IX. Now Darius’ army was arranged as follows. Nabarzanes with the cavalry guarded the right wing, with the addition of about 20,000 slingers and archers.
2 Un the same side was Thymondas, in command of the Greek mercenary infantry, 30,000 in number. This was beyond question the flower of the army, a force the equal of the Macedonian phalanx. On the left wing Aristomedes, a Thessalian, had 20,000 barbarian foot-soldiers. Darius had placed in reserve the most warlike nations. He himself, intending to fight on the same wing, was followed by 3000 elite horsemen, his usual body-guard, and an infantry force of 40,000; then were arrayed the Hyrcanian and Medic cavalry, next to these that of the remaining nations, projecting beyond them the right and on the left. This army, drawn up as has been said, was preceded by 6000 javelin-throwers and slingers. Whatever room there was in that narrow space his forces had filled, and the wings rested on the one side on the mountains, on the other on the sea; they had placed the king’s wife and mother, and the remaining throng of women, in the centre.
Alexander had stationed the plalanx, the strongest part of any Macedonian army, in the van. Nicanor, son of Parmenion, guarded the right wing; next t him stood Coenus, Perdiccas, Meleager, Ptolemaeus, and Amyntas, each in command of his own troops. On the left wing, which extended to the sea, were Craterus and Parmenion, but Craterus was ordered to obey Parmenion. The cavalry were stationed on both wings; the right was held by Macedonians, joined with Thessalians, the left by the Peloponnesians. Before this battle-line he had stationed a band of slingers mingled with bowmen. Thracians also and the Cretans were in the van; these two were in light armour, But to those who, sent ahead by Sarius had taken their place on the ridge of the mountain he opposed the Agriani directed Parmenion to extend his line as far as possible towards the sea, in order that his line of battle might be father away from the mountainson which the barbarians were posted. But they, having dared neither to oppose the Macedonians as they came up nor to surround them after they had gone past, had fled, especially alarmed by the sight of the slingers; and that action had made safe the flank of Alexander’s army, which he had feared might be assailed from above. The Macedonian army advanced in thirty-two ranks; for the narrow place did not allow the line to be extended more widely. Then the folds of the mountains began to widen and open a greater space, so that not only could the infantry take their usual order, but the cavalry could cover their flanks. —
Iam in conspectu, sed extra teli iactum utraque acies erat, cum priores Persae inconditum et trucem sustulere clamorem. [2] Redditur et a Macedonibus, maior exercitus numero, iugis montium vastisque saltibus repercussus: quippe semper circumiecta nemora petraeque, quantamcumque accepere vocem, multiplicato sono referunt. [3] Alexander ante prima signa ibat identidem manu SU08 inhibens, ne suspensi acrius ob nimiam festinationem concitato spiritu capesserent proelium. [4] Cumque agmini obequitaret, varia oratione, ut cuiusque animis aptum erat, milites adloquebatur. Macedones, tot bellorum in Europa victores, ad subigendam Asiam atque ultima Orientis non ipsius magis quam suo ductu profecti, inveteratae virtutis admonebantur: [5] illos terrarum orbis liberatores emensosque olim Herculis et Liberi patris terminos non Persis modo, sed etiam omnibus gentibus iuposituros iugum. [6] Macedonum provincias Bactra et Indos fore. Minima esse, quae nunc intuerentur, sed omnia victoria aperiri. Non in praeruptis petris Illyriorum et Thraciae saxis sterilem laborem fore, spolia totius Orientis offerri. gladio futurum opus: totam aciem suo pavore fluctuantem umbonibus posse propelli. [7] Victor ad haec Atheniensium Philippus pater invocabatur, domitaeque nuper Boeotiae et urbis in ea nobilissimae ad solum [p. 27] dirutae species repraesentabatur animis. Iam Granicum a1rmem, iam tot urbes aut expugnatas aut in fidem acceptas omniaque, quae post tergum erant, strata et pedibus ipsorum subiecta memorabat. [8] Cum adierat Graecos, admonebat ab his gentibus inlata Graeciae bella Darei prius, deinde Xerxis insolentia, aquam ipsos terramque poscentium, ut ne que fontium haustum nec solitos cibos relinquerent deditis. [9] Ab his templa minis et ignibus esse deleta, urbes eorum expugnatas, foedera divini humanique iuris violata referebat. Illyrios vero et Thracas rapto vivere adsuetos aciem hostium auro purpuraque fulgentem intueri iubebat, praedam, non arma gestantem: [10] irent et inbellibus feminis aurum viri eriperent, aspera montium suorum iuga nudasque calles et perpetuo rigentes gelu divitibus Persarum campis agrisque mutarent.
