Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus

by Quintus Curtius Rufus

  “Clad in Persian dress, because that of our own country cannot be brought to us, we have degenerated [11] into foreign ways. How many of us have a cuirass? Who has a horse? Bid it be asked how many are attended by their own slaves, what each man has left from his booty. Victors over all, we lack everything. And we are not suffering because of luxury, but it is in war that we have used up the [12] equipment for war. Will you expose this most noble army naked to wild beasts? Of these, although the barbarians purposely exaggerate the multitude, yet even from their false report I know that the number [13] is great. But if you are still determined to penetrate farther into India, the southern part of that region is less immense; when that has been subdued, you may run down to that sea which Nature has decreed [14] should be the boundary of human affairs. Why do you seek glory by a long circuit when it lies at your hand? Here too the Ocean meets you. Unless you prefer to wander about, we have reached [15] the place to which your fortune is leading you. I have preferred to say these things in your presence rather than to discuss them with the men in your absence, not with a view to gaining favour with the army here assembled, but that you might hear from my lips the voice of those who speak out rather than the groans of those who grumble.”

  [16] When Coenus had ended his address, shouts arose from every side mingled with lamentations, as in a medley of voices they called out “king,”

  “father.”

  [17] and “lord.” And now also the other generals, and especially the older ones, for whom because of their age it was both more honourable to ask for an excuse and whose authority was greater, gave [18] utterance to the same entreaties. Alexander found himself unable either to rebuke them for their obstinacy or to be appeased in his anger; therefore, being at a loss what to do, he leaped down from the tribunal, ordered the royal quarters to be closed, and all to be refused admission except his regular attendants. Two days were spent in anger; on the third day he came out and ordered twelve altars of squared stone to be erected as a memorial of his expedition. He also gave directions that the fortifications of the camp be extended, and couches of a larger size than were used by men of ordinary stature be left there, in order that by exaggerating the proportion of everything he might prepare a deceptive wonder for posterity.

  [20] From here he retraced the ground which he had covered and encamped near the river Acesines. There, as it chanced, Coenus was taken ill and died. The king was in fact grieved by his death, but could not forbear to remark that Coenus for the sake of a few days had begun a long harangue, as if he alone [21] were destined to see Macedonia again. Already the fleet which he had ordered to be built was afloat in the river. Meanwhile Memon had brought from Thrace a reinforcement of 5000 horsemen, and besides these 7000 foot-soldiers from Harpalus, for 25,000 men [22] sets of armour inlaid with gold and silver. These Alexander distributed and ordered the old ones to be burned. Intending to make for the Ocean with a thousand ships, he left Porus and Taxiles, the Indian kings, who had been at odds and reviving old feuds, in friendly relations strengthened by an alliance by marriage, and established each in his own sovereignty because he had received the greatest service from [23] them in building his fleet. He also founded two towns, of which he called one Nicaea and the other Bucephala, dedicating the latter to the name and [24] memory of the horse which he had lost. Then, having given orders that the elephants and the baggage should follow by land, he sailed down the river, advancing about forty stadia each day, to allow the troops to be landed from time to time where there were convenient places.

