Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus

by Quintus Curtius Rufus

  Sed iam fatis admovebantur Macedonum genti bella civilia: nam et insociabile est regnum et a pluribus expetebatur. [2] Primum ergo conlisere vires, deinde disperserunt: et cum pluribus corpus, quam capiebat, onerassent, cetera membra deficere coeperunt, quodque imperium sub uno stare potuisset, dum a pluribus sustinetur, ruit. [3] Proinde iure meritoque populus Romanus. salutem se principi suo debere profitetur, qui noctis, quam paene supremam habuimus, novum sidus inluxit. [4] Huius, hercule, non solis ortus lucem caliganti reddidit mundo, cum sine suo capite discordia membra trepidarent. [5] Quot ille tum extinxit faces! quot condidit gladios! quautam tempestatem subita serenitate discussit! Non ergo revirescit solum, sed etiam floret imperium. [6] Absit modo invidia, excipiet huius saeculi tempora eiusdem domus utinam perpetua, certe diuturna posteritas. [7] Ceterum, ut ad ordinem, a quo me contemplatio publicae felicitatis averterat, redeam, Perdicca unicam spem salutis suae in Meleagri morte reponebat: vanum eundem et infidum celeriterque res novaturum et sibi maxime infestum occupandum esse. [8] Sed alta dissimulatione consilium premebat, ut opprimeret incautum. Ergo clam quosdam ex copiis, quibus praeerat, [9] subornavit, ut, quasi ignoraret ipse, conquererentur palam Meleagrum aequatum esse Perdiccae. Quorum sermone Meleager ad se relato furens ira Perdiccae, quae [p. 385] conperisset, exponit. Ill velut nova re exterritus admirari, queri dolentisque speciem ostentare ei coepit: ad ultimum convenit, ut conprehenderentur tam seditiosae vocis auctores. [10] Agit Meleager gratias amplexusque Perdiccam fidem eius in se аc benivolentiam conlaudat. [11] Tum communi consilio rationem opprimendi noxios ineunt. Placet exercitum patrio more lustrari: [12] et probabilis causa videbatur praeterita discordia. Macedonum reges ita lustrare soliti erant milites, ut discissae canis viscera ultimo in campo, in quem deduceretur exercitus, ab utraque abicerent parte, intra id spatium armati omnes starent, hinc equites, illinc phalanx. [13] Itaque eo die, quem huic sacro destinaverant, rex cum equitibus elephantisque constiterat contra pedites, quis Meleager praeerat. [14] Iam equestre agmen movebatur, et pedites subita formidine ob recentem discordiam haud sane pacati quicquam expectantes parumper addubitavere, an in urbem subducerent copias — [15] quippe pro equitibus planities erat — , ceterum veriti, ne temere commilitonum fidem damnarent, substitere praeparatis ad dimicandum animis, si quis vim inferret. Iam agmina coibant, parvumque intervallum erat, quod aciem utramque divideret: [16] itaque rex cum una ala obequitare peditibus coepit discordiae auctores, quos tueri ipse debebat, instinctu Perdiccae ad supplicia deposcens, minabaturque omnes turmas cum elephantis [p. 386] inducturum se in recusantes. [17] Stupebant inproviso malo pedites, nee plus in ipso Meleagro erat aut consilii aut animi. Tutissimum ex praesentibus videbatur expectare potius quam movere fortunam. [18] Tum Perdicca, ut torpentes et obnoxios vidit, XXX fere, qui Meleagrum erumpentem ex contione, quae prima habita est post mortem Alexandri, secuti erant, a ceteris discretos elephantis in conspectu totius exercitus obicit. Omnesque beluarum pedibus obtriti sunt nеc prohibente Philippo nec auctore: [19] adparebatque id modo pro suo vindicaturum, quod adprobasset eventus. Hoc bellorum civilium Macedonibus et omen et principium fuit. [20] Meleager sero intellecta fraude Perdiccae tum quidem, quia ipsius corpori vis non adferebatur, in agmine quietus stetit, [21] sed mox damnata spe salutis, cum eius nomine, quem ipse fecerat regem, in perniciem suam abutentis videret inimicos, confugit in templum ac ne loci quidem religione defensus occiditur.

  IX. But already by the Fates civil wars were being forced upon the Macedonian nation; for royal power desires no associate and was being sought by many.

