The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
the Indus, and advancing into the sea also this way, ascertained that
the outlet of the river on this side (_i.e._ the west) was easier to
navigate than the other. He moored his ships near the shore, and taking
with him some of the cavalry went along the sea-coast three days’
journey, exploring what kind of country it was for a coasting voyage,
and ordering wells to be dug, so that the sailors might have water to
drink. He then returned to the ships and sailed back to Patala; but he
sent a part of his army along the sea-coast to effect the same thing,
instructing them to return to Patala when they had dug the wells.
Sailing again down to the lake, he there constructed another harbour
and dockyard; and leaving a garrison for the place, he collected
sufficient food to supply the army for four months, as well as whatever
else he could procure for the coasting voyage.
CHAPTER XXI.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ORITIANS.
The season of the year was then unfit for voyaging; for the periodical
winds prevailed, which at that season do not blow there from the
north, as with us, but from the Great Sea, in the direction of the
south wind.[781] Moreover it was reported that there the sea was fit
for navigation after the beginning of winter, from the setting of
the Pleiades[782] until the winter solstice; for at that season mild
breezes usually blow from the land, drenched as it has been with
great rains; and these winds are convenient on a coasting voyage both
for oars and sails. Nearchus, who had been placed in command of the
fleet, waited for the coasting season; but Alexander, starting from
Patala, advanced with all his army as far as the river Arabius.[783]
He then took half of the shield-bearing guards and archers, the
infantry regiments called foot Companions, the guard of the Companion
cavalry, a squadron of each of the other cavalry regiments, and all
the horse-bowmen, and turned away thence on the left towards the sea
to dig wells, so that there might be abundance of them for the fleet
sailing along on the coasting voyage; and at the same time to make an
unexpected attack upon the Oritians,[784] a tribe of the Indians in
this region, which had long been independent. This he meditated doing
because they had performed no friendly act either to himself or his
army. He placed Hephaestion in command of the forces left behind. The
Arabitians,[785] another independent tribe dwelling near the river
Arabius, thinking that they could not cope with Alexander in battle,
and yet being unwilling to submit to him, fled into the desert when
they heard that he was approaching. But crossing the river Arabius,
which was both narrow and shallow, and travelling by night through
the greater part of the desert, he came near the inhabited country at
daybreak. Then ordering the infantry to follow him in regular line, he
took the cavalry with him, dividing it into squadrons, that it might
occupy a very large part of the plain, and thus marched into the land
of the Oritians. All those who turned to defend themselves were cut to
pieces by the cavalry, and many of the others were taken prisoners. He
then encamped near a small piece of water; but when Hephaestion formed
a junction with him, he advanced farther. Arriving at the largest
village of the tribe of the Oritians, which was called Rhambacia,[786]
he commended the place and thought that if he colonized a city there it
would become great and prosperous. He therefore left Hephaestion behind
to carry out this project.[787]
CHAPTER XXII.
MARCH THROUGH THE DESERT OF GADROSIA.
Again he took half of the shield-bearing guards and Agrianians, the
guard of cavalry and the horse-bowmen, and marched forward to the
confines of the Gadrosians and Oritians, where he was informed that
the passage was narrow, and the Oritians were drawn up with the
Gadrosians and were encamping in front of the pass, with the purpose
of barring Alexander’s passage. They had indeed marshalled themselves
there; but when it was reported that he was already approaching, most
of them fled from the pass, deserting their guard. The chiefs of the
Oritians, however, came to him, offering to surrender both themselves
and their nation. He instructed these to collect the multitude of their
people together and send them to their own abodes, since they were not
about to suffer any harm. Over these people he placed Apollophanes as
viceroy, and with him he left Leonnatus the confidential body-guard in
Ora,[788] at the head of all the Agrianians, some of the bowmen and
cavalry, and the rest of the Grecian mercenary infantry and cavalry. He
instructed him to wait until the fleet had sailed round the land, to
colonize the city, and to regulate the affairs of the Oritians so that
they might pay the greater respect to the viceroy. He himself, with the
main body of the army (for Hephaestion had arrived at the head of the
men who had been left behind), advanced into the land of the Gadrosians
by a route most of which was desert. Aristobulus says that in this
desert many myrrh-trees grew, larger than the ordinary kind; and that
the Phoenicians, who accompanied the army for trafficking, gathered the
gum of myrrh, and loading the beasts of burden, carried it away.[789]
For there was a great quantity of it, inasmuch as it exuded from large
stems and had never before been gathered. He also says that this desert
produces many odoriferous roots of nard,[790] which the Phoenicians
likewise gathered; but much of it was trampled down by the army, and a
sweet perfume was diffused far and wide over the land by the trampling;
so great was the abundance of it. In the desert there were also other
kinds of trees, one of which had foliage like that of the bay-tree,
and grew in places washed by the waves of the sea. These trees were on
ground which was left dry by the ebb-tide; but when the water advanced
they looked as if they had grown in the sea. Of others the roots were
always washed by the sea, because they grew in hollow places, from
which the water could not retire; and yet the trees were not destroyed
by the sea. Some of these trees in this region were even thirty cubits
high. At that season they happened to be in bloom; and the flower was
very much like the white violet,[791] but the perfume was far superior
to that of the latter. There was also another thorny stalk growing out
of the earth, the thorn on which was so strong that, piercing the
clothes of some men just riding past, it pulled the horseman down from
his horse rather than be itself torn off the stalk. It is also said
that when hares run past these bushes, the thorns cling to their fur;
and thus these animals are caught, as birds are with bird-lime, or
fish with hooks. However they were easily cut through with steel; and
when the thorns are cut the stalk gives forth much juice, still more
abundantly than fig-trees do in the springtime, and more pungent.[792]
CHAPTER XXIII.
