Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus

by Quintus Curtius Rufus

  I. plunged right into the danger-point of the fight, and cutting down those who resisted most bravely, drove a great part [2] of the enemy before him. The victors had begun to flee, and until they brought the enemy, who pursued them too eagerly, down into the level ground, they were falling unavenged; but no sooner was there standing-room, than they fought on equal terms.

  [3] Among all the Lacedaemonians, however, their king was conspicuous, not only for the excellence of his arms and his person, but also for the greatness of his [4] courage, in which alone he was unsurpassed. On all sides, now hand to hand, now at long range, he was attacked, and for a long time, turning his arms now here, now there, he caught some of the weapons with his shield and avoided others by his agility; but at last his thighs were run through by a lance and from great loss of blood failed him as he fought. Therefore his guards laid him upon his shield and quickly carried him back to his camp, hardly able to endure the effect of the jolting on his wounds.

  Yet the Lacedaemonians did not give up the fight, but as soon as they could gain ground more favourable to themselves than to the enemy, they took close order and met their line of battle as it poured like a flood upon them. That no contest was ever more desperate is a matter of record. The armies of the two nations most famed in war were fighting [8] on even terms; the Lacedaemonians had an eye to their ancient, the Macedonians to their present glory, the one side was fighting for freedom, the other, for dominion, the Lacedaemonians lacked a [9] leader, the Macedonians room for fighting. Also, so many shifting changes in a single day increased now the hope, now the fear of both sides, as if Fortune were purposely balancing a struggle between the bravest of men. But the narrowness of the place in which the battle remained fixed did not allow them to engage with their full strength; therefore more looked on at the contest than took part in it, and those who were out of range of a weapon urged on their men in turn by their acclamations. At last the army of the Laconians, who were barely able to hold their weapons slippery with sweat, began to weaken, [12] then to retreat. Next, when they fled more openly, as the enemy pushed on, the victor followed them closely, scattered as they were, and passing at the double over all the space which the Laconians’ army had held, was in pursuit of Agis himself.

  [13] He, when he saw the flight of his men and the foremost of the enemy, gave orders to be put down, and having tried whether his limbs could follow the It desire of his spirit, and feeling that they failed him he sank upon his knees, and quickly putting on his helmet, and protecting his body with his shield, he brandished a spear in his right hand, actually challenging anyone who would dare to despoil him as he lay [15] there. But there was no one who could endure to engage with him hand to hand. He was assailed from a distance with weapons, hurling the same ones back at the enemy, until at last a lance was implanted in his naked breast. When this had been pulled from the wound, he rested his bent and failing head upon his shield for a moment, then, as his breath and his blood left him together, he fell dying upon his [16] armour. There fell of the Lacedaemonians 5300; of the Macedonians, not more than a thousand; but hardly anyone returned to the camp without a wound.

  This victory broke the spirit, not alone of Sparta and her allies, but of all those who had awaited the [17] fortune of the war. Antipater did not fail to notice that the expression of those who congratulated him did not correspond with their feelings, but since he desired to end the war, he was constrained to let himself be deceived, and although the success of the affair pleased him, yet he feared envy, for what he had done was more important than suited the limitations of a prefect. For Alexander had wished the enemy to be defeated, but that Antipater had conquered them was so displeasing to him, that he could not even be silent, thinking that whatever had fallen to the glory of another had been taken from his own.

  [19] Hence Antipater, who perfectly understood the king’s disposition, did not himself venture to act as arbiter of his victory, but summoned a council of the Greeks and consulted it as to what was best to [20] be done. From the council the Lacedaemonians obtained nothing except permission to send envoys to the king, the people of Tegea, except the ringleaders, were granted pardon for their revolt, to those of Megalopolis, whose city had been besieged by the participants in the revolt, the Achaeans and the [21] Eleans were ordered to pay 120 talents. Such was the outcome of the war, which broke out suddenly, yet was ended before Alexander overcame Darius at Arbela.

