Alexander
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human history.
THE MALLIANS
Nearchus now was instructed to bring the fleet down south from the Acesines to the territory of the
Mallians (Malavas), while Craterus and Philip (under Craterus’ command) were detailed to lead a
column down the right bank of the river. Hephaestion and Ptolemy were ordered to take two other
army groups down the left bank, Ptolemy following Hephaestion’s advance after three days, to
intercept stragglers.
Alexander himself then led a formidable force of hypaspists, archers, Agrianes, a heavy infantry
battalion, the mounted archers, and half the Companion cavalry out into the desert against the
Mallians. The ensuing campaign was as brutal as any waged thus far, and it nearly turned out to be
fatal to Alexander.
Marching toward the Hydraotes over mostly waterless country, Alexander surprised the first
Mallians he encountered and then stormed their towns. Those who fled the city that Perdiccas had
been ordered to capture were overtaken and massacred, except for some who found refuge in local
marshes.
Crossing the Hydraotes, Alexander pursued other refugees across the river and slew many of them.
Others were captured, and Peithon captured a stronghold to which some of the rest of the Mallians
had escaped. Those who were not killed in Peithon’s first assault were enslaved.
Alexander himself then led an attack upon a city of the Brahmans, where some of the surviving
Mallians were ensconced. These Brahmans were members of an ascetic religious sect. Alexander
was the first to climb up and hold one of the walls that the Macedonians had successfully undermined.
The rest of the Macedonians, feeling shame, followed Alexander’s example and finally captured the
citadel. Owing to their brave defense of their homes, up to 5,000 of the Indians fell, with only a few
survivors captured alive.
The residents of the largest Mallian cities abandoned their homes and took up a position on the
bank of the Hydraotes, intending to prevent Alexander from crossing. Eventually dislodged from the
bank by the Macedonians, the Mallian forces, numbering around 50,000, then took refuge in the most
strongly fortified of the cities nearby.
The next day Alexander divided up his army; giving command of half to Perdiccas and leading the
other half himself, he began his attack upon the wall of the city to which the surviving Mallians had
fled. After the Mallians abandoned the outer wall and fled into the citadel, Alexander and his troops
penetrated into the city, while those under Perdiccas’ command fell behind, having difficulty getting
over the wall. Most of Perdiccas’ men were not carrying ladders, apparently because they believed
that the city already had been captured. However, when it became obvious that many of the enemy
were still fighting from within the citadel, some of the Macedonians began to undermine the wall.
Others (now better equipped) set up ladders where they could and tried to force their way into the
citadel of the city.
Alexander, considering that the Macedonians who were bringing up the ladders were hanging back,
grabbed a ladder from someone, reared it up against the fortress wall, and climbed up, crouching
underneath his shield. Peucestas, one of the hypaspists, managed to climb up after, carrying with him
the sacred shield that Alexander had received from the temple of Athena at Troy. Peucestas was
followed by Leonnatus, one of Alexander’s seven personal bodyguards. Abreas, a veteran on double
pay for his exemplary service, also scampered up by another ladder.
By this time Alexander was up by the battlement. Leaning his shield against it, he pushed some of
the Indians off the wall and slew others with his sword, clearing that part of the wall of its defenders.
Down below, the Guards, fearing for the king’s safety, tried to make their way up the ladder he had
used. Their combined weight promptly broke it. The soldiers on the top rungs tumbled down. Now no
one could ascend the wall to help. Alexander was virtually alone.
The Indians on all the neighboring towers and the defenders within the city (positioned on some
kind of mound nearby), recognizing Alexander on the battlement by the splendor of his arms, let loose
a barrage of arrows and spears at their solitary target. None, however, dared to approach the king.
At this moment, we are told, Alexander felt that if he remained where he was he would be in
danger while achieving nothing of note. But if he leapt down within the wall he might, by that very
action, frighten the Indians. Moreover, if he must be endangered, at least he would not die ignobly, but
after accomplishing great deeds. In an instant, Alexander made his decision: he jumped down from the
wall into the citadel itself.
If the Mallians were stunned by Alexander’s bold action, they recovered admirably. Almost
immediately they attacked Alexander from every direction with every kind of weapon available. His
back to the wall on his left, and with a tree providing some protection on his right, Alexander fought
off these attacks, including one by the commander of the Indians. Two other Indians were driven off
by well-aimed stones. All who charged him were dispatched. After seeing this, the rest of the Indians
had second thoughts about close-quarter combat and held off. Surrounding the king at a safer distance
from all sides, they hurled every kind of missile at Alexander.
