Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus

by Quintus Curtius Rufus

  [3] Already they had gone on for 400 stadia, when the pilots made known to the king that they felt sea air [4] and that the Ocean was not far distant. He, filled with joy, began to urge the sailors to bend to the oars, saying that the end of their labours, so ardently desired, was at hand; now nothing was wanting to complete their glory, nothing left to oppose their valour, without any decision of Mars, without blood-shed, they were taking the very edge of the world; not even Nature could go farther, soon they would see what [5] was unknown except to the immortals. Nevertheless he sent a few men ashore in a boat, to take some of the peasants who were roving about, from whom he hoped to get more accurate information. They, after searching all the huts, at last found some hidden [6] in them. These, when asked how far away the sea was, answered that they had never even heard of any sea; but that on the third day they could reach bitter water, which spoiled the fresh water.

  It was clear that this was a description of the sea by those who were not acquainted with its nature; [7] and so the boatmen rowed on with great eagerness, and each succeeding day, as the fulfilment of their hopes drew nearer, their ardour increased. By the third day sea water mixed with the river met them, as the tide, which was still gentle, mingled the different [8] waters. Then carried to another island, situated in the middle of the river, somewhat more slowly because their speed being retarded by the tide, they brought their fleet to the shore and ran about to look for supplies, with no thought of the accident which befell them in their ignorance. It was nearly the third hour, when the Ocean, in its regular change, began to be carried on a flood-tide into the river, and pushed it back. The stream, at first checked and then pushed more violently, was driven upstream with greater speed than that of torrents running in a [10] precipitous channel. The nature of the sea was unknown to the common soldiers, who thought that they were witnessing portents and signs of the anger of the gods when the sea continually swelled and overflowed to flood fields that shortly before were dry.

  [11] Now the ships were lifted and the whole fleet was scattered, and those who had gone on shore, alarmed and amazed by the unexpected calamity, ran from [12] every side back to the ships. But in times of confusion even haste is slow. Some were pushing at the ships with poles, others had taken their seats while [13] they prevented the oars from being put in place, some in their haste to sail, without waiting for those who ought to have been with them, were weakly struggling with crippled and unmanageable ships, other ships had taken all those who rushed inconsiderately into them; and equally too great and too small numbers [14] delayed their haste. Here some were shouting to wait, there others, to go on, and the contradictory cries of those who never demanded one and the same action had prevented the use, not only of the eyes, [15] but also of the ears. And there was no help even in the pilots, for their voice could not be heard in the tumult, nor could their orders be carried out by the frightened and disordered sailors.

  [16] Hence the ships began to be dashed together, and the oars to be shorn off in turn, and the crews to foul one another’s ships. You would have supposed, not that it was the fleet of one army, but that the fleets of two armies were engaged in a sea-fight.

  [17] Prows were dashed against sterns, those ships that damaged ships in front of them were in turn injured by ships behind them; from angry words they even came to blows.

  [18] And now the tide had flooded all the plains about the river except for mounds projecting like small islands, to which many in their trepidation hastened [19] to swim, deserting the ships. The scattered fleet stood, a part in very deep water, where valleys had made low ground, a part were stranded on shoals, wherever the waters had covered land of uneven but rising level; when on a sudden a new cause of terror, greater than the former one, surprised [20] them. The sea began to flow back with great pull, as the waters ran back to their own channel and restored the lands which a little before had been submerged in deep surge. Hence some of the ships, being thus stranded, were thrown upon their prows, others fell upon their sides. The fields were strewn with baggage, arms, and fragments of [21] broken planks and oars. The soldiers dared neither to land nor to stay aboard, since they were awaiting more serious calamities than the present that might follow at any time. They could hardly believe that they actually beheld what they were experiencing, shipwreck on dry land, the sea in the river.

  [22] And there was no end to their troubles; for since they did not know that the sea would a little later bring back the tide by which their ships would be floated, they foresaw famine and the utmost extremities. Horrible sea-beasts too, left by the tide, were [23] roaming about. And already night was drawing near, and despair of safety had disturbed even the king himself. However his cares did not so master his indomitable spirit as to keep him from spending the whole night on the watch and sending horsemen ahead to the mouth of the river, in order that when they saw that the tide was rising again, they might [24] outstrip it. He also gave orders that the ships which were damaged should be repaired, that those which had been overturned by the waves should be raised, and that everyone should be prepared and alert [25] when the sea had again flooded the lands. When all that night had been spent in watching and in encouraging the army, at the same time the horsemen came fleeing for safety at top speed, and the tide followed. This at first, as the waters came under them with gentle flow, began to lift the ships, and then, when all the fields were flooded, even set the fleet in motion.

