The satraps of Darius wrote:
‘To Darius the great king. We write to you after considerable hesitation, but are compelled to do so by our circumstances. Know, O king, that Alexander the leader of the Macedonians has put to death two of our number, and some of the other princes have gone over to Alexander with their harems.’
When Darius heard this, he wrote to the generals and satraps who were in the vicinity, telling them to make ready and assemble their troops. He also wrote to the nearby kings, as follows:
‘Darius, king of kings, greets you. Like a man who wipes away his sweat, we are going to make war against this tiresome race of Macedonians.’
Then he ordered the Persian army to be in readiness. And he wrote to Porus the king of the Indians, to ask for his help.
[‘Darius the unfortunate greets King Porus, the great god among gods. It is impossible even to write about our great misfortunes; but I suppose that you, my lord, have heard the bare essentials – that the Macedonian boy has attacked us like a bandit and has exiled us from our home, putting aside the slavish station that belongs to him. He is eager to make us his subjects and to extend his rule from east to west. The Persians were afraid of him and – I do not know why – were unable to resist him in battle. Therefore, I beg you in your magnificence not to put up with this, but to extend the hand of salvation to Darius your slave: then let me join battle once more with the Macedonians, so that they may learn not to take up arms against the gods. I know that the Indian army is unconquerable. Be moved by my letter, fulfil my heartfelt plea and agree to drive back the Macedonians who are pressing me hard. Take pity on my misfortunes. Farewell.’ γ-text]
12. When King Porus received Darius’ letter, he was distressed by his misfortunes, and answered as follows:
[Supplement E]
‘Porus, the king of the Indians, greets Darius the king of the Persians. When I read your letter to me, I was greatly distressed. I am in a quandary, because I would like to help you and to give good advice about these events, but I am prevented by this chronic illness of mine. But take heart, we shall be with you, even if we cannot hold off this assault. Write to me, therefore, what you require. My own forces are at your service, and the more distant nations will also obey my summons.’
When Darius’ mother heard of these goings-on, she secretly sent a letter to Darius, as follows:
‘Greetings to Darius, my son. I hear that you are gathering the peoples and preparing to go to war with Alexander again. Do not turn the world upside down, my son. The future is invisible to us. Let us hope for a turn for the better, and do not, by rash action in a critical moment, lose your life. We are held in great honour by King Alexander, and he has not treated me as the mother of an enemy, but has given us steadfast protection, as a result of which I hope we shall reach a good understanding.’
When Darius read this, he wept as he thought of his dear ones, but at the same time he was stirred up again to thoughts of war.
13. Alexander arrived with a great army in the land of Persia. The high walls of the city63 were visible to the Macedonians from a long way off. Then the cunning Alexander thought of a trick: he rounded up the flocks of sheep which were grazing there on the meadows, and tied branches from the trees to their backs; he then made the flocks march behind the army. The branches dragging behind them on the ground stirred up the dust, and the sandstorm reached up to Olympus, so that the Persians, as they looked out from their walls, thought that a vast army was coming against them. When evening came, Alexander ordered torches and candles to be tied to the horns of the sheep and set alight. The land was very flat, and the whole plain appeared as if it were on fire. The Persians were terrified.
Soon they came within five miles of the Persian city. Alexander was looking for someone to send to Darius to inform him when the battle was going to take place. While Alexander was asleep that night, he had a dream vision of Ammon standing by him in the guise of Hermes, with his messenger’s staff and his short cloak and stick, and wearing a Macedonian cap on his head. Ammon said, ‘Child Alexander, when you need help, I will be beside you; but if you send a messenger to Darius, he will betray you. So be your own messenger and go dressed just as you see me dressed now.’ Alexander replied, ‘It is dangerous for a king to be his own messenger.’ But Ammon said, ‘With god as your helper, no harm will attend you.’ Alexander obeyed the oracle; he got up delighted, and told his satraps about it. They advised him against the enterprise.
