The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
ἀποπέμπεσθαι αὐτὸν νόμῳ Περσικῷ.
[557] πρόσκεινται. Cf. _Herodotus_, i. 118:—τοῖσι θεῶν τιμὴ αὕτη
προσκέεται.
[558] Alexander’s mother Olympias was daughter of Neoptolemus, king of
Epirus, who traced his descent from Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, the
grandson of Aeacus.
[559] οἱ λόγοι γίγνονται. There is another reading, ὀλίγοι γίγνωνται.
[560] Cf. _Herodotus_, i. 214, with Dean Blakesley’s note.
[561] _Curtius_ (viii. 20) says, that it was Polysperchon who made
sport of the Persian, and incurred the king’s wrath.
[562] _Ammianus_ (xviii. 3) says: “Ignorans profecto vetus Aristotelis
sapiens dictum, qui Callisthenem sectatorem et propinquum suum ad regem
Alexandrum mittens, ei saepe mandabat, ut quam rarissime et jucunde
apud hominem loqueretur, vitae potestatem et necis in acie linguae
portantem.”
[563] Cf. _Curtius_ (viii. 21); Aelian (_Varia Historia_, xiv. 49).
After the battle of Pydna, where the Romans conquered the Macedonians,
the _pueri regii_ followed the defeated king Perseus to the sanctuary
at Samothrace, and never quitted him till he surrendered to the Romans.
See _Livy_, xlv. 6.
[564] For this use of διαπίπτειν, cf. Aristophanes
(_Knights_, 695); _Polybius_ (v. 26, 16); διαπεσούσης αὐτῷ τῆς
ἐπιβουλῆς.
[565] Alexander wrote to Craterus, Attalus, and Alcetas, that the
pages, though put to the torture, asserted that no one but themselves
was privy to the conspiracy. In another letter, written to Antipater
the regent of Macedonia, he says that the pages had been stoned
to death by the Macedonians, but that he himself would punish the
Sophist, and those who sent him out, and those who harboured in their
cities conspirators against him. Aristotle had sent Callisthenes out.
Alexander refers to him and the Athenians. See Plutarch (_Alex._, 55).
[566] Cf. _Arrian_ (vii. 29).
[567] _Curtius_ (viii. 29) says that Alexander afterwards repented
of his guilt in murdering the philosopher. His tragical death
excited great indignation among the ancient philosophers. See Seneca
(_Naturales Quaestiones_, vi. 23); Cicero (_Tusc. Disput._, iii. 10),
speaking of Theophrastus, the friend of Callisthenes.
[568] We find from chapter xxii. that these events occurred at Bactra.
[569] The Chorasmians were a people who inhabited the country near the
lower part of the river Oxus, between the Caspian and Aral Seas.
[570] This mythical race of warlike females is said to have come from
the Caucasus and to have settled near the modern Trebizond, their
original abode being in Colchis. Cf. _Arrian_ (vii. 13); _Strabo_
(xi. 5); _Diod._ (xvii. 77); _Curt._ (vi. 19); _Justin_ (xii. 3);
Homer (_Iliad_, iii. 189); Aeschўlus (_Eumenides_, 655); _Herod._ (iv.
110-116; ix. 27).
[571] See iii. 29 supra.
[572] Propontis means the sea _before the Pontus_. Compare Ovid
(_Tristia_, i. 10, 31):—“Quaque tenent _Ponti_ Byzantia littora
_fauces_.”
[573] We learn, from _Curtius_ (viii. 3), that it was at this place
that Clitus was murdered.
[574] These were a people dwelling to the north-east of the Caspian,
who were chiefly remarkable for having defeated and killed Cyrus the
Great. See _Herodotus_, i. 201-216.
[575] There were two other generals named Peithon; one the son of
Agenor, and the other the son of Crateas. See _Arrian_, vi. 15, 28, etc.
[576] _Curtius_ (viii. 1) says that the name of the defeated general
was Attinas.
[577] Artabazus was in his 95th year when he joined Alexander with
the Grecian troops of Darius in B.C. 330. See _Curtius_, vi. 14. His
viceroyalty was destined for Clitus; but on the death of that general
it was conferred on Amyntas. See _Curtius_, viii. 3.
[578] _Curtius_ (viii. 11 and 12) says that the wife of Spitamenes
murdered him and carried his head to Alexander.
[579] The Hebrew name for Media is Madai, which means _middle-land_.
