The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
the west, here changes his direction eastward, he comes upon ground
covered with marshes and shoals. Thus, partly by his own will and
partly against his will, he disobeyed the god.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PREDICTIONS OF ALEXANDER’S DEATH.
Moreover Aristobulus has recorded the following story. Apollodorus
the Amphipolitan, one of Alexander’s Companions, was general of the
army which the king left with Mazaeus, the viceroy of Babylon.[927]
When he joined his forces with the king’s on the return of the
latter from India, and observed that he was severely punishing the
viceroys who had been placed over the several countries, he sent to
his brother Peithagoras and asked him to divine about his safety. For
Peithagoras was a diviner who derived his knowledge of the future from
the inspection of the inward parts of animals. This man sent back to
Apollodorus, inquiring of whom he was so especially afraid, as to
wish to consult divination. The latter wrote back: “The king himself
and Hephaestion.” Peithagoras therefore in the first place offered
sacrifice with reference to Hephaestion. But as there was no lobe
visible upon the liver of the sacrificial victim,[928] he stated this
fact in a letter, which he sealed and sent to his brother from Babylon
to Ecbatana, explaining that there was no reason at all to be afraid
of Hephaestion, for in a short time he would be out of their way. And
Aristobulus says that Apollodorus received this epistle only one day
before Hephaestion died. Then Peithagoras again offered sacrifice in
respect to Alexander, and the liver of the victim consulted in respect
to him was also destitute of a lobe. He therefore wrote to Apollodorus
to the same purport about Alexander as about Hephaestion. Apollodorus
did not conceal the information sent to him, but told Alexander, in
order the more to show his good-will to the king, if he urged him to
be on his guard lest some danger might befall him at that time. And
Aristobulus says that the king commended Apollodorus, and when he
entered Babylon, he asked Peithagoras what sign he had met with, to
induce him to write thus to his brother. He said that the liver of the
victim sacrificed for him was without a lobe. When Alexander asked what
the sign portended, he said that it was a very disastrous one. The
king was so far from being angry with him, that he even treated him
with greater respect, for telling him the truth without any disguise.
Aristobulus says that he himself heard this story from Peithagoras; and
adds that the same man acted as diviner for Perdiccas and afterwards
for Antigonus, and that the same sign occurred for both. It was
verified by fact; for Perdiccas lost his life leading an army against
Ptolemy,[929] and Antigonus was killed in the battle fought by him at
Ipsus against Seleucus and Lysimachus.[930] Also concerning Calanus,
the Indian philosopher, the following story has been recorded. When he
was going to the funeral pyre to die, he gave the parting salutation
to all his other companions; but he refused to approach Alexander to
give him the salutation, saying he would meet him at Babylon and there
salute him. At the time indeed this remark was treated with neglect;
but afterwards, when Alexander had died at Babylon, it came to the
recollection of those who had heard it, and they thought forsooth that
it was a divine intimation of Alexander’s approaching end.
CHAPTER XIX.
EMBASSIES FROM GREECE.—FLEET PREPARED FOR INVADING ARABIA.
As he was entering Babylon, he was met by embassies from the Greeks;
but for what purpose each embassy was sent has not been recorded.[931]
To me indeed it seems probable that most of them came to crown and
eulogize him on account of his victories, especially the Indian ones,
as well as to say that the Greeks rejoiced at his safe return from
India. It is said that he greeted these men with the right hand, and
after paying them suitable honour sent them back. He also gave the
ambassadors permission to take with them all the statues of men and
images of gods and the other votive offerings which Xerxes had carried
off from Greece to Babylon, Pasargadae, Susa, or any other place in
Asia. In this way it is said that the brazen statues of Harmodius and
Aristogeiton,[932] as well as the monument of the Celcaean Artemis,
were carried back to Athens.[933]
Aristobulus says that he found at Babylon the fleet with Nearchus,
which had sailed from the Persian Sea up the river Euphrates; and
another which had been conveyed from Phoenicia, consisting of two
Phoenician quinqueremes, three quadriremes, twelve triremes, and thirty
triacontors. These had been taken to pieces and conveyed to the river
Euphrates from Phoenicia to the city of Thapsacus. There they were
joined together again and sailed down to Babylon. The same writer
says that he cut down the cypresses in Babylonia and with them built
another fleet; for in the land of the Assyrians these trees alone are
abundant, but of the other things necessary for ship-building this
country affords no supply. A multitude of purple-fishers and other
sea-faring men came to him from Phoenicia and the rest of the seaboard
to serve as crews for the ships and perform the other services on
board. Near Babylon he made a harbour by excavation large enough to
afford anchorage to 1,000 ships of war; and adjoining the harbour
he made dockyards. Miccalus the Clazomenian[934] was despatched to
Phoenicia and Syria with 500 talents[935] to enlist some men and to
purchase others who were experienced in nautical affairs. For Alexander
designed to colonize the seaboard near the Persian Gulf, as well as
the islands in that sea. For he thought that this land would become no
less prosperous than Phoenicia. He made these preparations of the fleet
to attack the main body of the Arabs,[936] under the pretext that they
were the only barbarians of this region who had not sent an embassy to
him or done anything else becoming their position and showing respect
to him. But the truth was, as it seems to me, that Alexander was
insatiably ambitious of acquiring fresh territory.[937]
CHAPTER XX.
