XI. Accordingly, although after twice seeking peace in vain he had concentrated all his plans on war, yet overcome by his enemy’s continence, Darius sent ten envoys, the leading men of his court, to present new conditions of peace. Alexander, having called a council, ordered these envoys to be given audience.
The eldest of them said: “That Darius should seek peace now for this third time no force has compelled him, but he is constrained to do so by your justice and continence. We have not felt that his mother, wife and children were prisoners, except in being without him; guarding like a father the chastity of those who still live, you call them queens, and suffer them to retain the semblance of their former fortune.
I see your expression as sorrowful as that of Darius, when he sent us to you; and yet he is mourning for a wife, you for an enemy. Already you would be standing in line-of-battle, had not the concern for her obsequies delayed you. Is it at all strange if he seeks peace from so friendly a spirit? What need is there for arms among those who feel no hatred? Heretofore he set the river Halys, which marks the farther boundary of Lydia, as the limit of your rule; he now offers all the country between the Hellespont and the Euphrates as a dowry for his daughter, whom he gives you in marriage. Keep his son Ochus, who is in your possession, as a hostage of peace and good faith, return his mother and his two maiden daughters; in return for their three persons he begs you to accept 30,000 talents of gold.
“I would not venture to say that this is the time when you ought, not only to grant peace, but even to seize it of your own accord, if I were not aware of yourself-restraint. Consider how great a tract you have left behind you, look and see how much you are seeking to gain. A very dangerous thing is too great an empire; for it is difficult to hold what one cannot grasp. Do you not see how ships that exceed a moderate bulk cannot be managed? I really think that Darius has lost so much for no other reason than because too great possessions offer opportunity for great loss. Truly it is easier to conquer than to protect; how much more readily do our hands seize than hold! Even the death of Darius’ wife may warn you that your compassion already has less scope than it had.”
Alexander bade the envoys withdraw from the tent and referred the question to his council. For a long time no one ventured to say what he thought, — since the king’s inclination was uncertain; at last Parmenion said that he had before recommended the return of the prisoners taken at Damascus to those who wished to ransom them; that a vast sum of money could have been realized from those men who, as bound captives, kept busy the hands of many brave warriors. And that now too he strongly advised exchanging one old woman and two girls, a hindrance to their journeys and their marches, for [13] 30,000 talents of gold. Alexander could acquire a rich realm by negotiation, not by war, and no other man had possessed the lands between the Danube and the Euphrates, lands whose limits were separated by an immense space in between. Also he ought rather to look back upon Macedonia than fix his gaze on Bactra and the Indi.
[14] Parmenion’s speech was displeasing to the king; accordingly, when he finished speaking, Alexander replied: “I too should prefer money to glory, if I were Parmenion; as it is, being Alexander, I am secure against poverty, and I remember that I am a king, not a trader. I have nothing at all for sale but above all I do not put my fortune on the market; if it is our desire that the prisoners be returned, we shall more honourably give them as a gift than ransom them for a price.”
Then, having called in the envoys, he answered them after this fashion; “Announce to Darius that my acts of clemency and generosity were due, not to my friendship for him, but to my natural impulses.
To wage war with captives and women is not my habit; he must be armed whom I hate. But if it were at least in good faith that he asks for peace, I might perhaps consider whether I would grant it. But, in solemn truth, since he now with letters tempts my soldiers to betray me, and now with money bribes my friends to kill me, I must pursue him to destruction, not as a legitimate enemy, but as an assassin who resorts to poison.
“Furthermore, as to the conditions of peace which you propose, if I accept them, they make him the victor. He generously offers me what is beyond the Euphrates. You have forgotten then, where it is in fact that you now come to see me. Surely I am across the Euphrates! Therefore my camp is beyond the most liberal boundary of the dowry which he promises. Drive me from here, in order that I may know that what you offer to cede is yours. With like generosity he gives me his daughter, who forsooth is the destined bride of one of his slaves. A high honour truly he confers upon me in preferring me to Mazaeus as a son-in-law!
