Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus

by Quintus Curtius Rufus

  It happened that while letters of that kind were being delivered, Hephaestion, who was wont to be regarded as the confidant of all the king’s secrets, was at the same time looking over the letters that had been opened by Alexander. And the king did not prevent him, but taking of his ring from his finger, he laid it upon the reader’s lips, signifying that nothing of what had been written should be communicated to others. But he is said to have railed at them both, and, angered by the insolence of his mother, to have said that she for a lodging of ten months which she had furnished him in her womb was exacting a heavy price, but that he had held Antipater in suspicion, on the ground that having gained a victory over the Spartans he was growing arrogant, and because of power already prolonged over so many years had risen above the conduct becoming a prefect. Accordingly, when Antipater’s dignity and uprightness were praised by certain men, Alexander replied that he seemed white on the outside, but if he was looked into deeply, he was all purple. Nevertheless he concealed his suspicion and showed no clearer indication of an alienated feeling. Yet very many believed that Antipater, thinking that he was summoned for punishment, was responsible by disloyal plots for the death of the king, which followed shortly afterward.

  Meanwhile the king, in order to patch up the losses in his diminished army, mustered all the best of the Persians into the ranks of the Macedonians; he also set aside a thousand of the most distinguished for a body-guard; another troop of spearmen, not fewer than 10,000, he ordered to keep watch by night at the royal quarters. As he was doing this, Peucestes appeared with 20,000 archers and stingers which he had mustered from his own province. When these had been distributed, through the army, the king set out from Susa, and, having crossed, the Pasitigris River, measured of a camp at Carae. Then, having led his forces for four days through Sittacene, he advanced to Sambana, and remained there for seven days. Then, after making a march of three days, he arrived at Celonae. This town is occupied by people from Boeotia, whom Xerxes drove from their transferred to the Orient; and they retained as a proof of their origin a language of their own, the most part of Greek words, but because of the necessity of commerce they used the speech of the neighbouring barbarians. Then he entered Bagistane, a rich region, abounding in a handsome and prolife growth of and in other things which contribute not only to the necessities, but also to the enjoyment of life.

  Meanwhile a serious quarrel had arisen between and Hephaestion. For Hephaestion slaves from the lodging of which they had taken for their master, in order that be put up in it. And not long afterwards when their haired seemed to be already put to sleep, through a new cause of strife that arose it revived to such an extent that they even broke out into a dreadful wrangle and Utter abuse of each other. But by the intervention of Alexander and at his command their enmity at least in appearance, after he had even Hephaestion, who, since he enjoyed the kings greatest favour, persistently repulsed Eumenes, although the latter of Media, and they are conspicuous for their size and beauty. More than 50,000 were found there when Alexander crossed into that country, as was noted by his companions; that formerly there had been three times that number, but amid the confusion of the wars brigands had driven off the greatest part of them. There the king halted for about thirty days. Thither Atropates, satrap of Media, brought a hundred barbarian women skilled in horsemanship and armed with round shields and axes; this equipment led some to believe that they were survivors of the race of the Amazons. Then in seven days he came to Ecbatana, the capital of Media. There he offered solemn sacrifices to the gods, exhibited games, and relaxed his mind with banquets and festal days, in order to be stronger for new tasks.

  But as he was meditating on these tasks, Fate, as if laying her hand upon him, drew him elsewhere and snatched away the life of the dearest of his friends, and not long afterwards of the king himself He was viewing the boys contesting in the stadium when it was announced that Hephaestion was failing; he had already been sick abed for seven days from over-indulgence in wine. Alarmed by the danger of his friend, the king at once rose from his seal and quickly went to Hephaestion’s lodging. Yet he did not reach there before death had anticipated him. This is certainly regarded as the most grievous of all the losses which Alexander had suffered in his whole lifetime? and that he was so overcome by the greatness of his sorrow as to burst into tears and lamentations gave strong proof of a loss of his usual spirit. But there are various reports of his conduct; this much is agreed by all, that Alexander, in order to give his friend the most splendid obsequies, did not wish him to be buried at Ecbatana, but to be taken by Perdiccas to Babylon, to which place he himself was on the point of going; and that there he had arranged for a funeral of unheard-of splendour at a cost of 12,000 talents. Certain it is that he gave orders for Hephaestion to be mourned throughout the whole empire, and in order that his memory might not be lost in the army, Alexander appointed no leader of the cavalry which he had commanded, but wished it to be called the troop of Hephaestion, and that the standards that he had established there should not be changed. The Icing planned funereal contests and games such as had never been given before, and brought together 3000 artists; and these not long after are said to have competed at Alexander’s own funeral.