14. Alexander set off, however, accompanied by a satrap named Eumelus. He took three horses and went to the river called Stranga. 64 This river freezes over when it snows, so that its surface becomes as firm as a stone road, and beasts and wagons can cross over it. Then a few days later it melts and becomes fast-flowing again, and sweeps away in its current any who are caught crossing it.
Alexander found the river frozen. Putting on the garments that he had seen Ammon wearing in his dream, he mounted his horse and crossed over alone. Eumelus begged to be allowed to cross with him, in case he needed help, but Alexander said, ‘Stay here with the two horses. I have as my helper the god whose oracle told me to wear these clothes and to go alone.’
The river was about two hundred yards wide. Alexander rode on and came right up to the gates of Persia. The sentries, seeing him dressed as he was, took him for a god. They seized him and asked him who he was. But Alexander replied, ‘Bring me to King Darius; it is to him that I shall reveal who I am.’
Darius was outside the city on a hill, building roads and drilling his phalanxes for a fight against the Macedonian heroes. Alexander drew all eyes by his strange appearance, and Darius almost fell to his knees before him, thinking that he was one of the gods, who had come down from Olympus and dressed himself in barbarian garments. But Darius sat still, wearing his crown set with precious stones, his silk robes woven with gold thread in the Babylonian style, his cloak of royal purple, and his golden shoes studded with gems which covered his shins. He held a sceptre in either hand, and the troops around him were innumerable. [When Alexander saw him, he was somewhat afraid, but he remembered the oracle and did not turn tail, γ-text]
Seeing his visitor wearing clothes the like of which he had never seen before, Darius asked him who he was.
‘I am a messenger from King Alexander,’ Alexander replied.
‘Why have you come to us?’ asked Darius.
‘To inform you,’ replied Alexander, ‘that Alexander is close by. When are you going to join battle? You must know, your majesty, that a king who hesitates to go into battle makes plain to his opponent that his martial spirit is weak. So do not delay, but tell me when you intend to join battle.’
Darius was angry and said, ‘Am I making war against you or against Alexander? You are as impudent as Alexander himself, and make your replies as boldly as if you were a friend of mine. I am going now to have my accustomed meal; you shall dine with me, since Alexander served dinner to my messengers.’
So saying, Darius took Alexander by the arm and led him inside the palace. Alexander took it as a good omen that the tyrant took him by the arm. When they got inside the palace, Alexander was given the place of honour next to Darius at table. [Darius’ couch was at the head of the table. The second was taken by Darius’ brother Oxyathres, the third by Ochus the satrap of the Oxydracae; then there was Adulites the satrap of Susa, and Phraortes; next to him, the sixth, was Mithridates, and Tiridates the chief of the archers, then Candaules the black,… the lord of the Ethiopians, and next to him Polyares the great general. Also present were Orniphatos, Hodiones, Karterophotos, Sobarites and Delealkides. Opposite all these, all alone on a separate couch, was the magnificent Macedonian. A-text]
15. The Persians looked in amazement at Alexander because of his small stature, but they did not know that the glory of a celestial destiny was hidden in that little vessel.
As they began to drink more deeply, Alexander had an idea: he concealed every cup that he was given in the folds of his cloak. Those w
ho saw him mentioned it to Darius. Darius stood up and asked him, ‘My good man, why are you concealing those cups as you dine at my table?’ Alexander thought quickly and replied, ‘Great king, whenever Alexander holds a dinner for his squadron leaders and adjutants, he gives them the cups as presents. I assumed that you would do as he does, and I supposed that this was the right thing to do.’ The Persians were quite astounded when they heard what Alexander said. Any old tale can carry its listeners, if it is told with conviction.
