Rex eodem loco, quo hostium copias fuderat, castra communit. Quamquam enim undique fugati hostes victoriam concesserant, tamen praealtae praecipitesque fossae pluribus locis obiectae abruperant iter, sensimque et caute progrediandum erat iam non hostium, sed locorum fraude suspecta. [2] Procedenti ei litterae redduntur a Tiridate, custode pecuniae regiae, indicantes eos, qui in urbe essent, audito eius adventu diripere velle thesauros: properaret occupare thesauros dimissos: expeditum iter esse, quamquam Araxes amnis interfluat. [3] Nullam virtutem regis iustius quam celeritatem laudaverim: relictis pedestribus copiis tota nocte vectus cum equitibus itineris tanto spatio fatigatis ad Araxen prima luce pervenit. [4] Vici erant in propinquo: quibus dirutis pontem ex materia eorum subditis saxis strenue induxit. [5] Iamque haud procul urbe erant, cum miserabile agmen inter pauca fortunae exempla memorandum regi occurrit. Captivi erant Graeci ad nn milia fere, quos Persae vario suppliciorum modo adfecerant. [6] Alios pе- [p. 126] dibus, quosdam manibus auribusque amputatis inustisque barbararum litterarum notis in longum sui ludibrium reservaverant et, cum se quoque alienae dicionis esse cernerent, volentes regi occurrere non prohibuerant. [7] Invisitata simulacra, non homines videbantur, nec quicquam in illis praeter vocem poterat agnosci. Plures igitur lacrimas commovere, quam profuderant ipsi: quippe in tam multiplici variaque fortuna singulorum intuentibus similes quidem, sed tamen dispares poenas, [8] quis maxime miserabilis esset, liquere non poterat. Ut vero Iovem illi tandem, Graeciae ultorem, aperuisse oculos conclamavere, omnes pari supplicio adfecti sibi videbantur. Rex abstersis, quas profuderat, lacrimis bonum habere animum iubet, [9] visuros urbes suas coniugesque, et castra ibi duo ab urbe stadia communit. Graeci excesserant vallo deliberaturi, quid potissimum a rege peterent: cumque aliis sedem in Asia rogare, alus reverti domos placeret, Euctemon Cymaeus ita locutus ad eos fertur: [10] ‘Ii, qui modo etiam ad opem petendam ex tenebris et carcere procedere erubuimus, ut nunc est, supplicia nostra — quorum nos pudeat magis an paeniteat, incertum est — ostentare Graeciae velut laetum spectaculum cupimus. [11] Atqui optime miserias ferunt, qui abscondunt, nec ulla tam familiaris est infelicibus patria quam solitudo et status prioris oblivio. Nam qui multum in suorum misericordia ponunt, ignorant, quam celeriter lacrimae inarescant. [12] Nemo fideliter diligit, quem fastidit: nam et calamitas querula est et superba felicitas. Ita suam quisque fortunam in consilio habet, cum de aliena [p. 127] deliberat. Nisi mutuo miseri essemus, olim alius alii potuissemus esse fastidio: quid mirum et fortunatos semper parem quaerere? [13] Obsecro vos, olim vita defuncti quaeramus locum, in quo haec semesa obruamus. Grati prorsus coniugibus, quas iuvenes duximus, revertemur ! Liberi in flore et aetatis et rerum agnoscent patres ergastuli detrimenta! [14] Et quota pars nostri tot obire terrae potest? Procul Europa in ultima Orientis relegati, senes debiles, maiore membrorum parte mulcati tolerabimus scilicet, quae armatos et victores fatigarunt! [15] Coniuges deinde, quas captis fors et necessitas unicum solacium adplicuit, parvosque liberos trahimus nobiscum an relinquimus? [16] Cum his venientes nemo agnoscere volet: relinquemus ergo extemplo praesentia pignora, cum incertum sit, an visuri simus ilia, quae petimus? Inter hos latendum est, qui nos miseros nosse coeperunt.’ Haec Euctemon. [17] Contra Theaetetus Atheniensis orsus est dicere: Neminem pium habitu corporis suos aestimaturum, utique saevitia hostis, non natura calamitosos. Dignum esse omni malo, qui erubesceret fortuito: tristem enim de mortalitate ferre sententiam et desperare misericordiam, quia ipse alteri denegaturus sit. [18] Deos, quod ipsi numquam optare ausi forent, offerre: patriam, coniuges, liberos et, quidquid homines vel vita aestimant vel morte redimunt. [19] Quin illi ex hoc carcere erumperent? alium domi esse caeli haustum, alium lucis aspectum. Mores, sacra, [p. 128] linguae commercium etiam a barbaris expeti, quae ingenita ipsi omissuri sint sua sponte, non ob aliud tam calamitosi, quam quod illis carere coacti essent. [20] Se certe rediturum ad penates et in patriam tantoque beneficio regis usurum : [21] si quos contubernii liberorumque, quos servitus coegisset agnoscere, amor detineret, relinquerent, quibus nihil patria carius esset. Pauci huius sententiae fuere, ceteros consuetudo natura potior vicit. Consenserunt petendum esse a rege, ut aliquam ipsis attribueret sedem. [22] C ad hoc electi sunt. Quos Alexander ratus, quod ipse praestare cogitabat, petituros: ‘Iumenta,’ inquit, ‘adsignari, quae vos veherent, et singulis vestrum milia denarium dari iussi. Cum redieritis in Graeciam, praestabo, ne qui statum suum, [23] si haec calamitas absit, vestro credat esse meliorem.’ Illi obortis lacrimis terram intuebantur nec aut erigere vultus aut loqui audebant: tandem rege tristitiae causam exigente Euctemon similia iis, quae in consilio dixerat, respondit. [24] Atque ille non fortunae solum eorum, sed etiam paenitentiae miseritus terna milia denariorum singulis dari iussit: denae vestes adiectae sunt et armenta cum pecoribus ac frumento data, ut coli serique attributus iis ager posset.