  The king’s friends also, not lacking in zeal to win his favour by such lavish demonstrations of sympathy, vied with one another in devising means of making the memory of the deceased more glorious and more honoured. Accordingly Eumenes, since he felt that he had incurred the king’s indignation because of his quarrel with Hephaestion, induced many men to consecrate themselves and their arms to Hephaestion and he himself contributed generously to join in honouring his funeral. The rest followed this example, and their shameless flattery went so far that the king, insane with grief and longing for his dead friend, was at last persuaded that Hephaestion was a god.

  At that time, indeed, among the leaders of the forces Agathocles the Samian fell into extreme danger because when passing the tomb of Hephaestion he was seen to have wept over him. And had not Perdiccas falsely said that while he was hunting Hephaestion had appeared to him, and had he not sworn by all the gods and by Hepkaestion himself that he had learned from him that Agathocles had not wept as over a dead mortal who had vainly been honoured with the title of divinity, but that it was because of the memory of their former comradeship that he had been unable to restrain his tears, a brave man, who had deserved well of the king, although blameless, would have suffered severe punishment because of his affection for his friend.

  But in order for a time to call away his mind from grief, the king undertook an expedition into the land of the Cossaei. They dwell in the mountains near Media, a rude and warlike race, accustomed to live by plunder. From that people the kings of the Persians were wont to purchase peace by an annual tribute, to prevent them from running down into the land below them and infesting it with brigandage. For when the Persians resorted to force they had easily defeated them, defended as they were by the ruggedness of the places in which they took refuge whenever they were overcome by arms. They were also placated by annual gifts, in order that the king on his return to Babylon from Ecbatana, where he regularly spent the summer, might have a safe passage through those lands. These people, then, Alexander attacked with his force in two divisions, and completely subdued them within forty days. For after being often defeated by the king himself and by Ptolemy, who was leading one part of the army, they surrendered to the victor, in order to recover their men who had been made prisoner.

  Alexander gave orders that strong cities be founded in strategic places, for fear that when the army was withdrawn the savage race might throw off the yoke. Then he moved his camp, and in a leisurely march, in order to give rest to the soldiers, who were wearied by the recent campaign, he went on to Babylon. And already he was only thirty stadia distant from the city, when Nearchus, whom he had sent ahead to Babylon by way of the Ocean and the mouths of the Euphrates, met him, and entreated him not to think of entering the city, which was destined to
be fatal to him. He said that he had learned this from the Chaldeans, who had already abundantly proved the credibility of their art by the result of many predictions The king, influenced by the reputation of the Chaldeans and by their persistent assertion, having sent many of his friends to the city, led the army by another road past Babylon and pitched a permanent camp 200 stadia from the city. But, advised by the philosopher Anaxarchus, he scorned the warnings of the Chaldeans, whose teachings he thought false or superfluous, and entered the city. Thither deputations from almost the whole world had flocked together. After giving attentive audience to these for several days, he then turned his thoughts to the obsequies of Hephaestion. These were celebrated with such great and general devotion that there was no king up to that time whose funeral rites they did not surpass in the greatness of their cost and the magnificence of their equipment.

  After this a longing seized the king to sail over the river Pallacopas to the lands of the Arabians; having arrived there and having discovered a suitable site for founding a city, he settled in it those of the Greeks who were disabled by age or by wounds, as well as any who had remained behind of their own volition. When these things had been finished to his satisfaction, now at ease about the future, he laughed at the Chaldeans because he had not only entered Babylon but also had left it unharmed, But in fact, as he was returning through the marshes which the Euphrates makes by pouring into the Pallacopas, a direful omen was offered. For some overhanging branches dragged the diadem from the king’s head and cast it into the river. When after this prodigies were announced one after the other, continual sacrifices were offered to avert them, at the same time by Greek and by barbarian rites.

