself up with his buckler, that he
might die sword in hand, before his last breath left him, but finding he
had not strength enough for the effort, he grasped with his right hand
some of the defending boughs, and tried to rise with their help. His
strength was, however, inadequate even to support his body, and he fell
down again upon his knees, waving his hand as a challenge to the enemy
to meet him in close combat if any of them dared. At length Peucestas in
a different quarter of the town beat off the men who were defending the
wall, and following the king’s traces came to where he was. Alexander on
seeing him thought that he had come not to succour him in life, but to
comfort him in his death, and giving way through sheer exhaustion, fell
over on his shield.
Then came up Timaeus, and a little afterwards Leonnatus followed by
Aristonus.[294] The Indians, on discovering that the king was within
their walls, abandoned all other places and ran in crowds to where he
was, and pressed hard upon those who defended him. Timaeus, one of
such, after receiving many wounds and making a gallant struggle, fell.
Peucestas again, though pierced with three javelin wounds, held up his
buckler not for his own, but the king’s protection. Leonnatus, while
endeavouring to drive back the barbarians who were eagerly pressing
forward, was severely wounded in the neck, and fell down in a swoon at
the king’s feet. Peucestas was also now quite exhausted with the loss of
blood from his wounds and could no longer hold up his buckler. Thus all
the hope now lay in Aristonus, but he also was desperately wounded, and
could no longer sustain the onset of so many assailants. In the meantime
the rumour that the king had fallen reached the Macedonians.
What would have terrified others only served to stimulate their ardour,
for, heedless of every danger, they broke down the wall with their
pickaxes, and where they had made an entrance burst into the city and
massacred great numbers of the Indians, chiefly in the pursuit, no
resistance being offered except by a mere handful. They spared neither
old men, women, nor children, but held whomsoever they met to have been
the person by whom the king had been wounded, and in this way they at
length satiated their righteous indignation.
Clitarchus and Timagenes state that Ptolemy, who afterwards became a
king, was present at this fighting, but Ptolemy himself, who would not
of course gainsay his own glory, has recorded in his memoirs that he was
away at the time, as the king had sent him on an expedition elsewhere.
This instance shows how great was the carelessness of the authors who
composed these old books of history, or, it may be, their credulity,
which is just as great a dereliction of their duty. The king was carried
into a tent, where the surgeons cut off the wooden shaft of the arrow
which had pierced him, taking care not to stir its point. When his armour
was taken off they discovered that the weapon was barbed, and that it
could not be extracted without danger except by making an incision to
open the wound. But here again they were afraid lest in operating they
should be unable to staunch the flow of blood, for the weapon was large
and had been driven home with such force that it had evidently pierced to
the inwards.
Critobulus, who was famous for his surgical skill,[295] was nevertheless
swayed by fear in a case so precarious, and dreaded to put his hand to
the work lest his failure to effect a cure should recoil on his own head.
The king observing him to weep, and to be showing signs of fear, and
looking ghastly pale, said to him: “For what and how long are you waiting
that you do not set to work as quickly as possible? If die I must, free
me at least from the pain I suffer. Are you afraid lest you should
be held to account because I have received an incurable wound?” Then
Critobulus, at last overcoming, or perhaps dissembling his fear, begged
Alexander to suffer himself to be held while he was extracting the point,
since even a slight motion of his body would be of dangerous consequence.
To this the king replied that there was no need of men to hold him, and
then, agreeably to what had been enjoined him, he did not wince the least
during the operation.[296]
When the wound had then been laid wide open and the point extracted,
there followed such a copious discharge of blood that the king began to
swoon, while a dark mist came over his eyes, and he lay extended as if
he were dying. Every remedy was applied to staunch the blood, but all to
no purpose, so that the king’s friends, believing him to be dead, broke
out into cries and lamentations. The bleeding did, however, at last stop,
and the patient gradually recovered consciousness and began to recognise
those who stood around him. All that day and the night which followed the
army lay under arms around the royal tent. All of them confessed that
their life depended on his single breath, and they could not be prevailed
on to withdraw until they had ascertained that he had fallen into a quiet
sleep. Thereupon they returned to the camp entertaining more assured
hopes of his recovery.
_Chapter VI.—Alexander recovers and shows himself to the army—His
officers remonstrate with him for his recklessness in exposing his life
to danger—His reply to their appeal_
The king, who had now been kept for the space of seven days under
treatment for his wound without its being as yet cicatrised, on hearing
that a report of his death had gained a wide currency among the
barbarians, caused two ships to be lashed together and his tent to be
set up in the centre where it would be conspicuous to every one, so that
he might therefrom show himself to those who believed him to be dead.
By thus exposing himself to the view of the inhabitants he crushed the
hope with which the false report had inspired his enemies. He then sailed
down the river,[297] starting a good while before the rest of the fleet,
lest the repose which his weak bodily condition still required should be
disturbed by the noise of rowing. On the fourth day after he had embarked
he reached a country deserted by its inhabitants, but fruitful in corn
and well stocked with cattle. Here along with his soldiers he enjoyed a
welcome season of rest.
Now it was a custom among the Macedonians that the king’s especial
friends and those who had the guard of his person watched before his tent
during any occasional illness. This custom being now observed as usual,
they all entered his chamber in a body. Alexander fearing they might be
the bearers of some bad news, since they had all come together, enquired
whether they had come to inform him that the enemy had that moment
arrived. Then Craterus, who had been chosen by the others as their medium
to let the king know the entreaties of his friends, addressed him in
these terms: “Can you imagine,” he began, “that we could be more alarmed
by the enemy’s approach, even if they were already within our lines, than
we are concerned for your personal safety, by which, it seems, you set
but little store? Were the united powers of the whole world to conspire
against us, were they to cover the land all over with arms and men, to
cover the seas with fleets, and lead ferocious wild beasts against us,
we shall prove invincible to every foe when we have you to lead us. But
which of the gods can ensure that this the stay and star of Macedonia
will be long preserved to us when you are so forward to expose your
person to manifest dangers, forgetting that you draw into peril the lives
of so many of your countrymen? For which of us wishes to survive you,
or even has it within his power? Under your conduct and command we have
advanced so far that there is no one but yourself who can lead us back to
our hearths and homes.
“No doubt while you were still contending with Darius for the sovereignty
of Persia, one could not even think it strange (though no one wished
it) that you were ever ready and eager to rush boldly into danger, for
where the risk and the reward are fairly balanced, the gain is not only
more ample in case of success, but the solace is greater in case of
defeat. But that your very life should be paid as the price of an obscure
village, which of your soldiers, nay, what inhabitant of any barbarous
country that has heard of your greatness can tolerate such an idea? My
soul is struck with horror when I think of the scene which was lately
presented to our eyes.