With these indications, Alexander soon spied him, and set off into the middle of the phalanx with 400 horsemen. They killed everyone there, and only Anaxarchus was left. Alexander got hold of him with only one thing in mind, to bring him alone back to his father. But Philip was at his last gasp.
‘Father,’ Alexander said to him, ‘stand up and take your revenge on your enemy who is in your hands.’
Anaxarchus was brought before him in chains. Philip, still breathing, leant on his hands and got up; then he took a sword and killed Anaxarchus. He anointed Alexander with the blood and spoke to the Macedonian army:
‘Let this be the fate of all who oppose Alexander and the Macedonians.’
Olympias was standing by, grieving. He looked at her and spoke with difficulty:
‘You too deserve admiration for having borne such a son.’
Then he cast his eye on Alexander, flung his arms round his neck, rested his head on his breast, and expired. The Macedonians mourned for him and carried him into the city on a golden bier. Then they buried him with the customary rites.
When the period of mourning was over, the Scythians came to Alexander to ask him for his decision. He sent them away to their own homes:
‘Depart, and conscript 30,000 distinguished warriors for my army, all archers. When I summon them, send them to me at once. If you will not do this, they will become my soldiers anyway because I shall come and raze your country.’
Then the Scythians made obeisance to Alexander and acclaimed him as a god. They went home and prepared to be his slaves, even to the fifth generation.
B: THE EMBASSY FROM DARIUS (I.26, p. 57)
The γ-text inserts here the embassy from Darius (this episode occurs in ch. 23 in the main text):
While affairs in the east were in this state, Darius, the king of the Persians, sent messengers to Macedonia to collect the annual tribute and return with it to him as quickly as possible. When they reached the city of Philip, they expected the king to come out to them in the usual way, and make obeisance to Darius’ letter, and receive the messengers with the appropriate honours. But Alexander did none of these things; instead he sent to them a man named Antiochus who happened to be with him. He was, like Alexander, a young man of about thirteen. With him went several of the chieftains, all wearing golden breastplates. Antiochus was carrying in his hand the spear of Alexander.
When they had left the city, Antiochus sent on an envoy with the following message from the king’s ambassadors: ‘Let this be a sign to you, you who have been sent by Darius, to come to us. Fall on your faces and pay homage to the spear of Alexander. If you refuse, you will be put to death at once.’
When Darius’ ambassadors heard this unaccustomed and unexpected speech, they were astonished. Reluctantly they did as they were told; they approached, paid homage to the spear of Alexander and kissed Antiochus’ feet. They did this in a spirit of fair exchange: they expected that whatever they did, the king would in return do to them. But Alexander took his seat on high, surrounded by Macedonian children who were dressed in silk robes and golden girdles. Alexander himself was dressed in the garments of the sun; on his head was a crown of gold, precious stones and pearls, with a victory on top of it. He resembled no one so much as Zeus himself. Those around him shone like stars, and between Alexander and the gates of the city there stretched a great multitude of armed men. All around there were cries, crashes, the sound of trumpets, blessings and jostling crowds. When Darius’ ambassadors were about to enter the city, Antiochus ordered the people to make way for them to approach Alexander, and they did as they were told. The messengers were both amazed and terrified: the unexpected is frightening to simple people. As they crossed the city, they did not know what to look at first, for everything was so amazing.
When they reached Alexander and set their eyes on him, they imagined they must be looking at a god; they fell down and worshipped him, and when they stood up again, they were reluctant to take their eyes off him; nor could they do so even if they wanted to: having forced their eyes to look down towards the ground, the eyes lifted up again of their own accord to Alexander, and could not get enough of the sight of him. They kissed the letter three times and handed it to Alexander. Antiochus took it and read it out to him. The contents were as follows:
‘Whereas the power of monarchy has been granted by god to Darius alone – and what god is there besides Darius? – who has become lord of all that is below heaven by virtue of his limitless might. He rules kings and satraps. Nevertheless, be it known that our power does not forget Macedonia. If it has been forgotten up to now, these heavenly mortals present here, who have been sent by us, will demonstrate everything that concerns us. Though you have tried to rule Macedonia independently of our divine Providence, you will submit as slaves and in reverence to our power. You will hand to these my ambassadors the annual tribute, and concur in the rule of my divine majesty from hence-forward.’
