Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus

by Quintus Curtius Rufus

  Under these kings for about 230 years the Persian realm enjoyed remarkable prosperity, as long as the nation during its difficult beginnings remained a stranger to pleasures and fought valiantly for freedom, glory, and power (Arr v. 4. 5). As time went on, after it seemed to have gained the rewards of Virtue, it neglected her, not so safe in its own strength as in the fame of the power won by its ancestors and in the use of riches, with which it fought more successfully against the Greeks than with arms. Finally, when against the might of Alexander it was effecting too little by gold, and, since all external aid was failing it, it had to depend upon itself, broken am effeminated as it was by pleasures and soft living, it could not resist the course of its falling fortune. For necessity arouses courage, luxury and idleness follow wealth.

  On hearing of the death of Philip, by whose good fortune and preparations they had been terrified, the Persians were freed from all fear (Diod xvii. 7. 1); they scorned the youth of Alexander, imagining that he would be satisfied if he were allowed to walk about safely within the walls of Pella. But when one message after another told of his wars and his victories, more and more dreading the youth whom they had so far despised, they prepared aid with the greatest care, as if for a long and cruel war. And since by experience in former battles they had learned that the Asiatic soldiers were unequal to the European, they sent recruiting officers to Greece and hired 50,000 vigorous young men (Curt v. 11. 5). The Rhodian Memnon was given command of these forces, since in many previous wars he had abundantly convinced the Persians of his trustworthiness and valour (Diod xvii. 7. 2). He, being sent to seise Cyzicus, by swift marches came through Phrygia, where it joins the Troad, to Mount Ida, which by its very name shows the nature of its situation: for the ancients called places thickly set with trees Idas. It is the highest of the mountains of Hellespontus (Diod xvii. 7. 4 ff.), and in its midst is the cave in which the Trojan judge is said to have looked upon the beauty of the goddesses. It is also said to be the native land of the Idaean Dactyli, or Corybantes (Diod l c.) who, instructed by the Great Mother (Cybêlé) first discovered the twofold use of iron, a most cruel tool of rage and not less useful as an aid to poverty and toil. It is also deserving of wonder that at the rising of the dog-star, when the winds are violent at its base, the air at the summit of Ida is quiet; also it is remarkable for the strange appearance of the sun at early dawn (Diod l c.; Lucr v. 662jf.; Mela i. 18.

  At the foot of Ida the territory of Cyzicus extends into the Propontis (Strabo xiii p. 582); the town itself is situated on a small island, and is connected with the mainland by a bridge. But this work was constructed a little later by Alexander; at the time of Memnon’s expedition the crossing was made by ships. When Memnon had vainly tried to terrify the Cysiceni by a sudden attack and they defended their walls vigorously, he pillaged their territory and amassed great booty from it. Nor were the Macedonian leaders idle; Parmenion stormed Grynion, a town of Aeolis, and enslaved the inhabitants. Then crossing the Caïcus river, he attacked Pilanê, a rich city and convenient with its two harbours for receiving forces from Europe; but on the speedy arrival of Memnon the siege was at once raised. Then Calas, who was making war in the Troad with a small force of Macedonians and mercenaries, fought with the Persians; but being no match for the large army of the enemy, he withdrew to Rhoeteum.

  Meanwhile Alexander, having arranged matters in Greece and returned to Macedonia, was deliberating with his friends as to what ought to be guarded against or attended to by one who was going to enter upon so great a war. Antipater and Parmenion, his oldest and most influential friends, protested that he ought not in his one person to expose the safety of the whole empire to the wiles of Fortune; that he ought rather to provide for having offspring, and having thus secured the safety of his fatherland, should then think of its aggrandizement (Diod xvii. 16. 1, 2). And, in fact, no one of Philip’s blood survived who was fit to rule except Alexander, since the offspring of Cleopatra had been destroyed by Olympias; Arrhidaeus, it was thought, would dishonour Macedonia by reason of his mother’s race (Plut. Alex. Ixxvii. 5) and his own disordered mind.

