Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
tent with his diviner Aristander, performing certain mysterious
ceremonies, and sacrificing to the god Fear. In the meanwhile
the oldest of his commanders, and chiefly Parmenio, when they
beheld all the plain between Niphates and the Gordyaean mountains
shining with the lights and fires which were made by the
barbarians, and heard the uncertain and confused sound of voices
out of their camp, like the distant roaring of a vast ocean, were
so amazed at the thoughts of such a multitude, that after some
conference among themselves, they concluded it an enterprise too
difficult and hazardous for them to engage so numerous an enemy in
the day, and therefore meeting the king as he came from
sacrificing, besought him to attack Darius by night, that the
darkness might conceal the danger of the ensuing battle. To this
he gave them the celebrated answer, "I will not steal a victory,"
which though some at the time thought a boyish and inconsiderate
speech, as if he played with danger, others, however, regarded as
an evidence that he confided in his present condition, and acted
on a true judgment of the future, not wishing to leave Darius, in
case he were worsted, the pretext of trying his fortune again,
which he might suppose himself to have, if he could impute his
overthrow to the disadvantage of the night, as he did before to
the mountains, the narrow passages, and the sea. For while he had
such numerous forces and large dominions still remaining, it was
not any want of men or arms that could induce him to give up the
war, but only the loss of all courage and hope upon the conviction
of an undeniable and manifest defeat.
After they were gone from him with this answer, he laid himself
down in his tent and slept the rest of the night more soundly than
was usual with him, to the astonishment of the commanders, who
came to him early in the morning, and were fain themselves to give
order that the soldiers should breakfast. But at last, time not
giving them leave to wait any longer, Parmenio went to his
bedside, and called him twice or thrice by his name, till he waked
him, and then asked him how it was possible, when he was to fight
the most important battle of all, he could sleep as soundly as if
he were already victorious. "And are we not so, indeed," replied
Alexander, smiling, "since we are at last relieved from the
trouble of wandering in pursuit of Darius through a wide and
wasted country, hoping in vain that he would fight us?" And not
only before the battle, but in the height of the danger, he showed
himself great, and manifested the self-possession of a just
foresight and confidence. For the battle for some time fluctuated
and was dubious. The left wing, where Parmenio commanded, was so
impetuously charged by the Bactrian horse that it was disordered
and forced to give ground, at the same time that Mazaeus had sent
a detachment round about to fall upon those who guarded the
baggage, which so disturbed Parmenio, that he sent messengers to
acquaint Alexander that the camp and baggage would be all lost
unless he immediately believed the rear by a considerable
reinforcement drawn out of the front. This message being brought
him just as he was giving the signal to those about him for the
onset, he bade them tell Parmenio that he must have surely lost
the use of his reason, and had forgotten, in his alarm, that
soldiers, if victorious, become masters of their enemies' baggage;
and if defeated, instead of taking care of their wealth or their
slaves, have nothing more to do but to fight gallantly and die
with honor. When he had said this, he put on his helmet, having
the rest of his arms on before he came out of his tent, which were
coat of the Sicilian make, girt close about him, and over that a
breastpiece of thickly quilted linen, which was taken among other
booty at the battle of Issus. The helmet, which was made by
Theophilus, though of iron, was so well wrought and polished, that
it was as bright as the most refined silver. To this was fitted a
gorget of the same metal, set with precious stones. His sword,
which was the weapon he most used in fight, was given him by the
king of the Citieans, and was of an admirable temper and
lightness. The belt which he also wore in all engagements, was of
much richer workmanship than the rest of his armor. It was a work
of the ancient Helicon, and had been presented to him by the
Rhodians, as mark of their respect to him. So long as he was
engaged in drawing up his men, or riding about to give orders or
directions, or to view them, he spared Bucephalas, who was now
growing old, and made use of another horse; but when he was
actually to fight, he sent for him again, and as soon as he was
mounted, commenced the attack.
He made the longest address that day to the Thessalians and other
Greeks, who answered him with loud shouts, desiring him to lead
them on against the barbarians, upon which he shifted his javelin
into his left hand, and with his right lifted up towards heaven,
besought the gods, as Callisthenes tells us, that if he was of a
truth the son of Jupiter, they would he pleased to assist and
strengthen the Grecians. At the same time the augur Aristander,
who had a white mantle about him, and a crown of gold on his head,
rode by and showed them an eagle that soared just over Alexander,
and directed his Right towards the enemy; which so animated the
beholders, that after mutual encouragements and exhortations, the
horse charged at full speed, and were followed in a mass by the
whole phalanx of the foot. But before they could well come to
blows with the first ranks, the barbarians shrunk back, and were
hotly pursued by Alexander, who drove those that fled before him
into the middle of the battle, where Darius himself was in person,
whom he saw from a distance over the foremost ranks, conspicuous
in the midst of his life-guard, a tall and fine-looking man, drawn
in a lofty chariot, defended by an abundance of the best horse,
who stood close in order about it, ready to receive the enemy.
