Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus

by Quintus Curtius Rufus

  [9] The king, who alone was able to endure such a disaster, went about among the soldiers, brought together those that were scattered, lifted up those who had fallen, and pointing out the distant smoke that rolled up from some huts, urged each man to resort to [10] the nearest places of refuge. And nothing contributed more to their safety than that they were ashamed to fail the king, who in spite of redoubled toil was able to endure the hardships to which they themselves [11] had succumbed. Moreover, necessity, which in adversity is more effective than reason, found a remedy for the cold; for they began to cut down the woods everywhere with adzes and set fire to the heaps [12] and piles of wood. You would have thought that the forest was ablaze with a continuous conflagration and that amid the flames hardly room was left for the troops. This heat aroused their benumbed bodies, and gradually their breath, which the cold had [13] checked, began to pass freely. Some took refuge in the huts of the barbarians, which necessity had tracked out though they were hidden in the inmost part of the woods, others in the camp which they pitched on ground that was indeed wet, but already the severity of the weather was moderating. That plague destroyed 2000 soldiers, not counting sutlers and batmen. It is reported that some were seen stuck to the trunks of trees, looking as if they were not only alive but even talking together, still keeping the posture in which death had overtaken them.

  [15] It chanced that a Macedonian common soldier, hardly able to stand up and hold his weapons, had nevertheless reached the camp. On seeing him the king, although he himself was just then warming himself beside a fire, leaped up from his chair, and taking his armour from the exhausted and hardly [16] conscious soldier, bade him sit in his own seat. For a long time the man did not realize where he was resting nor by whom he had been rescued. At last, when he had recovered his vital heat and saw the [17] royal seat and the king, he arose in terror. Alexander, looking kindly at him, said: “Do you understand, soldier, how much better a life you all have under a king than the Persians have? For with the Persians, to have sat in the king’s seat would have been a capital crime, with you it has saved your life.”

  [18] On the next day, having called together his friends and the leaders of his forces, he ordered it to be proclaimed that he himself would make good all that [19] had been lost. And he kept his promise. For Sisimithres had brought in many pack-animals and 2000 camels, besides flocks and herds; these were distributed equally and saved the soldiers both from [20] loss and from hunger. The king, greatly pleased by the requital made him by Sisimithres, on his way to the Sacae ordered the soldiers to carry with them cooked food enough for six days. Having devastated all that region, he gave Sisimithres a gift of 30,000 cattle from the booty.

  [21] From there he came into the province governed by Oxyartes, an illustrious satrap, who submitted himself to the power and good faith of the king. Alexander restored his dominion to him, and made no further requirement than that two of the satrap’s [22] three sons should serve as his soldiers. Oxyartes delivered to him also the son who was left with him, and prepared a banquet of oriental magnificence, at [23] which he entertained Alexander; while this was being celebrated with great friendliness, the satrap ordered thirty high-born maidens to be brought in. Among these was his own daughter, Roxanê by name, a maiden of remarkable beauty of person, and of a dignity of bearing uncommon among barbarians.

  [24] She, although she had entered among an elite group, yet drew the eyes of all to her, especially of the king, who by now had less mastery over his passions amid the constant indulgence of Fortune, against whom [25] mortal man is not sufficiently on his guard. And so he, who had looked upon the wife of Darius and his two maiden daughters, to whom none save Roxanê could be compared in beauty, with no other feeling than that of a father, was then so transported with love for this little maiden, of obscure birth in comparison with royal stock, that he said that it was important for establishing his empire that Persians and Macedonians be joined in wedlock; that only in that way could shame be taken from the conquered and [26] haughtiness from the victors. Achilles also, he said, from whom he traced his ancestry, had united with a captive maiden; lest the vanquished should think that a wrong was being done to them, he wished to be joined with Roxanê in lawful wedlock.