  [26] Then the hand-claps and cheers of the soldiers and boatmen, hailing with unrestrained joy the unexpected safety, made the shores and banks resound. In wonder they asked one another whence so great a sea had suddenly returned, whither it had fled the day before, what was the nature of this same element which was at one moment at variance with the strict laws of time, and at another so subject to them.

  [27] The king, since from what had happened he conjectured that the regular tune was after sunrise, in the middle of the night, in order to anticipate the tide, with a few ships went down the river and, carried out to its mouth, proceeded 400 stadia into the sea, at last accomplishing the object of his prayers. Then, after sacrificing to the gods presiding over the sea and the region, he returned to the fleet.

  Hinc adversum flumen subit classis et altero die adpulsa est haud procul lacu salso, cuius incognita natura plerosque decepit temere ingressos aquam. Quippe scabies corpora invasit, et contagium morbi etiam in alios vulgatum est. [2] Oleum remedio fuit. Leonnato [p. 345] deinde praemisso, ut puteos foderet, qua terrestri itinere ducturus exercitum videbatur — quippe sicca erat regio — , ipse cum copiis subsistit vernum tempus expectans. [3] Interim et urbes plerasque condidit et Nearcho atque Onesicrito nauticae rei peritis imperavit, ut validissimas navium deducerent in Oceanum progressique, quoad tuto possent, naturam maris noscerent: vel eodem amne vel Euphrate subire eos posse, cum reverti ad se vellent. [4] Iamque mitigata hieme et navibus, quae inutiles videbantur, crematis terra ducebat exercitum. [5] Nonis castris in regionem Arabiton, inde totidem diebus in Cedrosiorum perventum est. Liber hic populus concilio habito dedidit se, nec quicquam deditis praeter commeatus imperatum est. [6] Quinto hinc die venit ad flumen: Arabum incolae appellant. Regio deserta et aquarum inops excipit: quam emensus in Horitas transit. Ibi maiorem exercitus partem Hephaestioni tradidit, levem armaturam cum Ptolomaeo Leonnatoque partitus est. [7] Tria simul agmina populabantur Indos, magnaeque praedae actae sunt: maritimos Ptolomaeus, ceteros ipse rex et ab alia parte Leonnatus urebant. In hac quoque regione urbem condidit, deductique sunt in eam Arachosii. [8] Hinc pervenit ad maritimos Indos. Desertam vastamque regionem late tenent ac ne cum finitimis quidem ullo commercii iure miscentur. [9] Ipsa solitudo [p. 346] natura quoque inmitia efferavit ingenia: prominent ungues numquam recisi, comae hirsutae et intonsae sunt. [10] Tuguria conchis et ceteris purgamentis maris instruunt. Ferarum pellibus tecti piscibus sole duratis et maiorum quoque beluarum, [11] quas fluctus eiecit, carne vescuntur. Consumptis igitur alimentis Macedones primo inopiam, deinde ad ultimum famem sentire coeperunt radice
s palmarum — namque sola ea arbor gignitur — ubique rimantes. [12] Et cum haec quoque alimenta defecerant, iumenta caedere adgressi ne equis quidem abstinebant. Et cum deessent, quae sarcinas veherent, spolia de hostibus, propter quae ultima Orientis peragraverant, [13] cremabant incendio. Famem deinde pestilentia secuta est. Quippe insalubrium ciborum noxii suci, ad hoc itineris labor et aegritudo animi vulgaverant morbos, et nec manere sine clade nec progredi poterant: [14] manentes fames, progressos acrior pestilentia urguebat. Ergo strati erant campi paene pluribus semivivis quam cadaveribus. Ac ne levius quidem aegri sequi poterant: quippe agmen raptim agebatur tantum