Alexander replied, ‘Now you are terrified at your punishment and are begging not to die: so I will release you. It is not my intention to kill you, but to show the difference between a Greek king and a barbarian one. You may anticipate, therefore, no harsh treatment from me: a king does not kill a messenger.’
When Alexander invited them to sit down to dinner with him, the messengers proposed to tell him how he could capture Darius in an ambush; but he said, ‘Tell me nothing! If you were not returning to him, I would be willing to be instructed by you. But since you will soon be going back to him, I have no wish for one of you to betray to Darius what you said to me; I should then be deserving of punishment too. Be silent then, and let us pass the matter over.’ The messengers of Darius made many laudatory remarks, and the whole army joined in their acclaim.
38. Three days later Alexander wrote a letter to Darius and read it aloud to his army, in the absence of the messengers. It ran as follows:
‘King Alexander, the son of King Philip and of Olympias, greets the king of kings, who is enthroned with the gods and rises with the sun, the great god of the Persians. It is shameful that one so swollen with greatness, who rises with the sun, should fall into miserable slavery to a mere mortal like Alexander. The names of the gods, which are common among men, give them also great power and wisdom. How then can the names of the gods dwell in corruptible bodies? See now, we have found out that you are powerless in comparison with us, but you borrow the names of the gods and go about on earth wearing their powers like a garment. I come to make war on you as against a mortal; but the balance of victory is in the hands of Providence above.
‘Why did you write to me that you possess so much gold and silver? So that we should fight all the more bravely to win it? Well, if I conquer you, I shall be famous and a great king among both Greeks and barbarians for conquering a ruler as great as Darius. But if you defeat me, you will have done nothing outstanding – simply defeated a bandit, as you wrote to me. I, however, shall be defeating the great king of kings and god, Darius.
‘You sent me a whip, a ball and a chest of gold to mock me; but I regard these as favourable omens. I accepted the whip, so as to flay the barbarians with my own hands, through the power of my spears and weapons, and bring them to submission. I accepted the ball, as a sign that I shall be ruler of the world – for the world is spherical like a ball. The chest of gold you sent me is a great sign: you will be conquered by me and pay me tribute.’
39. When King Alexander had read out this letter to his own troops, he sealed it and gave it to Darius’ messengers. He also gave them the gold that they had brought with them. They, having gained a very good impression of Alexander’s nobility of spirit, returned to Darius. When the latter read Alexander’s letter, he saw its force. He questioned them closely about Alexander’s intelligence, and his preparations for war. Then, somewhat disturbed, he sent the following letter to his satraps:
‘King Darius greets the generals beyond the Taurus. It is reported to me that Alexander, the son of Philip, is in rebellion. Capture him and bring him to me; but do him no physical harm, so that I may remove his purple robe and beat him and send him back home to his country to his mother, Olympias. I shall give him a rattle and knucklebones, such as Macedonian children play with. I will send with him men of wisdom to be his teachers.
‘You are to sink his ships in the depths of the sea, to put the generals who accompany him in irons and send them to me, and to send the rest of his soldiers to live on the Red Sea. I make you a gift of his horses and transports. Farewell.’
The satraps wrote back to Darius:
‘Greetings to the god and great king, Darius. We are amazed that you have not noticed before now that so many men are marching against us. We have sent you some of those whom we found roaming about, not daring to interrogate them before you. Come now quickly with a great army, lest we be plundered by the enemy.’
Darius was in Babylon, in Persia, when he received this letter. He replied as follows:
‘The king of kings, the great god, greets all his satraps and generals. Demonstrate now the extent of your bravery without expecting any help from me. A great river has burst its banks in your country and has terrified you who are the thunderbolts that should be able to quench it; and you have been incapable of standing up to the thunder of a fresh-faced youth. What have you got to show? Has any of you died in battle? What am I to think of you, to whom I have entrusted my kingdom, when you give the advantage to a mere bandit and make no attempt to capture him? Well then, as you suggest I will come and capture him myself.’