“Go, report to your king that what he has lost and what he still possesses are prizes of war; since it is war that rules the boundaries of both realms, each will have what the fortune of to-morrow shall allot to him.” The envoys replied that since his intention was war, he was acting without guile in not deceiving them with the hope of peace. For their own part, they asked that they might be sent back as soon as possible to their king; that he also ought to prepare for war. They were dismissed, and reported to Darius that battle was imminent.
XII. Darius at once sent on Mazaeus with 3000 horsemen to take possession of the roads which the enemy was likely to make for. Alexander, after having paid the due rites to the body of Darius’ wife, left within the same fortifications with a garrison of moderate size the more burdensome part of his army and hastened against the enemy. He had divided the infantry into two wings and encircled each flank with cavalry; the baggage followed the army. Then he sent Menidas in advance with his cavalry with orders to find out where Darius was. But Menidas, when he found that Mazaeus had encamped near by, feared to advance farther and reported that he had heard nothing else save the noise of men and the neighing of horses. Mazaeus too, when he caught sight of the scouts from afar, returned to his camp, announcing the coming of the enemy.
Therefore Darius, who wished to fight in open plains, ordered his soldiers to arm themselves and drew up his line of battle. On his left wing were Bactrian cavalry, about 1000 in number, the Dahae, of just the same number, and the Arachosii and the Susiani, 4000. These a hundred scythed chariots followed. Next to the chariots was Bessus with 8000 horsemen, who likewise were Bactriani. The Massagetae brought up his rear with 2000. To these he had joined the infantry forces of many peoples, not mingled together, but each group arranged with the cavalry of its corresponding nation. Then Ariobarzanes and Orontobates led the Persians with the Mardii and the Sogdiani. These men commanded divisions of the forces, in charge of the whole was Orsines, a descendant of the “seven Persians and tracing his genealogy also to Cyrus, that most renowned king. These were followed by other nations, not very well known even to their allies. Phradates came after these nations, leading fifty four-in-hand chariots, with a large army of Caspii. The Indi and the rest of the dwellers on the Red Sea, mere names rather than auxiliaries, were behind the chariots.
The rear of this part of the army was brought up by other scythe-bearing chariots, to which he had joined the foreign soldiers. These were followed by those who are known as the Lesser Armenians, the Armenians by the Babylonians, and both by the Belitae and those who dwelt in the mountains of the Cossaei. After these marched the Gortuae, really a Euboean race, who formerly followed the Medes, but were now degenerate and ignorant of their native customs. Next to these he put the Phrygians and the Cataonians. Then the Parthyaei, inhabiting the lands now held by the Parthians from Scythia, brought up the rear of the whole force. Such was the form of the left wing. The right was held by the nation of Greater Armenia with the Cadusii, the Cappadocians, the Syrians, and the Medes. These also had fifty scythe-bearing chariots. The sum of the entire army consisted of 45,000 cavalry, and the infantry numbered 200,000. Drawn up in this manner, they advanced ten stadia, and then, being ordered to halt under arms, awaited the enemy.
Alexander’s army was seized by a panic, the reason for which was not apparent; for they became frenzied and proceeded to tremble, as a secret dread
ran through the breasts of all. A gleaming of the heavens shining here and there, like that in the burning heat of summer, presented the appearance of fire, and they believed that fires were blazing from the camp of Darius, as if they had incautiously come upon his guarding troops. Now if Mazaeus, who was guarding the road, had fallen upon them in their panic, a great disaster might have been suffered; as it was, while he sat idle on the eminence of which he had taken possession, satisfied not to be attacked, Alexander, becoming aware of the army’s terror, ordered the signal for a halt to be given, and bade the soldiers lay down their arms in front of them and rest themselves, advising them that there was no cause for their sudden alarm, that the enemy were at a distance. At length they came to their senses and recovered alike their arms and their courage. And nothing seemed safer under the circumstances than to fortify a camp in that same place.