Fortunately for Alexander, at this moment Peucestas, Abreas, and Leonnatus, who had made it up to
the top of the battlement, also jumped down from the wall, and began to fight in his defense. Almost
immediately, however, Abreas was shot in the face by an arrow and killed. Next Alexander himself
was struck; the arrow went right through his corselet and entered his body above the right breast. In
his old age, Ptolemy recalled that air together with blood shot out from the wound. Soon there was a
violent hemorrhage, and Alexander pitched over his shield, giddy and faint. Peucestas stood over
Alexander, protecting his body with the sacred shield from Ilium. Leonnatus warded off attackers
while receiving a shower of missiles. Alexander was on the verge of fainting from his loss of blood.
He would have died there and then had not these men protected him.
The Macedonian assault force, meanwhile, having seen Alexander leap down into the town, used
every means to get up and over the wall. Some hammered pegs into the clay wall; others stood on
their comrades’ shoulders. Finally, someone managed to get up over the wall and reinforced
Peucestas and Leonnatus, who were still protecting Alexander. Alexander was now lying on the
ground, clearly near death. At this sight, first there was a lament, followed by the Macedonian battle
cry. A fierce battle then erupted over the fallen king, as first one Macedonian and then another held
his own shield over Alexander.
Eventually the bar that secured the gate between the city’s towers was severed and the fortress was
laid open. The Macedonians, believing that Alexander was dying or dead, slaughtered everyone they
met, including men, women, and children. No one was spared.
Once the Macedonians controlled the citadel, Alexander was carried away on his shield. Some
writers report that Critobulus, a doctor from the island of Cos, cut out the arrow that had wounded
Alexander, first severing its shaft, then enlarging th
e wound, and finally removing its barbed head.
Others wrote that since there was no surgeon available, at Alexander’s express order, Alexander’s
bodyguard Perdiccas cut the wound with his sword, and then pulled out the arrow. It was three feet
long and three inches thick. No one thought Alexander could live.
Indeed, a rumor quickly spread throughout the Macedonian camp that he had died. The news
brought distress and grief to the soldiers. Lamentation, however, quickly gave way to fear: without
their king the Macedonians despaired of getting home safely. They were surrounded by warlike
nations, some of whom had not yet surrendered. Others were certain to revolt, if the fear of
Alexander’s name were removed.
When word was brought to the Macedonians that Alexander was alive, few believed it. Even after
a brief letter came to the soldiers from Alexander himself, saying that he would shortly come to camp,
many of the soldiers were unconvinced: surely the letter was a forgery made up by Alexander’s
bodyguards and officers.
Alexander, realizing that a breakdown of discipline might ensue if the news of his death were not
squelched, had himself carried down to the bank of the Hydraotes. From there, he was borne by ship
downstream to the confluence of the Hydraotes and Acesines, where the troops were assembled. As
soon as the vessel drew near the camp, he ordered the awning over the stern to be taken off so that
everyone on the shore might see him. Still, many of the troops thought that they were being shown
Alexander’s corpse.
The ship was then brought up to the bank of the river. Seeing his soldiers, Alexander slowly raised
a hand in greeting. In relief, many of the soldiers burst into tears. As he was being taken off the ship,
some of the guards brought out a stretcher to carry the king ashore. Alexander ordered his horse to be
brought alongside instead. Once on shore, Alexander arose and mounted the horse. In awe, the whole
army clapped their hands again and again, and the sound reverberated up and down the river along the
banks and glens. Alexander rode through his soldiers toward his quarters. Near his tent he dismounted
from his horse and began to walk. But the men rushed toward him from all sides, touching his hands,
his knees, and his clothes. Others just looked on from near at hand. Some cast wreaths in his path,
some the flowers that bloomed in India at the time.
Later, after Alexander had recovered somewhat, his friends rebuked him for running so great a risk.
Alexander in turn was reported to have been angry at his friends because they had upbraided him for
playing the role of a soldier rather than that of a commander. Arrian comments that Alexander was
upset with his friends’ reproaches because he knew that they were true. But Alexander could not help
himself. Just as some men are overcome by some pleasure, because of his enthusiasm for battle and
passion for glory, Alexander simply was not strong enough to keep out of dangers.
Nearchus also claimed that an old Boeotian man, perceiving that Alexander was angry about his
friends’ criticism, came up to the king and said, “O Alexander, noble deeds are men’s work.” He then
added an iambic verse along the lines that suffering was the meed (reward) of him that does a great
deed. The old man was thereby said to have won Alexander’s instant approval and closer friendship.
Both Arrian and the Boeotian were right. Although he was a king, with all the responsibility that
position entailed, Alexander was also at heart a warrior. Indeed, to judge by his actions, Alexander
belongs to that very rare class of warriors who not only are superbly talented professionals, but who
also enjoy the combat itself. As someone who clearly relished combat and was willing to risk all,
Alexander had an enormous advantage over adversaries whose main goal was to survive. In boxing,
counter-punchers often win matches in the late rounds. In hoplite warfare, there usually were no late
rounds: the advantage belonged to the aggressor, and Alexander was always the aggressor. It is no
accident at all that most of the eight wounds he suffered during his campaigns came from missiles or
rocks thrown at him from a safe distance. No one who engaged Alexander in close combat ever
survived, in part because Alexander was always the one who initiated the action.