  ‘Magnitudinem rerum, quas gessimus, milites, intuentibus vobis minime mirum est et desiderium quietis et satietatem gloriae occurrere. [2] Ut omittam Illyrios, Triballos, Boeotiam, Thraciam, Spartam, Achaeos, Peloponnesum, quorum alia ductu meo, [3] alia imperio auspicioque perdomui, ecce orsi bellum ab Hellesponto Ionas, Aeolidem servitio barbariae inpotentis exemimus, Cariam, Lydiam, Cappadociam, Phrygiam, Paphlagoniam, Pamphyliam, Pisidas, Cili- [p. 159] ciam, Syriam, Phoenicen, Armeniam, Persidem, Medos, Parthienen habemus in potestate. [4] Plures provincias conplexus sum, quam alii urbes ceperunt, et nescio an enumeranti mihi quaedam ipsarum rerum multitudo subduxerit. [5] Itaque si crederem satis certam esse possessionem terrarum, quas tanta velocitate domuimus, ego vero, milites, ad penates meos, ad parentem sororesque et ceteros cives vel retinentibus vobis erumperem, ut ibi potissimum parta vobiscum laude et gloria fruerer, ubi nos uberrima victoriae praemia expectant, liberum, coniugum parentumque laetitia, pax, quies, rerum per virtutem partarum secura possessio. [6] Sed in novo et, si verum fateri volumus, precario imperio adhuc iugum eius rigida cervice subeuntibus barbaris tempore, milites, opus est, dum mitioribus ingeniis inbuuntur et efferatos melior consuetudo permulcet. [7] Fruges quoque maturitatem statuto tempore expectant: adeo etiam ilia sensus omnis expertia tamen sua lege mitescunt. [8] Quid? creditis tot gentes alterius imperio аc nomine adsuetas, non sacris, non moribus, non commercio linguae nobiscum cohaerentes eodem proelio domitas esse, quo victae sunt? Vestris armis continentur, non suis moribus et, qui praesentes metuunt, in absentia hostes erunt. Cum feris bestiis res est, quas captas et inclusas, quia ipsarum natura non potest, longior dies mitigat. [9] Et adhuc sic ago, tamquam omnia subacta sint armis, quae fuerunt in dicione Darei. Hyrcaniam Nabarzanes occupavit, Bactra [p. 160] non possidet solum parricida Bessus, sed etiam minatur, Sogdiani, Dahae, Massagetae, Sacae, Indi sui iuris sunt. [10] Omnes hi, simul terga nostra viderint, illos sequentur: illi enim eiusdem nationis sunt, nos alienigenae et externi. [11] Suis quisque autem placidius paret, etiam cum is praeest, qui magis timeri potest. Proinde aut, quae cepimus, omittenda sunt aut, quae non habemus, occupanda. Sicut in corporibus aegris, milites, nihil, quod nociturum est, medici relinquunt, sic nos, quidquid obstat imperio, recidamus. Parva saepe scintilla contempta magnum excitavit incendium. Nil tuto in hoste despicitur: quem spreveris, valentiorem neglegentia facias. [12] Ne Dareus quidem hereditarium Persarum accepit imperium, sed est in sedem Cyri beneficio Bagoae, castrati hominis, admissus: ne vos magno labore credatis Bessum vacuum regnum occupaturum. [13] Nos vero peccavimus, milites, si Dareum ob hoc vicimus, ut servo eius traderemus imperium, qui ultimum ausus scelus regem suum, etiam externae opis egentem, certe cui nos victores pepercissemus, quasi captivum in vinculis habuit, ad ultimum, ne a nobis conservari posset, occidit. [14] Hune vos regnare patiemini ? Quem equidem cruci adfixum videre festino, omnibus regibus gentibusque et fidei, quam violavit, meritas poenas solventem. [15] At, hercules, si mox eundem Grae- [p. 161] corum urbes aut Hellespontum vastare nuntiatum erit vobis, quo dolore adficiemini Bessum praemia vestrae occupavisse victoriae? Tunc ad repetendas res festinabatis, tunc arma capietis. Quanto autem praestat territum adhuc et vix mentis suae compotem opprimere! [16] Quadridui nobis iter superest, qui tot proculcavimus nives, tot amnes superavimus, tot montium iuga transcucurrimus. Non mare illud, quod exaestuans iter fluctibus occupat, euntes nos moratur, non Ciliciae fauces et angustiae includunt: plana omnia et prona sunt. [17] In ipso limine victoriae stamus. Pauci nobis fugitivi et domini sui interfectores supersunt. Egregium, mehercule, opus et inter prima gloriae vestrae numerandum posteritati
famaeque tradetis, Dareum quoque hostem finito post mortem illius odio parricidae caede esse vos ultos, neminem impium effugisse vestras manus. [18] Hoc perpetrate quanto creditis Persas obsequentiores fore, cum intellexerint vos pia bella suscipere et Bessi sceleri, non nomini suo irasci?’

