Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus

by Quintus Curtius Rufus

  [14] Parmenion’s speech was displeasing to the king; accordingly, when he finished speaking, Alexander replied: “I too should prefer money to glory, if I were Parmenion; as it is, being Alexander, I am secure against poverty, and I remember that I am a king, not a trader. I have nothing at all for sale but above all I do not put my fortune on the market; if it is our desire that the prisoners be returned, we shall more honourably give them as a gift than ransom them for a price.”

  Then, having called in the envoys, he answered them after this fashion; “Announce to Darius that my acts of clemency and generosity were due, not to my friendship for him, but to my natural impulses.

  To wage war with captives and women is not my habit; he must be armed whom I hate. But if it were at least in good faith that he asks for peace, I might perhaps consider whether I would grant it. But, in solemn truth, since he now with letters tempts my soldiers to betray me, and now with money bribes my friends to kill me, I must pursue him to destruction, not as a legitimate enemy, but as an assassin who resorts to poison.

  “Furthermore, as to the conditions of peace which you propose, if I accept them, they make him the victor. He generously offers me what is beyond the Euphrates. You have forgotten then, where it is in fact that you now come to see me. Surely I am across the Euphrates! Therefore my camp is beyond the most liberal boundary of the dowry which he promises. Drive me from here, in order that I may know that what you offer to cede is yours. With like generosity he gives me his daughter, who forsooth is the destined bride of one of his slaves. A high honour truly he confers upon me in preferring me to Mazaeus as a son-in-law!

  “Go, report to your king that what he has lost and what he still possesses are prizes of war; since it is war that rules the boundaries of both realms, each will have what the fortune of to-morrow shall allot to him.” The envoys replied that since his intention was war, he was acting without guile in not deceiving them with the hope of peace. For their own part, they asked that they might be sent back as soon as possible to their king; that he also ought to prepare for war. They were dismissed, and reported to Darius that battle was imminent.

