The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
retreat without difficulty; whereas the Macedonians, on account of
the heaviness of their arms and their ignorance of the roads, durst
not pursue them vigorously. Alexander therefore held off from the
fugitives, and took their city by storm. Of those with him, Cleander,
the general of the archers, and about twenty others were slain.
Alexander then marched against the rest of the Pisidians, and took some
of their strongholds by storm; others he won over to him by granting
them terms of capitulation.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ALEXANDER IN PHRYGIA.
Thence he went into Phrygia, passing by the lake called Ascania,[190]
in which salt is naturally concreted. The natives use this salt, and
do not need the sea at all for this article. On the fifth day of
his march, he arrived at Celaenae,[191] in which city there was a
fortified rock, precipitous on all sides. This citadel was occupied
by the viceroy of Phrygia with a garrison of 1,000 Carians and 100
Grecian mercenaries. These men despatched ambassadors to Alexander,
promising to surrender the place to him, if succour did not reach them
by a day which had been agreed upon with them, naming the day.[192]
This arrangement seemed to Alexander more advantageous than to besiege
the fortified rock, which was inaccessible on all sides to attack.
At Celaenae he left a garrison of 1,500 soldiers. Remaining here ten
days, he appointed Antigonus, son of Philip,[193] viceroy of Phrygia,
placed Balacrus, son of Amyntas[194] as general over the Grecian allies
in place of Antigonus, and then directed his march to Gordium.[195]
He sent an order to Parmenio to meet him there with the forces under
his command; an order which that general obeyed. The newly-married men
also, who had been despatched to Macedonia, now arrived at Gordium, and
with them another army which had been levied, and put under the command
of Ptolemy, son of Seleucus,[196] Coenus, son of Polemocrates, and
Meleager, son of Neoptolemus. This army consisted of 3,000 Macedonian
foot-soldiers and 300 horse-soldiers, 200 Thessalian cavalry, and 150
Eleans under the command of Alcias the Elean.
Gordium is in the Phrygia which lies near the Hellespont, and is
situated upon the river Sangarius, which takes its rise in Phrygia,
but, flowing through the land of the Bithynian Thracians, falls into
the Euxine Sea. Here an embassy reached Alexander from the Athenians,
beseeching him to release to them the Athenian prisoners who had been
captured at the river Granicus, fighting for the Persians, and were
then in Macedonia serving in chains with the two thousand others
captured in that battle. The envoys departed without obtaining their
request on behalf of the prisoners for the present. For Alexander
did not think it safe, whilst the war against the Persian was still
going on, to relax in the slightest degree the terror with which he
inspired the Greeks, who did not deem it unbecoming for them to serve
as soldiers on behalf of the foreigners against Greece. However, he
replied that whenever his present enterprise had been successfully
achieved, they might then come as ambassadors to treat on behalf of the
same persons.[197]
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
CAPTURE OF MITYLENE BY THE PERSIANS.—DEATH OF MEMNON.
Soon after this, Memnon, whom King Darius had appointed commander of
the whole fleet and of the entire sea-coast, with the design of moving
the seat of war into Macedonia and Greece, acquired possession of
Chios, which was surrendered to him by treachery. Thence he sailed to
Lesbos and brought over to his side all the cities of the island,[198]
except Mitylene, the inhabitants of which did not submit to him. When
he had gained these cities over, he turned his attention to Mitylene;
and walling off the city from the rest of the island by constructing
a double stockade from sea to sea, he easily got the mastery on the
land side by building five camps. A part of his fleet guarded their
harbour, and, intercepting the ships passing by, he kept the rest of
his fleet as a guard off Sigrium,[199] the headland of Lesbos, where is
the best landing-place for trading vessels from Chios, Geraestus,[200]
and Malea.[201] By this means he deprived the Mitylenaeans of all hope
of succour by sea. But meantime he himself fell ill and died, and his
death at that crisis was exceedingly injurious to the king’s interests.
Nevertheless Autophradates, and Pharnabazus, son of Artabazus,
prosecuted the siege with vigour. To the latter indeed, Memnon, when
dying, had entrusted his command, as he was his sister’s son, till
Darius should come to some decision on the matter. The Mitylenaeans,
therefore, being excluded from the land, and being blockaded on the
sea by many ships lying at anchor, sent to Pharnabazus and came to
the following agreement:—That the auxiliary troops which had come
to their aid from Alexander should depart, that the citizens should
demolish the pillars on which the treaty made by them with Alexander
was inscribed,[202] that they should become allies of Darius on the
terms of the peace which was made with King Darius in the time of
Antalcidas,[203] and that their exiles should return from banishment
on condition of receiving back half the property which they possessed
when they were banished. Upon these terms the compact was made between
the Mitylenaeans and the Persians. But as soon as Pharnabazus and
Autophradates once got within the city, they introduced a garrison with
Lycomedes, a Rhodian, as its commandant. They also appointed Diogenes,
one of the exiles, to be despot of the city, and exacted money from the
Mitylenaeans, taking part of it by violence for themselves from the
wealthy citizens, and laying the rest as a tax upon the community.
CHAPTER II.