But Alexander's approach was so terrible, forcing those who gave
back upon those who yet maintained their ground, that he beat down
and dispersed them almost all. Only a few of the bravest and
valiantest opposed the pursuit, who were slain in their king's
presence, falling in heaps upon one another, and in the very pangs
of death striving to catch hold of the horses. Darius now seeing
all was lost, that those who were placed in front to defend him
were broken and beat back upon him, that he could not turn or
disengage his chariot without great difficulty, the wheels being
clogged and entangled among the dead bodies, which lay in such
heaps as not only stopped, but almost covered the horses, and made
them rear and grow so unruly, that the frighted charioteer could
govern them no longer, in this extremity was glad to quit his
chariot and his arms, and mounting, it is said, upon a mare that
had been taken from her foal, betook himself to flight. But he
had not escaped so either, if Parmenio had not sent fresh
messengers to Alexander, to desire him to return and assist him
against a considerable body of the enemy which yet stood together,
and would not give ground. For, indeed, Parmenio is on all hands
accused of having been sluggish and unserviceable in this battle,
whether age had impaired his courage, or that, as Callisthenes
says, he secretly disliked and envied Alexander's growing
greatness. Alexander, though he was not a little vexed to be so
recalled and hindered from pursuing his victory, yet concealed the
true reason from his men, and causing a retreat to be sounded, as
if it were too late to continue the execution any longer, marched
back towards the place of danger, and by the way met with the news
of the enemy's total overthrow and flight.
This battle being thus over, seemed to put a period to the Persian
empire; and Alexander, who was now proclaimed king of Asia,
returned thanks to the gods in magnificent sacrifices, and
rewarded his friends and followers with great sums of money, and
places, and governments of provinces. And eager to gain honor
with the Grecians, he wrote to them that he would have all
tyrannies abolished, that they might live free according to their
own laws, and specially to the Plataeans, that their city should
be rebuilt, because their ancestors had permitted their countrymen
of old to make their territory the seat of the war, when they
fought with the barbarians for their common liberty. He sent also
part of the spoils into Italy, to the Crotoniats, to honor the
zeal and courage of their citizen Phayllus, the wrestler, who, in
the Median war, when the other Grecian colonies in Italy disowned
Greece, that he might have a share in the danger, joined the fleet
at Salamis, with a vessel set forth at his own charge. So
affectionate was Alexander to all kind of virtue, and so desirous
to preserve the memory of laudable actions.
From hence he marched through the province of Babylon, which
immediately submitted to him, and in Ecbatana was much surprised
at the sight of the place where fire issues in a continuous
stream, like a spring of water, out of a cleft in the earth, and
the stream of naphtha, which, not far from this spot, flows out so
abundantly as to form a sort of lake. This naphtha, in other
respects resembling bitumen, is so subject to take fire, that
before it touches the flame, it will kindle at the very light that
surrounds it, and often inflame the intermediate air also. The
barbarians, to show the power and nature of it, sprinkled the
street that led to the king's lodgings with little drops of it,
and when it was almost night, stood at the further end with
torches, which being applied to the moistened places, the first at
once taking fire, instantly, as quick as a man could think of it,
it caught from one end to another, in such a manner that the whole
street was one continued flame. Among those who used to wait on
the king and find occasion to amuse him when he anointed and
washed himself, there was one Athenophanes, an Athenian, who
desired him to make an experiment of the naphtha upon Stephanus,
who stood by in the bathing place, a youth with a ridiculously
ugly face, whose talent was singing well, "For," said he, "if it
take hold of him and is not put out, it must undeniably be allowed
to be of the most invincible strength." The youth, as it
happened, readily consented to undergo the trial, and as soon as
he was anointed and rubbed with it, his whole body broke out into
such a flame, and was so seized by the fire, that Alexander was
in the greatest perplexity and alarm for him, and not without
reason; for nothing could have prevented his being consumed by it,
if by good chance there had not been people at hand with a great
many vessels of water for the service of the bath, with all which
they had much ado to extinguish the fire; and his body was so
burned all over, that he was not cured of it a good while after.
And thus it is not without some plausibility that they endeavor to
reconcile the fable to truth, who say this was the drug in the
tragedies with which Medea anointed the crown and veil which she
gave to Creon's daughter. For neither the things themselves, nor
the fire could kindle of its own accord, but being prepared for it
by the naphtha, they imperceptibly attracted and caught a flame
which happened to be brought near them. For the rays and
emanations of fire at a distance have no other effect upon some
bodies than bare light and heat, but in others, where they meet
with airy dryness, and also sufficient rich moisture, they collect
themselves and soon kindle and create a transformation. The
manner, however, of the production of naphtha admits of a