Silence fell on the company, and a certain Paragages, 65 who was a prince of Persia, looked searchingly at Alexander. In fact he had recognized Alexander by his face, because the first time he had gone to Pella in Macedonia as ambassador from Darius to demand the tribute, he had been prevented from collecting it by Alexander. So after he had looked at Alexander for some time he said to himself, ‘This is the son of Philip, even if he has altered his appearance. Many men may be recognized by their voices, even in darkness.’ When he had finally assured himself that this was Alexander, he sat down beside Darius and said, ‘Great King Darius, ruler of all lands, this messenger from Alexander is in fact Alexander himself, the king of Macedon, the brave son of Philip.’ Darius and his fellow diners were already very drunk. But Alexander heard what Paragages said, and realizing that he had been recognized, he slipped out without anyone noticing, still carrying the golden goblets in his cloak, and left unobtrusively. He mounted his horse to escape the danger. At the gate he found a Persian sentry with a torch in his hand. He snatched this, killed the sentry, and left the Persian city.66
When Darius noticed that he had gone, he sent some armed Persians to capture him. But Alexander spurred his horse on and made swift progress. It was late at night and the sky was quite dark. A large number pursued him, but they did not capture him. Some kept to the passable country, but others fell over cliffs in the darkness. Alexander, however, was as bright as a star that rises alone in the sky, and so he led the Persians astray as he fled.
Darius was sitting on his bed, deeply disturbed. Then he saw an evil omen. A statue of King Xerxes, of which he was particularly fond because of its high artistic quality, suddenly fell through the ceiling.
Meanwhile Alexander, saved by the darkness, came at about dawn to the river Stranga. Just as he had crossed it, and his horse had placed its forefeet on the firm earth of the bank, the river melted in the sunshine. The horse was seized by the current and swept away, throwing Alexander to the ground as it slipped. The Persians who were in pursuit of Alexander came to the river after Alexander had crossed it; but they were unable to cross themselves and had to turn back. That river was impassable for any man. So the Persians returned to Darius and told him of Alexander’s lucky escape. Darius was stunned by the miraculous omen, and was deeply distressed.67
Alexander walked away from the river and found Eumelus waiting with the two horses as he had left him, and he told him all that had happened.
16. Alexander then went into the camp and immediately called all the phalanxes of the Greeks by name, ordering them to arm and be ready to fight Darius. He stood in their midst, encouraging them. When the whole army was assembled, he found that it numbered 120,000. He stood on a high place and made the following speech:
‘Fellow-soldiers, even if our numbers are small, our intelligence, our bravery and our strength are great in comparison with those of our foes the Persians. So let none of you allow thoughts of inferiority to enter his mind when he gazes at the multitude of the Persians: one of you with a naked sword can kill a thousand of the enemy. Let none of you be afraid: there may be 10,000 flies swarming in a field, but when the wasps arrive, they frighten the flies away simply by the buzzing of their wings. Numbers are nothing against intelligence; and the flies are nothing against the wasps.’
With these words Alexander encouraged his army; and they in turn became brave and cheered their king.
He then marched on towards the river Stranga, and indeed right up to its banks. Darius with his army also marched to the Stranga. Seeing it low, and frozen over, he began to cross, hastening over its wastes. He hoped to take Alexander’s army by surprise and find them unprepared, so that victory would be easy. Heralds went into the middle and called out the champions to battle. Darius’ whole army was in full armour. Darius himself was riding in a high chariot, and his satraps were mounted in chariots armed with scythes, while the rest carried cunningly-made weapons and mechanical spear-throwers. Alexander led the Macedonian troops, mounted on his horse Bucephalus; there was no other horse to match him.
Both sides played the trumpet-call for battle. Some began to throw stones, others to shoot arrows, which dropped from the sky like rain; others threw hunting spears, and others hurled lead slingshots until the sky was dark.
There was a tremendous mêlée of soldiers striking and soldiers being struck. Many were wounded with missiles and killed; others lay half-dead on the ground. The air was dark and reeked of blood. When many of the Persians had been horribly killed, Darius in terror pulled round the reins of his scythed chariot; as the wheels whirled, he mowed down a multitude of the Persians, like a harvester cropping the stalks of corn.
