The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great

palustri specie nigrum.”—_Ammianus_ (xxii. 8, 44). _Pliny_ (iv. 24) says that the Danube has six mouths, the names of which he gives. [639] The Indus does not rise in the Parapamisus, but in the Himalayas. It has two principal mouths, but there are a number of smaller ones. Ptolemy said there were seven. The Delta is between 70 and 80 miles broad. “Delta, a triquetrae litterae forma hoc vocabulo signatius adpellata.”—_Ammianus_, xxii. 15. [640] The territory included by the Indus and its four affluents is now called Punjab, a Persian word meaning _five rivers_. [641] Ctesias was the Greek physician of Artaxerxes Mnemon. He wrote a history of Persia and a book on India. His works are only preserved in meagre abridgement by Photius. Aristotle says that he was false and untrustworthy (_Hist. of Animals_, viii. 27; _De Generatione Animalium_, ii. 2). Subsequent research has proved Ctesias to be wrong and Herodotus generally right in the many statements in which they are at variance. [642] The fact is, that the Indus is nowhere more than 20 stades, or 2-1/2 miles broad. [643] See _Strabo_, xv. 1; xvi. 4; _Herod._, iii. 102, with Dean Blakesley’s note. [644] οὐδαμῶν is the Ionic form for οὐδένων. [645] The Greek name Αἴθιοψ means _sunburnt_. The Hebrew name for Aethiopia is Cush (black). In ancient Egyptian inscriptions it is called _Keesh_. It is the country now called Abyssinia. Aethiopas vicini sideris vapore torreri, adustisque similes gigni, barba et capillo vibrato, non est dubium. (_Pliny_, ii. 80). [646] Cf. Xenophon (_Cyropaedia_, vii. 5, 67). [647] Called the _Indica_, a valuable little work in the Ionic dialect, still existing. [648] Nearchus left an account of his voyage, which is not now extant. Arrian made use of it in writing the _Indica_. See that work, chapters xvii. to lxiii. [649] Megasthenes was sent with the Plataean Dēimachus, by Seleucus Nicator, the king of Syria and one of Alexander’s generals, as ambassador to Sandracotus, king of the country near the Ganges. He wrote a very valuable account of India in four books. [650] _Taurus_ is from the old root tor meaning _high_, another form of which is _dor_. Hence Dorians = highlanders. [651] The ancient geographers thought that the Jaxartes bifurcated, part of it forming the Tanais, or Don, and flowing into the lake Maeotis, or Sea of Azov; and the other part falling into the Hyrcanian, or Caspian Sea. The Jaxartes and Oxus flow into the Sea of Aral, but the ancients thought that they fell into the Caspian, as there is indeed evidence to prove that they once did. _Hyrcania_ is the Greek form of the old Persian _Virkâna_, that is _Wolf’s Land_. It is now called Gurgân. [652] _Herodotus_ (i. 203) states decidedly that the Caspian is an inland sea. _Strabo_ (xi. 1), following Eratosthenes, says that it is a gulf of the Northern Ocean. [653] The Euphrates, after its junction with the Tigres, flows through the marshes of Lamlum, where its current moves less than a mile an hour. [654] Cf. _Arrian_, vi. 27 infra. [655] Probably the Chandragupta of the Sanscrit writers. He conquered from the Macedonians the Punjab and the country as far as the Hindu-Koosh. He reigned about 310 B.C. [656] Mount Dindymus, now called Murad Dagh, was sacred to Cybele, the mother of the gods, who was hence called Dindymene. [657] Hecataeus of Miletus died about B.C. 476. He wrote a work upon Geography, and another on History. His works were well known to Herodotus but only fragments survive. [658] See _Herodotus_, ii. 5. [659] See _Herodotus_, ii. 10-34. [660] See Homer’s _Odyssey_, iv. 477, 581. In Hebrew the name for Egypt is _Mitsraim_ (dark-red). In form the word is dual, evidently in reference to the division of the country by the Nile. The native name was _Chem_, meaning _black_, probably on account of the blackness of the alluvial soil. [661] ἄλλοι is Abicht’s reading instead of πολλοί. [662] Arrian, in his _Indica_, chap. 