  Perventum erat in regionem, in qua Hydaspes amnis Acesini committitur: [2] hinc decurrit in fines Siborum. Hi de exercitu Herculis maiores suos esse memorant: aegros relictos esse cepisse sedem, quam ipsi obtinebant. [3] Pelles ferarum pro veste, clavae tela erant, multaque etiam, cum Graeci mores exolevissent, stirpis ostendebant vestigia. [4] Hinc escensione facta CC et L stadia excessit depopulatusque regionem oppidum, caput eius, corona cepit. [5] XL milia peditum alia gens in ripa fluminum opposuerat: quae amne superato in fugam conpulit inclusosque moenibus expugnat. [6] Puberes interfecti sunt, ceteri venierunt. Alteram deinde urbem expugnare adortus magnaque vi defendentium pulsus multos Macedonum amisit. Sed cum in obsidione perseverasset, oppidani desperata salute ignem subiecere tectis seque аc liberos coniugesque, incendio cremant. [7] Quod cum ipsi augerent, hostes extinguerent, nova forma pugnae erat: delebant incolae urbem, hostes defendebant. Adeo etiam naturae iura bellum in contrarium mutat. [8] Arx erat oppidi intacta, in qua praesidium dereliquit. Ipse e*t navigiis circumvectus arcem. Quippe III flumina tota India praeter Gangen maxima munimento arcis adplicant undas: a septentrione Indus adluit, a meridie Acesines Hydaspi confunditur. [9] Cete- [p. 322] rum amnium coetus maritimis similes fluctus movet, multoque ac turbido limo, quod aquarum concursu subinde turbatur, iter, qua meatur navigiis, in tenuem alveum cogitur. [10] Itaque cum crebri fluctus se inveherent et navium hinc proras, hinc latera pulsarent, subducere nautae vela coeperunt. Sed ministeria eorum hinc aestu, hinc praerapida celeritate fluminum occupantur. [11] In oculis omnium duo maiora navigia submersa sunt: leviora, cum et ipsa nequirent regi, in ripam tamen innoxia expulsa sunt. Ipse rex in rapidissimos vertices incidit, quibus intorta navis obliqua et gubernaculi inpatiens agebatur. [12] Iam vestem detraxerat corpori proiecturus semet in flumen, amicique, ut exciperent eum, haud procul nabant, adparebatque anceps periculum tam nataturi quam navigare perseverantis: [13] ergo ingenti certamine concitant remos, quantaque vis humana esse poterat, admota est, ut fluctus, [14] qui se invehebant, everberarentur. Findi crederes undas et retro gurgites cedere. Quibus tandem navis erepta non tamen ripae adplicatur, sed in proximum vadum inliditur. Cum amne bellum fuisse crederes. Ergo aris pro numero fluminum positis sacrificioque facto XXX stadia processit. [15] Inde ventum est in regionem Sudracarum Mallorumque, quos alias bellare inter se solitos tunc periculi societas iunxerat. Nonaginta milia iuniorum peditum in armis erant, praeter hos equitum X milia [p. 323] nongentaeque quadrigae. [16] At Macedones, qui omni discrimine iam defunctos se esse crediderant, postquam integrum bellum cum ferocissimis Indiae gentibus superesse cognoverunt, inproviso metu territi rursus seditiosis vocibus regem increpare coeperunt: [17] Gangen amnem et, quae ultra essent, coactum transmittere non tamen finisse, sed mutasse bellum. Indomitis gentibus se obiectos, ut sanguine suo aperirent ei Oceanum. [18] Trahi extra sidera et solem cogique adire, quae mortalium oculis natura subduxerit. Novis identidem armis novos hostes existere. Quos ut omnes fundant fugentque, quod praemium ipsos manere? caliginem ac tenebras et perpetuam noctem profundo incubantem mari, repletum inmanium beluarum gregibus fretum, inmobiles undas, in quibus emoriens natura defecerit. [19] Rex non sua, sed militum sollicitudine anxius contione advocata docet inbelles esse, quos metuant. Nihil deinde praeter has gentes obstare, quominus terrarum spatia emensi ad finem simul mundi laborumque perveniant. [20] Concessisse illis metuentibus Gangen et multitudinem nationum, quae ultra amnem essent: declinasse iter eo, ubi par gloria, minus periculum esset. [21] Iam prospicere se Oceanum, iam perflare ad ipsos auram maris: ne inviderent sibi laudem, quam peteret. Herculis et Liberi Patris terminos transituros illos, regi suo parvo inpendio inmortalitatem famae daturos. Paterentur se ex India redire, non fugere. [22] Omnis multitudo et maxime militaris mobilis impetu effertur: ita seditionis non [p. 324] [23] remedia quam principia maiora sunt. Non alias tam alacer clamor ab exercitu est redditus: iubent eum ducere dis secundis aequareque gloria, quos aemularetur. Laetus his adclamationibus ad hostes protinus castra movit. [24] Validissimae Indorum gentes erant et bellum inpigre parabant ducemque ex natione Sudracarum spectatae virtutis elegerant: qui sub radicibus montis castra posuit lateque ignes, ut speciem multitudinis augeret, ostendit, clamore quoque ac sui moris ululatu identidem adquiescentes Macedonas frustra terrere cоnatus. [25] Iam lux adpetebat, cum rex fiduciae ac spei plenus alacres milites arma capere et exire in aciem iubet. Sed — haud traditur, metune an oborta seditione inter ipsos — subito profugerunt barbari certe et avios montes et inpeditos occupaverunt. [
26] Quorum agmen rex frustra persecutus inpedimenta cepit. Perventum deinde est ad oppidum Sudracarum, in quod plerique confugerant, haud maiore fiducia moenium quam armorum. [27] Iam admovebat rex, cum vates monere eum coepit, [28] ne committeret aut certe differret obsidionem: vitae eius periculum ostendi. Rex Demophontem — is namque vates erat — intuens: ‘Si quis,’ inquit, ‘te arti tuae intentum et exta spectantem sic interpellet, non dubitem, quin incommodus ac molestus videri tibi possit.’ Et cum ille ita prorsus futurum respondisset: [29] ‘Censesne,’ inquit, ‘tantas res, non pecudum fibras ante oculos habenti ullum esse [p. 325] maius inpedimentum quam vatem superstitione captum?’ Nec diutius, [30] quam respondit, moratus admoveri iubet scalas cunctantibusque ceteris evadit in murum. Augusta muri corona erat: non pinnae sicut alibi fastigium eius distinxerant, sed perpetua lorica obducta transitum saepserat. [31] Itaque rex haerebat magis quam stabat in margine clipeo undique incidentia tela propulsans: [32] nam ipse eminus ex turribus petebatur, nec subire milites poterant, quia superne vi telorum obruebantur. Tandem magnitudinem telorum periculi pudor vicit: quippe cernebant cunctatione sua dedi hostibus regem. [33] Sed festinando morabantur auxilia. Nam dum pro se quisque certat evadere, oneravere scalas: quis non sufficientibus devoluti unicam spem regis fefellerunt. Stabat enim in conspectu tanti exercitus velut in solitudine destitutus.