  But the king, impatient of inaction, was thinking of nothing but war and of glory won by victory. Therefore he said; “You, indeed, as becomes good men and lovers of your country, are not without reason anxious about its advantages and disadvantages. For it is a difficult task that faces us; who would deny that? If, after having rashly begun it, the result shows that we were overhasty, repentance when it is too late will avail nothing. For it is before we set sail that we consult whether we wish to sail or to remain in port; when we have trusted ourselves to the winds and waves, our whole voyage is exposed to their will. Therefore I am not displeased that your opinion differs from mine; rather I praise your frankness, and pray you that, in further questions which shall be referred to you, you may follow the same method. Friends of kings, if any deserve that name, have regard in advising them, not so much to their favour as to their advantage and honour. He who advises doing differently than he himself would do, does not instruct the one who consults him, but deceives him.

  “Furthermore, to let you also know the reason for my feeling, I am sure that nothing is less favourable to my plans than delay. When all the barbarous country around Macedonia is subdued, and the disturbances of the Greeks are ended, shall we suffer our valiant and most successful army to waste away in inaction and idleness; or shall we rather lead it into the rich region of Asia, possession of which they have long since enjoyed in their hopes, seeking from the spoils of Persia the rewards for the labours which for a long time they endured under my father’s rule, and now for the third year under mine? The reign of Darius is still new, and by killing Bagoas (Curt v. 4.10), through whose favour he rules, he incurs among his subjects the suspicion of cruelly and ingratitude, things which fit the best of subjects with haired for their rulers, and make them slower to obey, or even inflexible. Shall we sit quiet until his authority is strengthened, and until, having quieted matters at home at his leisure, he shall even bring war into Macedonia? There are many rewards for speed, which, if we delay, will belong to the enemy. The first impression on men’s minds is followed by great importance in matters of this kind, and that impression is gained by one who anticipates his enemy. In fact, no one gains the reputation for greater strength by delay; furthermore, he who declares war is regarded as stronger than he against whom war is declared, “Again, with how great danger to my own repute shall I disappoint the hope of those who have judged that the honour ought to be bestowed on me in my youth which a great commander, my father, after so many proofs of valour, obtained only a little before his death? For certainly the assembly of the Greeks did not vote us the command in order that in Macedonia, slothful and devoted to base pleasure, we might neglect the wrongs formerly and lately inflicted on the Greek name; but that the Persians might pay the penalty for those crimes which with the greatest insolerlce they have basely and wantonly committed against us (Diod xvii. 5. 3 ff.). What shall I say of those nations of the Greeks which, widely spread through Asia, the intolerable slavery of barbarian nations oppresses? I shall not repeat the prayers with which, and the arguments with which, Delius the Ephesian pleaded their cause (Plut adv. Colotem 50), since you yourselves remember them. It is certainly sure that all those nations, as soon as they see our standards, will immediately cross over to us, and will vigorously encounter any danger in behalf of their liberators and their defenders against severe and unjust masters.

  “And yet why do we, forgetful of our courage and the weakness of our enemies, look about for aid against nations which even to have conquered a little too slowly would be more shameful than glorious? In the time of our fathers great armies of the enemy vainly resisted a few Lacedaemonians who had marched into Asia (Plut. Agesil viii ff.). They suffered Phrygia, Lydia, Paphlagonia to be pillaged; or whenever they tried to prevent it, they were cut down until their enemies were sated; finally Agesilaiis, recalled by his countrymen because of disturbances which had arisen
in Greece, allowed them in their terror and confusion time to recover their breath. A few years earlier barely 10,000 Greeks (Xen. Anab it ff.) without leaders or supplies opened a way homeward with the sword from the innermost parts of Asia, although they were followed by the whole army of the king, that army with which he had fought for the throne with his brother Cyrus and defeated him. We, therefore, whom all Greece, subdued in so many battles, obeys, we who have either slain their bravest men in battle or have them in our camp, shall we forsooth fear Asia, on which those whom we have defeated have with small numbers inflicted shameful losses?”