DESCRIPTION OF ARABIA.—VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS.
The common report is, that he heard that the Arabs venerated only
two gods, Uranus and Dionysus[938]; the former because he is visible
and contains in himself the heavenly luminaries, especially the sun,
from which emanates the greatest and most evident benefit to all
things human; and the latter on account of the fame he acquired by his
expedition into India. Therefore he thought himself quite worthy to be
considered by the Arabs as a third god, since he had performed deeds
by no means inferior to those of Dionysus. If then he could conquer
the Arabs, he intended to grant them the privilege of conducting their
government according to their own customs, as he had already done to
the Indians. The fertility of the land was a secret inducement to him
to invade it; because he heard that the people obtained cassia from the
lakes, and myrrh and frankincense from the trees; that cinnamon was
cut from the shrubs, and that the meadows produce spikenard without
any cultivation.[939] As to the size of the country, he was informed
that the seaboard of Arabia was not less in extent than that of India;
that near it lie many islands; that in all parts of the country there
were harbours sufficiently commodious to provide anchorage for his
fleet, and that it supplied sites for founding cities, which would
become flourishing. He was also informed that there were two islands
in the sea facing the mouth of the Euphrates, the first of which was
not far from the place where the waters of that river are discharged
into the sea, being about 120 stades[940] distant from the shore and
the river’s mouth. This is the smaller of the two, and was densely
covered with every kind of timber. In it was also a temple of Artemis,
around which the inhabitants themselves spent their lives. The island
was devoted to the use of wild goats and stags, which were allowed
to range at large as being dedicated to Artemis. It was unlawful to
chase them unless any one wished to offer sacrifice to the goddess;
and for this purpose alone it was lawful to chase them. Aristobulus
says that Alexander ordered this island to be called Icarus, after the
island so named in the Aegean Sea,[941] on which, as the report goes,
Icarus, son of Daedalus fell, when the wax, by which the wings had been
fastened to him, melted. For he did not fly near the earth, according
to his father’s injunctions, but senselessly flying far aloft, he
allowed the sun to soften and loosen the wax. Icarus left his name to
the island and the sea, the former being called Icarus and the latter
the Icarian. The other island was said to be distant from the mouth
of the Euphrates about a day and night’s voyage for a ship running
before the breeze. Its name was Tylus[942]; it was large and most of
it neither rugged nor woody, but suitable for producing cultivated
fruits and all things in due season. Some of this information was
imparted to Alexander by Archias, who was sent with a triacontor to
investigate the course of the coasting voyage to Arabia, and who went
as far as the island of Tylus, but durst not pass beyond that point.
Androsthenes[943] was despatched with another triacontor and sailed
to a part of the peninsula of Arabia. Hieron of Soli the pilot also
received a triacontor from Alexander and advanced farthest of those
whom he despatched to this region; for he had received instructions
to sail round the whole Arabian peninsula as far as the Arabian Gulf
near Egypt over against Heroöpolis.[944] Although he coasted along
the country of the Arabs to a great distance, he durst not go as far
as he was ordered; but returning to Alexander he reported that the
size of the peninsula was marvellous, being only a little smaller than
the country of the Indians, and its extremity projected far into the
Great Sea.[945] Nearchus indeed in his voyage from India had seen this
stretching out a little, before he turned aside into the Persian Gulf,
and he was almost induced to cross over to it. The pilot Onesicritus
thought they ought to have gone thither; but Nearchus says that he
himself prevented it, so that after sailing right round the Persian
Gulf he might be able to give a report to Alexander that he had
accomplished the voyage on which he had sent him. For Nearchus said he
had not been despatched to navigate the Great Sea, but to explore the
land bordering on the sea, to find out what men inhabit it, to discover
the harbours and rivers in it, to ascertain the customs of the people,
and to see if any of the country was fertile and if any was sterile.
This was the reason why Alexander’s naval expedition returned in
safety; for if it had sailed beyond the deserts of Arabia, it would not
have returned in safety. This is said also to have been the reason why
Hieron turned back.[946]
CHAPTER XXI.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EUPHRATES AND THE PALLACOPAS.
While the triremes were being built for him, and the harbour near
Babylon was being excavated, Alexander sailed from Babylon down the
Euphrates to what was called the river Pallacopas, which is distant
from Babylon about 800 stades.[947] This Pallacopas is not a river
rising from springs, but a canal cut from the Euphrates. For that river
flowing from the Armenian mountains,[948] proceeds within its banks in
the season of winter, because its water is scanty; but when the spring
begins to make its appearance, and especially just before the summer
solstice, it pours along with mighty stream and overflows its banks
into the Assyrian country.[949] For at that season the snow upon the
Armenian mountains melts and swells its water to a great degree; and