When he reached the river Stranga, he and those who were with him found the river frozen over. But so great were the numbers of the Persians and barbarians who wanted to cross the river and escape, that when they all poured on to the ice at once, it broke beneath them and the river bore away as many as it engulfed. The remaining Persians were killed by the Macedonians.68
Darius, however, got away safely to his own palace. There, throwing himself on the floor, he began to wail and weep, lamenting his misfortune, the loss of so great an army and the devastation of all Persia. Overcome by this catastrophe, he said, ‘King Darius, who was so great and ruled over so many peoples, and had made all the cities his slaves, he who was enthroned with the gods and rose up every day with the sun, has now become a friendless fugitive. True it is that no one can count on the future: if fate’s balance slips just a little to one side, it exalts the humble above the clouds and hurls others from their heights into Hades.’
17. So Darius lay, the loneliest of men, who had been king of so many nations. But after a while he pulled himself together and got up. He then composed a letter to Alexander, as follows:
‘Darius greets Alexander, my master. My father who gave me life, in his pride, had a great passion to make war on Greece, unsatisfied as he was with the gold and the other blessings he had inherited from our fathers. But although he was richer than Croesus, king of Lydia, he lost much gold and silver, and many tents before he died, and neither could he escape the death that awaited him. You, Alexander, have seen good fortune and disaster; renounce your ambitious plans. Pity us who flee to you as suppliants, now that we have lost all the nobility of Persia. Return to me my wife, my mother and my children; think of the tender hopes of a father. In exchange, I promise to give you all the treasure that is in Mysia and in Susa and in Bactria, which our father stored up for our country. I promise also that you shall be king over the lands of the Medes and Persians and the other nations for ever and ever. Farewell.’
When Alexander had learnt the contents of this letter, he assembled all his army and his commanders and ordered them to read out Darius’ letter. When the letter had been read, one of the generals, by name Parmenio, said, ‘If I were you, Alexander, I should accept the gold and the land that is offered to you, and should give back to Darius his mother and his children and his wife, after sleeping with them.’
Alexander smiled and replied,69 ‘No, Parmenio, I shall take everything from him. I am amazed that he proposes to ransom his family with what is my property, and even more that he promises to surrender to me a land that is already mine. He clearly does not realize that unless he defeats me in battle, all these things will be mine as well as his family. It is shameful and more than shameful that a man who has defeated men through his manliness should be defeated by women. So we shall continue to make war on him for what is ou
rs: I should not have entered Asia at all, if I had not believed it to be mine. If he was ruler of it before me, let him count his gain, in that he held another’s land for so long without suffering anything untoward.’
So saying, Alexander ordered the ambassadors from Darius to go back to him and tell him all this; but he would not give them a written letter. Then Alexander ordered those who had been wounded in the war to be nursed with every care, and those who had been killed to be buried with proper obsequies. He spent the winter in that place, and ordered the palace of Xerxes, which was the finest in the country, to be burnt;70 but a little later he changed his mind and ordered his men to stop.
18. Alexander saw that the tombs of the Persians were adorned with a great deal of gold. He saw the tomb of Nabonasar, who is called Nabuchodonosor71 in Greek, as well as the dedications of the Jews and the golden mixing bowls, so large as to be the work of heroes. Near by he saw the tomb of Cyrus. It was a twelve-sided free-standing tower, and Cyrus lay on the topmost floor in a golden coffin roofed over with glass, through which his hair and every feature could be seen.72
At the tomb of Cyrus were Greeks who had had their feet, noses or ears cut off, and were bound in fetters that were nailed fast to the tomb. They were Athenians. They begged Alexander to rescue them. Alexander wept when he saw them, for it was a terrible sight. He was deeply moved, and gave orders that they should be released, presented with 2,000 drachmas and repatriated to their own country. They took the money, but asked Alexander to allot them land there rather than sending them home to their country; looking as they did, they would shame their relatives. So he ordered allotments of land to be made for them, and grain and seed to be given to them, as well as six oxen each, sheep and everything that is necessary for farming, and other items besides.
The Greek Alexander Romance Page 12