The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
own free will. The Macedonian soldiers and the other Greeks who still
continued to share our labours and dangers, have either perished in
the battles, become unfit for war on account of their wounds, or been
left behind in the different parts of Asia. The majority, however, have
perished from disease, so that few are left out of many; and these few
are no longer equally vigorous in body, while in spirit they are much
more exhausted. All those whose parents still survive, feel a great
yearning to see them once more; they feel a yearning after their wives
and children, and a yearning for their native land itself; which it is
surely pardonable for them to yearn to see again with the honour and
dignity they have acquired from thee, returning as great men, whereas
they departed small, and as rich men instead of being poor. Do not
lead us now against our will; for thou wilt no longer find us the same
men in regard to dangers, since free-will will be wanting to us in
the contests. But, rather, if it seem good to thee, return to thy own
land, see thy mother, regulate the affairs of the Greeks, and carry to
the home of thy fathers these victories so many and great. Then start
afresh on another expedition, if thou wishest, against these very
tribes of Indians situated towards the east; or, if thou wishest, into
the Euxine Sea[721]; or else against Carchedon and the parts of Libya
beyond the Carchedonians.[722] It is now thy business to manage these
matters; and the other Macedonians and Greeks will follow thee, young
men in place of old, fresh men in place of exhausted ones, and men to
whom warfare has no terrors, because up to the present time they have
had no experience of it; and they will be eager to set out, from hope
of future reward. The probability also is, that they will accompany
thee with still more zeal on this account, when they see that those who
in the earlier expedition shared thy labours and dangers have returned
to their own abodes as rich men instead of being poor, and renowned
instead of being obscure as they were before. Self-control in the midst
of success is the noblest of all virtues, O king! For thou hast nothing
to fear from enemies, while thou art commanding and leading such an
army as this; but the visitations of the deity are unexpected, and
consequently men can take no precautions against them.”
CHAPTER XXVIII.
ALEXANDER RESOLVES TO RETURN.
When Coenus had concluded this speech, loud applause was given to his
words by those who were present; and the fact that many even shed
tears, made it still more evident that they were disinclined to incur
further hazards, and that return would be delightful to them. Alexander
then broke up the conference, being annoyed at the freedom of speech
in which Coenus indulged, and the hesitation displayed by the other
officers. But the next day he called the same men together again in
wrath, and told them that he intended to advance farther, but would
not force any Macedonian to accompany him against his will; that he
would have those only who followed their king of their own accord; and
that those who wished to return home were at liberty to return and
carry back word to their relations that they were come back, having
deserted their king in the midst of his enemies. Having said this, he
retired into his tent, and did not admit any of the Companions on that
day, or until the third day from that, waiting to see if any change
would occur in the minds of the Macedonians and Grecian allies, as is
wont to happen, as a general rule among a crowd of soldiers, rendering
them more disposed to obey. But on the contrary, when there was a
profound silence throughout the camp, and the soldiers were evidently
annoyed at his wrath, without being at all changed by it, Ptolemy, son
of Lagus, says that he none the less offered sacrifice there for the
passage of the river, but the victims were unfavourable to him when he
sacrificed. Then indeed he collected the oldest of the Companions and
especially those who were friendly to him, and as all things indicated
the advisability of returning, he made known to the army that he had
resolved to march back again.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ALEXANDER RECROSSES THE HYDRAOTES AND ACESINES.
Then they shouted as a mixed multitude would shout when rejoicing;
and most of them shed tears of joy. Some of them even approached the
royal tent, and prayed for many blessings upon Alexander; because by
them alone he suffered himself to be conquered. Then he divided the
army into brigades, and ordered twelve altars to be prepared, equal in
height to very large towers, and in breadth much larger than towers,
to serve as thank-offerings to the gods who had led him so far as a
conqueror, and also to serve as monuments of his own labours.[723] When
the altars were completed, he offered sacrifice upon them according to
his custom, and celebrated a gymnastic and equestrian contest. After
adding the country as far as the river Hyphasis to the dominion of
Porus, he marched back to the Hydraotes. Having crossed this river, he
continued his return march to the Acesines, where he found the city
which Hephaestion had been ordered to fortify, quite built. In this
city he settled as many of the neighbouring people as volunteered
to live in it, as well as those of the Grecian mercenaries who were
now unfit for military service; and then began to make the necessary
preparations for a voyage down the river into the Great Sea. At this
time Arsaces, the ruler of the land bordering on that of Abisares, and
the brother of the latter, with his other relations, came to Alexander,
bringing the gifts which are reckoned most valuable among the Indians,
including some elephants from Abisares, thirty in number. They declared
that Abisares himself was unable to come on account of illness; and
with these men the ambassadors sent by Alexander to Abisares agreed.