  Ille quidem confestim Mazaeum cum tribus equitum milibus ad itinera, quae hostis petiturus erat, occupanda praemisit. [2] Alexander corpori uxoris eius iustis persolutis omni que graviore comitatu intra eadem munimenta cum modico praesidio relicto ad hostem contendit. [3] In duo cornua diviserat peditem utrique lateri equite circumdato: iupedimenta sequebantur agmen. [4] Praemissum deinde cum suis equitibus Menidan iubet explorare, ubi Dareus esset. At ille, cum Mazaeus haud procul consedisset, non ausus ultra procedere, nihil aliud quam fremitum hominum hinnitumque equorum exaudisse nuntiat. [5] Mazaeus quoque conspectis procul exploratoribus in castra se recepit, adventus hostium nuntius. Igitur Dareus, qui in patentibus campis decernere optabat, armari militem iubet aciemque disponit. [6] In laevo cornu Bactriani ibant equites, mille admodum, Dahae totidem, et Arachosii Susianique quattuor milia explebant. Hos centum falcati currus sequebantur. Proximus quadrigis erat Bessus cum VIII milibus, equitibus item Bactrianis. [p. 84] [7] Massagetae duobus milibus agmen eius claudebant. Pedites his plurium gentium non inmixtos, sed suae cuiusque nationis iunxerat copias. Persas deinde cum Mardis Sogdianisque Ariobarzanes et Orontobates ducebant. [8] Illi partibus copiarum, summae Orsines praeerat,a septem Persis oriundus, ad Cyrum quoque, nobilissimum regem, originem sui referens. [9] Hos aliae gentes ne sociis quidem satis notae sequebantur. Post quas L quadrigas Phradates magno Caspiorum agmine antecedebat. [10] Indi ceterique Rubri maris accolae, nomina verius quam auxilia, post currus erant. Claudebatur hoc agmen aliis falcatis curribus, quis peregrinum militem adiunxerat. Hunc Armenii, quos minores appellant, Armenios Babylonii, utrosque Belitae et, qui montes Cossaeorum incolebant, sequebantur. [11] Post hos ibant Gortuae, gentis quidem Euboicae, Medos quondam secuti, sed iam degeneres et patrii moris ignari. Adplicuerat his Phrygas et Cataonas. Parthyaeorum deinde gens incolentium terras, quas nunc Parthi Scythia profecti tenent, claudebant agmen. [12] Haec sinistri cornus facies fuit. Dextrum tenebant natio Maioris Armeniae Cadusiique et Cappadoces et Syri ac Medi. [13] His quoque falcati currus L erant. Summa totius exercitus, equites XLV milia, pedestris acies CC milia expleverat. Hoc modo instructi X stadia procedunt iussique subsistere armati hostem expectabant. [14] Alexandri exercitum pavor, cuius causa non sub- [p. 85] erat, invasit: quippe lymphati trepidare coeperunt omnium pectora occulto metu percurrente. Caeli fulgor tempore aestivo ardenti similis internitens ignis praebuit speciem, flammasque ex Darei castris splendere velut inlati temere praesidiis credebant. [15] Quodsi percuisis Mazaeus, qui praesidebat itineri, supervenisset, ingens clades accipi potuit: nunc, dum ille segnis in eo, quem occupaverat, tumulo sedet, contentus non lacessi, [16] Alexander cognito pavore exercitus signum, ut consisterent, dari, ante ipsos arma deponere ac levare corpora iubet, admonens nullam subiti causam esse terroris, hostem procul stare. [17] Tandem compotes sui pariter arma et animos recepere. Nec quicquam ex praesentibus tutius visum est quam eodem loco castra munire. [18] Postero die Mazaeus — cum delectis equitum in edito colle, ex quo Macedonum prospiciebantur castra, consederat — sive metu sive, quia speculari modo iussus erat, ad Dareum rediit. [19] Macedones eum ipsum collem, quem deseruerat, occupaverunt: nam et tutior planitie erat, et inde acies hostium, quae in campo explicabatur, conspici poterat. [20] Sed caligo, quam circa humidi effuderant montes, universae quidem rei faciem non abstulit, ceterum agminum discrimina atque ordinem prohibuit perspici. Multitudo inundaverat campos, fremitusque tot milium etiam procul stantium aures inpleverat. [21] Fluctuari animo rex et modo suum, modo Parmenionis consilium sera aestimatione perpendere: quippe eo ventum erat, unde [p. 86] [22] recipi exercitus nisi victor sine clade non posset. Itaque dissimulato animo mercennarium equitem ex Paeonia praecedere iubet. [23] Ipse phalangem, sicut antea dictum est, in duo cornua extenderat: utrumque cornu equites tegebant. Iamque liquidior lux discussa caligine aciem hostium ostenderat, et Macedones sive alacritate sive taedio expectationis ingentem pugnantium more edidere clamorem. Redditus et a Persis nemora vallesque circumiectas terribili sono inpleverat, [24] nec iam contineri Macedones poterant, quin cursu quoque ad hostem contenderent. Rex melius adhuc ratus in eodem tumulo castra munire, vallum iaci iussit strenueque opere perfecto in tabernaculum, ex quo tota acies hostium conspiciebatur, secessit.

  XII. Darius at once sent on Mazaeus with 3000 horsemen to take possession of the roads which the enemy was likely to make for. Alexander, after having paid the due rites to the body of Darius’ wife, left within the same fortifications with a garrison of moderate size the more burdensome part of his army and hastened against the enemy. He had divided the infantry into two wings and encircled each flank with cavalry; the baggage followed the army. Then he sent Menidas in advance with his cavalry with orders to find out where Darius was. But Menidas, when he found that Mazaeus had encamped near by, feared to advance farther and reported that he had heard nothing else save the noise of men and the neighing of horses. Mazaeus too, when he caught sight of the scouts from afar, returned to his camp, announcing the coming of the enemy.

  Therefore Darius, who wished to fight in open plains, ordered his soldiers to arm themselves and drew up his line of battle. On his left wing were Bactrian cavalry, about 1000 in number, the Dahae, of just the same number, and the Arachosii and the Susiani, 4000. These a hundred scythed chariots followed. Next to the chariots was Bessus with 8000 horsemen, who likewise were Bactriani. The Massagetae brought up his rear with 2000. To these he had joined the infantry forces of many peoples, not mingled together, but each group arranged with the cavalry of its corresponding nation. Then Ariobarzanes and Orontobates led the Persians with the Mardii and the Sogdiani. These men commanded divisions of the forces, in charge of the whole was Orsines, a descendant of the “seven Persians and tracing his genealogy also to Cyrus, that most renowned king. These were followed by other nations, not very well known even to their allies. Phradates came after these nations, leading fifty four-in-hand chariots
, with a large army of Caspii. The Indi and the rest of the dwellers on the Red Sea, mere names rather than auxiliaries, were behind the chariots.