  The father was elated with unexpected joy on hearing the king’s words and Alexander, in the full tide of his ardent passion, ordered a loaf of bread to be brought in according to his country’s custom — this among the Macedonians was the most sacred pledge of those contracting marriage — which was cut in two [28] with a sword and tasted by each. I suppose that those who established the customs of the race wished by a frugal and common food to show to those who were about to unite their resources with how little [29] they ought to be contented. In this way the king of Asia and of Europe took to himself in wedlock a woman who had been brought in among the entertainments of a banquet, intending to beget from a captive [30] a son who should rule over victors. His friends were ashamed that a father-in-law had been chosen from among the surrendered amid wine and feasting, but since after the murder of Clitus freedom of speech had been banned, they pretended assent by expression of their faces, which most readily play the slave.

  V. But the king, intending to go on to India and from there to the Ocean, lest there should be any disturbance in his rear which could interfere with his plans, ordered 30,000 of the younger men to be selected from all the provinces and brought to him under arms, intending to have them at once as host-

  [2] ages and as soldiers. Furthermore, he sent Craterus in pursuit of Haustanes and Catanes, who had revolted from him, of whom Haustanes was taken prisoner, Catanes killed in battle. Polypercon also reduced to submission the region which is called [3] Bubacenê. Accordingly, when everything was in order, he turned his thoughts towards an Indian war. That region was considered rich, not only in gold, but also in gems and pearls, and was highly developed [4] rather for luxury than for magnificence. Those who knew said that the equipment of the soldiers gleamed with gold and ivory; consequently Alexander, not to be outdone in anything, since he surpassed all other men, added silver plates to the shields and put golden bits on his horses, and adorned the cuirasses also, some with gold, others with silver. There were 120,000 armed men who followed the king to that war. —

  [5] And now, when all was ready in advance, thinking that the time was then ripe for what he had long perversely planned, he began to consider how he might usurp divine honours. He wished, not only to be called, but to be believed to be the son of Jupiter, as if he could rule men’s minds as well as their [6] tongues, and he ordered the Macedonians to pay their respects to him in the Persian fashion and to salute him by prostrating themselves on the ground. In his desire for such things he did not lack pernicious adulation, the constant evil of kings, whose power is more frequently overthrown by flattery than by foes.

  [7] And this was not the fault of the Macedonians for none of them could endure to impair any jot of his native customs — but of the Greeks, who had debased their profession of the liberal arts by evil habits: [8] Agis, an Argive, the composer of the worst of poems next after Choerilus, and Cleo, from Sicily, the latter indeed a flatterer, from a defect not only in his own nature, but also in his nation, and other sweepings of their own cities; these were mingled by the king even with his nearest friends and the leaders of his greatest armies. These at that time were opening Heaven to him, boasting that Hercules and Father Liber and Castor with Pollux would give place to the new deity.

  [9] Therefore on a festal day he ordered a banquet to be prepared with all magnificence, to which not only Macedonians and Greeks, the chief of his friends, but also nobles of the enemy were invited. When the king had taken his place at table with these, after [10] feasting for a little while he left the banquet. Cleo, as had been prearranged, began the conversation by expressing admiration for the king’s glorious deeds. Then he enumerated their obligations to him; these, he said, could be requited in only one way, namely, since they knew that he was a god, b
y admitting it and paying for such great favours by the slight [11] expense of incense. The Persians indeed were not only loyal but also wise in worshipping their kings among the gods; for the majesty of the empire was the protector of its safety. Not even Hercules and Father Liber had been acknowledged as gods until they had overcome the jealousy of those who lived with them: — future generations believed only so much about each man as his own time had vouched [12] for. But if the rest of the company were in doubt, he himself would prostrate himself on the ground when the king entered the banquet. The rest ought to do the same, and especially those endowed with wisdom; for it was by those that a precedent in worshipping the king ought to be shown.