  [2] First therefore they brought their forces into collision, then separated them; and when they had weighted the body with more than it could carry, the limbs also began to give out, and an empire that might have endured under one man fell in ruins while it was [3] being upheld by many. Therefore the Roman people rightly and deservedly asserts that it owes its safety to its prince, who in the night which was almost our [4] last shone forth like a new star. The rising of this star, by Heaven! rather than that of the sun, restored light to the world in darkness, since lacking their head the limbs were thrown into disorder.

  [6] How many firebrands did it extinguish! How many swords did it sheath! How great a tempest did it dispel with sudden prosperity! Therefore our empire [6] not only lives afresh but even flourishes. Provided only that the divine jealousy be absent, the posterity of that same house will continue the good times of this our age, it is to be hoped forever, at any rate for very many years.

  [7] But to return to the series of events from which the contemplation of the public happiness had diverted me, Perdiccas rested the sole hope of his safety on the death of Meleager; he thought that a man who was vain, faithless and quick to revolt, and his own bitterest enemy, must be attacked first.

  [8] But he hid his design with deep dissimulation, in order to crush him when he was off his guard.

  Therefore he secretly suborned certain men from the troops which he commanded, who were to make open complaint, as if he himself knew nothing of it, that Meleager had been placed on an equality with [9] Perdiccas. When their talk was reported to Meleager, furious with anger at Perdiccas, he told him what he had learned. He, as if terrified by something of which he knew nothing, began to give utterance to surprise and complaint, and to show a pretence of displeasure; finally, he agreed that the authors of such seditious [10] talk ought to be arrested. Meleager embraced and thanked Perdiccas, and strongly commended his [11] loyalty and goodwill towards him. Then after consulting together they formed a plan for chastising the guilty parties.

  It was decided to purify the army after the native fashion, and the past discord seemed to furnish a [12] reasonable cause for this. The kings of the Macedonians had been accustomed to purify the soldiers in the following manner; having disembowelled as dog in the farthest part of the plain into which they were going to lead the army, they throw the flesh on both sides; within that space all the soldiers stand under arms, on one side the cavalry, on the other [13] the phalanx. Accordingly on that day which they had appointed for this sacred ceremony the king with the horsemen and the elephants stood facing the [14] infantry which Meleager commanded. Already the cavalry force was advancing, and the infantry, not wholly recovered from the sudden fear caused by the recent discord and expecting something, hesitated for a time whether to withdraw their forces into the city — for the plain was advantageous for the horse-

  [15] men — ; but fearing to condemn the good faith of their fellow-soldiers without sufficient reason, they halted, their minds prepared for fighting if anyone should offer violence.

  Already the forces were coming together, and there was only a short space which divided the two lines.

  [16] Then the king with one wing of the cavalry “began to ride up to the infantry, demanding for punishment, at the instigation of Perdiccas, the authors of the discord, whom he himself was bound to protect, and threatened to lead all his squadrons against them, [17] as well as the elephants, if they refused. The infantry were dumbfounded by the unexpected danger, and not even Meleager himself had longer either judgement or courage. It seemed safest in the circumstances rather to await their fate than to [18] hasten it. Then Perdiccas, seeing them paralysed and in his power, separated from the rest about thirty who had followed Meleager when he rushed forth from the first assembly which was held after the death of Alexander, and in the sight of the whole army cast them before the elephants. All were trampled to death by the feet of the beasts, while [19] Philip neither prevented nor authorized it; and it was plain that he would not admit anything as his own act except what the result should justify.

  This was an omen and a beginning of civil wars [20] among the Macedonians. Meleager, learning too late the treachery of Perdiccas, for the moment calmly kept his place in the formation, since no violence was offered to his own person, but presently, [21] abandoning hope of safety, since he saw that his enemies were usurping to effect his ruin the name of the man whom he himself had made king, he took refuge in a temple and there w
as killed, not being protected even by the sanctity of the place.