  The rear of this part of the army was brought up by other scythe-bearing chariots, to which he had joined the foreign soldiers. These were followed by those who are known as the Lesser Armenians, the Armenians by the Babylonians, and both by the Belitae and those who dwelt in the mountains of the Cossaei. After these marched the Gortuae, really a Euboean race, who formerly followed the Medes, but were now degenerate and ignorant of their native customs. Next to these he put the Phrygians and the Cataonians. Then the Parthyaei, inhabiting the lands now held by the Parthians from Scythia, brought up the rear of the whole force. Such was the form of the left wing. The right was held by the nation of Greater Armenia with the Cadusii, the Cappadocians, the Syrians, and the Medes. These also had fifty scythe-bearing chariots. The sum of the entire army consisted of 45,000 cavalry, and the infantry numbered 200,000. Drawn up in this manner, they advanced ten stadia, and then, being ordered to halt under arms, awaited the enemy.

  Alexander’s army was seized by a panic, the reason for which was not apparent; for they became frenzied and proceeded to tremble, as a secret dread ran through the breasts of all. A gleaming of the heavens shining here and there, like that in the burning heat of summer, presented the appearance of fire, and they believed that fires were blazing from the camp of Darius, as if they had incautiously come upon his guarding troops. Now if Mazaeus, who was guarding the road, had fallen upon them in their panic, a great disaster might have been suffered; as it was, while he sat idle on the eminence of which he had taken possession, satisfied not to be attacked, Alexander, becoming aware of the army’s terror, ordered the signal for a halt to be given, and bade the soldiers lay down their arms in front of them and rest themselves, advising them that there was no cause for their sudden alarm, that the enemy were at a distance. At length they came to their senses and recovered alike their arms and their courage. And nothing seemed safer under the circumstances than to fortify a camp in that same place.

  On the following day Mazaeus — he had taken position with the best of his cavalry on a high hill, from which the camp of the Macedonians was in sight — either through fear or because he had been ordered merely to keep watch, returned to Darius. The Macedonians took possession of the very hill which he had abandoned; for it was safer than the plain, and from it the enemies’ line of battle, which was being deployed on the level ground, could be observed.

  But a mist, which the moist mountains had poured about, did not indeed cut off a general view, but did prevent the different divisions of the army and their arrangement from being made out. Their great number had flooded the plains, and the noise made by so many thousands had filled the ears even of those who stood afar off. The king began to waver in his determination, and to weigh his plan and that of Parmenion, although it was now too late; for they had come to a point from which the army could not be withdrawn without disaster, unless it were victorious. Accordingly, concealing his feelings, he ordered the mercenary cavalry from Paeonia to advance. He himself, as was said before, had extended the phalanx into two wings, both of which were protected by cavalry. And now the mist had been dispelled, and the clearer light had revealed the army of the enemy, and the Macedonians, either from eagerness or from the tediousness of waiting, raised a mighty shout, after the manner of those engaged in battle. When this was returned by the Persians and had filled the surrounding forests and valleys with a fearsome sound, the Macedonians could no longer be restrained from hastening against the enemy on the run as well. But the king, thinking it still better to fortify a camp on that same hill, ordered a palisade to be set up, and when the work had been promptly completed, he withdrew to his tent, from which the whole army of the enemy was in sight.