  [13] Quite clearly this speech was directed against Callisthenes. The austerity of the man and his ready freedom of speech were odious to the king, as if he alone were delaying the Macedonians, who were prepared for such obsequiousness. He then, when silence ensued and the rest were looking at him alone, said: “If the king had been present at your talk, surely the words of no one would be needed to reply to you; for he himself would beg that you should not force him to descend to foreign and alien rites, nor would you expose his highly successful exploits to [15] odium by such flattery. But since he is not present, I am replying to you in his behalf that no fruit is at the same time both durable and prematurely ripened, and that you are not giving divine honours to your king, but taking them from him. For there is need of time for a man to be believed to be a god, and it is always thus that future generations requite great [16] men. But I pray for a late immortality for the king, in order that his life may be long and his majesty eternal. Divinity sometimes overtakes a man, it never accompanies him.

  [17] “You mentioned Hercules and Father Liber just now as examples of consecration to immortality. Do you believe that they were made gods by the decree of a single banquet? Their mortal nature was removed from sight before Fame transported them [18] to Heaven. Forsooth you and I, Cleo, make gods, from us the king will receive endorsement of his divinity! I should like to try your power; make someone a king, if you can make a god. Is it easier [19] to bestow heaven than empire? May the propitious gods have heard without offence what Cleo said, and suffer things to go on in the same course in which they have flowed up to now. May they allow us to be content with our habits. I am not ashamed of my fatherland, nor do I desire to learn from the vanquished how I ought to do honour to my king.

  For my part, I admit that they are the victors if we accept from them the laws under which we live.”

  [20] Callisthenes was heard with favourable ears “as a defender of the public liberty. He had forced, not only assent, but also words, especially of the older men, to whom the change of their long-standing [21] customs to those of strangers was distasteful. And the king was not unaware of anything that was said on one side and the other, since he was standing behind the curtains which he had caused to be spread round the couches. Therefore he sent word to Agis and Cleo to put an end to the discussion and to allow only the barbarians, when he entered, to prostrate themselves after their custom, and a little later, as if he had transacted some unusually important business, [22] he returned to the banquet. When the Persians paid reverence to him, Polypercon, who was reclining above the king, in mockery began to urge one of them, — who touched the ground with his chin, to strike it harder against the earth, and thus aroused the anger of Alexander, which he had already been [23] unable to contain. Accordingly he said: “You, then, — will not adore me? To you alone do we seem to be deserving of ridicule?” Polypercon replied that the king did not seem to deserve ridicule, nor he [24] himself contempt. Then the king dragged him from his couch, hurled him to the ground, and when he had fallen on his face, said: “Do you not see that you have done the same thing which a little while before you ridiculed in another?” And ordering that he should be put in prison, he broke up the banquet.

  VI. Polypercon, indeed, he pardoned after he had been held in custody for a long time; against Callisthenes, who had formerly been suspected because of insubordination, his anger was more persistent. For [2] satisfying this an opportunity soon arose. It was the custom, as was said before, for the leading men of the Macedonians to entrust their sons to the king on their coming of age for duties not very different from [3] the services of slaves. They kept watch at night in turn close to the doors of the room in which the king slept. By these youths concubines were brought in by a different entrance from that before which the [4] armed guards were posted. They also received the horses from the grooms, brought them to the reigning king when he was about to mount, and accompanied him in the chase and in battle, besides being thoroughly trained in all the accomplishments of [5] liberal studies. The special honour was paid them of being allowed to sit at table with the king. No one had the power of chastising them by flogging [6] except the king himself. This troupe among the Macedonians was a kind of training-school for generals and governors of provinces; from these also their posterity had the kings from whose stock after many ages the Romans took away all power.