  Then, when he had added other remarks in the same purport, he so moved their feelings that all assented; even Parmenion, who had especially advised that the war be postponed, agreed that the greatest haste should be made, and now even urged Alexander on. Therefore, every care being directed towards hastening their departure, at Dium, a city of Macedonia, the king offered to Jupiter a sacrifice instituted by Archelaüs (Arr i. 11. 1; Diod xvii. 16. 3 ff). He also celebrated scenic plays in honour of the Muses for nine days, corresponding to the number of the goddesses. After this, a banquet was given with the greatest magnificence in an adorned tent which contained a hundred couches (Diod l c.); there Alexander reclined with his friends and generals and with the envoys from the states. He also ordered that the victims be distributed through the army, and that other things be furnished by which the day set aside for rejoicing and festal feasts might he spent with favourable omens for the coming war.

  In the early spring, bringing together his forces from every side, he crossed into Asia, leading an army mightier in strength than in numbers. Parmenion led 30,000 infantry; of these the Macedonians amounted to 13,000, there were 5000 mercenaries (Diod xvii. 17. 3-4), and the remaining force the allies and the federated states had sent. Philotas led 1800 Macedonian horsemen (Curt vi. 9.21; Diod l c.), Calas the same number from Thessaly; from the rest of Greece 600 horsemen in all came, of whom the king gave the command to Erigyius. Cassander was at the front of the army with 900 Thracian and Paeonian scouting cavalry. This army, with supplies provided for not more than thirty days, he did not hesitate to oppose to countless numbers of barbarians, relying on the valour of his men, who, having grown old in victory, were invincible, in strength of spirit and in the use of arms, by any number of enemies.

  To Antipater (Arr i. 11. 3; Diod xvii. 17. 5), to whom he had entrusted the affairs of Macedonia and Greece with 12,000 footsoldiers and 1500 horsemen, he gave instruction to hold frequent levies in Europe, by which any losses which the army might suffer in battle or from disease might be made good. This one thing he had reserved for himself when he was lavishing everything on his friends; for whatever could be spared without danger to the majesty of the kingdom he distributed among his friends before embarking on the ships. Perdiccas did not wish to accept the share which was given to him, but asked the king what, pray, he would leave for himself, to which the king replied: “Hope.” Whereupon Perdiccas said; We who serve under your auspices will be sharers in that also” (Plut. Alex xv. 2). A few followed his example; the rest did not; nay, on being asked where his own treasures were, Alexander replied with truth: “In the hands of my friends” (Amm xxv. 4. 15). And, in fact, having cast the die with reference to his most important affairs, he seemed wisely to have invested the funds which he had; for if victor, he would obtain far greater wealth, and in the meantime he had more eager helpers.

  In truth, the king was all but reduced to his immediate necessities when he was giving away lands and estates and revenues which were not yet realized; for he had merely put aside money for use in war, of which the less the abundance was, the more wisely was it administered. Indeed, when Philip was assassinated, there was found in the treasury less than sixty talents in coined money, besides a few gold and silver cups (Arr vii. 9. 6), while he left about 500 talents of debt. For although he had greatly increased the power of the Macedonian kingdom, and had so improved the gold mines at Crenidae, to which he himself gave the name of” Philippi” (Diod xvi. 8. 6), that an annual revenue of 1000 talents was realized from them, he had by constant wars and not less by largess made heavy drains upon the treasury. He had also spent great sums in restoring and adorning Macedonia, which he had received in a state of extreme poverty. Many have recalled that at the beginning of his reign he was poor, and that having a gold cup worth 500 drachmas, he kept it under his pillow when he went to bed (Athen iv. 155 d; vi. 231 b).

  It was the son of this king who attacked in war the king of the Persians, for whom there were kept under his head and under the feet of his bed in special places while he slept 5000 talents of gold for his pillow and 3000 of silver for his foot-stool. And yet Alexander had added to the debts of his father 800 talents, which he had borrowed 36 (Arr vii. 9. 6), of which hardly a tenth part remained. He is said to have divided his goods to the music of the flute of Timotheiis (Himerius, in Photius), to the great enthusiasm of the soldiers, who with firm confidence destined for themselves the wealth of the barbarians whom they were on their way to attack (Justin xi. 5. 8).

