4. The Athenians applauded Demosthenes’ speech enthusiastically and there was a tremendous hubbub. Demades was silent, but Aeschines approved the speech; Lysias added his testimony and so did Plato. The Amphictyons voted for it and Heraclitus did not oppose it. All the people supported what Demosthenes had said.
Then Demosthenes went on:
‘I have a further argument. Demades says that Xerxes made a wall across the sea with his ships, sowed the land with armies and darkened the air with weapons, filling Persia with Greek captives. Now it is right for Athenians to praise a barbarian for taking Greeks prisoner; but Alexander is a Greek, and though he has won control of the Greeks who opposed him, rather than make them prisoners, he has thought fit to make even those who fought against him allies in war. He has himself stated publicly: “I shall make myself master of all by doing good to my friends and harm to my enemies.” Now, Athenians, as friends of Alexander, and his teachers as well, it is impossible for you to be referred to as his enemies. It is shameful for you the teachers to appear ignorant, while your pupil shows himself more intelligent than you.
‘None of the kings of Greece has entered Egypt except for Alexander; and he did not do so to make war, but to seek an oracle concerning the site for the everlasting city that bears his name. He received the oracle, laid the foundations for the city and built its walls: every task that is begun with enthusiasm is swift to reach its completion. He entered Egypt when it was under Persian rule. When the Egyptians begged to fight with him against Persia, the cunning boy answered, “It will be better for you Egyptians to concern yourselves with the flooding of the Nile and the cultivation of the land than to arm yourselves for the fortunes of war.” And so he made Egypt subject to him: a king is nothing if he does not have a productive land. Alexander was the first of the Greeks to overcome Egypt, and thus he made himself first among both Greeks and barbarians. How many armies can that country support? Not only those that are based near by, but also those that are away at war. How many empty cities can it fill with men? As it is rich in wheat, so it is rich in men: whatever the king asks it for, it can willingly supply.
5. After this speech of Demosthenes everyone was won over. They agreed to send to Alexander, in the care of a number of distinguished ambassadors, a crown of victory, weighing fifty pounds, and a decree of congratulations. They did not send him the orators. The ambassadors came to Plataea and handed the decree to Alexander. When he had read it, and learnt of Aeschines’ advocacy and Demosthenes’ arguments, as well as the agreement of the Amphictyons, he sent them a letter, as follows:
‘Alexander, the son of Philip and Olympias – I will not call myself king, until I have subjected all the barbarians to the Greeks. I sent to you asking you to send me the ten orators, not to punish them but to greet them as my teachers. I did not presume to approach you with an army – in which case you would have regarded me as an enemy – but wished to put the orators in place of an army, to free you from all fear. But you have had a very different attitude to me: you have been shown up by your own foolishness in seizing the occasion to settle your score with the Macedonians.57 When my father, Philip, was fighting the Zacynthians, you became their allies; but when you were being attacked by the Corinthians, we Macedonians became your allies and drove them back. Then you tore down the statue of
6. After sending this letter, Alexander took his army and marched to Lacedaemon. The Lacedaemonians were eager to demonstrate their bravery and to shame the Athenians who had been afraid of him. So they shut their gates and manned their ships: they were better warriors at sea than on land. When Alexander heard of their preparations, he sent them a first letter:
‘Alexander to the Lacedaemonians. First of all I advise you to preserve the reputation that you have inherited from your ancestors. Greetings will come later, if you deserve them. You are brave warriors and have never been defeated. Look out that you do not destroy your reputation and, by attempting to show up the feebleness of the Athenians, make yourselves a laughing-stock by being yourselves defeated by Alexander. Disembark from your ships of your own accord, or you will be consumed by fire.’
When the letter was read out, the Lacedaemonians were not won over; instead they hastened to battle, so that those who fought on the walls were brought down by missiles, and those in the ships were burnt. When the survivors came as suppliants, begging not to be made prisoners, Alexander said, ‘When I came to you in conciliatory fashion, you were not conciliated; now that your ships have been burnt, here you are pleading with me. But I do not blame you: you thought that, because you had driven back Xerxes, you could do the same to Alexander. But you could not stand up to my armoury.’