The Greeks called the country Media, according to _Polybius_ (v. 44),
because it lies near the middle of Asia.
[580] Of the year 327 B.C.
[581] ὤρα, akin to Latin _cura_, a poetical and Ionic word, often found
in Herodotus.
[582] About £2,700.
[583] About £327. _Curtius_ (vii. 41) says that the first prize was 10
talents, the second 9 talents, and the same proportion for the eight
others, so that the tenth man who mounted received one talent. The
stater of Darius, usually called a daricus, was a gold coin of Persia.
See Smith’s _Dictionary of Antiquities_.
[584] Cf. _Curtius_ (vii. 43), vela, signum capti verticis.
[585] Roxana and her son Alexander Aegus were put to death by
Cassander, B.C. 311.
[586] Statira. She died shortly before the battle of Arbela.
[587] καρτερὸς αὑτοῦ. Cf. _Theocritus_, xv. 94, ἁμῶν καρτερός.
[588] After the capture of Damascus, Alexander married Barsine,
the widow of his rival Memnon, and daughter of Artabazus. She was
distinguished for her beauty and accomplishments, having received a
Grecian education. By her he had a son named Heracles. See Plutarch
(_Alex._, 21). She and her son were put to death by Polysperchon, B.C.
309.
[589] Cf. _Herodotus_, i. 131; _Curtius_, iv. 42. The Persians called
this god Ormuzd.
[590] _Curtius_ (viii. 16) says that Alexander saw Roxana at a banquet
given by Oxyartes in his honour.
[591] Krüger substituted περιεῖργε for περιέργει.
[592] βατά. Cf. Xenophon (_Anab._, iv. 6, 17).
[593] Arrian imitates Herodotus in the use of ὡς with the
infinitive instead of ὥστε.
[594] This term is a Persian word meaning mountaineers. The tribe
mentioned here lived between the rivers Oxus and Jaxartes, on the
borders of Bactria and Sogdiana.
[595] _Curtius_ (viii. 17) says Alexander took with him 30,000 select
troops from all the conquered provinces, and that the army which he led
against the Indians numbered 120,000 men.
[596] This is the Indian Caucasus, or mount Parapamisus, now called
Hindu-Koosh.
[597] The Cophen is now called Cabul. Nicaea was probably on the
same site as the city of Cabul. Others say it is Beghram. The Greek
word _Satrapes_ denotes a Persian viceroy. It is a corruption of a
word meaning _court-guardian_, in the Behistûn Inscriptions written
Khshatrapâ. See Rawlinson’s _Herod._, i. 192.
[598] _Curtius_ (viii. 43) says that Taxiles was the title which the
king of this district received. His name was Omphis.
[599] A district between the rivers Indus and Attock. Its capital,
Peucela, is the modern Pekheli.
[600] The brigade of Clitus still bore the name of its commander after
his death. Cf. _Arrian_, vii. 14 infra.
[601] These were tribes living in the north-west of the Punjab.
[602] Probably the modern Kama, a tributary of the Cabul.
[603] Supposed to be another name for the Choes.
[604] καὶ τοὺς ψιλοὺς. The usual reading is τοὺς χιλίους, 1,000
_Agrianians_.
[605] A tributary of the Cophen, probably what is now called the
Lundye, running parallel with the Kama.
[606] Cf. _Livy_, xxi. 31:—“Amnis saxa glareosa volvens, nihil stabile
nec tutum ingredienti praebet.”
[607] This was the capital of the Assacenians. _Curtius_ (viii. 37)
calls it Mazagae, and describes its strong position.
[608] See Bk. ii. 23 supra.
[609] _Curtius_ (viii. 37, 38) says that the name of the queen was
Cleophis, and that after the surrender she gained Alexander’s favour.
He also informs us that the king died just before Alexander’s arrival.
[610] Probably Bajour, north-west of Peshawur. The position of Ora
cannot be fixed.
[611] This was the king of the Indian mountaineers. See _Arrian_, v. 8
infra.
[612] On the ground of ἐν τῇ πόλει ξυμφυγόντες not being classical
Greek, Krüger has substituted ἐν τῇ πόλει ξυμπεφευγότες, and Sintenis
εἰς τὴν πόλιν ξυμφυγόντες. No one however ought to expect Arrian to
be free from error, writing, as he did, in the middle of the second
century of the Christian era.
