Just when Alexander was feeling discouraged, and was not quite certain whether to continue the siege or to withdraw, a fleet arrived from Cyprus, and at the same time Cleander came with the Greek soldiers which had recently been transported to Asia. These 120 ships Alexander divided into two wings; of the left Pnytagoras, king of the Cypriotes, and Craterus had command, on the right the royal five-banker carried Alexander. The Tyrians, although they had a fleet, did not dare to risk a sea-fight; to oppose the enemy, they placed in position only three ships, directly before the walls, and these the king himself rammed and sank.
[13] On the following day, Alexander, bringing his fleet up to the city’s defences, shattered the walls on every side with artillery, and in particular by the battering of rams. The Tyrians hastily repaired the breaches by blocking them with rocks, and began also to build an inner wall, in order to protect themselves with this, if the first wall failed them. But the power of misfortune was pressing them on every side; the causeway was advanced within spear-range of the walls, which were also surrounded by the fleet; they were being overwhelmed by disaster on sea and on land. For the Macedonians had joined four-bankers together in pairs, in such a way that while their prows were united, the sterns were as far apart as it was possible to have them; this space between the sterns they had filled with yards of ships and strong beams bound together, and upon them had built platforms, as a standing-place for soldiers. These four-bankers, thus equipped, they rowed up to the city; from them missiles were showered upon the defenders with safety, since the soldiers were protected by the prows.
It was in the middle of the night when Alexander gave orders for the fleet, prepared as described, to encircle the walls. And already the ships were moving towards the city from every side, and the Tyrians were paralysed with despair, when suddenly thick clouds spread over the heavens, and whatever light penetrated them was shut out by a widespread mist. Then a rough sea began to rise by degrees, and soon, urged on by a more violent wind, stirred up billows, and the craft dashed against one another. And already the bonds by which the four-bankers were fastened together began to be torn apart, the platforms to break up and with a mighty roar to drag the soldiers with them into the deep. For the ships, when joined together, could not in any way be managed in such a time of disorder; the soldiers disturbed the work of the sailors, the oarsmen the duties of the soldiers, and, as usually happens in such a crisis, the skilful obeyed the ignorant. For the helmsmen, who at other times were wont to take command, then through fear of death did what they were ordered. At last the sea, lashed with greater vigour by the oars, yielded to the sailors, who were rescuing the ships as if by main force, and the vessels were brought to the shore, for the most part badly damaged.
It chanced that in those same days thirty Carthaginian envoys arrived, rather a consolation to the besieged than a help. For they announced that the Carthaginians were involved in a war at home and were fighting, not for dominion, but for their lives.
At that time the Syracusans were devastating Africa and had pitched their camp not far from the walls of Carthage. Nevertheless the Tyrians did not lose courage, in spite of being abandoned by this great hope, but entrusted to the envoys their wives and children to be taken to Carthage, being ready to bear more bravely whatever might befall them if they could keep their dearest treasures without share in the common peril. And when one of their citizens declared in a public assembly that a vision of Apollo, whom they worshipped with special veneration, had appeared to him in his sleep as deserting the city, and that, the causeway which the Macedonians had constructed in the sea had changed into a forest tract, [22] although the author of the tale was a man of slight importance, yet, inclined through fear to believe the worst, they bound the statue of Apollo with a chain of gold to its base, and attached the chain to the altar of Hercules, to whose divine power they had dedicated their city, supposing that that god would hold Apollo back. The Carthaginians had carried off that statue from Syracuse and had placed it in their ancestral fatherland, and with many other spoils of the cities which they had captured they had adorned lyre rather than Carthage.