  Nevertheless they could not be expiated except by the Icings death. And when he had entertained Nearchus with a banquet and he was already about to go to bed, he yielded to the urgent entreaties of Medius of Larissa that he would come to him for a drinking-bout. After he had drunk deeply there all night, he began to feel ill. Then his illness grew so much worse that within six days it had so exhausted all his strength that he could not even speak. Meanwhile the troops, overcome by anxiety and longing to see him, although their leaders warned them not to burden the king in his illness, extorted permission to be admitted to his presence.

  Intuentibus lacrimae obortae praebuere speciem iam non regem, sed funus eius visentis exercitus: [2] maeror tamen circumstantium lectum eminebat. Quos ut rex aspexit: ‘Invenietis,’ inquit, ‘cum excessero, dignum talibus viris regem?’ Incredibile dictu audituque, [3] in eodem habitu corporis, in quem se conposuerat, cum admissurus milites esset, durasse, donec a toto exercitu illud ultimum persalutatus est. Dimissoque vulgo velut omni vitae debito liberatus fatigata membra reiecit propiusque adsidere iussis amicis — [4] nam et vox deficere iam coeperat — detractum anulum digito Perdiccae tradidit adiectis mandatis, ut corpus suum ad Hamm(??)nem ferri iuberent. [5] Quaerentibusque his, cui [p. 370] relinqueret regnum, respondit, ei, qui esset optimus: ceterum providere iam se, ob id certamen magnos funebres ludos parari sibi. [6] Rursus Perdicca interrogante, quando caelestes honores haberi sibi vellet, dixit, tum velle, cum ipsi felices essent. [7] Suprema haec vox fuit regis, et paulo post extinguitur. Ac primo ploratu lamentisque et planctibus tota regia personabat: mox velut in vasta solitudine omnia tristi silentio muta torpebant ad cogitationes, quid deinde futurum esset, dolore converso. [8] Nobiles pueri custodiae corporis eius adsueti nec doloris magnitudinem capere nec se ipsos intra vestibulum regiae tenere potuerunt. Vagique et furentibus similes tantam urbem luctu ac maerore conpleverant nullis questibus omissis, [9] quos in tali casu dolor suggerit: ergo, qui extra regiam adstiterant, Macedones pariter barbarique, concurrunt. Nec poterant victi a victoribus in communi dolore discerni: Persae iustissimum ac mitissimum dominum, Macedones optimum ac fortissimum regem invocantes certamen quoddam maeroris edebant. [10] Nec maestorum solum, sed etiam indignantium voces exaudiebantur, tam viridem et in flore aetatis fortunaeque invidia deum ereptum esse rebus humanis. Vigor eius et vultus educentis in proelium milites, obsidentis urbes, [11] evadentis in muros, fortes viros pro contione donantis occurrebant oculis. Tum Macedones divinos [p. 371] honores negasse ei paenitebat, inpiosque et ingratos fuisse se confitebantur, quod aures eius debita appellatione fraudassent. Et cum diu nunc in veneratione, nunc in desiderio regis haesissent, in ipsos versa miseratio est. [12] Macedonia profecti ultra Euphraten in mediis hostibus novum imperium aspernantibus destitutos se esse cernebant: sine certo regis herede, sine herede regni publicas vires ad se quemque tracturum. [13] Bella deinde civilia, quae secuta sunt, mentibus augurabantur: iterum non de regno Asiae, sed de rege ipsis sanguinem esse fundendum, novis vulneribus veteres rumpendas cicatrices: [14] senes, debiles modo petita missione a iusto rege nunc morituros pro potentia forsitan satellitis alicuius ignobilis. [15] Has cogitationes volventibus nox supervenit terroremque auxit. Milites in armis vigilabant, Babylonii alius e muris, alius culmine sui quisque tecti prospectabant quasi certiora visuri. [16] Nec quisquam lumina audebat accendere et, quia oculorum cessabat usus, fremitus vocesque auribus captabant ac plerumque vano metu territi per obscuras semitas, alius alii occursantes, invicem suspecti ac