  IV. They had come into the country where the [2] Hydaspes unites with the Acesines. From there the river flows into the country of the Sibi. These people allege that their forefathers belonged to the army of Hercules; that being left behind on account of sickness, they had gained possession of the abode [3] in which their posterity were living. They dressed in the skins of wild beasts, their weapons were clubs, and they also showed many traces of their origin, although Greek customs had become obsolete.

  [4] Having made a landing there, he went on for a distance of two hundred and fifty stadia, and after devastating the region, by an assault on all sides took [5] the town which was its capital. Another nation had opposed 40,000 foot-soldiers on the bank of the rivers; Alexander crossed the Acesines, drove them within their walls, and took their town by assault. Those of military age were put to death, the rest [6] were sold. Then, having attempted to storm a second city, but being repulsed by the great strength of its defenders, he lost many of the Macedonians, But when he had persisted in besieging it, the inhabitants, despairing of safety, set fire to their houses and burned to death in the flames themselves and their 7 wives and their children. Since they themselves were spreading the fire, while the enemy were trying to put it out, a novel kind of battle took place; the inhabitants were trying to destroy their city, the enemy were defending it. So completely does war invert even the laws of Nature. g The citadel of the town was unharmed, and in it Alexander left his sick as a garrison. He himself sailed around the fortress in his ships. For the three greatest rivers of all India except the Ganges protect its fortifications with their waters; on the north the Indus washes them, on the south the Acesines unites [9] with the Hydaspes. Moreover, the union of the rivers raises billows like those of the sea, and the abundance of turbid silt, which is constantly shifted by the confluent waters, compresses the way where it [10] is navigable by boats into a narrow channel. Therefore, since wave after wave met them, and struck now the prows and now the sides of the ships, the sailors began to furl the sails. But their efforts were thwarted, partly by the surging waves, partly [11] by the very rapid flow of the rivers. In the sight of all two of the greater ships were sunk; the lighter ones, although they also could not be managed, were nevertheless driven on the bank uninjured. The king himself met with the swiftest of the eddies, by which his ship was turned sidewise and driven [12] on without obeying its helm. Already he had taken off his clothing, intending to plunge into the river, and his friends were swimming near by ready to pick him up, and it appeared equally dangerous either to take to swimming or to persist [13] in sailing on; therefore they plied the oars with mighty rivalry, and did all that human power could do to break through the waves which dashed upon [14] them. You might have thought that the billows were cloven and that the surges were forced to retreat. When at last the ship was saved from these, it nevertheless could not be brought to the bank, but was dashed upon the nearest shoal. You would have thought that a war had been waged with the river. Accordingly, Alexander set up as many altars as there were streams, and having offered sacrifice, went on for thirty stadia.