To many, the idea that there are such warriors, who enjoy the practice of their craft, is repulsive.
But there have always been such men and there always will be. To identify Alexander as belonging to
that elite, history’s virtuosos of violence, is not the same thing as celebrating the fact. But before we
condemn Alexander for his aptitude in this dark zone of human capacity, we should also keep in mind
that we often disparage such men—until the next time they are needed. Alexander at least was willing
to pay the price that accomplishing great deeds in combat has always required. He never sent out
anyone to do what he himself would not dare to venture. That is much more than can be said of many
of the modern tyrants to whom he has been fashionably compared.
THE BRAHMANS
While Alexander was recovering from his wound, envoys from the surviving Mallians and another
local tribe, the Oxydracae (Kshudraka), came to surrender, the latter bringing a gift of 500 chariots.
This gift was an implicit token of surrender. The Oxydracae had learned from the Mallians’
experience. Alexander appointed Philip as governor over them and the Mallians. New river craft also
were built, and 1,700 Companion cavalry, light infantry, and up to 10,000 heavy infantry embarked
upon the ships. Still convalescing, Alexander and the fleet then set off down the Hydraotes, first to its
confluence with the Acesines (Chenab), and following that to the Acesines’ intersection with the
Indus.
Here Perdiccas and his army joined Alexander, having received the submission of the Abastani on
the way. Philip, with all the Thracians and enough troops to garrison the country, was left there in
command, and was ordered to found a city at the juncture of the rivers. Alexander also ordered
dockyards to be built there so that the river should become a profitable conduit for trade. At this time
Roxane’s father, Oxyartes, also visited; he was made governor of Parapamisadae (Afghanistan). The
appointment was predicated upon the removal of Tiryaspes from the governorship of the province
because Tiryaspes had conducted his office ineffectively. Yet again Alexander had shown that he had
no patience with maladministration.
Craterus was then sent over to the left bank of the Indus with the elephants and most of the troops,
while Alexander sailed down the river to the royal palace of the Sogdai. Another new city was built
and fortified there, along with dockyards, while repairs were made to the damaged boats. Peithon and
Oxyartes were appointed to govern the country from the juncture of the Acesines and the Indus to the
sea, along with the coastal region of India. The size of this territory was an indication of how much
Alexander trusted his father-in-law. Desire aside, Alexander had married well.
Alexander then sailed with the fleet down to the kingdom of Musicanus, reportedly the richest
realm in India. Thus far, Musicanus had ignored Alexander. But when the Macedonians suddenly
appeared, he wisely offered submission. Alexander allowed him to retain his sovereignty, although
Middle Ages), and a garrison was installed in it.
After quickly subduing some neighboring cities, ruled over by a certain Oxycanus, Alexander set
off after Sambus, Musicanus’ local enemy and the governor of the Indian hill tribes. When Alexander
approached Sambus’ capital, Sindimana, Sambus’ relatives opened the gates to Alexander, bringing
out Sambus’ treasure and all of their elephants. Sambus himself had fled; his relations explained that
his flight was due, not to any personal enmity, but to Sambus’ alarm at the clemency Alexander had
shown toward his enemy Musicanus. For the moment Alexander seemed to accept their story.
Other cities that had revolted Alexander then captured and then enslaved the inhabitants. Afterward
he put to death a large number of the local Brahmans, who allegedly had been responsible for
encouraging the revolt. At least 80,000 Indians were killed and many captured (and then enslaved) in
this campaign. Meanwhile, despite his earlier acquiescence, Musicanus had revolted, too. He was
captured almost immediately by Peithon. Alexander had Musicanus and the Brahmans who had
instigated the revolt executed.
Harmatelia (or Harmata), the last independent city of the Brahmans, at first resisted Alexander, its
defenders fighting back fiercely with arrows smeared with the venom of snakes. All those struck by
the poisoned arrows died horrible deaths after suffering numbness, sharp pains, vomiting, and
gangrene. Ptolemy apparently was wounded by one of the poisoned arrows. His life was saved after
he drank an infusion from a plant that Alexander had seen in a dream being carried by a snake in its
mouth. Once Alexander had discovered this remedy, all the Macedonian wounded were cured, and
the army prepared to besiege Harmatelia. The Brahmans, however, having lost their secret weapon,
came out of the city with suppliant branches. Alexander spared them. It might have been a very
different story if Ptolemy had died.
It was amid these encounters, fatal to so many of the Brahmans, that Alexander’s helmsman
Onesicritus met Dandamis, an Indian philosopher. According to some sources, Dandamis’ only words