[23] Some even proposed renewing a sacrifice which had been discontinued for many years, and which I for my part should believe to be by no means pleasing to the gods, of offering a freeborn boy to Saturn — this sacrilege rather than sacrifice, handed down from their founders, the Carthaginians are said to have Performed until the destruction of their city — and unless the elders, in accordance with whose counsel everything was done, had opposed it, the awful only the usual means of defence, but also some novel ones. For in order to catch in their toils the ships which came up close under the walls, they had bound stout beams to ropes, so that when they had thrown forward these beams with a hurling-engine, they might suddenly, while the ropes ran slack, drop the beams upon the ships. Hooks also and scythes hanging from those same beams lacerated either the attackers or the ships themselves. Moreover, the Tyrians heated brazen shields in a great fire, and after filling them with hot sand and boiling filth hurled [26] them down from the walls. And no plague was more feared than this; for when the burning-hot sand had made its way between the coat-of-mail and the body, it could not be shaken out by any effort and burned through whatever it had touched; and the soldiers, throwing away their arms and tearing to bits everything by which they could be protected, were exposed to wounds without being able to retaliate. Besides this, ravens and iron claws, released by hurling-engines, carried off many.
IV. At this point Alexander from utter weariness had determined to raise the siege and go to Egypt. For after he had overrun Asia with great speed he was lingering around the walls of a single city, thus losing - the opportunity for so many mighty exploits. But he was as much ashamed to withdraw baffled, as to delay, thinking that his reputation also, by which he had overthrown more than by his arms, would be impaired if he should leave Tyre as a witness that he could be defeated. Therefore, in order to leave nothing untried, he ordered more ships to be brought up and the best of his soldiers to be embarked upon them. And it chanced that a sea-monster, of a size never before seen, rising even above the waves with its back, brought its huge body up to the causeway which the Macedonians had built, and striking the surges asunder as it lifted itself, was seen by both sides. Then from the peak of the causeway it again plunged under the sea, and now rising above the surface with a great part of its bulk, now hidden as the waves dashed over it, it disappeared under water not far from the walls of the city. The appearance of the monster gave joy to both sides; the Macedonians interpreted it as showing the direction in which to go on building up the work; the Tyrians thought that Neptune, as an avenger of the usurped sea, had brought the monster against the causeway, and that it would surely soon fall in ruins. Rejoicing in the omen, the Tyrians turned aside to feasting and loaded themselves with wine, and still under its influence at sunrise, they embarked upon ships wreathed with flowers and garlands; so over-hasty were they to perceive, not only an omen of victory, but even an occasion for celebrating one.
[6] As it happened, the king had ordered his fleet to be brought to the opposite side of the harbour, leaving thirty of the smaller ships at the shore; of these the Tyrians captured two and greatly terrified the rest, until Alexander, hearing the shouts of his men, moved his fleet to the part of the shore from which the uproar had come. The first of the Macedonians ships to reach the spot was a five-banker, conspicuous among the rest for speed; when the Tyrian ships caught sight of it, two of them charged its sides from opposite directions, against one of which the five-banker rushed, and was itself rammed by the beak of the other and in turn held it fast. And then the other Tyrian ship, which was not held fast, made a free attack on the other side of the five-banker. Then with wonderful timeliness a three-banker of Alexander’s fleet charged upon the very ship which was threatening the five-banker, with such force that the Tyrian steersman was hurled from the stern into the sea. Then more Macedonian ships came up, and the king also was
close at hand, when the Tyrians backed water and with difficulty tore away the ship which was entangled, and all their vessels together made for the port. Immediately Alexander pursued them; he was unable to enter the harbour, since he was thrust far from the walls by missiles, but he captured or sank nearly all the ships.
Then two days were given to the soldiers for rest, and they were ordered to bring up both the fleet and at the same time the machines, in order that Alexander might terrify the enemy by an attack on all sides; he himself mounted a very lofty tower, with great courage and still greater danger; for being conspicuous for his royal garb and gleaming arms, he more than any other was a special target for missiles.
[11] And his exploits were well worth beholding; many defenders on the ramparts he ran through with his spear, some he attacked hand to hand with sword and shield, and hurled them headlong from the parapets.
For the tower from which he was fighting was almost joined to the enemies’ walls.