  [15] From there he came into the land of the Sudracae and the Malli, who at other times were usually at war with each other, but then had united in the face of the common danger. They had 90,000 younger foot-soldiers, and besides these 10,000 horsemen [16] and 900 chariots. But when the Macedonians, who believed that they had already encountered every danger, knew that a fresh war with the most warlike nations of India still remained, they were struck with sudden fear, and began again to upbraid [17] the king with mutinous language: that after being compelled to cross the Ganges and the regions beyond it, they had nevertheless not ended, but only shifted, the war. They were exposed to unconquered nations in order that at the cost of their blood they might [18] open a way for him to the Ocean. They were being dragged beyond the constellations and the sun and forced to approach places which Nature had withdrawn from the sight of mortals. For their new arms new enemies constantly appeared. Granted that they routed and put to flight all these, what reward awaited them? Gloom and darkness, and perpetual night brooding over an unplumbed sea, a deep teeming with schools of savage sea-monsters, stagnant waters in which expiring Nature had met her end.

  [19] The king, disturbed by anxiety, not for himself but for his soldiers, having called an assembly, told them that those whom they feared were unwarlike; that after these no other nations stood in their way of traversing all the wide spaces which remained and coming to the end of the world and at the same time to [20] the end of their labours. The Ganges and the multitude of nations which were beyond that river he had sacrificed to their fears; he had diverted his arms to a quarter where there was equal glory but less danger.

  [21] Already they were in sight of the Ocean, already the breezes of the sea were wafted to them; let them not begrudge him the renown which he sought. They would pass the bournes of Hercules and Father Liber, and thus give their king immortal fame at little cost to themselves. Let them allow him to return from India, not to leave it in flight.

  [22] Every assemblage, especially one of soldiers, is fickle and carried away by impulse; thus is sedition [23] no harder to quell than to arouse. Never before were such cries of joy sent forth by the army; they bid him lead on with the favour of the gods, and to equal in glory those whom he is emulating. Alexander, elated by these acclamations, at once broke [24] camp and moved against the enemy. These were the strongest nations of the Indi; they were making vigorous preparations for war and had chosen as their leader one of the nation of the Sudracae, a man of tried valour; he had encamped at the foot of a mountain and showed fires far and wide in order to increase the impression of his numbers, also vainly trying after the fashion of his nation from time to time by shouts and yells to terrify the unperturbed [25] Macedonians. And daylight was already approaching, when the king, now confident and full of hope, ordered his eager soldiers to arm themselves and go forth to battle. But the barbarians — it is not known whether through fear or because a disagreement had arisen among them — at any rate suddenly took to flight and gained the mountains, which were remote and full of obstacles. The king vainly pursued their army, but took their baggage.

  [28] Next they arrived at a town of the Sudracae in which many of the enemy had taken refuge, although they had no greater confidence in their walls than [27] in their arms. The king was already approaching them, when a soothsayer began to warn him not to enter on a siege, or at any rate to postpone it; that [28] danger to his life was indicated. The king, fixing his gaze upon Demophon — for that was the soothsayer’s name — said: “If anyone should thus interrupt you when you were intent upon your ar
t and were inspecting the entrails, I doubt not that he [29] would impress you as tactless and annoying.” And when Demophon replied that it would most certainly be so, Alexander rejoined: “Do you think that to me, having before my eyes such important affairs, and not the entrails of animals, anything could be a greater hindrance than a seer enslaved by superstition?”

  [30] And with no longer delay than making this answer required, he ordered the scaling ladders to be applied, and while the rest hesitated, himself mounted the wall. The crown of the wall was narrow and its summit was not marked by battlements, as is usually the case, but a parapet was built all along it and [31] prevented assailants from crossing it. Hence the king was rather clinging to this parapet than standing on its edge, defending himself with his buckler from the [32] spears that fell upon him from every side; for he was being attacked at long range from the towers and his soldiers could not come up because they were overwhelmed by a storm of weapons from above. But at last shame overcame the greatness of their peril; for they saw that by their delay the king was [33] being abandoned to the enemy. But their help was delayed by their hurry; for while each man strove to be the first to reach the top of the wall they overloaded the ladders; and when these could not hold the burden put upon them, they fell and thus deprived the king of his sole hope. For in the sight of so great an army he stood alone, as if left utterly deserted.