  Perdicca perducto in urbem exercitu consilium principum virorum habuit, in quo imperium ita dividi placuit, ut rex quidem summam eius obtineret, satrapeam Ptolomaeus Aegypti et Africae gentium, quae in dicione erant: [2] Leomedonti Syria cum Phoenice data est, Philotae Cilicia destinata, Lyciam cum Pamphylia et Maiore Phrygia obtinere iussus Antigonus, in Cariam [p. 387] Cassander, Menander in Lydiam missi: Phrygiam Minorem Hellesponto adiunctam Leonnati provinciam esse iusserunt. [3] Cappadocia Eumeni cum Paphlagonia cessit: praeceptum est, ut regionem eam usque ad Trapezunta defenderet, bellum cum ^Inarathe gereret: [4] solus hic detrectabat imperium. Pithon Mediam, Lysimachus Thraciam adpositasque Thraciae Ponticas gentes obtinere iussi. Qui Indiae quique Bactris et Sogdianis ceterisque aut Oceani aut Rubri maris accolis praeerant, quibus quisque finibus habuisset, imperium obtinerent, decretum est: Perdicca ut cum rege esset copiisque praeesset, quae regem sequebantur. [5] Credidere quidam testamento Alexandri distributas esse provincias, sed famam eius rei, quamquam ab auctoribus tradita est, vanam fuisse conperimus. [6] Et quidem suas quisque opes divisis imperii partibus, ut videbantur sibi, fundaverant, si umquam adversus inmodicas cupiditates terminus staret. [7] Quippe paulo ante regis ministri specie imperii alieni procurandi singuli ingentia invaserant regna sublatis certaminum causis, cum et omnes eiusdem gentis essent et a ceteris sui quisque imperii regione discreti. [8] Sed difficile erat eo contentos esse, quod obtulerat occasio: quippe sordent prima quaeque, cum maiora sperantur. Itaque omnibus expeditius videbatur augere regna, quam fuisset accipere. [p. 388] [9] Septimus dies erat, ex quo corpus regis iacebat in solio, curis omnium ad formandum publicum statum a tam sollemni munere aversis.

  X. Perdiccas, having led the army into the city, held a council of the leading men, in which it was decided that the rule should be so shared that the king should in fact hold the chief authority, that Ptolemy should be satrap of Egypt and the African races which were under the jurisdiction of the [2] Macedonians; to Leomedon was given Syria with Phoenicia, to Philotas Cilicia was assigned, Antigonus was ordered to hold Lycia with Pamphylia and Greater Phrygia, Cassander was sent to Caria, Menander to Lydia; they ordered that Lesser Phrygia that borders upon the Hellespont should [3] be the province of Leonnatus. Cappadocia fell to Eumenes with Paphlagonia; he was ordered to defend that region as far as Trapezus and to wage war with Ariarathes; he alone declined his [4] assignment. Pithon was ordered to hold Media, Lysimachus Thrace and the Pontic nations adjoining Thrace. It was decided that those who were in charge of India, and those in charge of Bactra, the Sogdiani, and the others who dwell near either the Ocean or the Red Sea should retain command and hold rule over the territories of which each had charge; that Perdiccas should remain with the king and command the forces which followed the king.

  [5] Some have believed that the provinces were distributed by Alexander in his will, but we have learned that the report of such action was false, although handed [8] down by some authorities. Furthermore, when the parts of the empire were distributed, they each continued to protect their own holdings as they themselves had fixed them, except that no landmark could ever remain fixed in the face of unlimited [7] ambition. To be sure they had not long since as servants of the king, under pretext of exercising a delegated authority, individually usurped huge kingdoms, occasions for controversy having disappeared, since they were all of the same race and each one was separated from the rest by the situation [8] of his province. But it was difficult to be content with what occasion had granted them; for all first possessions seem mean when greater ones are hoped for. Hence it appeared to them all more convenient to increase their realms than it would have been to accept them as they were.

  [9] It was the seventh day since the king’s body had been lying in its coffin, for the attention of all was diverted from so solemn a duty to the establishment

  [10] Et non alius quam Mesopotamiae regionis fervidior aestas existit, adeo ut pleraque animalia, quae in nudo solo deprehendit, extinguat: tantus est vapor solis et caeli, quo cuncta velut igne torrentur. [11] Fontes aquarum et rari sunt et incolentium fraude celantur: ipsis usus patet, ignotus est advenis. [12] Traditum magis quam creditum refero: ut tandem curare corpus exanimum amicis vacavit, nulla tabe, ne minimo quidem livore corruptum videre, qui intraverant. [13] Vigor quoque, qui constat ex spiritu, non dum destituerat vultum. Itaque Aegyptii Chaldaeique iussi corpus suo more curare primo non sunt ausi admovere velut spiranti manus: deinde precati, ut ius fasque esset mortalibus attrectare deum, purgavere corpus, repletumque est odoribus aureum solium et capiti adiecta fortunae eius insignia. [14] Veneno necatum esse credidere plerique: filium Antipatri inter ministros, Iollam nomine, patris iussu dedisse. Saepe certe audita erat vox Alexandri Antipatrum regium adfectare fastigium maioremque esse praefecti opibus ac titulo Spartanae victoriae inflatum omnia a se data adserentem sibi. [15] Credebant etiam Craterum cum veterum militum manu ad interficiendum eum missum. [p. 389] Vim autem veneni, [16] quod in Macedonia gignitur, talem esse constat, ut ferrum quoque exurat, ungulam iumenti dumtaxat patientem esse constat suci: [17] Stygem appellant fontem, ex quo pestiferum virus emanat. Hoc per Cassandrum adlatum traditumque fratri Iollae et ab eo supremae regis potioni inditum. [18] Haec, utcumque sunt, credita eorum, quos rumor asperserat, mox potentia extinxit: regnum enim Macedoniae Antipater et Graeciam quoque invasit, [19] suboles dein de excepit interfectis omnibus, quicumque Alexandrum etiam longinqua cognatione contigerant. [20] Ceterum corpus eius a Ptolomaeo, cui Aegyptus cesserat, Memphim et inde paucis post annis Alexandream translatum est, omnisque memoriae ac nomini honos habetur. [p. 390]

