II. The king remained with Phegeus for two days. On the third day he had decided to pass over the river, which was difficult to pass, not only because of the extent of its waters, but also because it was [2] encumbered with rocks. Accordingly, having inquired of Phegeus what he needed to know, he learned that beyond the river there was a journey of twelve days through desert wastes and that then they came to [3] the Ganges, the greatest river of all India, and that on its farther bank dwelt the races called Gangaridae and Prasii; that their king was Aggrammes and that he was blocking the roads with 20,000 cavalry and 200,000 infantry. Besides this, he was leading 2000 chariots, and, a special cause of terror, elephants, of which Phegeus said that he had as many as 3000.
[5] All this seemed incredible to Alexander; therefore he asked Porus — for he was with him — whether [6] what was said was true. Porus assured him that the strength of the nation and of the kingdom was not exaggerated, but that the ruler was not only of humble, but of the lowest condition; in fact, his father, a barber whose daily profit barely kept him from starving, because he was not bad looking had [7] been beloved by the queen. By her he had been advanced to intimate friendship with the king who then reigned, and having treacherously killed him, had usurped the throne under the pretext of guardianship of the king’s children; then, having murdered the children, he had begotten the present king, who was hated and despised by his subjects and mindful [8] rather of his father’s fortune than of his own. Porus declaration had filled the king’s mind with varied anxiety. He scorned the enemy and his beasts, but dreaded the nature of the terrain and the violence of [9] the rivers; it seemed a hard task to follow up and dislodge those who had been relegated almost to the utmost limit of the human race, on the other hand, his eager thirst for glory and his insatiable longing for renown allowed nothing to seem inaccessible, [10] nothing remote. Also he doubted sometimes whether the Macedonians, after having traversed such an extent of country and grown old in battle and in camp, would follow him over opposing rivers and through so many difficulties put in their way by nature; he feared that sated and laden with booty they would prefer to enjoy what they had obtained rather than wear themselves out by acquiring more.
[11] He realized that his mind and that of his soldiers was not the same; he embraced in his thoughts the rule of the whole world and still stood at the beginning of his task, but the soldiers, exhausted by toil, now that the danger was finally at an end sought the fruit of their labour which was nearest at hand.
[12] Therefore ambition prevailed over reason, and having called the soldiers together, he addressed them in about these terms: “I know well, soldiers, that many things which may well alarm you have been spread abroad with that intent by the peoples [13] of India during recent days; but such artifices of falsifiers are not unknown to you. It is thus that the Persians described as terrible the passes of Cilicia, the plains of Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates, one of which we crossed by a ford, the [14] other by a bridge. Repute is never transmitted with certainty; all things that she reports are exaggerated. Even our glory, although it rests on a solid [15] foundation, is greater in name than in fact. But now, who could believe that beasts looking like walls, that the river Hydaspes, that other obstacles greater to hear of than in reality, could be surmounted? Long ago, by Heaven! we should have fled from Asia if mere tales could have vanquished us.
[16] “Do you believe that there are greater herds of elephants in India than of cattle anywhere else, although the elephant is a rare beast, is not easy to capture, and is tamed with still greater difficulty? [17] And yet it is with the same untruthfulness that they [1] have numbered their forces of infantry and cavalry.
Indeed, the wider the extent of a river, the more quietly it flows; for when restrained by banks that are close together, and hence dashed into a narrower channel, they carry torrential waters, and on the contrary their course is more sluggish in a spacious [18] channel. Besides this, all the danger is at the bank, where the enemy awaits us as we are landing our boats. Hence, however great the river that intervenes, the danger will be the same when we disembark on the land. But let us imagine that all those things are true; does the great size of the beasts or the multitude of the enemy terrify us? So far as the elephants are concerned, we have a recent experience before our eyes; they rushed with greater fury against their own men than against us; their bodies, great as they are, were mutilated by axes and [20] sickles. But what difference does it make whether they are as many as Porus had, or that there are 3000, when you have seen that after one or two are [21] wounded the rest are turned to flight? Furthermore, they manage even a few elephants with difficulty and inconvenience; but, when so many thousands are gathered together, they trample one another — where such huge and unwieldy masses of bodies have been able neither to stand nor to flee. For my part, I so despised those animals that after I had them, I did not make use of them against the enemy, knowing well enough that they inflicted more damage on their own side than on the enemy.
[22] “But, one may say, it is the multitude of infantry and cavalry which appals you! For you have been accustomed to fight against small forces and now for the first time will have to withstand a disorderly [23] throng! Testimony to the invincible strength of the Macedonians against a superior number is given by the river Granicus, by the flooding of Cilicia with the blood of the Persians, and by Arbela, whose plains are strewn with the bones of those whom we [24] decisively defeated. You are late in having begun to count the enemy’s legions, after you have made a desert in Asia by your victories. When we were sailing through the Hellespont was the time to think of our small numbers; now the Scythians follow us, we have Bactrian auxiliaries at hand, the Dahae [25] and the Sogdiani are fighting in our ranks. Yet it is not in that mob that I trust. To your hands I look, your valour I have as a bail and a surety for what I am about to accomplish. So long as I shall stand in battle with you I do not number my army nor that of the enemy; do you only furnish me with hearts full [29] of enthusiasm and confidence. We stand, not on the threshold of our labours and toils, but at the end; we have come to the rising sun and the Ocean. If cowardice does not stand in our way we shall return from there in triumph to our native land after subduing the whole world.