After these remarks, Alexander sacrificed alongside the generals. He refrained from sacking the Lacedaemonians’ city and imposed no tribute on it. Then he hastened on through Cilicia to the regions of the barbarians. A-text]
7. Darius, meanwhile, had assembled the Persian leaders, and they were holding a discussion about what they should do. Darius said, ‘I see that the war is growing in intensity. I thought that Alexander had the mind of a bandit, but in fact he is attempting the deeds of a king. Great as we Persians believe ourselves to be, Alexander turns out to be more astute. We sent him a whip and a ball to play with and ordered him to go back to school. Let us therefore consider what must be done to set matters to rights; if we go on despising Alexander as insignificant, and continue to indulge our own pride, we shall find ourselves being removed from this great Empire of the Persians which rules over all the world. I am afraid that the greater may turn out to be weaker than the less, when Opportunity and Providence concur in the transfer of a crown. It is better for us, then, to rule over our own barbarians and not, by seeking to free the Greeks, to lose the whole of Persia.’
Then Darius’ brother Oxydelkys58 said to him, ‘Now you are over-estimating Alexander and, by yielding Greece to him, encouraging him to attack Persia. You must rather imitate Alexander, and in that way hold on to your kingdom. He did not entrust the conduct of the war to generals and satraps, like you, but has always been the first to enter the cities and has fought at the head of his army. During battle he sets aside his kingly nature, and resumes it when he has won.’
‘How am I to imitate him?’ asked Darius.
‘Just so,’ replied the other; ‘Alexander has been successful in everything because he has not put anything off; he has done everything bravely, as is his nature. Even in appearance he resembles nothing so much as a lion.’
‘When I was sent by you, your majesty, to Philip, I saw the respect the Macedonians paid to Alexander, and his appearance, his intelligence and his character. So, your majesty, send now for your satraps and all the peoples who are subject to you: the Persians, the Parthians, the Medes, the Elymaeans, the Babylonians in Mesopotamia and the land of the Odyni, not to mention the Bactrians and Indians59 (for there are many races under your rule), and raise an army from them. If you can keep the gods on your side and defeat the Greeks, we shall by the very numbers of our troops be a source of astonishment to our enemies.’
‘Good advice,’ replied Darius, ‘but worthless. A single resolute Greek army can conquer a horde of barbarians, just as one fierce wolf can put a whole flock of sheep to flight.’
With these words, Darius gave orders to assemble his troops.
8. Alexander passed through Cilicia and came to the river called Ocean.60 The water was very fast-flowing. When Alexander saw it he was very eager to bathe, and he undressed and leapt in; the water turned out to be extremely cold, and he got into difficulties. He developed a chill, his head and all his body were in pain and he was ill for some time. When the Macedonians saw Alexander lying on his bed in pain, they were themselves sick at heart, and were afraid that Darius might discover Alexander was ill and attack them. Thus the single soul of Alexander disturbed the souls of the entire army.
Soon a physician named Philip announced that he could give Alexander a draught which would cure him of his sickness. Alexander was very keen to take it, and Philip prepared the medicine. Then a letter was sent to Alexander from Parmenio, one of his generals, saying, ‘Darius gave orders to Philip the physician to watch for an opportunity to poison you with a drug, and promised to give him his own sister in marriage and to make him a partner in his kingdom. Philip has agreed to this. Be on your guard, therefore, your majesty, against Philip.’ Alexander took the letter and read it without alarm; for he knew what Philip’s real feelings were towards him. Then he put the letter under his pillow. When Philip came and gave him the cup with the draught to drink, with the words, ‘Drink, your majesty, and be cured of your sickness,’ Alexander took the cup and said, ‘See, I am drinking it.’ And he did so. After he had drunk it, he showed Philip the letter. When Philip had read what the letter said about him, he said, ‘King Alexander, you will find I am not as I am here represented.’
When Alexander had recovered from his illness, he embraced Philip and said, ‘You see what view I take of you, Philip. I received the letter before you gave me the drink, and then I drank the draught, trusting in your name. I knew that Philip would do nothing to harm Alexander.’
‘My lord king,’ Philip replied, ‘punish Parmenio, the man who sent the letter, in some fitting manner. It was he who many times tried to persuade me to destroy you with poison, with the promise that I should have Darius’ sister Dadipharta as my wife. But I refused, and you see how he has tried to trap me.’