X. Already the two armies were in sight of each other, but not yet within spear-range, when the foremost Persians raised confused and savage shouts. These were returned also by the Macedonians, making a sound too loud for their actual numbers, since they were echoed by the mountain heights and huge forests; for surrounding rocks and trees always send back with increased din whatever sound they have received. Alexander went on ahead of his foremost standards repeatedly checking his men by a gesture of his hand, in order that they might not in too eager excitement be out of breath when they entered the battle. And as he rode past the ranks, he addressed the soldiers in different terms, such as were appropriate to the feelings of each. The Macedonians, victors in Europe in so many wars, who had set out, not more under his lead than their own, to subjugate Asia and the farthest parts of the Orient were reminded of their old-time valour-they, the liberators of the whole world, who had formerly passed beyond the bounds of Hercules and Father Liber, would impose their yoke, not alone on the Persians, but also on all nations. Bactra and the Indi would be provinces of the Macedonians. What they now saw before them was the least of their spoils, but everything is laid open to men by victory.
Theirs would not be a profitless labour on the steep rocks of Illyricum and the crags of Thrace, but the spoils of the whole Orient were before them. They would hardly need the sword; that whole army, wavering because of its own fear, could be driven before them by the bosses of their shields. He invoked, besides, his father Philip, victor over the Athenians, and presented to their minds a picture of the recent subjugation of Boeotia and the razing to the ground of its most famous city. He spoke now of the river Granicus, now of so many cities either stormed or received in surrender, and called to mind that all that was behind them had been overthrown and trampled under their feet. Whenever he came to Greek troops, he reminded them that it was by these nations that war had been made upon their country through the insolence first of Darius and then of Xerxes, who demanded from them earth and water, in order to leave to the surrendered neither a draught from their springs nor their usual food. By these their temples had been overthrown and burned, their cities stormed, and the obligations of human and [10] divine law violated. As to the Illyrians and the Thracians, men accustomed to live by plunder, he bade them look upon the enemies’ army, gleaming with gold and purple, bearing booty rather than arms; let them go on as men and snatch their gold from cowardly women, exchanging their bare mountain-tracks, stiff with perpetual frost, for the rich fields and plains of the Persians.
Iam ad teli iactum pervenerant, cum Persarum equites ferociter in laevum cornu hostium invecti sunt: quippe Dareus equestri proelio decernere optabat phalangem Macedonici exercitus robur esse coniectans. Iamque etiam dextrum Alexandri cornu circumibatur. [2] Quod ubi Macedo conspexit, duabus alis equitum ad iugum montis iussis subsistere ceteros in medium belli discrimen strenue transfert. [3] Subductis deinde ex acie Thessalis equitibus praefectum eorum occulte circumire tergum suorum iubet Parmenionique coniungi et, quod is imperasset, inpigre exequi. [4] Iamque immissi in medium Persarum undique circumfusi egregie tuebantur se, sed conferti et quasi cohaerentes tela vibrare non [p. 28] poterant: simul erant emissa in hostem, concurrentia inplicabantur levique et vano ictu pauca in hostem, plura in humum innoxia cadebant. Ergo comminus pugnam coacti conserere gladios inpigre stringunt. [5] Tum vero multum sanguinis fusum est: duae quippe acies ita cohaerebant, ut armis arma pulsarent, mucrones in ora dirigerent. Non timido, non ignavo cessare tum licuit: collato pede, quasi singuli inter se dimicarent, in eodem vestigio stabant, donec vincendo locum sibi facerent. [6] Tum demum ergo promovebant gradum, cum hostem prostraverant. At illo
s novus excipiebat adversarius fatigatos, nec vulnerati, ut alias solent, acie poterant excedere, cum hostis instaret a fronte, a tergo sui urgerent. [7] Alexander non ducis magis quam militis munia exequebatur opimum decus caeso rege expetens: quippe Dareus curru sublimis eminebat, et suis ad se tuendum et hostibus ad incessendum ingens incitamentum. [8] Ergo frater eius Oxathres, cum Alexandrum instare ei cerneret, equites, quibus praeerat, ante ipsum currum regis obiecit. Armis et robore corporis multum super ceteros eminens, animo vero et pietate in paucissimis, illo utique proelio clarus alios inprovide instantes prostravit, alios in fugam avertit. [9] At Macedones circa regem — et erant mutua adhortatione firmati — cum ipso in equitum agmen inrumpunt. Tum vero similis ruinae strages erat. Circa currum Darei iacebant nobilissimi duces ante oculos regis egregia morte defuncti, omnes in ora proni, sicut dimicantes procubuerant adverso corpore vulneribus acceptis.