solliciti ferebantur. [17] Persae comis suo more detonsis in lugubri veste cum coniugibus ac liberis non ut victorem et modo ut hostem, sed ut gentis suae iustissimum regem vero desiderio, lugebant ac sueti sub rege vivere non alium, qui imperaret ipsis, digniorem fuisse confitebantur. [18] Nec muris urbis luctus continebatur, sed [p. 372] proximam regionem ab ea, deinde magnam partem Asiae cis Euphraten tanti mali fama pervaserat. [19] Ad Darei quoque matrem celeri ter perlata est: abscissa ergo veste, quam induta erat, lugubrem sumpsit laceratisque crinibus humi corpus abiecit. [20] Adsidebat ei altera ex neptibus nuper amissum Hephaestionem, cui nupserat, lugens propriasque causas doloris in communi maestitia retractabat. [21] Sed omnium suorum mala Sisigambis una capiebat: illa suam, ilia neptium vicem flebat. Recens dolor etiam praeterita revocaverat. Crederes modo amissum Dareum et pariter miserae duorum filiorum exequias esse ducendas. Flebat simul mortuos vivosque. [22] Quem enim puellarum acturum esse curam? quem alium futurum Alexandrum? iterum esse se captas, iterum excidisse regnum. [23] Qui mortuo Dareo ipsas tueretur, repperisse, qui post Alexandrum respiceret, utique non reperturas. Subibat inter haec animum LXXX fratres suos eodem die ab Ocho, saevissimo regum, trucidatos adiectumque stragi tot filiorum patrem, e septem liberis, quos genuisset ipsa, unum superesse, ipsum Dareum floruisse paulisper, ut crudelius posset extingui. [24] Ad ultimum dolori succubuit obvolutoque capite accidentis genibus suis neptem nepotemque aversata cibo pariter abstinuit et luce. [25] Quinto, postquam mori statuerat, die extincta est. Magnum profecto Alexandri indulgentiae in eam iustitiaeque in omnes captivos documentum est mors huius: quae cum sustinuisset post Dareum vivere, Alexandro esse superstes erubuit. [p. 373] Et, [26] hercule, iuste aestimantibus regem liquet, bona naturae eius fuisse, vitia vel fortunae vel aetatis. [27] Vis incredibilis animi, laboris patientia propemodum nimia, fortitudo non inter reges modo excellens, sed inter illos quoque, [28] quorum haec sola virtus fuit, liberalitas saepe maiora tribuens, quam a dis petuntur, clementia in devictos, tot regna aut reddita, quibus ademerat bello aut dono data, [29] mortis, cuius metus ceteros exanimat, perpetua contemptio, gloriae laudisque ut iusto maior cupido, ita in iuvene et in tantis neglegenda rebus, [30] iam pietas erga parentes, quorum Olympiada inmortalitati consecrare decreverat, Philippum ultus erat, [31] iam in omnes fere amicos benignitas, erga milites benivolentia, consilium par magnitudini animi et, quantam vix poterat aetas eius capere, [32] sollertia, modus inmodicarum cupiditatum, veneris intra naturale desiderium usus nec ulla nisi ex permisso voluptas ingenii profecto dotes erant. [33] Illa fortunae: dis aequare se et caelestes honores accersere et talia suadentibus oraculis credere et dedignantibus venerari ipsum vehementius, quam par esset, irasci, in externum habitum mutare corporis cultum, imitari devictarum gentium mores, quos ante victoriam spreverat. [34] Nam iracundiam et cupidinem vini sicuti iuventa inritaverat, ita senectus mitigare potuisset. [35] Fa
tendum est tamen, cum pluri- [p. 374] mum virtuti debuerit, plus debuisse fortunae, quam solus omnium mortalium i(??) potestate habuit. Quotiens illum a morte revoca vit! [36] quotiens temere in pericula vectum perpetua felicitate protexit! Vitae quoque finem eundem illi quem gloriae statuit: expectavere eum fata, dum Oriente perdomito aditoque Oceano, quidquid mortalitas capiebat, inpleret. [37] Huic regi ducique successor quaerebatur, sed maior moles erat, quam ut unus subire eam posset: itaque nomen quoque eius et fama rerum in totum propemodum orbem reges аc regna diffudit, clarissimique sunt habiti, qui etiam minimae parti tantae fortunae adhaeserunt.