  II. But Alexander, as soon as a mind which was better qualified for coping with military toil than with quiet and ease was relieved of pressing cares, gave himself up to pleasures, and one whom the arms of the Persians had not overcome fell victim to their vices: [2] banquets begun early, the mad enjoyment of heavy drinking and being up all night, sport, and troops of harlots. There was a general slipping into foreign habits. By emulating these, as if they were preferable to those of his country, he so offended alike the eyes and the minds of his countrymen, that by many of [3] his former friends he was regarded as an enemy. For men who held fast to their native discipline, and were accustomed with frugal and easily obtained food to satisfy the demands of nature, he had driven to the evil habits of foreign and conquered nations. Hence the more frequent making of plots against his life, mutiny of the soldiers, and freer expression of resentment amid mutual complaints, then on his own part now anger, now suspicions aroused by groundless fear, and other similar evils, of which an account will [5] be given later. Alexander, therefore, when he was wasting days and nights alike in early and prolonged banquets, used to relieve the satiety of his feasts with entertainments, not content with a throng of artists whom he had summoned from Greece; for captive women were bidden to sing after their manner a song discordant and hateful to foreign ears.

  [6] Among these women the king himself noticed one more sad than the others, who modestly resisted those who would lead her forward. She was of surpassing beauty, and her modesty enhanced her beauty; with downcast eyes and with her face covered so far as she was allowed, she aroused in the king a suspicion that she was of too high birth to be exhibited amid [7] entertainments at a banquet. On being accordingly asked who she was, she replied that she was the granddaughter of Ochus, who had lately been king of the Persians, being the daughter of his son, and that she had been the wife of Hystaspes. He had been a kinsman of Darius and himself the commander [8] of a great army. There still lingered in the king’s mind slight remains of his former disposition; and so, respecting the ill-fortune of a lady born of royal stock, and so famous a name as that of Ochus, he not only gave orders that the captive should be set free, but also that her property should be returned to her; likewise that her husband should be looked for, in order that when he had been found, he might restore [9] his wife to him. Moreover, on the following day he ordered Hephaestion to cause all the prisoners to be brought to the palace. There, having inquired into the rank of each one, he separated from the common herd those who were of high birth. There were a thousand of these; among them was Oxathres, brother of Darius, no more distinguished because of the rank of that king than for his own mental endowments.

  [10] Twenty-six thousand talents were amassed from the recent booty, and of these 12,000 were spent in largess to the soldiers, and a sum equal to this was embezzled by the great dishonesty of those who [11] had charge of it. Oxydates was a Persian noble, who was being kept in bonds, because he had been destined by Darius for capital punishment. Alexander freed him and conferred upon him the satrapy of Media, and the brother of Darius he received into the band of his friends, with the maintenance of all the honour due to his ancient lineage.