MARCH THROUGH THE DESERT OF GADROSIA.
Thence Alexander marched through the land of the Gadrosians, by a
difficult route, which was also destitute of all the necessaries of
life; and in many places there was no water for the army. Moreover they
were compelled to march most of the way by night, and a great distance
from the sea. However he was very desirous of coming to the part of the
country along the sea, both to see what harbours were there, and to
make what preparations he could on his march for the fleet, either by
employing his men in digging wells, or by making arrangements somewhere
for a market and anchorage. But the part of the country of the
Gadrosians near the sea was entirely desert. He therefore sent Thoas,
son of Mandrodorus, with a few horsemen down to the sea, to reconnoitre
and see if there happened to be any haven anywhere near, or whether
there was water or any other of the necessaries of life not far from
the sea. This man returned and reported that he found some fishermen
upon the shore living in stifling huts, which were made by putting
together mussel-shells, and the back-bones of fishes were used to form
the roofs.[793] He also said that these fishermen used little water,
obtaining it with difficulty by scraping away the gravel, and that what
they got was not at all fresh. When Alexander reached a certain place
in Gadrosia, where corn was more abundant, he seized it and placed
it upon the beasts of burden; and marking it with his own seal, he
ordered it to be conveyed down to the sea. But while he was marching
to the halting stage nearest to the sea, the soldiers paying little
regard to the seal, the guards made use of the corn themselves, and
gave a share of it to those who were especially pinched with hunger.
To such a degree were they overcome by their misery that after mature
deliberation they resolved to take account of the visible and already
impending destruction rather than the danger of incurring the king’s
wrath, which was not before their eyes and still remote. When Alexander
ascertained the necessity which constrained them so to act, he pardoned
those who had done the deed. He himself hastened forward to collect
from the land all he could for victualling the army which was sailing
round with the fleet; and sent Cretheus the Callatian[794] to convey
the supplies to the coast. He also ordered the natives to grind as much
corn as they could and convey it down from the interior of the country,
together with dates[795] and sheep for sale to the soldiers. Moreover
he sent Telephus, one of the confidential Companions, down to another
place on the coast with a small quantity of ground corn.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MARCH THROUGH GADROSIA.
He then advanced towards the capital of the Gadrosians, which was
named Pura[796]; and he arrived there in sixty days after starting
from Ora. Most of the historians of Alexander’s reign assert that
all the hardships which his army suffered in Asia were not worthy of
comparison with the labours undergone here. Nearchus alone asserts that
Alexander pursued this route, not from ignorance of the difficulty
of the journey, but because he heard that no one had ever hitherto
passed that way with an army and emerged in safety from the desert,
except Semiramis, when she fled from India. The natives said that even
she emerged with only twenty men of her army; and that Cyrus, son of
Cambyses, escaped with only seven of his men.[797] For they say that
Cyrus also marched into this region for the purpose of invading India;
but that he did not effect his retreat before losing the greater part
of his army, from the desert and the other difficulties of this route.
When Alexander received this information he was seized with a desire of
excelling Cyrus and Semiramis. Nearchus says that he turned his march
this way, both for this reason and at the same time for the purpose of
conveying provisions near the fleet. The scorching heat and lack of
water destroyed a great part of the army, and especially the beasts of
burden; most of which perished from thirst and some of them even from
the depth and heat of the sand, because it had been thoroughly scorched
by the sun. For they met with lofty ridges of deep sand, not closely
pressed and hardened, but such as received those who stepped upon it
just as if they were stepping into mud, or rather into untrodden snow.
At the same time too the horses and mules suffered still more, both in
going up and coming down the hills, from the unevenness of the road as
well as from its instability. The length of the marches between the
stages also exceedingly distressed the army; for the lack of water
often compelled them to make the marches of unusual length.[798]
When they travelled by night on a journey which it was necessary to
complete, and at daybreak came to water, they suffered no hardship at