The γ-text continues with Alexander’s refusal of the Persians’ demands, the story as in ch. 23, and then moves to the numbering of the army in ch. 25.
C: ALEXANDER IN ROME (I.27, p. 61)
The γ-text adds here:
Leaving there, Alexander went on to capture Rome. Near there, ambassadors of all the nations came and made obeisance before him, bringing him gifts of gold and silver, countless in number, and promising him their allegiance. He captured Rome; the Romans came out to meet him with drums and dances, bearing branches of bay in their hands, and went up to him and addressed him as ruler of all the world. He entered the city and went to the temple of Capitoline Jupiter, where the priest welcomed him and made him his guest.
While they were in Rome, Laomedon, who had ridden in the chariot with Alexander, arrived with 50,000 men to make himself Alexander’s ally, bringing gifts of gold and precious stones and pearls. Alexander welcomed him with generous enthusiasm: ‘My brave fellow,’ he said, ‘you have come to be my ally in the war against Darius.’ Then he left Rome at sunset, and no one stood in his way. All the kingdoms of the west came to meet him, flattering him with gifts and inviting him to come and visit their countries. Alexander accepted the gifts and turned about, leaving Laomedon in charge of all those places; the latter assessed tribute for all of them for the next twelve years.
Then Alexander changed direction and headed for the south: there he subdued many diverse races, passed through the inhabited world and came to the uninhabited regions, reaching as far as Ocean. In those regions he found men with two heads, whom he fought and defeated; they ran away from him. There he also found very large and ugly women, fiercer in battle than any others he had encountered. When they ran, they rested their breasts on their shoulders; and they were clothed only in their own shaggy pelts. They made their attack flying in the air on wings – the Macedonians were quite bewildered when they saw the women flying into battle. When Alexander saw them, he ordered fires to be lit and held up on high; the women, who were ignorant of fire, swooped down on them, had their wings burnt and were unable to take off again. They were finished off where they had fallen by the soldiers’ swords, although killing 100 of the soldiers with their claws. That is how the soldiers escaped, though only with difficulty. As they could not go any further, since Ocean blocked their way, they took the left bank of Ocean, headed for the north and regained the inhabited regions. After many wars against the barbarians, Alexander subdued the whole of the west.
D: ALEXANDER IN SYRIA (I.35, p. 70)
The γ-text adds here:
Opposite them General Seleucus built a city called Nicatoria. Antiochus built Antioch-in-Asia. Alexander was angry and said to them: ‘We have left Macedon and traversed the whole world; now that we have arrived in Asia, are we going to learn how to found Macedonian cities and abandon our military good sense?’
36. He set off again and passed Syria. He turned his footsteps to the East. All those he encountered begged him for forgiveness; but if any dared to resist him, he had their cities destroyed to the fo
undations, and his broad sword mowed them down. Fear and trembling ran through all the East, so that the people left their cities and fled. The news reached Darius through those who were fleeing home. ‘O king,’ they said, ‘there is no hope of safety for us from this race of Macedon: we are lost. Very soon he will have reached even here.’
E: POHUS (II.12, p. 100)
The γ-text adds here:
When Porus had received Darius’ letter and read it, he shook his head and said, ‘Now Darius, who was once the equal of the gods, is on the run before the Macedonians.’ He called together his generals and regional commanders, and said, ‘Take 50,000 horsemen and go to Darius as allies. If you get the Macedonians in your power and capture Alexander, bring him to me alive, so that I can see him. I have a yearning to set eyes on the boy.’
F: ALEXANDER IN JUDAEA AND EGYPT; THE INTERIOR AND THE RIVER OF SAND (II.22, p. 114)
The γ-text continues with a section that deals with Alexander’s relations with the Jews and his reception in Egypt (it is the only version to contain this account); and it repeats adventures that occur in II.8.