V. The king fortified a camp on the same spot where he had routed the enemy. For although the flight of the foe on all sides had acknowledged the victory, yet the interposition of very deep and sheer trenches in many places had broken up the road, and it was necessary to advance slowly and cautiously, no longer through suspicion of deception by the enemy, but by the terrain. As he was on his way, a letter was delivered to him from Tiridates, who was in charge of Darius’ finances, informing him that the inhabitants of the city, on hearing of his coming, wished to pillage its treasures, and urging Alexander to hasten to take possession of the deserted riches; he said that the route was unimpeded, although the Araxes River crossed it. There is no merit of the king that I could praise with more justice than his rapidity in action. Leaving his infantry forces, and riding all night with his cavalry, wearied though they were by a march of so great extent, he reached the Araxes at daybreak. There were villages near by; these he destroyed and from their timbers supported by stones he quickly threw a bridge across.
And already he was not far from the city, when a wretched troop, to be paralleled among few examples of ill-fortune, met the king. They were Greek captives, to the number of nearly 4000, on whom the Persians had inflicted various kinds of torture. Some with their feet, others with their hands and ears cut off, and branded with the characters of barbarian letters, they had reserved for their long-continued mockery, and when the Persians perceived that they themselves also were under foreign subjection, they had not opposed the desire of the prisoners to go to meet Alexander. They resembled strange images, not human beings, and there was nothing that could be recognized in them except their voices; therefore they aroused more tears than they themselves had shed. Indeed, amid such manifold and varied misfortunes of individuals, to those who beheld their sufferings, similar indeed, but yet unlike, it could not be clear which was the most wretched; but when they cried out that at last Jupiter, avenger of the Greeks, had opened his eves, all who beheld them seemed to themselves to have suffered the same torture.
The king, after having dried the tears which he had shed, bade them have a good heart, since they would see their cities and their wives, and he fortified a camp there, two stadia from the city. The Greeks had come out from the palisade to deliberate what it would be best to request of the king; and when some wished to ask for an abode in Asia, others to return to their homes, Euctemon of Cymê is said to have addressed them as follows: “We who but now were ashamed to come out from the darkness of a dungeon even to implore aid, desire, as things now stand, to display to Greece our mutilations — whether our shame or our grief is the greater is uncertain — as if they were a joyful spectacle. And yet they endure their miseries best who hide them, and no native land is so intimate to the unhappy as solitude and forgetfulness of their former condition. For those who count greatly on the compassion of their relatives are not aware how quickly tears dry. No one faithfully loves one from whom he shrinks; for while calamity is given to complaining, prosperity too is proud. So true is it that each one has regard to his own fortune when he deliberates about that of another. If it were not that we are mutually wretched, we might long since have become a cause of disgust to one another; wha
t wonder is it that the fortunate also always seek those like themselves?