40. When Darius learnt that Alexander was close at hand, he pitched camp by the river Pinarios.41 Then he sent Alexander the following letter:
‘The king of kings, the great god Darius and lord of all nations, to Alexander the plunderer of the cities. You seem to think that the name of Darius is an insignificant one, although the gods have honoured him and judged him worthy to be enthroned alongside them. It was unlucky for you that you supposed you could get away with being king in Macedon without heeding my orders, and went marching through obscure lands and foreign cities, in which you pronounced yourself king; you gathered together a band of desperadoes like yourself, attacked cities inexperienced in war – which I in my discretion had regarded as not worth ruling, the merest detritus – and you attempted to gather tribute from them like some beggar.
‘Do you suppose that we are at all like you? Make no boast of the places you have captured. You made the wrong decision about them. You should, before all, have corrected your ignorance and come to me, Darius your lord, rather than accumulating your robber band. I ordered you in writing to come and pay homage to Darius the king. If you do so, I swear by Zeus the most high god, my father, that I will grant you an amnesty for your actions. But if you persist in your foolishness, I shall punish you with an unspeakable death. Even worse will be the fate of those who failed to instil any sense into you.’
41. Alexander, when he received this letter, would not allow himself to be goaded by Darius’ boastful words. Meanwhile, Darius gathered together a great force and marched forth, accompanied by his sons, his wife and his mother. With him were the 10,000 troops called the Immortals; they were called this because their number was preserved by introducing new men to replace any who died.
Alexander crossed the Cilician Taurus and arrived at Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia. There he saw the river Cydnus which runs through it; and, as he was dripping with sweat from the march, he threw off his breastplate and went for a swim. Unfortunately he caught a chill; his condition became very grave and he only just survived. Philip, one of the most distinguished doctors of the day, cured him. When he had recovered his strength he continued the march against Darius, who meanwhile had pitched camp at Issus in Cilicia.
Alexander raced ahead to battle, full of enthusiasm, and drew up his troops against Darius. When those around Darius saw Alexander leading his troops towards the quarter where he had heard that Darius was positioned, they halted their chariots and the rest of the army. Both sides were ready for the fight. Alexander was determined not to allow the enemy to break through his phalanx, or to ride it down or to come on it from the rear; instead, when the chariots charged, most of them were cornered and destroyed or scattered. Then Alexander mounted his horse and ordered the trumpeters to sound the call for an infantry charge. At once the armies clashed with tremendous noise and the battle was very fierce. For some time they attacked each other’s wings, which swung hither and thither as they were forced back by each other’s spears. Eventually the two sides separated, each thinking it had gained the victory.
Then Alexander’s men forced Darius’ back and made a fierce assault on them, so that they crushed and fell over each other in the mêlée. There was nothing to be seen but horses lying on the ground and slaughtered men. The clouds of dust made it impossible to distinguish Persian from Macedonian, satrap from ally, horseman from infantryman. The very sky and the ground were invis
ible through the gore. The sun itself, in sorrow at the event, refused to look longer on this pollution and hid behind the clouds.
In the end there was a great rout of the Persians, who fled precipitately. With them was Amyntas of Antioch, who had been a prince of Macedon and had sought refuge with Darius. When evening came, the terrified Darius was still in fast retreat. Because his commander’s chariot was too conspicuous, he dismounted and fled on horseback. But Alexander considered it a point of honour to capture Darius, and made all speed to catch up with him, for fear someone should kill him first. After pursuing him for 7 miles Alexander captured Darius’ chariot and weapons, as well as his wife, daughters and mother; but Darius himself was saved by the onset of darkness, and because he had obtained a fresh horse. And so he escaped.
Alexander passed the night in the captured tent of Darius. Although he had defeated his opponents, he disdained to make a great boast of it, and did not behave arrogantly towards them. He gave orders for the bravest and most noble of the Persian dead to be buried; Darius’ mother, wife and children he took along with him, treating them with all respect. He also consoled the remaining captives with conciliatory words.