[613] This seems to be the Greek translation of the native name,
meaning the place to which no bird can rise on account of its height.
Cf. _Strabo_, xv. 1. This mountain was identified by Major Abbot, in
1854, as Mount Mahabunn, near the right bank of the Indus, about 60
miles above its confluence with the Cabul.
[614] Cf. _Arrian_, ii. 16 supra.
[615] _Curtius_ (viii. 39) says that the river Indus washed the base
of the rock, and that its shape resembled the _meta_ or goal in a
race-course, which was a stone shaped like a sugar-loaf. Arrian’s
description is more likely to be correct as he took it from Ptolemy,
one of Alexander’s generals.
[616] Near mount Mababunn are two places called Umb and Balimah, the
one in the valley of the river and the other on the mountain above it.
See Major Abbot’s _Gradus ad Aornon_.
[617] δαήμων, a poetical word. Cf. Homer (_Odyssey_, viii. 159).
[618] Probably Dyrta was at the point where the Indus issues from the
Hindu-Koosh.
[619] Gronovius first introduced καὶ before τοὺς ψιλούς.
[620] The name Indus is derived from the Sanscrit appellation _Sindhu_,
from a root _Syandh_, meaning _to flow_. The name Indians, or Sindians,
was originally applied only to the dwellers on the banks of this river.
_Hindustan_ is a Persian word meaning the country of the Hindus or
Sindus. Compare the modern Sinde, in the north-west of India, which
contains the lower course of the Indus. In Hebrew India was called
Hodu, which is a contraction of Hondu, another form of Hindu. See
Esther i. 1; viii. 9. Krüger changed ὡδοποιεῖτο
into ὡδοποίει.
[621] This city was probably on the site of Jelalabad.
[622] ἐπεί τε. This is the only place where Arrian
uses this Ionic form for the simple ἐπεί.
[623] The Indians worship a god Homa, the personification of the
intoxicating soma juice. This deity corresponds to the Greek Dionysus
or Bacchus.
[624] The slopes of this mountain were covered with vines. See Ovid
(_Fasti_, ii. 313; _Metamorphoses_, xi. 86); Vergil (_Georgics_, ii.
98); _Pliny_, xiv. 9.
[625] φανείη. Arrian does not comply with the Attic rule, that the
subjunctive should follow the principal tenses in the leading sentence.
Cf. v. 6, 6; 7, 5; vii. 7, 5; 15, 2.
[626] Cf. Pliny (_Nat. Hist._, vi. 23; viii. 60; xvi. 62). The ordinary
reading is ἄλση παντοῖα· καὶ δεῖν σύσκιον.
For this Krüger has proposed ἄλση παντοίᾳ ὕλῃ σύσκια.
[627] The other names of Dionysus were: Bacchus, Bromius, Evius,
Iacchus, Lenaeus, Lyaens. The Romans called him Liber.
[628] _Curtius_ (viii. 36) says that the Macedonians celebrated
Bacchanalia for the space of ten days on this mountain.
[629] The 1st aor. pass. ἐσχέθην is found only in
Arrian and Plutarch. Cf. vii. 22, 2 infra.
[630] The celebrated Geographer and Mathematician, who was born B.C.
276 and died about B.C. 196. His principal work was one on geography,
which was of great use to Strabo. None of his works are extant. He was
made president of the Alexandrian library, B.C. 236.
[631] Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, v. 11).
[632] The earliest mention of India which has descended to our times is
in Aeschўlus (_Supplices_, 284).
[633] Arrian frequently uses the Ionic and old Attic word, σμικρός.
[634] About £480,000.
[635] Alexander probably crossed the Indus near Attock. The exact site
of Taxila cannot be fixed.
[636] The Hydaspes is now called Jelum, one of the five great
tributaries of the Indus.
[637] Herodotus considered the Danube the largest river in the world
as known to him, and the Dnieper the largest of all rivers except the
Danube and the Nile. See _Herodotus_, iv. 48-53.
[638] “Amnis Danubius sexaginta navigabiles paene recipiens fluvios,
septem ostiis erumpit in mare. Quorum primum est Peuce insula supra
dicta, ut interpretata sunt vocabula Graeco sermone, secundum
Naracustoma, tertium Calonstoma, quartum Pseudostoma: nam Boreonstoma
ac deinde Sthenostoma longe minora sunt caeteris: septimum ingens et