  Tum vero universa futuri discriminis facies in oculis erat: armis insignibus equi virique splendebant, et omnia intentiore cura praeparari apud hostem sollicitudo praetorum agmina sua interequitantium ostendebat, [2] ac pleraque inania, sicut fremitus hominum, [3] equorum hinnitus, armorum internitentium fulgor, sollicitam expectatione mentem turbaverant. Igitur sive dubius animi sive, ut suos experiretur, consilium adhibet, quid optimum factu esset, exquirens. [4] Parmenio, peritissimus inter duces artium belli, furto, non proelio opus esse censebat. Intempesta nocte opprimi posse hostes: discordis moribus, linguis, ad hoc somno et [p. 87] inproviso periculo territos quando in nocturna trepidatione coituros? [5] At interdiu primum terribiles occursuras facies Scytharum Bactrianorumque : hirta illis ora et intonsas comas esse, praeterea eximiam vastorum magnitudinem corporum. Vanis et inanibus militem magis quam iustis formidinis causis moveri. [6] Deinde tantam multitudinem circumfundi paucioribus posse, cum non in Ciliciae angustiis et inviis callibus, sed in aperta et lata planitie dimicarent. [7] Omnes ferme Parmenioni adsentiebantur: Polypercon haud dubie in eo consilio positam victoriam arbitrabatur. [8] Quem intuens rex — namque Parmenionem nuper acrius, quam vellet, increpitum rursus castigare non sustinebat — : ‘Latrunculorum,’ inquit, ‘et furum ista sollertia est, quam praecipitis mihi: quippe illorum votum unicum est fallere. [9] Meae vero gloriae semper aut absentiam Darei aut angustias locorum aut furtum noctis obstare non patiar. Palam luce adgredi certum est: malo me meae fortunae paeniteat, quam victoriae pudeat. [10] Ad haec illud quoque accedit: vigilias agere barbaros et in armis stare, ut ne decipi quidem possint, conpertum habeo. Itaque ad proelium vos parate.’ Sic incitatos ad corpora curanda dimisit. [11] Dareus id, quod Parmenio suaserat, hostem facturum esse coniectans frenatos equos stare magnamque exercitus partem in armis esse ac vigilias intentiore cura servari iusserat: ergo ignibus tota eius castra fulgebant. [12] Ipse cum ducibus propinquisque agmina in armis stantium circumibat, Solem et Mithrem sacrumque et aeternum invocans ignem, ut illis dignam [p. 88] vetere gloria maiorumque monumentis fortitudinem inspirarent. [13] Et profecto, si qua divinae opis auguria humana mente concipi possent, deos stare secum. Illos nuper Macedonum animis subitam incussisse formidinem, adhuc lymphatos ferri agique arma iacientes, expetere praesides Persarum imperii debitas e vaecordibus poenas. [14] Nec ipsum ducem saniorem esse: quippe ritu ferarum praedam modo, quam expeteret, intuentem in perniciem, quae ante praedam posita esset, incurrere. Similis apud Macedones quoque sollicitudo erat, noctemque velut in eam certamine edicto metu egerunt. [15] Alexander non alias magis territus ad vota et preces Aristandrum vocari iubet. Ille in candida veste verbenas manu praeferens capite velato praeibat preces regi Iovem Minervamque Victoriam propitianti. [16] Tunc quidem sacrificio rite perpetrato reliquum noctis adquieturus in tabernaculum rediit. Sed nec somnum capere nec quietem pati poterat: modo e iugo montis aciem in dextrum Persarum cornu demittere agitabat, modo recta fronte concurrere hosti, interdum haesitare, [17] an potius in laevum detorqueret agmen. Tandem gravatum animi anxietate corpus altior somnus oppressit. Iamque luce orta duces ad accipienda imperia convenerant insolito circa praetorium silentio attoniti: [18] quippe alias accersere ipsos et interdum morantes castigare adsueverat, tunc ne ultimo quidem rerum discrimine excitatum esse mirabantur et non somno quiescere, [19] sed pavore marcere credebant. Non tamen quisquam [p. 89] ex custodibus corporis intrare tabernaculum audebat. Et iam tempus instabat, nec miles iniussu ducis aut arma capere poterat aut in ordines ire. [20] Diu Parmenio cunctatus, cibum ut caperent, ipse pronuntiat. Iamque exire necesse erat: tunc demum intrat tabernaculum saepiusque nomine conpellatum, cum voce non posset, tactu excitavit. [21] ‘Multa lux,’ inquit, ‘est: instructam aciem hostis admovit, tuus miles adhuc inermis expectat imperium. Ubi est vigor ille animi tui? nempe excitare vigiles soles.’ [22] Ad haec Alexander: ‘Credisne me prius somnum capere potuisse, quam exonerarem animum sollicitudine, quae quietem morabatur?’ signumque pugnae tuba dari iussit. Et cum in eadem admiratione Parmenio perseveraret, [23] quod solutum se curis somnum cepisse dixisset: ‘Minime,’ inquit, ‘mirum est: ego enim, cum Dareus terram ureret, vicos excinderet, alimenta corrumperet, potens mei non eram: [24] nunc vero quid metu
am, cum acie decernere paret? Hercule, votum meum inplevit. Sed huius consilii postea quoque ratio reddetur: vos ite ad copias, quibus quisque praeest, ego iam adero et, quid fieri velim, exponam.’ [25] Raro admodum, admonitu magis amicorum quam metu discriminis adeundi, thorace uti solebat: tunc utique nranimento corporis sumpto processit ad milites. Haud alias tam alacrem viderant regem et ex vultu eius interrito certam spem victoriae augurabantur. [26] Atque ille proruto vallo exire copias iubet aciemque disponit. In dextro cornu locati sunt equites, quos agema appellabant: praeerat his Clitus, cui [p. 90] iunxit Philota(??) turmas, ceterosque praefectos equitum lateri eius adplicuit. [27] Ultima Meleagri ala stabat, quam phalanx sequebatur. Post phalangem Argyraspides erant: [28] his Nicanor, Parmenionis films, praeerat. In subsidiis cum manu sua Coenos, post eum Orestae Lyncestaeque sunt positi, post illos Polypercon, mox peregrini milites. Huius agminis princeps Amyntas aberat: Philippus Balacri eos regebat in societatem nuper adscitus. [29] Haec dextri cornus facies erat. In laevo Craterus Peloponnesium equites habebat Achaeorum et Locrensium et Malieon turmis sibi adiunctis. Hos Thessali equites claudebant Philippo duce. Peditum acies equitatu tegebatur. Frons laevi cornus haec erat. [30] Sed ne circumiri posset a multitudine, ultimum agmen valida manu cinxerat. Cornua quoque subsidiis firmavit non recta fronte, sed a latere positis, ut, si hostis circumvenire aciem temptasset, parata pugnae forent. [31] Hic Agriani erant, quibus Attalus praeerat, adiunctis sagittariis Cretensibus. Ultimos ordines avertit a fronte, ut totam aciem orbe muniret. Illyrii hic erant adiuncto milite mercede conducto, Thracas quoque simul obiecerat leviter armatos. [32] Adeoque aciem [p. 91] versabilem posuit, ut, qui ultimi stabant, ne circumirentur, verti tamen et in frontem circumagi possent. Itaque non prima quam latera, non latera munitiora fuere quam terga. [33] His ita ordinatis praecipit, ut, si falcatos currus cum fremitu barbari emitterent, ipsi laxatis ordinibus impetum incurrentium silentio exciperent, haud dubius sine noxa transcursuros, si nemo se opponeret: sin autem sine fremitu inmisissent, eos ipsi clamore terrerent pavidosque equos telis utrimque suffoderent. [34] Qui cornibus praeerant, extendere ea iussi ita, ut nec circumvenirentur, si artius starent, nee tamen ultimam aciem exinanirent. [35] Inpedimenta cum captivis, inter quos mater liberique Darei custodiebantur, haud procul acie in edito colle constituit modico praesidio relicto. Laevum cornu, sicut alias, Parmenioni tuendum datum, ipse in dextro stabat. [36] Nondum ad iactum teli perventum erat, cum Bion quidam transfuga, quanto maximo cursu poterat, ad regem pervenit nuntians, murices ferreos in terram diffudisse Dareum, qua hostem equites emissurum esse credebat, notatumque certo signo locum, ut fraus evitari a suis posset. [37] Adservari transfuga iusso duces convocat expositoque, quod nuntiatum erat, monet, ut regionem monstratam declinent equitemque periculum edoceant. [38] Ceterum hortantem exercitus exaudire non poterat usum aurium intercipiente fremitu duorum agminum, sed in conspectu omnium duces et proximum quemque [p. 92]