On the following day Mazaeus — he had taken position with the best of his cavalry on a high hill, from which the camp of the Macedonians was in sight — either through fear or because he had been ordered merely to keep watch, returned to Darius. The Macedonians took possession of the very hill which he had abandoned; for it was safer than the plain, and from it the enemies’ line of battle, which was being deployed on the level ground, could be observed.
But a mist, which the moist mountains had poured about, did not indeed cut off a general view, but did prevent the different divisions of the army and their arrangement from being made out. Their great number had flooded the plains, and the noise made by so many thousands had filled the ears even of those who stood afar off. The king began to waver in his determination, and to weigh his plan and that of Parmenion, although it was now too late; for they had come to a point from which the army could not be withdrawn without disaster, unless it were victorious. Accordingly, concealing his feelings, he ordered the mercenary cavalry from Paeonia to advance. He himself, as was said before, had extended the phalanx into two wings, both of which were protected by cavalry. And now the mist had been dispelled, and the clearer light had revealed the army of the enemy, and the Macedonians, either from eagerness or from the tediousness of waiting, raised a mighty shout, after the manner of those engaged in battle. When this was returned by the Persians and had filled the surrounding forests and valleys with a fearsome sound, the Macedonians could no longer be restrained from hastening against the enemy on the run as well. But the king, thinking it still better to fortify a camp on that same hill, ordered a palisade to be set up, and when the work had been promptly completed, he withdrew to his tent, from which the whole army of the enemy was in sight.
XIII. Then verily the entire vision of the coming peril was before his eyes; horses and men shone with splendid arms, and the concern of the generals, as they rode up and down among their lines, showed that on the side of the enemy everything was being made ready with special care, and many trifling things, such as the noise of the men, the neighing of horses, the brilliance of arms shining here and there, had disturbed a mind already on edge with expectation. Therefore, either because he was really in doubt, or to try his officers, he called a council, inquiring what was best to be done. Parmenion, the most skilled among his generals in the art of war, gave it as his opinion that a surprise was better than an open battle. In the dead of night the foe could be overwhelmed; being of discordant customs and languages, as well as terrified in their sleep by an unforeseen danger, when would they unite in the confusion of an attack by night? But in the daytime the terrible aspect of the Scythians and the Bactriani would for the first time confront the Macedonians; their faces are shaggy and their hair unshorn, to say nothing of the enormous bulk of their huge bodies. Soldiers are affected more by vain and trivial things than by reasonable causes of fear. Then too so great a multitude could surround their smaller numbers, since they were fighting, not in the narrow and inaccessible by-ways of Cilicia, but in an open and broad plain.
Almost all agreed with Parmenion; Polypercon thought that victory undoubtedly depended upon that plan. Alexander, looking solemnly at the latter — for he had lately chided Parmenion more severely than he wished and did not have the heart to upbraid him again — said: “The craft which you recommend to me is that of petty robbers and thieves; for their 9 sole desire is to deceive. I will not suffer my glory always to be impaired by the absence of Darius, or by confined places, or by deceit by night. I am determined to attack openly by daylight; I prefer to regret my fortune rather than be ashamed of my victory. Besides, this consideration too is added; I am well aware that the barbarians keep watch by night and stand under arms, so that it is not really possible to deceive them. Therefore do you prepare for battle.” When they had been thus aroused, he bade them take food and rest.
Darius, inferring that the enemy would do what Parmenion had advised, had ordered that the horses should stand bridled, that a great part of the army should be armed, and that night watch should be kept with unusually vigilant care; therefore his entire camp was aglow with fires. He himself with his generals and his relatives rode about among the divisions as they stood under arms, calling upon the Sun and Mithras, and the sacred and eternal fire, to inspire them with a courage worthy of their ancient glory and the records of their forefathers. And surely, he said, if any tokens of divine aid could be read by mortal minds, the gods were on their side. It was they who had lately struck sudden panic into the minds of the Macedonians, who were still harried and hunted by frenzy and throwing away their arms, and the gods who watch over the Persian empire were about to inflict upon madmen the punishment which they deserved. Nor was their leader himself saner than his men; for after the manner of wild beasts, fixing his gaze only on the booty at which he was aiming, he was rushing upon the destruction behind which the booty lay.