The number of Persian dead was very great. The Macedonians were found to have lost 500 foot soldiers and 160 horsemen, and there were 308 wounded; but the barbarians had lost 20,000 men, and 4,000 were led into slavery.
42. Darius, having saved himself by his flight, at once set about assembling an even greater army. He wrote to all the subject nations, requiring them to join him with their troops. One of Alexander’s scouts learnt of this new army being assembled, and sent the information to Alexander. On receiving the news, Alexander wrote to his general Scamander:
‘Alexander the king greets General Scamander. Come here as soon as possible with your phalanxes and all your forces; the barbarians are said to be not far off.’
Then Alexander took the forces he had with him and marched ahead. When he had crossed the Taurus range, he thrust a great spear into the ground and said, ‘If any strong man among the Greeks, barbarians, or any of the other kings, touches this spear, it will be an evil omen for him: for his city will be destroyed down to its foundations.’
Then he came to Hipperia, a city of the Bebryces. Here there was a temple and a statue of Orpheus, around which stood the Pierian Muses and wild beasts. When Alexander looked at it, the statue broke out in a sweat. Alexander inquired the meaning of this omen, and Melampus the interpreter told him, ‘You will have to struggle, King Alexander, with toil and sweat, to subdue the nations of the barbarians and the cities of the Greeks. But just as Orpheus by his music and song won over the Greeks, put the barbarians to flight and tamed the wild beasts, so you by the labour of your spear will make all men your subjects.’ When Alexander heard this, he gave the interpreter a large reward and sent him away.
Then he came to Phrygia.42 When he reached the river Scamander, into which Achilles had sprung, he leapt in also. And when he saw the seven-layered shield of Ajax, which was not as large or as wonderful as the description in Homer, he said, ‘Fortunate are you heroes who won a witness like Homer, and who became great as a result of his writings, but in reality are not worthy of what was written about you.’ Then a poet came up to him and said, ‘King Alexander, we shall write better than Homer about your deeds.’ But Alexander replied, ‘I would rather be a Thersites in Homer than Agamemnon in your poetry.’43
43. From Phrygia he went to Pyle.44 Here he collected together the Macedonian army and those whom he had taken prisoner in the war against Darius, and marched to Abdera. The Abderites promptly closed the gates of their city. Alexander was angry at this, and ordered his general to set fire to the town. But they sent envoys to him, who said, ‘We did not close our gates in a gesture of opposition to your rule, but through fear of the kingdom of Persia. We were afraid that Darius, if he remained in power, would sack our city because we had received you. So you must conquer Darius, and then you may come and open the gates of our city; we shall obey the stronger king.’
Alexander smiled when he heard this, and said to the envoys they had sent, ‘Are you afraid that Darius will come and sack your city hereafter, if he remains in power? Go now and open your gates and live in peace. I shall not enter your city until I have conquered this King Darius whom you are so afraid of; then only will I make you my subjects.’ With this message to the envoys, he went on his way.
44. Two days later he arrived at Bottiaea and Olynthus, laid waste the Chaldaeans’ entire country and destroyed the neighbouring peoples. Next he reached the Black Sea and made all the cities on its coast his subjects.
It was at this time that the Macedonians’ provisions ran out, so that they were all dying of starvation. Alexander had a brilliant idea: he rounded up all the cavalry’s horses and slaughtered them; after skinning them he ordered his men to roast and eat them. Thus they satisfied their hunger and were revived. But they said, ‘What is Alexander doing, slaughtering our horses? For the moment, to be sure, we have satisfied our hunger, but without our horses we are now defenceless in battle.’ When Alexander heard this, he went into the camp and said, ‘Fellow-soldiers, we slaughtered the horses, vital though they were for the prosecution of the war, in order to satisfy our hunger. The removal of an evil by a lesser evil leads also to less suffering. When we come into another land, we shall easily find other horses; but if we were to die of hunger, we should not find other Macedonians for some time.’