“I beseech you, let us who have long been dead to the world seek a place in which we may bury these half-consumed bodies. Welcome forsooth shall we return to the wives whom we married in our youth! Our children in the bloom both of their age and their fortunes will of course recognize as their fathers the off-scourings of the slave-prison! And how many of us can traverse so many lands? Far from Europe, banished to the ends of the Orient, old and weak, with the greater part of our bodies battered, can we, forsooth, endure what has wearied armed men flushed with victory? What then of the wives whom chance and necessity have joined to us as our sole consolation, and their little children — do we drag them with us or leave them behind? If we come with these, no one will be willing to own us; shall we, then, at once abandon those dear ones who are with us, when it is uncertain whether we shall ever see those whom we seek? We must remain hidden among those who have begun to know us in this wretched plight.” So spoke Euctemon. Theaetetus, an Athenian, took up the discussion on the opposite side: “No good man,” he said, “will judge his kin by their bodily condition, especially when the cause of their calamity has been an enemy’s cruelty, not Nature. He deserves every misfortune who is ashamed of a misfortune due to chance; for he has a sinister opinion of humanity, and despairs of pity only because he himself would deny it to his [18] fellow man. The gods are offering them what they themselves would never have ventured to wish for: fatherland, wives, children, and whatever men either value at the price of life, or, if you would so put [19] it, redeem with death as the price. Why, then, do they not break out from this prison? At home they breathe a different air, see the light of a different sun. Their own customs, sacred rites, community of language, are desired even by barbarians, but these, your birthright, you yourselves would give up of your own accord, although you are so unhappy for no other reason than that you have been compelled to live without them. For my part, I would certainly return to my household gods and to my fatherland, and would accept so great a favour from the king; but if the love of mate and children, whom slavery has compelled you to acknowledge, should detain any of you, those at least to whom nothing is dearer than their native land should leave theirs behind.”
A few were of this opinion; habit, which is stronger than nature, overcame the rest. They agreed that the king should be asked to assign them some dwelling-place. One hundred were selected to make the request. Alexander, having supposed that they would ask for what he himself was thinking of giving to them, said: “I have ordered mounts to be assigned, on which you can ride, and a thousand drachmae to be given to each of you. When you have returned to Greece, I will guarantee that, except for this misfortune of yours, none will believe that his condition is better than yours.” They, with tears in their eyes, kept their gaze fixed upon the ground, nor dared either to lift their faces or to speak; when at last the king asked the cause of their sadness, Euctemon answered in words similar to those which he had used in the council. And the king, pitying not only their fortune but their change of heart, ordered 3000 drachmae to be given to each man; ten robes apiece were added, and herds and flocks and also grain were given them, in order that the land assigned to them might be cultivated and sown.
Postero die convocatos duces copiarum docet nullam infestiorem urbem Graecis esse quam regiam veterum [p. 129] Persidis regum: hinc illa inmensa agmina infusa, hinc Dareum prius, dein Xerxem Europae inpium intulisse bellum: excidio illius parentandum esse maioribus. [2] Iamque barbari deserto oppido, qua quemque metus agebat, diffugerant, cum rex phalangem nihil cunctatus inducit. Multas urbes refertas opulentia regia partim expugnaverat, partim in fidem acceperat, sed urbis huius divitiae vicere praeterita. [3] In hanc totius Persidis opes congesserant barbari: aurum argentumque cumulatum erat, vestis ingens modus, supellex non ad nsum, sed ad ostentationem luxus conparata. [4] Itaque inter ipsos victores ferro dimicabatur: pro hoste erat, qui pretiosiorem occupaverat praedam. Et cum omnia, quae reperiebant, capere non possent, iam res non occupabantur, sed aestimabantur. [5] Lacerabant regias vestes ad se quisque partem trahentes, dolabris pretiosae artis vasa caedebant, nihil neque intactum erat neque integrum ferebatur, abrupta simulacrorum membra, ut quisque avellerat, trahebat. [6] Neque avaritia solum, sed etiam crudelitas in capta urbe grassata est : auro argentoque onusti vilia captivorum corpora trucidabant, passimque obvii caedebantur,. quos antea pretium sui miserabilis fecerat. [7] Multi ergo hostium manus voluntaria morte occupaverunt pretiosissima vestium induti e muris semetipsos cum coniugibus ac liberie in praeceps iacientes. Quidam ignes, quod paulo post facturus [p. 130] hostis videbatur, subiecerant aedibus, ut cum suis vivi cremarentur. [8] Tandem suos rex corporibus et cultu feminarum abstinere iussit. Ingens captivae pecuniae modus traditur, prope ut fidem excedat. [9] Ceterum aut de aliis quoquo dubitabimus aut credemus in huius urbis gaza fuisse C et XX milia talentum. Ad quae vehenda — namque ad usus belli secum portare decreverat — iumenta et camelos et a Susis et a Babylone contrahi iussit. [10] Accessere ad hanc pecuniae summam captis Parsagadis sex milia talentum. Cyrus Parsagada urbem condiderat, quam Alexandro praefectus eius Gobares tradidit. [11] Rex arcem Persepolis tribus milibus Macedonum praesidio relictis Nicarchiden tueri iubet. Tiridati quoque, qui gazam tradiderat, servatus est honos, quem is apud Dareum habuerat. Magnaque excercitus parte et inpedimentis ibi