“Do not, as lazy husbandmen do, through negligence let the ripe crop escape your grasp. The prizes are greater than the dangers; that region is both rich and un warlike. Therefore I am leading you not so much to glory as to booty. You deserve to bear back to your native land the wealth which that sea casts upon its shores, you deserve to leave nothing untried, nothing neglected through [28] fear. By yourselves and your glory, in which you rise above human heights, and by your services to me and mine to you, in which we rival each other, I beg and implore you not to desert your foster-child and fellow soldier, not to say your king, as he is approaching the ends of the universe. All the rest I have ordered you to do; this one thing I shall owe you. And I who ask this of you am one who has never ordered you to do anything without first exposing himself to its dangers, one who has often covered the army with his shield. Do not break the palm that is in my hands, with which I shall equal Hercules and Father Liber, if Nemesis withhold her [30] hands. Grant this to my prayers, and at last break your persistent silence. Where are those shouts, the sign of your eagerness? Where is that look on the faces of my Macedonians? I do not recognize you, my soldiers, nor do I seem to be recognized by you. For a long time I have been knocking at deaf ears, I have been trying to arouse estranged and broken spirits.”
[31] And when, with faces lowered towards the earth, they persisted in keeping silence, he continued: “I have unintentionally failed you, in some way or other, that you do not wish even to look upon me. I seem to myself to be in a desert. No one replies, no one [32] at least refuses. To whom am I speaking? And what am I asking? It is your own glory and greatness that we are upholding. Where are those whom but now I saw vying with one another as to who should have the honour of carrying the body of their wounded k
ing? I am deserted, abandoned, given [33] up to the enemy. But even alone I shall persist in going on. Expose me to the rivers, the beasts, and those nations whose mere names you dread. I shall find men to follow me, deserted though I am by you. With me will be the Scythians and the Bactriani, a [34] while ago our enemies, now our soldiers. It is better to die than to command on sufferance. Go then back to your homes. Go in triumph after having abandoned your king. Here I shall find either the victory of which you despair or opportunity for an honourable death.”
Ne sic quidem ulli militum vox exprimi potuit. Expectabant, ut duces principesque ad regem perferrent vulneribus et continuo labore militiae fatigatos non detrectare munia, sed sustinere non posse. Ceterum illi metu attoniti in terram ora defixerant. [2] Igitur primo fremitus sua sponte, deinde gemitus quoque oritur, paulatimque liberius dolor egeri coepit manantibus [p. 318] lacrimis, adeo ut rex ira in misericordiam versa ne ipse quidem, quamquam cupiebat, temperare oculis potuerit. [3] Tandem universa contione effusius flente Соеnus ausus est cunctantibus ceteris propius tribunal accedere significans se loqui velle. [4] Quem ut videre milites detrahentem galeam capiti — ita enim regem adloqui mos est — , hortari coeperunt, ut causam exercitus ageret. [5] Tum Coenus: ‘Dii prohibeant,’ in quit, ‘a nobis inpias mentes! Et profecto prohibent: idem animus est tuis, qui fuit semper, ire, quo iusseris, pugnare, periclitari, sanguine nostro commendare posteritati tuum nomen. Proinde, si perseveras, inermes quoque et nudi et exangues, utcumque tibi cordi est, [6] sequimur vel antecedimus. Sed si audire vis non fictas tuorum militum voces, verum necessitate ultima expressas, praebe, quaeso, propitias aures imperium atque auspicium tuum constantissime secutis et, quocumque pergis, secuturis. [7] Vicisti, rex, magnitudine rerum non hostes modo, sed etiam milites. Quidquid mortalitas capere poterat, inplevimus. [8] Emensis maria terrasque melius nobis quam incolis omnia nota sunt. Paene in ultimo mundi fine consistimus. In alium orbem paras ire et Indiam quaeris Indis quoque ignotam. Inter feras serpentesque degentes eruere ex latebris et cubilibus suis expetis, [9] ut plura, quam sol videt, victoria lustres. Digna prorsus cogitatio animo tuo, sed altior nostro. Virtus enim tua semper in incremento erit, nostra vis iam in fine est. [10] Intuere corpora exanguia, tot perfossa vulneribus, tot cicatricibus [p. 319] putria. Iam tela hebetia sunt, iam arma deficiunt. Vestem Persicam induti, quia domestica subvehi non potest, in externum degeneravimus cultum. [11] Quoto cuique lorica est? quis equum habet? Iube quaeri, quam multos servi ipsorum persecuti sint, quid cuique supersit ex praeda. Omnium victores omnium inopes sumus. Nec luxuria laboramus, sed bello instrumenta belli consumpsimus. [12] Hunc tu pulcherrimum exercitum nudum obicies beluis? Quarum ut multitudinem augeant de industria barbari, magnum tamen esse numerum etiam ex mendacio intellego. [13] Quodsi adhuc penetrare in Indiam certum est, regio a meridie minus vasta est: qua subacta licebit decurrere in illud mare, quod rebus humanis terminum voluit esse natura. [14] Cur circuitu petis gloriam, quae ad manum posita est? Hic quoque occurrit Oceanus. Nisi mavis errare, pervenimus, quo tua fortuna ducit. [15] Haec tecum quam sine te cum his loqui malui, non uti inirem circumstantis exercitus gratiam, sed ut vocem loquentium potius quam gemitum murmurantium audires.’ [16] Ut finem orationi Coenus inposuit, clamor undique cum ploratu oritur regem, patrem, dominum confusis appellantium vocibus. [17] Iamque et alii duces praecipueque seniores, quis ob aetatem et excusatio honestior erat et auctoritas maior, eadem precabantur. [18] Ille nee castigare obstinatos nec mitigari poterat iratus: itaque inops consilii desiluit ex tribunali claudique regiam iussit omnibus praeter adsuetos adire prohibitis. [19] Biduum irae [p. 320] datum est: tertio die processit erigique duodecim aras ex quadrato saxo, monumentum expeditionis suae, munimenta quoque castrorum iussit extendi cubiliaque amplioris formae quam pro corporum habitu relinqui, ut speciem omnium augeret, posteritati fallax miraculum praeparans. [20] Hinc repetens, quae emensus erat, ad flumen Acesinen locat castra. Ibi forte Coenus morbo extinctus est: cuius morte ingemuit quidem rex, adiecit tamen propter paucos dies longam orationem eum exorsum, [21] tamquam solus Macedoniam visurus esset. Iam in aqua classis, quam aedificari iusserat, stabat. Inter haec Memnon ex Thracia in supplementum equitum milia, praeter eos ab Harpalo peditum VII milia adduxerat armaque XXV milibus auro et argento caelata pertulerat. Quis distributis vetera cremari iussit. [22] Mille navigiis aditurus Oceanum discordesque et vetera odia retractantes Porum et Taxilen, Indiae reges, firmatae per adfinitatem gratiae reliquit in suis regnis summo in aedificanda classe amborum studio usus. [23] Oppida quoque duo condidit: quorum alterum Nicaeam appellavit, alterum Bucephala, equi, quem amiserat, memoriae ac nomini dedicans urbem. [24] Elephantis deinde et inpedimentis terra sequi iussis secundo amne defluxit quadraginta ferme stadia singulis diebus pro- [p. 321] cedens, ut opportunis locis exponi subinde copiae possent.
III. Not even thus could a word be forced from any of the soldiers. They were waiting for their generals and chief officers to bear the news to the king that, worn out by wounds and the unremitting toil of military service, they did not refuse their duties, but [2] were no longer able to endure them. But the generals, overwhelmed with fear, kept their eyes riveted on the ground.
Then first an involuntary murmur, then also groans were heard, and little by little sadness began to be shown more freely by such floods of tears that the king’s anger was turned to compassion, and he himself, though he strove to do so, could not control his [3] eyes. At length, when the whole assembly was dissolved in tears, Coenus, while the rest hesitated, ventured to approach nearer to the tribunal, indicating that he desired to speak. When the soldiers saw him removing his helmet from his head — for so it is customary to address the king — they began to urge him to plead the cause of the army.
[6] Then Coenus said: “The gods forbid that we should have impious thoughts. And surely they do forbid it; the feelings of your soldiers are the same that they always have been, namely, to go wherever you order, to fight, to incur danger, at the price of our blood to hand your name down to future generations. Therefore, if you persist, we, even unarmed, naked, and worn out, follow wherever you desire, or lead the way. “But if you are willing to hear from your soldiers words that are not false, but are wrung from them by dire necessity, lend, I beg you, propitious ears to those who have most faithfully followed your command and your auspices and will follow them whither-
[7] soever you go. You have conquered, my king, by the greatness of your exploits, not the enemy alone, but also your own soldiers. Whatever mortals were able to endure we have fulfilled. We have traversed seas and lands, and everything there is better known to us than to the natives. We stand almost at the [8] very end of the world. You are preparing to go into another world, and to seek an India unknown even to the Indi. You seek to bring out of their lurking-places and lairs those who dwell among wild beasts and serpents, in order that you may survey in [9] victory more places than the sun looks upon. The thought is most worthy of your spirit, but too lofty for ours. For your valour will ever be on the increase, [10] our strength is already at an end. Look upon these bodies drained of blood, pierced by so many wounds, rotted by so many scars. Already our weapons are dull, already our armour is giving out.
Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus Page 125