  Alexander, carried through the lake which, from the name of a neighbouring mountain, they call Circinitis (Arr i. 11. 3), in which he had his ships, into the Strymon, went on to Amphipolis, and from there to the della of the Strymon. Having crossed this and passed Mount Pangaeum, he entered on the road leading to Abdera and Maronea (Arr l c.). For he had decided to make his march along the shore, in order to defend his ships, which were sailing near by, in case the Persians should happen to fall in with them; for at that time the Persians held command of the sea. From there he hastened to the river Hebrus, crossed it without difficulty, and on the twentieth day after leaving home reached Sestus, at the extreme end of the mainland overlooking the Hellespont, where a narrow strait separates Asia from Europe. When he came to Sestus, he ordered the greater part of his forces, led by Parmenion, to go to Abydus on the opposite shore, giving him for the purpose 160 triremes and many transport ships. He himself with the rest went to Elaeus, sacred to Prolesilaiis, whose tomb is there (Ildt ix. 116). Around the tomb are many elms, whose leaves, on the branches facing Ilium, fall off, thus typifying (it is believed) the sad fate of the hero, who was the first victim of the Trojan war. To him Alexander paid funeral offerings, praying that he himself might touch the hostile shore under better auspices. Then with fifty ships of war he went to Sigeum, whose harbour had held the Greek fleet in Trojan times. When he was sailing in the midst of the waters of the Hellespont ( for he was the steersman of his own ship) he sacrificed a bull to Neptune and the Nereids, and threw the golden cup from which he had made libation into the sea, as a gift to the marine gods. When he had reached port, the king, having hurled a spear into the shore, was first with balanced body to leap ashore, calling the gods to witness that he wished, with their kindly aid, to claim possession of Asia in a just and pious war (Justin xi. 5. 10). Then he set up altars where he had landed to Jupiter of Safe Landing, Minerva, and Hercules (Arr i. 11. 7). He also ordered altars to be built in the place whence he had set sail from Europe.

  From Sigeum he entered the plains where the site of ancient Ilium was shown. There, while he was eagerly surveying the memorials of the work of the heroes, one of the natives promised him the lyre of Paris (Plut. Alex xv. 5), but the king replied: “I care nothing for the vile instrument of cowardly wantonness; but give me the lyre of Achilles, sounding the praises of brave men with the same hand with which he surpassed their deeds.” For he was wont especially to admire Achilles, in his descent from whom he gloried; he even ran naked with his friends around the hero’s gravestone, and after anointing it with oil placed a garland upon it (Plut. Alex xv. 4; Arr i. 12. 1). Hephaestion crowned the tomb of Putroclus, signifying that he held the same place in the friendship of Alexander that Patroclus did in that of Achilles. In the course of much talk about Achilles, the king said that the Greek hero seemed to be happy for two reasons; both because in life he had a faithful friend and because after death he
had a mighty herald (Arr i. 12. tombs are shown in those lands and offered sacrifice to Priam at the altar of Hercius, god of enclosures (Arr i. 11. 8), either to placate the manes of a man slain by a descendant of Aeacus, or on account of the kinship which he was supposed to have with the people of Ilium because Neoptolemus had married Andromache, the wife of Hector (Justin xvii. 3. 5). Having ascended to Ilium, he hung up his armour in the temple of Minerva and took down another suit which was said to have lasted since the Trojan war, and it is said that he was clad in this when he fought with the satraps of Darius at the river Granicus (Diod xvii. 18. 1). In general, he delighted in elegant arms and kept them in fine condition. Some of them were spoils taken in war, others were gifts of kings and peoples. His arms were for a long time venerated in later ages; one of the Roman generals after subduing Pontus (Pompey; App. De Bell. Mith xii. 117) adorned his triumph with Alexander’s cloak, another (Caligula; Suet. Calig. 19. 2) rode over the bridge, which he had made across the sea in imitation of Darius and Xerxes, clad in a breastplate of Alexander.