singulis ad spem salutis ipsos proficere credentibus, quantum itineris festinando praeciperent. [15] Igitur, qui defecerant, notos ignotosque, ut adlevarentur, orabant: sed nec iumenta erant, quibus excipi possent, et miles vix arma portabat, inminentisque et ipsis facies mali ante oculos erat. Ergo saepius revocati ne respicere quidem suos sustinebant misericordia in formidinem versa. [16] Illi relicti deos testes et sacra communia regisque inplorabant opem, cumque frustra surdas aures fatigarent, in [p. 347] rabiem desperatione versi parem suo exitum similesque ipsis amicos et contubernales precabantur. [17] Rex dolore simul ac pudore anxius, quia causa tantae cladis ipse esset, ad Phrataphernen, Parthyaeorum satrapen, misit; qui iuberet camelis cocta cibaria adferri, aliosque finitimarum regionum praefectos certiores necessitatis suae fecit. [18] Nec cessatum est ab his. Itaque fame dumtaxat vindicatus exercitus tandem in Cedrosiae fines perducitur. Omnium rerum solo fertili regio est: in qua stativa habuit, ut vexatos milites quiete firmare! [19] Hic Leonnati litteras accepit conflixisse ipsum cum VIII milibus peditum et CCCC equitibus Horitarum prospero eventu. A Cratero quoque nuntius venit Ozinen et Zariaspen, nobilis Persas, defectionem molientes oppressos a se in vinculis esse. [20] Praeposito igitur regioni Sibyrtio — namque Menon, praefectus eius, nuper interierat morbo — in Carmaniam ipse processit. [21] Astaspes erat satrapes gentis, suspectus res novare voluisse, dum in India rex est: quem occurrentem dissimulata ira comiter adlocutus, dum exploraret, quae delata erant, in eodem honore habuit. [22] Cum inde praefecti, sicut imperatum erat, equorum iumentorumque iugalium vim ingentem ex omni, quae sub imperio erat, regione misissent, quibus deerant inpedimenta, as restituit. [23] Arma quoque ad pristinum refecta sunt cultum: quippe haud procul a Perside aberant non pacata [p. 348] modo, sed etiam opulenta. [24] Igitur, ut supra dictum est, aemulatus Patris Liberi non gloriam solum, quam ex illis gentibus deportaverat, sed etiam pompam, sive illud triumphus fuit ab eo primum institutus sive bacchantium lusus, [25] statuit imitari animo super humanum fastigium elato. Vicos, per quos iter erat, floribus coronisque sterni iubet, liminibus aedium creterras vino repletas et alia eximiae magnitudinis vasa disponi, vehicula deinde constrata, ut plures capere milites possent, [26] in tabernaculorum modum ornari, alia candidis velis, alia veste pretiosa. Primi ibant amici et cohors regia variis redimita floribus coronisque: alibi tibicinum cantus, alibi lyrae sonus audiebatur: item vehiculis pro copia cuiusque adornatis comissabundus exercitus armis, quae maxime decora erant, circumpendentibus. Ipsum convivasque currus vehebat creterris aureis eiusdemque materiae ingentibus poculis praegravis. [27] Hoc modo per dies VII bacchabundum agmen incessit, parata praeda, si quid victis saltem adversus comissantes animi fuisset: mille, hercule, viri modo et sobrii VII dierum crapula graves in suo triumpho capere potuerunt. [28] Sed fortuna, quae rebus famam pretiumque constituit, hoc quoque militiae probrum vertit in gloriam. Et praesens aetas et posteritas deinde mirata est per gentes nondum satis domitas incessisse temulentos barbaris, quod temeritas erat, fiduciam esse credentibus. [29] Hunc apparatum carnifex sequebatur: [p. 349] quippe satrapes Astaspes, de quo ante dictum est, interfici iussus est: [30] adeo nec luxuriae quicquam crudelitas nec crudelitati luxuria obstat.