Thus he calmed the soldiers down and marched on to the next city.45
45. [Ignoring the other cities, he came to that of the Locrians, where the army camped for one day. Then he came to the people of Acragas. Here he entered the temple of Apollo and demanded an oracle from the prophetess. She replied that the god would give him no oracle. Alexander became angry and said, ‘If you are unwilling to prophesy, I shall carry off the tripod as Heracles carried off the prophetic tripod of Phoebus,46 which was dedicated by Croesus, the king of the Lydians.’ Then a voice was heard from the inner sanctuary: ‘Heracles, O Alexander, committed this act as one god against another; but you are mortal: do not oppose yourself to the gods. Your actions are talked of even as far away as heaven.’ After this utterance had been heard, the prophetess said, ‘The god has addressed you himself, by the mightiest of names. “Heracles, O Alexander,” he called you, thus indicating to you that you are to exceed all other men by your deeds and to be remembered through the ages.’
46. When Alexander arrived at Thebes he asked them to supply 4,000 of their best warriors; but the Thebans closed their gates and did not even send ambassadors to him; neither did they receive his, but drew up their army to fight him. They sent 500 armed men up on to the walls to order Alexander either to fight or to leave the city.
‘Brave Thebans,’ said Alexander with a smile, ‘why do you shut yourselves up inside your walls and command those outside either to fight or to go away? I am going to fight not as if I were fighting a city, or brave men, or warriors experienced in battle, but as if against civilians and cowards. I shall subdue by my spear all those who shut themselves inside their walls. Brave men should fight on the open plain; only women shut themselves in for fear of what is to come.’
With these words, he ordered 4,000 horsemen to surround the walls and shoot down those who stood on them, and another 2,000 to dig away the foundations with mattocks, pickaxes, long hooks and iron crowbars. The stones of those walls had been fitted together in accompaniment to the music of the lyres of Amphion and Zethus; but he ordered his men to tear them apart. He ordered them to bring fire within the gates and to batter the walls with the so-called rams to destroy them (these are machines built of wood and iron, which are pushed along on wheels by the soldiers; they are released against the walls from a distance and by their momentum can break down even the most closely built walls). Alexander himself circled Thebes with another 1,000 archers and spearmen.
All parts of the city were bombarded with fire, stones, sling shots and spear
s. The Thebans fell wounded from the walls, and as the sling-stones hit home they died as if struck by thunder bolts. Presently their resistance began to lessen as they found themselves unequal to the onslaught.
Within three days the whole of Thebes was in flames. The first breach was made at the Cadmean Gate, where Alexander had his position. At once the king made his entry, alone, through a narrow opening. Many of the Thebans who met him retreated in terror; Alexander wounded some of them, others he drove wild with fear. Then the rest of the soldiers, both infantry and cavalry, broke in through the other gates, 3,000 in number, and slaughtered everyone in the city. The walls were already shaking and crumbling; the Macedonian army had been assiduous in carrying out Alexander’s orders. The ancient foundations of the Cadmeia were spattered with human gore and the bodies of numerous Thebans were crammed into that narrow area; Mount Cithaeron rejoiced at their laments and exulted in their struggle. Every house was pulled down and the whole city put to the torch. The hand of the Macedonian did not tire of bloodying its greedy iron; and the helpless, deluded Thebans were destroyed by Alexander.
There was a Theban called Ismenias, a clever man and an expert at playing the pipes. When he saw Thebes being torn down and razed to the ground, and all its youth destroyed, he groaned for his country and decided to make himself a hero through his skill on the pipe. He decided to take his pipe and fall as a suppliant at the feet of the king, and to play a heart-rending, pleading and piteous melody, in the hope of persuading Alexander to show mercy by his music and its lamenting tones. First he decided to make a speech in supplication to the conqueror. He stretched out his hand and, weeping, began to speak:
‘Alexander, now we revere you, for we have learnt that your strength is like that of a god. Draw back your unconquerable hands from the Thebans,
The Greek Alexander Romance Page 9