4, gives the names of these rivers. [663] See _Herodotus_, vii. 33-36; iv. 83, 97, 133-141. _Bosporus_ = Oxford. The name was applied to the Straits of Constantinople, and also to those of Yenikale, the former being called the Thracian and the latter the Cimmerian Bosporus. Cf. Aeschўlus (_Prom._, 734). Ad Bosporos duos, vel bubus meabili transitu; unde nomen ambobus (_Pliny_, vi. 1). [664] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 86) says that Alexander crossed on a bridge of boats. Cf. _Strabo_, p. 698; _Curtius_, viii. 34. [665] There was another river called Rhenus, a tributary of the Po, now called the Reno. It was called Rhenus Bononiensis, being near Bononia or Bologna. [666] αἱ πρύμναν κρουόμεναι. For this nautical term compare _Thucydides_, i. 51; _Herodotus_, viii. 84; _Diodorus_, xi. 18; Aristophanes, _Wasps_, 399. κατὰ ῥοῦν is Krüger’s reading for the usual κατὰ πόρον. [667] The explanation of this passage given in Liddell and Scott’s _Lexicon_, sub voce κλῖμαξ, is evidently incorrect, as there is nothing about a chariot in the original. [668] Compare the description of Cæsar’s bridge over the Rhine (_Gallic War_, iv. 17). [669] The place where Alexander crossed the Indus was probably at its junction with the Cophen or Cabul river, near Attock. Before he crossed he gave his army a rest of thirty days, as we learn from _Diodorus_, xvii. 86. From the same passage we learn that a certain king named Aphrices with an army of 20,000 men and 15 elephants, was killed by his own men and his army joined Alexander. [670] The kingdom of Porus lay between the Hydaspes and Acesines, the district now called Bari-doab with Lahore as capital. It was conquered by Lords Hardinge and Gough in 1849. [671] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 87) says that Porus had more than 50,000 infantry, about 3,000 cavalry, more than 1,000 chariots, and 130 elephants. _Curtius_ (viii. 44) says he had about 30,000 infantry, 300 chariots, and 85 elephants. [672] ἐπιτρέψας is Krüger’s reading instead of ἐπιτάξας. [673] About the month of May. See chap. 12 infra; also _Curtius_, viii. 45, 46. _Strabo_ (xv. 1) quotes from Aristobulus describing the rainy season at the time of Alexander’s battle with Porus at the Hydaspes. [674] Cf. _Arrian_, i. 14 supra. [675] ἀλλὰ κενόν is Krüger’s reading, instead of ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνον. [676] ἄλσει is Abicht’s reading for εἴδει. [677] About 17 miles. [678] This use of πρίν with infinitive after negative clauses, is contrary to Attic usage. [679] The perf. pass. πέπηγμαι is used by Arrian and Dionysius, but by Homer and the Attic writers the form used is πέπηγα. _Doric_, πέπαγα. [680] Seleucus Nicator, the most powerful of Alexander’s successors, became king of Syria and founder of the dynasty of the Seleucidae, which came to an end in B.C. 79. [681] For this use of ὅσον, cf. Homer (_Iliad_, ix. 354); _Herodotus_, iv. 45; Plato (_Gorgias_, 485 A; _Euthydemus_, 273 A). [682] Compare the passage of the Rhone by Hannibal. (See _Livy_, xxi. 26-28; _Polybius_, iii. 45, 46.) [683] 100 Greek and 101 English feet. [684] See Donaldson’s _New Cratylus_, sec. 178. [685] πρὶν κατίδωσιν. In Attic, πρὶν ἄν is the regular form with the subjunctive; but in Homer and the Tragic writers ἄν is often omitted. [686] Cf. Arrian’s _Tactics_, chap. 29. [687] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 89) says that more than 12,000 Indians were killed in this battle, over 9,000 being captured, besides 80 elephants. [688] According to Diodorus there fell of the Macedonians 280 cavalry and more than 700 infantry. Plutarch (_Alex._ 60) says that the battle lasted eight hours. [689] _Curtius_ (viii. 50, 51) represents Porus sinking half dead, and being protected to the last by his faithful elephant. _Diodorus_ (xvii. 88) agrees with him. [690] Cf. _Curtius_, viii. 44; _Justin_, xii. 8. [691] Cf. _Arrian_, ii. 10 supra. δεδουλωμένος τῇ γνώμῃ. The Scholiast on _Thucydides_ iv. 34, explains this by τεταπεινωμένος φόβῳ. [692] Cf. Plutarch (_Alex._, 60); _Curtius_, viii. 51. [693] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 87) says that the battle was fought in the archonship of Chremes at Athens. [694] Nicaea is supposed to be Mong and Bucephala may be Jelalpur. See _Strabo_, xv. 1. [695] Cf. Plutarch (_Alex._, 61). Schmieder says that Alexander could not have broken in the horse before he was sixteen years old. But since at this time he was in his twenty-ninth year he would have had him thirteen years. Consequently the horse must have been at least seventeen years old when he acquired him. Can any one believe this? Yet Plutarch also states that the horse was thirty years old at his death. [696] _Curtius_ (vi. 17) says this occurred in the land of the Mardians; whereas Plutarch (_Alex._, 44) says it happened in Hyrcania. [697] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 89), says Alexander made a halt of 30 days after this battle. [698] Cf. _Arrian_, v. 8 supra, where an earlier embassy from Abisares is mentioned. [699] _Strabo_ (xv. 1) says that this Porus was a cousin of the Porus captured by Alexander. [700] This is the Chenab. See Arrian (_Indica_, iii.), who says that where it joins the Indus it is 30 stades broad. [701] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 95) says that Alexander received a reinforcement from Greece at this river of more than 30,000 infantry and nearly 6,000 cavalry; also suits of armour for 25,000 infantry, and 100 talents of medical drugs. [702] Μέλλειν is usually connected with the future infinitive; but Arrian frequently uses it with the present. [703] Now called the Ravi. [704] Sangala is supposed to be Lahore; but probably it lay some distance from that city, on the bank of the Chenab. [705] Compare Cæsar (_Bell. Gall._, i. 26): pro vallo carros objecerant et e loco superiore in nostros venientes tela conjiciebant, et nonnulli inter carros rotasque mataras ac tragulas subjiciebant nostrosque vulnerabant. [706] ἐγκυρεῖν is an epic and Ionic word rarely used in Attic; but found frequently in _Herodotus_, _Homer_, _Hesiod_, and _Pindar_. [707] The Greeks had only three watches; but Arrian is speaking as a Roman. [708] Eumenes, of Cardia in Thrace, was private secretary to Philip and Alexander. After the death of the latter, he obtained the rule of Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus. He displayed great ability both as a general and statesman; but was put to death by Antigonus in B.C. 316, when he was 45 years of age. Being a Greek, he was disliked by the Macedonian generals, from whom he experienced very unjust treatment. It is evident from the biographies of him written by Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos, that he was one of the most eminent men of his era. [709] Now called the Beas, or Bibasa. Strabo calls it Hypanis, and Pliny calls it Hypasis. [710] In the Hebrew Bible Javan denotes the Ionian race of Greeks, and then the Greeks in general (Gen. x. 2, 4; Isa. lxvi. 19; Ezek. xxvii. 13; Joel iii. 6; Zech. ix. 13). In Dan. viii. 21, x. 20, xi. 2, Javan stands for the kingdom of Alexander the Great, comprising Macedonia as well as Greece. The form of the name _Javan_ is closely connected with the Greek _Ion_, which originally had a digamma, _Ivon_. Pott says that it means _the young_, in opposition to the _Graikoi_, the old. According to Aristotle (_Meteorologica_, i. 14) the Hellenes were originally called Graikoi. Cf. Sanscrit, _jewan_; Zend, _jawan_; Latin, _juvenis_; English, _young_. [711] Coele-Syria, or the Hollow Syria, was the country between the ranges of Libanus and Antilibanus. Syria between the rivers is usually called by its Greek name of Mesopotamia. It is the Padan Aram of the Bible. Cappadocia embraced the whole north-eastern part of the peninsula of Asia Minor. Slaves were procured from this region. See Horace (_Epistles_, i. 6, 39); _Persius_, vi. 77. The name _Pamphylia_