XI. Now they had come within spear-throw, when the cavalry of the Persians made a fierce charge upon their enemies’ left wing; for Darius chose to make it a contest of cavalry, in the belief that the phalanx was the main strength of the Macedonian army. And now he was beginning to encircle Alexander’s [2] right wing also. When the Macedonian saw this, he ordered two squadrons of horsemen to remain on the ridge of the mountains and promptly shifted the rest to the main danger-point of the battle. Then he detached the Thessalian horse from the line of battle, and ordered their commander secretly to pass around the rear of his men and join Parmenion, there to do vigorously whatever he should order. And now, having plunged into the midst of the Persians, although surrounded on all sides, they were defending themselves valiantly; but being crowded together and, as it were, joined man to man, they were not able to poise a their weapons, and as soon as these were hurled, they met one another and were entangled, so that a few fell upon the enemy with a light and ineffective stroke, but more dropped harmless to the ground. Forced therefore to join battle hand to hand, they promptly drew their swords.
[5] Then truly there was great bloodshed; for the two armies were so close together that shield struct against shield, and they directed their sword-points at each others faces. Not the weak, not the cowardly, might then give way; foot to foot they fought together like single champions, standing in the same spot until they could make room for themselves by victory. Therefore they moved ahead only when they had struck down a foeman. But in their fatigue a fresh adversary engaged them, and the wounded could not, as they are wont to do at other times, leave the line of battle, since the enemy were pressing on in front and their own men pushed them back from behind.
[7] Alexander performed the duties not more of a commander than of a soldier, seeking the rich renown of slaying the king; for Darius stood high in his chariot, a great incentive to his own men for protecting him and to the enemy for attack. Therefore his brother Oxathres, when he saw Alexander rushing upon the king, interposed the cavalry which he commanded directly before the chariot of Darius.
Towering high above the rest in arms and bodily strength, and notable in courage and loyalty among a very few, Oxathres, brilliant at any rate in that cattle, struck down some, who pressed on recklessly, and turned others to flight. But the Macedonians round their king — and they were encouraged by mutual exhortation — with Alexander himself broke into the band of horsemen Then indeed men were building fallen in pieces. Around the chariot of Darius lay his most distinguished leaders, slain by a noble death before the eyes of their king all prone on their faces, just as they had fallen while fighting, after receiving wounds in front.
[10] Inter hos Atizyes et Rheomithres et [p. 29] Sabaces, praetor Aegypti, magnorum exercituum praefecti, noscitabantur: circa eos cumulata erat peditum equitumque obscurior turba. Macedonum quoque non quidem multi, sed promptissimi tamen caesi sunt: inter quos Alexandri dextrum femur leviter mucrone perstrictum est. [11] Iam que, qui Dareum vehebant equi, confossi hastis et dolore efferati iugum quatere et regem curru excutere coeperant, cum ille veritus, ne vivus veniret in hostium potestatem, desilit et in equum, qui ad hoc ipsum sequebatur, inponitur insignibus quoque imperii, ne fugam proderent, indecore abiectis. [12] Tum vero ceteri dissipantur metu et, qua cuique ad fugam patebat via, erumpunt arma iacientes, quae paulo ante ad tutelam corporum sumpserant: adeo pavor etiam auxilia formidat. [13] Instabat fugientibus eques a Parmenione emissus, et forte in illud cornu omnes fuga abstulerat. At in dextro Persae Thessalos equites vehementer urgebant, [14] iamque una ala ipso inpetu proculcata erat, cum Thessali strenue circumactis equis dilapsi rursus in proelium redeunt sparsosque et inconpositos victoriae fiducia barbaros ingenti caede prosternunt. [15] Equi pariter equitesque Persarum serie lamnarum obsiti, genus grave tegmine, quod celeritate maxime constat, aegre moliebantur: quippe in circumagendis equis illos Thessali inulti occupaverant. [16] Hac tam prospera pugna nuntiata Alexander, non ante ausus persequi barbaros, utrimque iam victor instare fugientibus coepit. Haud amplius regem quam