When this became known to everyone in Persia, the Persians entered into concord with the Macedonians and they regarded each other as brothers.
23. In the meantime, Alexander ordered his general, Seleucus, to assemble the whole Persian army. Seleucus gathered the troops together with all speed: there were found to be 1,030,000 horsemen and 4,000,000 foot-soldiers; the rest had been killed in the war. Alexander united these men with his Macedonian army and marched towards Egypt.
24. On the way he reached Judaea. The Jews wanted to resist him and sent out spies, who presented themselves as ambassadors. But Alexander was not deceived. He ordered some of the most warlike young men of the Macedonian phalanx to ambush them in a nearby ravine; they hastened to carry out their orders. The Macedonian troops were always swift to obey Alexander. Then he turned to the would-be spies.
‘See,’ he said, ‘you ambassadors of the Jewish race: death is as nothing to a Macedonian soldier. Go therefore and do what is appropriate. I shall come to you tomorrow and shall do whatever is approved by Providence.’
They went away and told their leaders: ‘It would be best to save our skins and yield to Alexander; otherwise there is no hope of safety. The Macedonian army is of superhuman nature. While we are afraid of death, the Macedonians are not at all; they simply despise it. It seems to us that they make death a matter of competition, so that you would think it was actually a necessity to them. The sons of Macedon surprised us in a ravine and poured arrows down like rain: no sooner had Alexander given the orders than it was done. It was not their bravery in the face of death that astonished us, so much as their lack of expectation of any reward. They simply marched of their own free will towards death. If there is profit to be made as well, no one will be able to resist them. Well, we have told you what we saw: now you can make up your minds how to deal with Alexander when he arrives; let all indecision be put aside.’
When the leaders had heard this, they gave orders to surrender to Alexander. The priests dressed themselves in their priestly robes and went out to meet him, together with a multitude of followers. When Alexander saw them, he was frightened at their appearance, and ordered them to approach no further but to return to the city. Then he summoned one of the priests.
‘Your appearance is like that of gods,’ he said. ‘Tell me, what god do you worship? I have never seen priests of any of our gods dressed like this.’
‘We serve one god,’ the priest replied, ‘who made heaven and earth and all that is visible and invisible. No mortal man can discover him.’
‘You are worthy priests of the true god,’ responded Alexander. ‘Go in peace. Your god shall be my god and my peace shall be with you. I shall not treat you as I have done the other nations, because you are servants of the living God.’
Then they brought quantities of gold and silver to Alexander. He was reluctant to accept it.
‘Let these gifts, as well as the tribute I decreed, be dedicated to the Lord God. I myself will take nothing from you.’
25. Then Alexander crossed Judaea and reached Egypt. The Egyptians decided not to give in to Alexander, and they fortified their city and got ready for a battle. Alexander extended his phalanx and surrounded the city; then he constructed trenches and gave his troops some rest. As the summer heat was very intense, he went out with a few horsemen to cool down. He came to a pure lake of crystal-clear water, got down from his horse and washed in it. But the cold of the water made him ill. As his sickness worsened, the Macedonians were distressed, and so were the Persians. Soon the Egyptians realized that Alexander was ill: they sent some men from the city to Philip, Alexander’s doctor, saying, ‘If you can kill Alexander with a poison, you shall be our king.’131
‘What is this you are saying about Alexander?’ retorted Philip. ‘The whole universe is not worth one hair of his head.’
They took counsel, and, seeing that Philip was not going to co-operate with them, they made another plan. Pretending to be well-disposed to Alexander, they wrote him a letter and passed it secretly through the walls to Antiochus, with the words, ‘Give this letter to Alexander in person.’ The letter was chock-full of wickedness, claiming that Philip had been suborned by the Egyptians to murder Alexander. Antiochus took the letter to Alexander, read it out and put it on his pillow. At dawn, Philip came with a cup of medicine.
‘Get up, your majesty, drink this medicine which will drive away your sickness.’