Alexander examined this claim, and, finding that Philip was blameless, he had Parmenio removed from his post.61
9. Then Alexander took his army and marched on into the land of the Medes. He was keen to conquer Greater Armenia. After he had subdued it, he marched on for many days through waterless country full of ravines, until he eventually came via Ariane to the river Euphrates. Here he built a bridge with iron arches and bands, and ordered the army to cross it. When he saw them hesitating, he ordered the wagons and the beasts of burden, with all the provisions, to be conveyed across first, and then the army. But they were frightened by the swiftness of the river, thinking the arches might give way. Since they did not dare to cross, Alexander took his bodyguard with him and crossed over first. Then the rest of the army crossed over too. At once he ordered the bridge over the Euphrates to be dismantled. The army was very reluctant to do this, and complained, ‘King Alexander, if we should be turned back in our fight against the barbarians, how shall we find a way of crossing to safety?’ But Alexander, seeing that they were frightened and hearing their complaints against himself, summoned the whole army and made the following speech:
‘Fellow-soldiers, you are filling me with confidence of victory with all your talk of defeat and retreat. It was for this reason that I ordered you to dismantle the bridge, so that when you fight you will win, and not be defeated and turn tail. War goes not to the one who flees but to the pursuer. When we are victorious, we shall all return together to Macedonia; battle is like play for us.’
After this speech, the army acclaimed him and they marched on to war. Presently they put up tents and made a halt.
Darius’ army had likewise pitched camp, beyond the river Tigris. The two armies met and fought bravely against each other. One of the Persians came up behind Alexander, wearing Macedonian armour and pretending to be an ally, and he struck at Alexander’s head and cracked his skull. At once he was seized by Alexander’s soldiers and brought to him in chains.
Alexander, thinking he was a Macedonian, asked him, ‘My brave fellow, why did you do that?’
The other replied, ‘King Alexander, do not be deceived by this Macedonian uniform of mine. I am a Persian, one of Darius’ satraps, and I went to Darius and said, “What will you give me if I bring you the head of Alexander?” He promised to give me part of his kingdom and his daughter in marriage. So I crept up on you wearing Macedonian uniform, but as I missed my mark I stand now in chains before you.’
When Alexander heard this, he sent for the whole army and in their presence set the man free. Then he said to his own soldiers, ‘Men of Macedon, you too must be as brave in battle as this man.’
10. The barbarians’ supplies had now run out and they retreated to Bactria. Alexander, however, stayed and subdued the whole country. Then another of Darius’ satraps came to him, and said, ‘I am a satrap of Darius and I have done many great deeds for him in war and have received no reward from him. Give me 10,000 armed soldiers and I will bring you my own king, Darius.’ But Alexander replied, ‘Go and help your own king, Darius; I will not entrust to you the troops of another when you can thus betray your own.’
Then the satraps62 of the provinces wrote to Darius about Alexander:
‘Greetings to Darius the great king. In our anxiety we have already informed you about Alexander’s march against our people; now we are writing to inform you that he has arrived. He is besieging our land and has killed many of us Persians. We are in danger of being destroyed. Come in haste now with a great army to meet him, and do not allow him to come nearer to you. The Macedonian army is extremely strong and numerous, and superior to ours. Farewell.’
When Darius had read their letter, he sent a letter to Alexander, as follows:
‘I call the great god Zeus to witness what you have done to me. I suppose that my mother has gone to be with the gods, that I no longer have a wife, and that my children might as well not have been born. I will not cease seeking vengeance for the harm you have done me. It was written to me that you were behaving justly and properly to my family; but if you were really to act justly towards me, you would have shown me a just respect in the first place. You have my family in your power to do as you like: punish them with mishandling, for they are the children of your enemy. You will not make me your friend by treating them kindly, nor your enemy just through ill-treating them.’
When Alexander had read this letter from Darius he smiled, and wrote back to him as follows:
‘King Alexander greets Darius. Your empty ravings and your vain and babbling sermons are hateful to the gods, through and through. Are you not ashamed of your blasphemous and vain invectives? It was not through fear of you that I honoured your family, nor out of hope of a reconciliation with you, of your coming to me to thank me. Do not come to me. My crown is not worth yours to gain. You will not prevent me from being respectful in my treatment of all people, but I shall show even greater courtesy to the family that was yours. This will be my last letter to you.’
11. After writing this letter to Darius, Alexander made ready for war and wrote to all his satraps:
‘King Alexander to all the satraps who are subject to him in Phrygia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Arabia, and to all the rest of them, greetings. I want you to prepare tunics for a great multitude, and to send them to us in Antioch in Syria. Send us also all that you have in your armouries. We have 3,000 camels drawn up between the Euphrates and Antioch, ready to do our bidding, so that you can carry out your task the more quickly. Hasten therefore to us.’
The Greek Alexander Romance Page 11