THE PERSIANS CAPTURE TENEDUS.—THEY ARE DEFEATED AT SEA.
After accomplishing this, Pharnabazus sailed to Lycia, taking with
him the Grecian mercenaries; but Autophradates sailed to the other
islands. Meantime Darius sent Thymondas, son of Mentor,[204] down to
the maritime districts, to take over the Grecian auxiliaries from
Pharnabazus and to lead them up to him; and to tell Pharnabazus that
he was to be the ruler of all that Memnon had ruled. So Pharnabazus
handed over to him the Grecian auxiliaries and then sailed to join
Autophradates and the fleet. When they met, they despatched Datames,
a Persian, with ten ships to the islands called Cyclades,[205] whilst
they with 100 sailed to Tenedus.[206] Having sailed into the harbour of
Tenedus which is called Borēus, they sent a message to the inhabitants,
commanding them to demolish the pillars on which the treaty made by
them with Alexander and the Greeks was inscribed, and to observe in
regard to Darius the terms of the peace which they had ratified with
the king of Persia in the time of Antalcidas. The Tenedians preferred
to be on terms of amity with Alexander and the Greeks; but in the
present crisis it seemed impossible to save themselves except by
yielding to the Persians, since Hegelochus, who had been commissioned
by Alexander to collect another naval force, had not yet gathered so
large a fleet as to warrant them in expecting any speedy succour from
him. Accordingly Pharnabazus made the Tenedians comply with his demands
rather from fear than good-will.
Meantime Proteas, son of Andronicus, by command of Antipater,[207]
succeeded in collecting ships of war from Euboea and the Peloponnese,
so that there might be some protection both for the islands and for
Greece itself, if the foreigners attacked them by sea, as it was
reported they intended to do. Learning that Datames with ten ships was
moored near Siphnus,[208] Proteas set out by night with fifteen from
Chalcis on the Euripus,[209] and approaching the island of Cythnus[210]
at dawn, he spent the day there in order to get more certain
information of the movements of the ten ships, resolving at the same
time to fall upon the Phoenicians by night, when he would be likely
to strike them with greater terror. Having discovered with certainty
that Datames was moored with his ships at Siphnus, he sailed thither
while it was still dark, and just at the very dawn fell upon them when
they least expected it, and captured eight of the ships, men and all.
But Datames, with the other two triremes, escaped by stealth at the
beginning of the attack made by the ships with Proteas, and reached the
rest of the Persian fleet in safety.
CHAPTER III.
ALEXANDER AT GORDIUM.
When Alexander arrived at Gordium, he was seized with an ardent desire
to go up into the citadel, which contained the palace of Gordius and
his son Midas. He was also desirous of seeing the wagon of Gordius and
the cord which bound the yoke to the wagon. There was a great deal of
talk about this wagon among the neighbouring population. It was said
that Gordius was a poor man among the ancient Phrygians, who had a
small piece of land to till, and two yoke of oxen. He used one of these
in ploughing and the other to draw the wagon. On one occasion, while
he was ploughing, an eagle settled upon the yoke,[211] and remained
sitting there until the time came for unyoking the oxen. Being alarmed
at the sight, he went to the Telmissian soothsayers to consult them
about the sign from the deity; for the Telmissians were skilful in
interpreting the meaning of Divine manifestations, and the power of
divination has been bestowed not only upon the men, but also upon
their wives and children from generation to generation. When Gordius
was driving his wagon near a certain village of the Telmissians, he
met a maiden fetching water from the spring, and to her he related how
the sign of the eagle had appeared to him. As she herself was of the
prophetic race, she instructed him to return to the very spot and offer
sacrifice to Zeus the king. Gordius requested her to accompany him and
direct him how to perform the sacrifice. He offered the sacrifice in
the way the girl suggested, and afterwards married her. A son was born
to them named Midas, who, when he arrived at the age of maturity, was
both handsome and valiant. At this time the Phrygians were harassed by
civil discord, and consulting the oracle, they were told that a wagon
would bring them a king, who would put an end to their discord.[212]
While they were still deliberating about this very matter, Midas
arrived with his father and mother, and stopped near the assembly with
the very wagon in question. They, interpreting the oracular response to
refer to him, decided that this was the person whom the god told them
the wagon would bring. They therefore appointed Midas king; and he,
putting an end to their discord, dedicated his father’s wagon in the
citadel as a thank-offering to Zeus the king for sending the eagle. In
addition to this the following report was current concerning the wagon,
that whosoever could loosen the cord with which the yoke of the wagon
was tied, was destined to be the ruler of Asia. The cord was made of
cornel bark, and neither end nor beginning to it could be seen. It is
said by some that when Alexander could find out no way to loosen the
cord and yet was unwilling to allow it to remain unloosened, lest it
should exercise some disturbing influence upon the multitude, he struck
the cord with his sword and cut it through, saying that it had been
untied by him. But Aristobulus says that he pulled out the pin of the
wagon-pole, which was a wooden peg driven right through it, holding
the cord together. Having done this, he drew out the yoke from the
wagon-pole. How Alexander performed the feat in connection with this
cord, I cannot affirm with confidence. At any rate both he and his
troops departed from the wagon as if the oracular prediction concerning