  X. Next the fleet went up the river, and on the second day was moored near a salt lake, the unknown nature of which deceived those who rashly entered its waters. For a scabby itch attacked their bodies and the contagion of the ailment was [2] communicated also to others. A remedy was oil. Then Leonnatus was sent ahead, to dig wells along the route by which he seemed likely to lead the army in a march by land — for the region was dry — while Alexander himself with his troops remained where he was, [3] waiting for the springtime. Meanwhile he both founded several cities and ordered Nearchus and One-sicritus, who were skilled in navigation, to sail the strongest ships down to the Ocean, and having gone as far as they safely could, to make themselves acquainted with the nature of the sea, saying that when they wished to return to him, they could come up either by that same river or by the Euphrates.

  [4] And when the winter was nearly over, he burned the ships which seemed useless, and led the army [5] by land. On the ninth day he came into the region of the Arabitae, and from there in the same number of days into that of the Cedrosii. This free people, after having held a council, surrendered themselves, and nothing was demanded of the surrendered [6] except supplies. Next, on the fifth day, he came to a river which the natives call the Arabus. A region barren and poor in water met him; having passed through this, he crossed into the land of the Horitae. There he handed over the greater part of the army to Hephaestion and shared the light-armed troops [7] with Ptolemy and Leonnatus. Three armies at the same time were pillaging the Indi, and a great amount of booty was driven off; Ptolemy was burning the maritime regions, the king himself and in another direction Leonnatus, the rest of the country. In this region also he founded a city, and colonized it with Arachosii.

  [8] From there he came to the Indi who dwell along the sea-coast. They occupy a great extent of country which is barren and desolate, and mingle in no kind of [9] intercourse even with their neighbours. Their very solitude has made quite wild their dispositions, which are savage even by nature; their nails grow long, never having been cut, their hair is shaggy and unshorn.

  [10] They adorn their huts with shells and other things thrown up by the sea. Clad in the skins of wild beasts, they feed upon fish cured in the sun, and also on the flesh of larger animals cast up by the sea.

  [11] Therefore, since their supplies were used up, the Macedonians began to suffer at first scarcity, and finally starvation, grubbing everywhere for the roots of palms — for that is the only kind of tree that grows [12] there. And when even this nourishment had failed them, they began to kill their draught animals, not even abstaining from the horses. And when they had nothing to carry their packs, they burned the spoils taken from the enemy, for the sake of which they had traversed the remotest parts of the Orient.

  [13] Then pestilence followed hunger. For the harmful juices of the unwholesome viands, added to the labour of marching and anxiety of mind, had spread diseases, and they could neither remain where they were nor advance without danger of death; if they remained, famine, if they went on, a deadlier enemy, pestilence, [14] assailed them. Hence the plains were strewn with almost more bodies of the dying than of the dead. And not even those who were slightly ill were able to follow; for the army was led on rapidly, since each man believed that the army was making the more progress towards the hope of safety, the more [15] they cut short their journey by hurrying. Therefore those who had given out besought those whom they knew, and strangers as well, to succour them; but there were no animals by which they could be taken on, and the soldiers could barely carry their arms and the sight of the evil which threatened themselves was before their eyes. Therefore, though often called back, they could not endure even to look upon their comrades, but pity was overcome by fear.

  [16] Those others, being left behind, called upon the gods as witnesses, on their common sacred rites, and on the aid of the king, and when they found that they were wearying deaf cars to no purpose, despair turned to madness and they prayed that those to whom they appealed might have a fate like their own and friends and comrades as cruel as themselves.

  [17] The king, oppressed by grief, and at the same time by shame, because he himself was the cause of such a great disaster, sent messengers to Phrataphernes, satrap of the
Parthyaei, to order cooked food to be brought on camels, and informed other governors of [18] neighbouring regions of his necessities. And they did not delay. And so the army, saved at least from starvation, was at last led into the country of Cedrosia. That is a land with a soil productive of all fruits; there he encamped for some time, in order [19] to recuperate the suffering soldiers with rest. Here he received a letter from Leonnatus, saying that he had fought with 8000 infantry and 400 cavalry of the Horitae with successful result. From Craterus also came the news that he had defeated Ozines and Zariaspes, Persian nobles who were attempting [20] a revolt, and that they were in fetters. Therefore, having made Sibyrtius governor of that region — for Menon, its prefect, had lately fallen ill and died —

  [21] he himself advanced into Carmania. The satrap of that nation was Astaspes, who was suspected of having wished to revolt while the king was in India. When Astaspes came to meet him, Alexander dissembled his anger, and, addressing him graciously, kept him in his same rank until he could inquire into what had been reported.

  [22] Then, when the governors, as had been ordered, had sent a great supply of horses and yoked draught-cattle from all the region which was under their rule, the king restored their equipment to those who [23] lacked it. Their arms also were replaced with equally handsome ones; for they were not far from Persia, [24] which was not only subdued, but also rich. Therefore, as was said before, rivalling not only the glory of Father Liber which he had carried off from those nations, but also his procession, whether that was a triumph first invented by that god or the sport of drunken revellers, he decided to imitate it, in a spirit [25] raised above the level of human greatness. To this end, he ordered the villages through which his route lay to be strewn with flowers and garlands, mixing-bowls filled with wine, and other vessels of unusual size to be placed everywhere on the thresholds of the houses, then carriages to be spread, so that each might hold many soldiers, and to be equipped like tents, some with white curtains, and others with costly tapestries.