  [10] of public order. And no more burning heat exists than that of the region of Mesopotamia, so great that it destroys many animals which it overtakes on the bare ground; such is the heat of sun and sky, [11] by which everything is burned as by fire. Springs of water are rare and are hidden by the deceit of the natives; their use is available to them, but is unknown to strangers. I report what is recorded [12] rather than believed: when at last his friends had leisure to care for Alexander’s lifeless body, those who had entered the room saw it corrupted by no decay, nor even by the slightest discoloration. The vigour too which comes from the breath of life had [13] not yet left his face. And so the Egyptians and Chaldeans who were ordered to care for the body after their manner, at first, as if he were still breathing, did not dare to lay their hands upon him; then after praying that it might be right and lawful for mortals to handle a god, they emptied the body of entrails, the golden coffin was filled with perfumes, and the emblem of his rank was placed upon the king’s head.

  [14] Many believed that he had been slain by poison; that a son of Antipater among his attendants, Iollas by name, had administered it by his father’s command. Certain it is that Alexander was often heard to say that Antipater took upon himself the state of a king, that he was more powerful than a prefect ought to be, and that he was puffed up by the rich spoil and fame of his Spartan victory while he claimed [15] as his own all that the king had given him. They also believed that Craterus had been sent to kill [16] Alexander with a troop of the old soldiers. Now it is a fact that the power of the poison which is produced in Macedonia is such that it even melts iron and that only the hoof of a draught-animal can [17] withstand the liquid; they call the fount from which the destructive poison flows the Styx. This was brought by Cassander and delivered to his brother Iollas, and by him was put in the last draught given to the king.

  [18] These tales, however much they were given credence, the power of those whom rumour had [19] aspersed presently suppressed; for Antipater seized the rule of Macedonia and of Greece as well, then his son succeeded him, after all who were related to Alexander, even by a distant connexion, had been [20] killed. But Ptolemy, under whose control Egypt had come, transported the king’s body to Memphis, and from there a few years later to Alexandria where every honour was paid to his memory and his name.

  The Biography

  The rui
ns of Babylon from Saddam Hussein's Summer Palace — on either 10 or 11 June 323 BC, Alexander the Great died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon, aged 32.

  INTRODUCTION TO QUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS by J. C. Rolfe

  THE WORK

  ALTHOUGH the brilliant career and complex character of Alexander the Great received frequent mention from Latin writers, in particular the rhetoricians and the historians, only one work in Latin devoted exclusively to his life and exploits has come down to us, and that in an incomplete form. The First and Second of its ten books are wholly lost, and there are extensive gaps at the end of Book V and the beginning of Book VI (pugnae discrimen immisit), and in Book X from x. 1. 45 (ne Graecia quidem) to x. 2. 1 (Igitur triginta navibus), as well as some lesser lacunae. Supplements of the two lost books (I and II) and of the lacunae in the existing books were published by J. Freinshem in his editions (Strasburg, 1648 and 1670), who based them upon material furnished by Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, Justin, Plutarch, and others, and gave more or less full references in many instances to his sources of information. A translation of Freinshem’s Summaries of Books I and II in a somewhat abbreviated form is given below (pp. 3-59). Freinshem’s filling or the lacunae in Books III-X has been repeated by many subsequent editors, either in his original form or with more or less change of wording. Hedicke’s versions belong to the latter class. They have been followed in this edition and are printed in italics.