Readily believing that such was the case, he granted that prince the
privilege of ruling his own country as his viceroy, and placed Arsaces
also under his power. After arranging what tribute they were to pay, he
again offered sacrifice near the river Acesines. He then crossed that
river again, and came to the Hydaspes, where he employed the army in
repairing the damage caused to the cities of Nicaea and Bucephala by
the rain, and put the other affairs of the country in order.
BOOK VI.
CHAPTER I.
PREPARATIONS FOR A VOYAGE DOWN THE INDUS.
Alexander now resolved to sail down the Hydaspes to the Great Sea,
after he had prepared on the banks of that river many thirty-oared
galleys and others with one and a half bank of oars, as well as a
number of vessels for conveying horses, and all the other things
requisite for the easy conveyance of an army on a river. At first
he thought he had discovered the origin of the Nile, when he saw
crocodiles in the river Indus, which he had seen in no other river
except the Nile,[724] as well as beans growing near the banks of
the Acesines of the same kind as those which the Egyptian land
produces.[725] This conjecture was confirmed when he heard that the
Acesines falls into the Indus. He thought the Nile rises somewhere or
other in India, and after flowing through an extensive tract of desert
country loses the name of Indus there; but afterwards when it begins to
flow again through the inhabited land, it is called Nile both by the
Aethiopians of that district and by the Egyptians, and finally empties
itself into the Inner Sea.[726] In like manner Homer made the river
Egypt give its name to the country of Egypt.[727] Accordingly when he
wrote to Olympias about the country of India, after mentioning other
things, he said that he thought he had discovered the sources of the
Nile, forming his conclusions about things so great from such small and
trivial premisses. However, when he had made a more careful inquiry
into the facts relating to the river Indus, he learned the following
details from the natives:—That the Hydaspes unites its water with
the Acesines, as the latter does with the Indus, and that they both
yield up their names to the Indus; that the last-named river has two
mouths, through which it discharges itself into the Great Sea; but that
it has no connection with the Egyptian country. He then removed from
the letter to his mother the part he had written about the Nile.[728]
Planning a voyage down the rivers as far as the Great Sea, he ordered
ships for this purpose to be prepared for him. The crews of his ships
were fully supplied from the Phoenicians, Cyprians, Carians, and
Egyptians who accompanied the army.
CHAPTER II.
VOYAGE DOWN THE HYDASPES.
At this time Coenus, who was one of Alexander’s most faithful
Companions, fell ill and died, and the king buried him with as much
magnificence as circumstances allowed. Then collecting the Companions
and the Indian envoys who had come to him, he appointed Porus king of
the part of India which had already been conquered, seven nations
in all, containing more than 2,000 cities. After this he made the
following distribution of his army.[729] With himself he placed on
board the ships all the shield-bearing guards, the archers, the
Agrianians, and the body-guard of cavalry.[730] Craterus led a part
of the infantry and cavalry along the right bank of the Hydaspes,
while along the other bank Hephaestion advanced at the head of the
most numerous and efficient part of the army, including the elephants,
which now numbered about 200. These generals were ordered to march
as quickly as possible to the place where the palace of Sopeithes
was situated,[731] and Philip, the viceroy of the country beyond the
Indus[732] extending to Bactria, was ordered to follow them with his
forces after an interval of three days. He sent the Nysaean cavalry
back to Nysa.[733] The whole of the naval force was under the command
of Nearchus; but the pilot of Alexander’s ship was Onesicritus,
who, in the narrative which he composed of Alexander’s campaigns,
falsely asserted that he was admiral, while in reality he was only
a pilot.[734] According to Ptolemy, son of Lagus, whose statements
I chiefly follow, the entire number of the ships was about eighty
thirty-oared galleys; but the whole number of vessels, including the
horse transports and boats, and all the other river craft, both those
previously plying on the rivers and those built at that time, fell not
far short of 2,000.[735]
CHAPTER III.
VOYAGE DOWN THE HYDASPES (_continued_).
When he had made all the necessary preparations the army began to
embark at the approach of the dawn; while according to custom he
offered sacrifice to the gods and to the river Hydaspes, as the
prophets directed.[736] When he had embarked he poured a libation into
the river from the prow of the ship out of a golden goblet, invoking
the Acesines as well as the Hydaspes, because he had ascertained that
it is the largest of all the rivers which unite with the Hydaspes, and
that their confluence was not far off. He also invoked the Indus, into
which the Acesines flows after its junction with the Hydaspes. Moreover
he poured out libations to his forefather Heracles, to Ammon,[737]
and the other gods to whom he was in the habit of sacrificing, and
then he ordered the signal for starting seawards to be given with the
trumpet. As soon as the signal was given they commenced the voyage in
regular order; for directions had been given at what distance apart
it was necessary for the baggage vessels to be arranged, as also for
the vessels conveying the horses and for the ships of war; so that
they might not fall foul of each other by sailing down the channel at
random. He did not allow even the fast-sailing ships to get out of rank