[12] And now, after the blows of many rams had loosened the structure of the stones, the fortifications had begun to give way, and the fleet had entered the port, and some of the Macedonians had made their way into the towers deserted by the enemy, then of the Tyrians, overcome by so many evils at once, some took refuge as suppliants in the temples, others bolted the doors of their houses and anticipated the enemy by a death of their free choice, still others rushed upon the foe to die, but yet not unavenged; a great part manned the roofs of their houses and showered stones and whatever chance had put into their hands upon the Macedonians as they came up. Alexander gave orders that all except those who had taken refuge in the temples should be slain and the houses set on fire. Although this order was proclaimed by heralds, yet not a single armed man could bring himself to seek aid from the gods; boys and maidens had filled the temples, the men stood each in the vestibule of his own house, a throng at the mercy of the raging foe.
[15] To many, however, the Sidonians, who formed a part of the Macedonian forces, were a means of safety. These, it is true, had entered the city among the victors, but mindful of their kinship with the Tyrians — for they believed that Agenor founded both cities — they secretly protected many of the Tyrians and took them to their ships, in which they were hidden and conveyed to Sidon. By this deception 15,000 were saved from the victor’s cruelty. But how great the bloodshed was may be calculated from this alone, that 6000 armed men were butchered within [17] the city’s ramparts. After that the king’s wrath furnished the victors with an awful spectacle; 2000 men, for the slaying of whom frenzy had spent itself, hung nailed to crosses along a great stretch of the shore. He spared the Carthaginian envoys, but added a declaration of war, although the war was delayed by the urgency of present affairs.
[19] Tyre was taken in the seventh month after the beginning of the siege, a city worthy of note in the memory of later times both for its ancient origin and its frequent changes of fortune. Founded by Agenor, it long held under its sway, not only the neighbouring part of the sea, but whatever portion of it its fleets could reach. Also, if one wishes to believe report, this people was the first either to teach, or to learn, the art of writing. At any rate, its colonies were distributed over almost the whole world; Carthage in Africa, Thebes in Boeotia, Gades on the Ocean. I suppose that, as they went to and fro on the free sea, and often visiting lands unknown to other peoples, they selected homes for their young men, of whom they then had an over-abundant supply; or it may be that the Tyrians, exhausted by frequent earthquakes — for this also is reported — were forced to seek new homes for themselves in foreign lands by arms. Having therefore suffered many disasters and having risen again from their ruins, now at last wholly restored by long-continued Peace, they are at rest under the protection of Roman clemency.
V. At about that same time a letter of Darius was brought, at last written as to a king. He asked that Alexander should take to wife his daughter — her name was Statira; that her dowry would be the entire region lying between the Hellespont and the Halys River, and that Darius would be content with the lands extending eastward from that river. Darius reminded him that he ought not to hesitate to accept the offer; that Fortune never stands long on the same spot, and that men, however great success they may enjoy, are nevertheless exposed to greater envy.
[3] That he feared lest Alexander, like the birds, whose natural lightness drives them on towards the stars, might be carried away by a vain and childish spirit; that nothing was more difficult at his time of life than [4] to be able to prove equal to so great a fortune. That Darius still had many lands left, and could not always be caught amid narrow defiles; Alexander had the Euphrates and Tigris to cross, the Araxes and Choaspes, mighty defences of the Persian empire, and must come into open plains, where he would have to blush for the small number of his forces, to Media, [5] Hyrcania, Bactra; and when would he reach the Indi, neighbours of the Ocean, not to mention the Sogdiani and the Arachosii, and the rest of the nations extending to the Caucasus and the Tanais? He must grow old merely in traversing such an expanse of lands, even if he could do so without fighting.
[6] Further, Alexander should cease to summon him to come to him; for he would come of his own accord, to his enemy’s destruction.