mille equites sequebantur, [17] cum ingens multitudo hostium cederet: sed quis aut in victoria aut in fuga [p. 30] copias numerat? Agebantur ergo a tam paucis pecorum modo, et idem metus, qui cogebat fugere, fugientes morabatur. [18] At Graeci, qui in Darei partibus steterant, Amynta duce — praetor hic Alexandri fuerat, tunc transfuga — [19] abrupti a ceteris haud sane fugientibus similes evaserant. Barbari longe diversam fugam intenderunt: alii, qua rectum iter in Persidem ducebat, quidam circumitu rupes saltusque montium occultos petivere, pauci castra Darei. [20] Sed iam ilia quoque victor intraverat omni quidem opulentia ditia. Ingens auri argentique pondus, non belli, sed luxuriae apparatum, diripuerant milites, cumque plus raperent, quam capere possent, passim strata erant itinera vilioribus sarcinis, quas in conparatione meliorum avaritia contempserat. [21] Iamque ad feminas perventum erat. Quibus quo cariora ornamenta sunt, violentius detrahebantur: [22] ne corporibus quidem vis ac libido parcebat. Omni planctu tumultuque, prout cuique fortuna erat, castra repleverant, nec ulla facies mali deerat, cum per omnes ordines aetatesque victoris crudelitas ac licentia vagaretur. [23] Tunc vero inpotentis fortunae species conspici potuit, cum ii, qui Dareo tabernaculum exornaverant omni luxu et opulentia instructum, eadem ilia Alexandro, quasi veteri domino, reservabant. Namque id solum intactum omiserant milites ita tradito more, [24] ut victorem victi regis tabernaculo exciperent. Sed omnium oculos animosque in semet averterant captivae mater coniunxque Darei: ilia non maiestate solum, sed etiam aetate venerabilis, haec formae pulchritudine ne illa quidem sorte corruptae. Receperat in sinum filium nondum sextum annum aetatis egressum, in spem tantae [p. 31] fortunae, quantam pater eius paulo ante amiserat, genitum. [25] At in gremio anus aviae iacebant adultae duae virgines non suo tantum, sed etiam illius maerore confectae. Ingens circa eam nobilium feminarum turba constiterat laceratis crinibus abscissaque veste, pristini decoris inmemores, reginas dominasque veris quondam, tunc alienis nominibus invocantes. [26] Illaе suae calamitatis oblitae, in utro cornu Dareus stetisset, quae fortuna discriminis fuisset, requirebant: negabant se captas, si viveret rex. Sed illum equos subinde mutantem longius fuga abstulerat. [27] In acie autem caesa sunt Persarum peditum C milia, decem equitum, at a parte Alexandri ad quattuor milia quingenti saucii fuere, ex peditibus CCC omnino et duo desiderati sunt, equitum centum quinquaginta interfecti. Tantulo inpendio ingens victoria stetit.
Among them were recognized Atizyes, Rheomithres and Sabaces, governor of Egypt, commanders of great armies; around these were heaped an obscurer throng of infantry and horsemen. Of the Macedonians also were slain, not many indeed, but yet very valiant men; among those wounded, Alexander himself was slightly grazed in the right thigh by a sword.
And already the horses of Darius’ chariot, pierced with spears and frantic from pain, had begun to toss the yoke and shake the king from his place, when he, fearing lest he should come alive into the enemies power, leaped down and mounted upon a horse which followed for that very purpose, shamefully casting aside the tokens of his rank, that they might not betray his flight. Then indeed the rest were scattered in fear, and where each had a way
of escape open, they burst out, throwing away the arms which a little before they had taken up to protect themselves; to such a degree does panic tear even its means of help.
The cavalry sent forth by Parmenion was pressing the fugitives hard, and, as it happened, their flight had taken them all away to that wing. But on the right the Persians were strongly attacking the thessalian horsemen, and already one squadron had been ridden down by their very onset, when the Thessalians, smartly wheeling their horses about, slipped aside and returning to the fray, with great slaughter overthrew the barbarians, whom confidence in their victory had scattered and thrown into disorder. The horses and horsemen alike of the Persians, weighed down by the linked plates which covered them as far as the knees, were hard put to it to heave their column along; for it was one which depended above all on speed; for the Thessalians in wheeling their horses had far outstripped them.
Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus Page 77