relictis Parmeniona Craterumque praefecit. [12] Ipse cum mille equitibus peditumque expedita manu interiorem Persidis regionem sub ipsum Vergiliarum sidus petiit multisque imbribus et prope intolerabili tempestate vexatus procedere tamen, quo intenderat, perseveravit. [13] Ventum erat ad iter perpetuis obsitum nivibus, quas frigoris vis gelu adstrinxerat, locorumque squalor et solitudines inviae fatigatum militem terrebant humanarum rerutque sine ullo [p. 131] humani cultus vestigio attoniti intuebantur et, antequam lux quoque et caelum ipsos deficerent, reverti iubebant. [14] Rex castigare territos supersedit, ceterum ipse equo desiluit pedesque per nives et concretam glaciem ingredi coepit. Erubuerunt non sequi primum amici, deinde copiarum duces, ad ultimum milites. Primusque rex dolabra glaciem perfringens iter sibi fecit: [15] exemplum regis ceteri imitati sunt. Tandem propemodum invias silvas emensi humani cultus rara vestigia et passim errantes pecorum greges repperere: et incolae, qui sparsis tuguriis habitabant, cum se callibus inviis saeptos esse credidissent, ut conspexere hostium agmen, interfectis, qui comitari rugientes non poterant, devios montes et nivibus obsitos petiverunt. [16] Inde per colloquia captivorum paulatim feritate mitigata tradidere se regi. Nec in deditos gravius consultum. [17] Vastatis inde agris Persidis vicisque conpluribus redactis in potestatem ventum est in Mardorum gentem bellicosam et multum a ceteris Persis cultu vitae abhorrentem. Specus in montibus fodiunt, in quos seque ac coniuges et liberos condunt, pecorum aut ferarum carne vescuntur. [18] Ne feminis quidem pro naturae habitu molliora ingenia sunt: comae prominent hirtae, vestis super genua est, funda vinciunt frontem: hoc et ornamentum capitis et telum est. [19] Sed hanc quoque gentem idem fortunae impetus domuit. Itaque tricesimo die, postquam a Persepoli profectus erat, eodem redit. [20] Dona deinde amicis ceterisque pro cuiusque merito dedit. Propemodum omnia, quae in ea urbe ceperat, distributa.
VI. On the following day the king called together the leaders of his forces and informed them that “no city was more mischievous to the Greeks than the seat of the ancient kings of Persia; it was from there that those huge armies had been poured into their country, from there first Darius, then Xerxes, had made godless war upon Europe; by its destruction they ought to offer sacrifice to the spirits of their forefathers.” And already the barbarians, having abandoned the city, had scattered in flight whithersoever fear had driven each man, when the king without delay led in the phalanx. He had either stormed or received in surrender many cities filled with regal opulence, but the riches of this city surpassed all that had gone before. Into it the barbarians had heaped the wealth of all Persia; gold and silver had been amassed, a vast amount of clothing, furniture designed not for use but for luxurious di
splay. Hence the victors themselves fought with one another with the steel; he was regarded as a foeman who had been first to seize a more precious prize. And when they could not carry all that they found, articles were no longer seized at random, but their value was appraised. They rent the royal robes, as each one dragged a part into his possession, they broke with mattocks vases of priceless art, nothing was left uninjured or carried off whole, each one carried the broken limbs of statues as he had torn them off.
And not avarice alone but cruelty also ran riot in the captured city; those who were loaded with gold and silver butchered as valueless the persons of prisoners; and in all directions people, whom previously their ransom had made it worth while to spare, were cut down when they came in the enemy’s way. Therefore many forestalled the hands of the enemy by a voluntary death, putting on their most costly clothing and throwing themselves from the walls, along with their wives and children. Some set fire to their houses, which it seemed that the enemy would do a little later, in order to be burned alive with their families. At last the king ordered his men to spare the persons and the ornaments of the women.
So vast amount of wealth is said to have been taken as almost to be beyond belief. But we shall either have to feel doubtful about other particulars also, or believe that there was in this city a treasure of 120,000 talents. For transporting this — for the king had decided to take it with him for use in war — he ordered camels and other beasts of burden to be brought together from Susa and Babylon. There were added to this sum of money 6000 talents from the capture of Parsagada. Cyrus had founded that city, which its governor Gobares surrendered to Alexander.
The king ordered Nicarchides to defend the citadel of Persepolis, having left as a garrison 3000 Macedonian soldiers. For Tiridates, who had handed over the treasure, the same rank was continued which he had held under Darius. Also a great part of the army and the baggage was left there, in charge of Parmenion and Craterus. Alexander himself with 1000 horsemen and a light-armed force of infantry made for the interior of Persia just at the setting of the Vergiliae, and although troubled by frequent rains and almost intolerable weather, he nevertheless persisted in pushing on to his destination. He had come to a road blocked by perpetual snows, which the violence of the cold had bound with frost, and the horror of the places and the pathless solitudes terrified the wearied soldiers, who believed that they were looking upon the end of the habitable world. In amazement they beheld everything desolate and without any trace of human cultivation, and they demanded that they should turn back, before even daylight and the sky should fail them.
Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Curtius Rufus Page 94