  [12] From there they came to Parthienê, then an obscure nation, but now the head of all those who dwell beyond the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and extend [13] as far as the Red Sea. The Scythians had taken possession of the level and fertile part of the region, and are still dangerous neighbours. They have homes both in Europe and in Asia; those who dwell above the Bosphorus are assigned to Asia, but those who are in Europe extend from the left side of Thrace to the Borysthenes and from there in a direct [14] course to the Ta nais. The Tanais flows between Europe and Asia. There is no doubt that the Scythians, from whom the Parthians are descended, made their way, not from the Bosphorus, but from the region of Europe.

  [13] There was at that time a famous city called Hecatompylos, founded by the Greeks; there the king remained for several days, after having supplies brought there from every side. As a result, gossip, the vice of idle soldiery, spread without authority that the king, content with what he had accomplished, [16] had decided to return forthwith to Macedonia. They ran as though crazed to their tents and made ready their packs for the journey; you would believe that the signal to march had been given throughout the whole camp. Here the noise of those looking for their tent-mates, there of those loading the wagons, was [17] borne to the king’s ears. The Greek soldiers who had been bidden to return to their homes had gained credence for the report which had been circulated without reason; since 6000 denarii had been given to each of their horsemen, and 1000 to every man of their infantry, the rest of the army believed that the end of military service was at hand for themselves [18] also. Alarmed, as was natural, the king, who had determined to traverse the lands of the Indi and the remotest parts of the Orient, summoned the leaders of his forces to his tent, and, with tears in his eyes, complained that he was being recalled from the midcourse of his glory, to take back to his native land the fortune of one who was vanquished rather than [19] that of a victor; that it was not cowardice on the part of his soldiers that stood in his way, but the envy of the gods, who had inspired in the bravest of men a sudden longing for their native land, to which they would return a little later with greater glory and fame.

  [20] Then indeed each general individually offered his service, demanded the most difficult tasks, promised also the obedience of the soldiers, if the king would consent to soothe their feelings by a mild and appropriate [21] address; that they had never held back spiritless and downcast, whenever they had been able to draw upon his enthusiasm and the inspiration of so great a mind. Alexander replied that he would do it; only let them in advance prepare the ears of the common soldiers for what he was to say. When everything that seemed to be to the purpose had been sufficiently arranged, he ordered the army to be called to an assembly, and delivered to it a speech in the following terms:

  Summa militum alacritate iubentium, quocumque vellet, ducere oratio excepta est. [2] Nec rex moratur impetum tertioque per Parthienen die ad fines Hyrcaniae penetrat Cratero relicto cum iis copiis, quibus praeerat, et ea manu, quam Amyntas ducebat, additis DC equitibus et totidem sagittariis, ut ab incursione barbarorum Parthienen tueretur. [3] Erigyium inpedi- [p. 162] menta modico praesidio dato campestri itinere ducere iubet. Ipse cum phalange et equitatu CL stadia emensus castra in valle, qua Hyrcaniam adeunt, communit. Nemus praealtis densisque arboribus umbrosum est pingue vallis solum rigantibus aquis, [4] quae ex petris imminentibus manant. Ex ipsis radicibus montium Stiboetes amnis effunditur, qui tria fere stadia in longitudinem uni versus fluit, deinde saxo, quod alveolum interpellat, repercussus duo itinera velut dispensatis aquis aperit. [5] Inde torrens et saxorum, per quae incurrit, asperitate violentior terram praeceps subit. Per CCC stadia conditus labitur rursusque velut ex alio fonte conceptue editur et novum alveum intendit priore sui parte spatiosior — [6] quippe in latitudinem x et trium stadiorum diffunditur — rursusque angustioribus coercitus ripis iter cogit. Tandem in alterum amnem cadit: [7] Rhidagno nomen est. Incolae adfirmabant, quaecumque demissa essent in cavernam, quae propior est fonti, rursus, ubi aliud os amnis aperitur, existere: itaque Alexander boves, qua subeunt aquae terram, praecipitari iubet, quorum corpora, ubi rursus erumpit, expulsa videre, qui missi erant, ut exciperent. [8] Quartum iam diem eodem loco quietem militi dederat, cum litteras Nabarzanis, qui Dareum cum Besso interceperat, accepit, quarum sententia haec erat: se Dareo non fuisse inimicum, immo etiam, quae credidisset utilia esse, suasisse et, quia fidele consilium regi [p. 163] dedisset, prope occisum ab eo. [9] Agitasse Dareum custodiam corporis sui contra ius fasque peregrino militi tradere damnata popularium fide, quam per ducentos et triginta annos invi
olatam regibus suis praestitissent. [10] Se in praecipiti et lubrico stantem consilium a praesenti necessitate repetisse. Dareum quoque, cum occidisset Bagoan, hac excusatione satisfecisse popularibus, quod insidiantem interemisset. [11] Nihil esse miseris mortalibus spiritu carius: amore eius ad ultima esse propulsum. [12] Sed ea magis esse secutum quam optasse. In communi calamitate suam quemque habere fortunam. Si venire se iuberet, sine metu esse venturum. Non timere, ne fidem datam tantus rex violaret: deos a deo falli non solere. [13] Ceterum si, cui fidem daret, videretur indignus, multa exilia patere fugienti: patriam esse, ubicumque vir fortis sedem sibi elegerit. [14] Nec dubitavit Alexander fidem, quo Persae modo accipiebant, dare, inviolatum, si venisset, fore. Quadrato tamen agmine et conposito ibat speculatores subinde praemittens, qui explorarent loca. [15] Levis armatura ducebat agmen, phalanx eam sequebatur, post pedites erant inpedimenta. Et gens bellicosa et naturae situs difficilis aditu curam regis intenderat. [16] Namque perpetua vallis iacet usque ad mare Caspium patens, quo terrae eius velut brachia excurrunt: media flexu modico sinum faciunt lunae maxime similem, cum eminent cornua nondum totum orbem sidere inplente. [17] Cercetae et Mossyni et Chalybes a laeva sunt et ab altera parte Leucosyri et Amazonum campi: et illos, [p. 164] qua vergit ad septentrionem, hos ad occasum conversa prospectat. [18] Mare Caspium dulcius ceteris ingentis magnitudinis serpentes alit: piscium in eo longe diversi ab aliis colores. Quidam Caspium, quidam Hvrcanium appellant: alii sunt, qui Maeotiam paludem in id cadere putent et argumentum adferant aquam, quod dulcior sit quam cetera maria, infuso paludis humore mitescere. [19] A septentrione ingens in litus mare incumbit longeque agit fluctus et magna parte exaestuans stagnat: idem alio caeli statu recipit in se fretum eodemque impetu, quo effusum est, relabens terram naturae suae reddit. Et quidam credidere non Caspium mare esse, sed ex India in Hyrcaniam Oceanum cadere, cuius fastigium, ut supra dictum est, perpetua valle submittitur. [20] Hinc rex XX stadia processit semita propemodum invia, cui silva inminebat, torrentesque et eluvies iter morabantur: nullo tamen hoste obvio penetratum tandemque ad cultiora perventum est. [21] Praeter alios commeatus, quorum tum copia regio abundabat, pomorum quoque ingens modus nascitur, et uberrimum gignendis uvis solum est. [22] Frequens arbor faciem quercus habet, cuius folia multo melle tinguntur, sed, nisi solis ortum incolae occupaverint, vel modico tepore sucus extinguitur. [23] XXX hinc stadia processerat, cum Phrataphernes ei occurrit seque et eos, qui post Darei mortem [p. 165] profugerant, dedens: quibus benigne exceptis ad oppidum Arvas pervenit. Hic ei Craterus et Erigyius occurrunt. [24] Praefectum Tapurorum gentis, Phradatem, adduxerant: hic quoque in fidem receptus multis exemplo fuit experiendi clementiam regis. [25] Satrapen deinde Hyrcaniae dedit Amminaspin: exul hic regnante Ocho ad Philippum pervenerat. Tapurorum quoque gentem Phradati reddidit.