Alexander stood up, took the cup and said, in tears, ‘Shall I drink it, Philip?’
‘Drink, your majesty,’ replied the doctor. ‘It will drive away your sickness.’
Alexander looked at him again and said, ‘Then I will drink it.’
‘Yes, your majesty, I told you: it will drive away your sickness.’
Alexander drank it. He then picked up the letter and gave it to Philip.
‘I could see,’ he said, ‘that Philip is without guile towards Alexander.’
Philip took the letter and read it.
‘Your majesty,’ he said, ‘the whole universe would not repay the destruction of a single hair of your head. Where in the world should I find another Alexander? Why should I plot against your life? Far be it! Do not take any notice of all this, your majesty. Nevertheless, since this is what the Egyptians decided to do, see, you have drunk the medicine. Rise up now and show them what we are like, so that they will learn not to despise the Macedonians.’
Then Philip went out, instructing him to keep silence on the matter.
After this, Alexander fell into a deep sleep, which lasted the whole day. When evening came, he woke up completely cured. He called Antiochus to him.
‘Antiochus, I have seen Philip’s medicine, and he is a trustworthy man, worth many others. Call him.’
Antiochus went out and called Philip. Alexander told him that he was now quite well, and fell on his neck and embraced him.
26. He got up and ordered the army to prepare for war. As the sun was rising and casting its flaming rays against the mountain ridges, the Macedonian and Persian army, fully armed, surrounded the city, all dressed in their golden breastplates, so that when the sun’s rays fell on them they seemed to gleam back as bright as the day itself. The multitude of their arrows darkened the rays of the sun. The hoplites with their raised spears looked like walking mountains. When they shouted, you would have thought the sky was falling in pieces. So all the wisdom of Egypt was destroyed.
When the Egyptians saw this, they had no idea what to do, so they went to the oracle of Apollo to inquire how they should escape their danger and be saved. The oracle ran: ‘Let be, let be. The mind of man is inconstant. When you were young, you obeyed an old man; now that you are old, you obey a young one. Go to my house. Remember how things used to be. I order you to submit to Alexander.’
Then they remembered the old oracle given when Nectanebo fled the country, and guessed that Alexander was
Nectanebo’s son.
The Macedonian soldiers and the captains close to the walls heard voices from within which were acclaiming Alexander: ‘Long live King Alexander,’ they said. And the cries were heard beyond the walls, but none of those inside dared show their faces because of the quantity of missiles raining down. When the Macedonians heard these voices, at once they began to laugh; the laughter spread to the whole army and the sound of warfare was mingled with laughing. Word was brought to Alexander that those within the city were acclaiming him, and at once he relented and gave orders to cease the bombardment. When this was done and the battle had eased off, the Egyptians dared to poke their heads over the walls, and began to beseech Alexander in submissive tones: ‘Have mercy, your majesty, on your own country. Do not persist in your anger towards your slaves.’ When Alexander heard the bit about ‘your country’, he understood, and ordered the battle to cease altogether; he ordered those who wished to come out of the city to do so and explain this statement.
‘I am not an Egyptian. I am from Macedonia. Why do you say that Egypt is my country?’
They fell at his feet and told him about the oracle, and how Nectanebo had once been their king, in the days when Egypt saw good fortune. ‘But now all Egypt is divided into tribes, as is the custom with us. Take your city, therefore, and do what seems proper to you.’
When Alexander was told about the oracle, he, took to heart what concerned himself and ordered the war to cease, and the leaders of the city to go in with him and lead him to the palace of Nectanebo. This was done with all speed.
27. The Egyptians all rushed and fell at Alexander’s feet, and accompanied him to Nectanebo’s palace. Now they had exchanged their sorrow for rejoicing: for when a besieged city is captured, endless oppression is the lot of its inhabitants, as they see their country taken over by the enemy. But in this case the Egyptians were joyful because they had been liberated from oppression. They did not lead Alexander as a conquering enemy but as a king, acclaiming him and cheering and shouting, ‘Egypt rules again.’
The Greek Alexander Romance Page 19