  [7] So then, Hermolaus, a high-born boy belonging to this royal band, because he had been first to attack a wild boar which the king had intended to strike, by his order was punished by scourging. Being indignant at this disgrace, he began to complain about it to Sostratus. Sostratus was a member of the same troupe and an ardent lover of Hermolaiis; when he saw the lacerated body of which he was enamoured, perhaps being already angered with the king for some other reason also, he induced Hermolaiis, who was already incensed on his own account, to give and receive a pledge to join with him in forming [9] a plot to kill the king. And they did not execute the plan with youthful impetuosity; for they chose with care those whom they would admit as associates in the intended crime. They decided to include Nicostratus, Antipater, Asclepiodorus and Philotas; through these there were added Anticles and Aphthnius and Epimenes. But for carrying out the plan no easy road at all lay open; for it was necessary that all the conspirators should be on guard the same night, in order not to be interfered with by those who were not in the plot, but it happened that they [11] were on watch on different nights. Therefore in changing the order of guard-duty, and in other preparations for carrying out their design, thirty-two days were spent.

  [12] The night had come on which the conspirators were due to be on guard, rejoicing in their common fidelity, of which the lapse of so many days had been a proof. Not one had hope or fear changed; so great among all was either their anger against the king or their [13] loyalty to one another. They were standing, then, at the door of the room in which the king was dining, in order to escort him to his bedchamber when he [14] had left the table. But his own good fortune, as well as the good company of the diners, led all to be lavish with their wine; games at the banquet also extended the time, while the conspirators now rejoiced because they would attack him when sleepy, and now were anxious lest he should prolong the feast [15] until daylight. For others were due to take their places as guards at dawn, and their turn would not come again until after seven days, and they could not hope that the fidelity of all would endure until [16] that time. But when daylight was already at hand, the banquet came to an end and the conspirators received the king, rejoicing that the opportunity was offered for committing their crime, when a woman, of unsound mind, as it was thought, who was accustomed to haunt the royal quarters because she seemed by inspiration to foretell the future, not only met the king as he came out, but put herself in his way, and showing disturbance of mind in her face and eyes, warned him to return to the banquet.

  [17] He jestingly replied that the gods gave good advice, and recalling his friends, extended the time of the entertainment until nearly the second hour of the day.

  [18] Now the others of the troupe had taken over their posts, to watch before the door of the king’s bedchamber, yet the conspirators remained there, although their turn of duty was completed; so persistent is a hope which human minds have eagerly [19] conceived. The king, addressing them more
kindly than usual, bade them go and rest themselves, since they had stood watch all night. He gave each man fifty sestertia and praised them because even after their turn had passed to others they had continued [20] on guard. And they, deprived of their great hope, went to their homes. The others for their part waited for the night of their guard-duty; Epimenes, either because of the affability with which the king had received him along with the other conspirators, or because he believed that the gods opposed their design, had a sudden change of heart and disclosed the plan to his brother Eurylochus, whom before [21] he had wished to have no part in the plot. All had the torture of Philotas before their eyes, and so Eurylochus at once took his brother by the hand and came into the royal quarters, then having aroused the body-guard, he declared that what he had to say [22] concerned the king’s life. Both the time at which he had come and the anxious expression of both brothers, betraying surely a troubled mind, as well as the sadness of one of them, alarmed Ptolemy and Leonnatus, who were on watch at the door of the king’s bedchamber. Therefore opening the doors and bringing in a light, they awoke the king whom wine had buried in deep sleep. He gradually collected his thoughts and asked them what they had to [23] say. Without delay Eurylochus said that the gods had not entirely turned against their family, since his brother, although he had dared an impious crime, yet repented of it and through himself rather than anyone else would reveal it; that the conspiracy had been planned for that very night which was passing, the ringleaders of the abominable design were those [24] whom the king would least suspect. Then Epimenes explained everything in order and gave the names of the participants. It is certain that Callisthenes was not named as taking part in the plot, but it was said that he was accustomed to lend ready ears to the boys when they abused the king and criticized [25] his conduct. Some add that when Hermolaus complained to him also that he had been flogged, Callisthenes had said that they ought to remember that they were now men; but whether that was said to console him for suffering lashes, or to excite the resentment of the youths, was uncertain.