[7] Alexander replied to those who had brought the letter that Darius was promising him what was not his own, and wished to give him a share of what he had wholly lost. As a dowry were offered him Lydia, the Ionians, Aeolis, the coast of the Hellespont, the prizes of his own victory! Moreover, conditions were imposed by victors, accepted by the vanquished. If Darius alone did not know in what relation they both stood, let him settle the question as soon as possible [8] on the field of battle. Also let him know that Alexander, when he crossed the sea, had not aimed at the rule of Cilicia or Lydia — for that would be a slight reward for so great a war — but of Persepolis, the capital of Darius’ kingdom, then of Bactra and Ecbatana, and the lands of the remotest Orient. Whithersoever Darius should have been able to flee, he could follow; let him cease to try to frighten with rivers one whom he knew to have crossed seas.
9The kings indeed had exchanged these letters. But the Rhodians were surrendering their city and ports to Alexander. He had entrusted Cilicia to Socrates and ordered Philotas to govern the region about Tyre. The part of Syria which is called Coelê had been handed over to Andromachus by Parmenion, who was destined to share largely in what remained of the war. Alexander, after ordering Hephaestion to coast along the shore of Phoenicia with the fleet, came with all his forces to the city of Gaza.
[11] At about that same time was the regular festival of the Isthmians, which is crowded by an assemblage of all Greece; at that meeting the Greeks, being by nature time-serving, decided that fifteen envoys should be sent to the king, and, because of what he had done for the safety and freedom of Greece, should take him a golden crown in recognition of his victory.
[12] These same Greeks a short time before had been listening for the breeze of uncertain report, with the intention of following whithersoever Fortune should lead their wavering minds.
But not only was Alexander himself proceeding to reduce the cities which still rejected the yoke of his rule, but his generals also, distinguished leaders, had invaded many places: — Calas Paplilagonia, Antigonus Lycaonia; Balacrus, having vanquished Hvdarnes, Darius’ satrap, had recovered Miletus, Amphoterus and Hegelochus with a fleet of 160 ships had brought the islands between Achaia and Asia under the sway of Alexander. After recovering Tenedos also, they had decided to take Chios at the [15] direct request of its citizens, but Pharnabazus, Darius admiral, seized those who were trying to turn the rule over to the Macedonians and delivered the city again to Apollonides and Athenagoras, men of the Persian faction, with a force of soldiers of moderate size.
[16] Alexander’s generals persisted in the siege of the city, reiving not so much on their own strength as on the inclination of the besieged. And they were not mistaken; for a disagreement which arose between Apollonides and the leader
s of the soldiers gave an opportunity for forcing their way into the city, an after a gate had been broken down and a cohort of Macedonians had entered, the townsmen, who had previously planned to betray the city, attached themselves to Amphoterus and Hegelochus, the Persian garrison was slain, and Pharnabazus as well as Apollonides and Athenagoras were bound and surrendered to the Macedonians, also twelve triremes with their soldiers and oarsmen, and besides these, thirty ships without crews, and fifty piratical boats and 3000 Greeks serving as mercenaries with the Persians. These last were distributed as a reinforcement of the Macedonian forces, the pirates were put to death, and the captured oarsmen were enrolled in the fleet.
[19] It chanced that Aristonicus, the despot of Methymnê, with some pirate ships, being unaware of everything which had taken place at Chios, in the first watch came to the barriers of the port, and on being asked by the guards who he was, replied that he was [20] Aristonicus coming to Pharnabazus. They declared that Pharnabazus was already sleeping and could not be approached, but that the port was open to an ally and friend of his, and that Aristonicus would have [21] access to him on the following day. Aristonicus did not hesitate to enter first and ten pirate vessels followed their leader; and while they were bringing the ships up to the quay of the port, the guards put the barrier in place and summoned those who were on watch near by. Since none of the pirates dared to resist, they were all put in chains; then they were [22] delivered to Amphoterus and Hegelochus. From there the Macedonians crossed to Mitylenê. This city had lately been seized by Chares, the Athenian, who was holding it with a garrison of 2000 Persians; but since he could not withstand a siege, Chares surrendered the city after stipulating that he should be allowed to leave in safety, and went to Imbros. The Macedonians spared the surrendered.
Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus Page 12