There was like concern among the Macedonians also, and they passed the night in fear, as if that were the time set for the battle. Alexander, never more alarmed, ordered that Aristander should be summoned for vows and prayers. The seer, in white robe, bearing in his hand the sacred branches, with veiled head led the king in prayers as he propitiated Jupiter and Minerva Victoria. Then at last, after a sacrifice had been duly performed, the king returned to his tent, to rest for the remainder of the night. But he could neither go to sleep nor endure repose; now he thought of sending his army from the crest of the mountain against the right wing of the Persians, now of meeting the enemy front to front, sometimes he hesitated whether he should not rather direct his army against the left wing. At last a deeper sleep than usual overcame his body, worn out as it was by anxiety of mind.
And now, at daybreak, the generals had assembled to receive their orders, amazed at the unwonted silence around the king’s tent; for at other times he had been wont to summon them, and sometimes to chide the tardy, now they marvelled that he was not aroused even at the final crisis of affairs, and believed that he was not resting in sleep, but willting away — through fear. Yet none of the body-guard ventured to enter the tent; and already the time was at hand, and the soldiers without the order of the commander could neither arm themselves nor take their places in the ranks. Parmenion, after hesitating for a long time, himself gave the order to take food. And already it was necessary to go forth; then at last Parmenion entered the tent, and after often calling the king often by name, when he could not waken him with his voice, he did so by touching him. “It is broad daylight,” said he, “the enemy is advancing in battle-array, your soldiers, still unarmed, await your command. Where is that vigour of mind of yours? Truly you are wont to wake the very watchmen.”To this Alexander replied: “Do you think that I could have gone to sleep before I had unburdened my mind of the care which was delaying my rest?” And he ordered the signal for battle to be given with the trumpet. And when Parmenion continued to express no less surprise at his having said that he had slept free from care: “It is not at all strange,” said he, “for when Darius was setting fire to the land, destroying villages, and ruining food-supplies, I was beside myself; but now what have I to
fear, when he is preparing to contend in battle? By Heaven, he has satisfied my heart’s desire. But the reason for this feeling also shall be given later. Do you go to the forces which each of you commands. I will soon be present and will explain what I wish to be done.” Very rarely, rather at the advice of hi, friends than through fear of encountering danger, was Alexander in the habit of using a cuirass; or that occasion at any rate he put on a protection for his body, and went to his soldiers. Never before had they seen the king so joyful, and from his undaunted aspect they inferred a sure hope of victory.
And the king, after razing the palisade, ordered his forces to go forth, and arranged his line of battle. On the right wing were placed the horsemen whom they call the body-guard; Clitus commanded these, and with them he joined the squadrons of Philotas, and on its flank put the rest of the commanders of cavalry.
Last stood the troop of Meleager, followed by the phalanx. Behind the phalanx were the Silver-shields, under command of Nicanor, son of Parmenion. In reserve were Coenus with his troops, and behind him the Orestae and Lyncestae, after them Polypercon, and next the foreign forces. Of this body the leader Amyntas was not present; Philippus (son of Balacrus) who had lately been received as an ally, commanded them.
Such was the form of the right wing. On the left Cratcrus led the cavalry of the Peloponnesians, and to these were joined the horsemen of the Achaeans, the Locrians, and the Malieis. The rear of these was brought up by the Thessalian cavalry, led by Philippus. The infantry force was protected by the cavalry. This was the front of the left wing. But in order that it might not be surrounded by superior numbers, he had girt it in the rear by a powerful force. He had strengthened the wings also by reserves, placed not straight in front but on the flanks, in order that, if the enemy should try to surround the — line of battle, they should be ready to fight. Here were the Agriani, whom Attalus commanded, and joined with them the Cretan archers. The hindermost ranks he faced towards the rear, so as to fortify the whole battle-line by a circular formation.
Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus Page 15
