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

Arrian

substitutes ξυμμέτρους for ξύμμετρος οὖσα. [799] Cf. _Thucydides_, ii. 49, 3. [800] Cf. Xenophon (_Anab._ vii. 5, 13); Homer (_Odyss._ vii. 283). [801] _Curtius_ (vii. 20) mentions a similar act of magnanimity as having occurred on the march in pursuit of Bessus through the desert to the river Oxus. Plutarch (_Alex._ 42) says it was when Alexander was pursuing Darius; Frontinus (_Strategematica_, i. 7, 7) says it was in the desert of Africa; _Polyaenus_ (iv. 3, 25) relates the anecdote without specifying where the event occurred. μετεξέτεροι is an Ionic form very frequently used by Herodotus. [802] Compare note on page 146. [803] This man had been placed over the Oritians. See page 351 supra. [804] _Curtius_ (ix. 41) says that Craterus sent a messenger to the king, to say that he was holding in chains two Persian nobles, Ozines and Zeriaspes, who had been trying to effect a revolt. [805] The Areians were famed for their skill as professional mourners. See Aeschўlus (_Choëphorae_, 423). For the origin of the name see Donaldson (_New Cratylus_, sect. 81.) [806] ἐξηλέγχθη is substituted by Sintenis for the common reading ἐξηγγέλθη. [807] According to _Curtius_ (x. 1), Cleander and his colleagues were not slain, but put into prison; whereas 600 of the soldiers who had been the agents of their cruelty were put to death. Curtius says Cleander was spared for having killed Parmenio with his own hand. Cf. iii. 26 supra. [808] The _thriambus_ was a hymn to Bacchus, sung in festal processions in his honour. It was also used as a name of that deity, as we learn from _Diodorus_, iv. 5. It was afterwards used as synonymous with the Roman _triumphus_, by Polybius, Dionysius, and Plutarch. [809] The Bacchanalian procession through Carmania is described by _Curtius_ (ix. 42); Plutarch (_Alex._ 67); and _Diodorus_ (xvii. 106). [810] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 106) says that the port into which Nearchus put was called Salmus. [811] ἐκπεριπλεύσοντα. The Attic future of πλέω is πλεύσομαι. πλέυσω is only found in Polybius and the later writers. [812] See Arrian (_Indica_, 18-43). [813] The name for Persia and the Persians in the Hebrew Bible, is Paras. Cyrus is called Koresh (the sun) in Hebrew; in the cuneiform inscriptions the name is Khurush. Cambyses is called Ahasuerus in Ezra iv. 6; and Smerdis the Magian is the Artaxerxes who was induced by the Samaritans to forbid the further building of the temple (Ezra iv. 7-24). The Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther is probably Xerxes. Artaxerxes the Long-handed was the patron of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra vii. 11-28; Neh. ii. 1-9, etc). “Darius the Persian,” mentioned in Neh. xii. 22, was probably Darius Codomannus, who was conquered by Alexander. The province of Susiana, previously called Elymais, appears in the Hebrew under the name of Eilam or Elam. Persis is still called Fars. [814] B.C. 325. [815] Aria. See chap. 27 supra. [816] _Curtius_ (x. 4) says Orxines was descended from Cyrus. [817] See iii. 25 supra. [818] Cf. _Strabo_, xv. 3, where a description of this tomb is given, derived from Onesicritus, the pilot of Alexander. See Dean Blakesley’s note on _Herodotus_ i. 214. [819] Just a few lines above, Arrian says that the couch was by the side of the coffin. [820] Cf. _Ammianus_, xxiii. 6, 32, 33. The Magi were the priests of the religion of Zoroaster, which was professed by the Medes and Persians. Their Bible was the Avesta, originally consisting of twenty-one books, only one of which, the twentieth (Vendidad), is still extant. [821] See iii. 18 supra. [822] According to _Curtius_ (x. 4, 5) Orxines was not only innocent, but was very devoted and attached to Alexander. The favourite eunuch, Bagoas, poisoned the king’s mind against him, and suborned other accusers against him. He was condemned unheard. [823] Purpura et nitor corporis, ornatusque Persicus multo auro multisque gemmis.—Cicero (_de Senectute_, 17). [824] Pasargadae was the ancient capital of Cyrus, but Persepolis was that of the later kings of Persia. The tomb of Cyrus has been discovered at Murghab; consequently Parsagadae was on the banks of the river Cyrus, N.E. of Persepolis. The latter city was at the junction of the Araxes and Medus. Its extensive ruins are called Chel-Minar, “the forty columns.” [825] The Tigris rises in Armenia, and joins the Euphrates ninety miles from the sea, the united stream being then called Shat-el-Arab. In ancient times the two rivers had distinct outlets. In the Hebrew the Tigris is called Chiddekel, _i.e._ _arrow_. The Greek name Tigres is derived from the Zend _Tighra_, which comes from the Sanscrit _Tig_, to sharpen. Its present name is Dijleh. The respective lengths of the Euphrates and Tigris are 1,780 and 1,146 miles. [826] Among these were _Curtius_ (x. 3); _Diodorus_ (xviii. 4); and Plutarch (_Alex._, 68). [827] Gadeira or Gades was a Phoenician colony. The name is from the Hebrew גָּדֵר, _a fence_. Cf. _Pliny_ (iv. 36); appellant Poeni _Gadir_ ita Punica lingua _septum_ significante. Also Avienus (_Ora Maritima_, 268): Punicorum lingua conseptum locum _Gaddir_ vocabat. According to _Pliny_ (v. 1), Suetonius Paulinus was the first Roman general who crossed the Atlas Mountains. [828] See note 714, page 309. [829] Now called Capo di Leuca, the south-eastern point of Italy. [830] Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, 11). [831] Cf. Alciphron (_Epistolae_, i. 30, 1), with Bergler and Wagner’s notes. [832] This must have occurred B.C. 336. See Plutarch (_Alex._ 14); Cicero (_Tusculanae Disputationes_, v. 32). Alexander said: “If I were not Alexander, I should like to be Diogenes.” Cf. _Arrian_, i. 1; Plutarch (_de Fortit. Alex._, p. 331). [833] Cf. _Strabo_, xv. 1. [834] Strabo calls this sage Mandanis. [835] Strabo says, Alexander’s messengers summoned Mandanis to the son of Zeus. [836] Plutarch (_Alex._, 65) says this philosopher’s name was Sphines; but the Greeks called him Calanus, because when he met them, instead of using the word χαῖρε greeting them, he said καλέ. The same author says that he was persuaded to come to Alexander by Taxiles. See also _Strabo_ (xv. 1). [837] _Strabo_ (xv. 1) says that the voluntary death of Calanus occurred at Pasargadae; Aelian (_Varia Historia_, v. 6) says it was at Babylon; but _Diodorus_ (xvii. 107) says it happened at Susa, which statement is confirmed by the fact of Nearchus being seemingly present. [838] Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, 10). [839] Cf. _Arrian_, vii. 13 infra; and _Herodotus_, vii. 40. [840] Cf. Cicero (_Tusc. Disput._ v. 27). [841] Media. See vi. 29 supra. [842] Oxathres was killed by Alexander himself with a sarissa, or long Macedonian pike. See Plutarch (_Alex._ 68), who calls him Oxyartes. [843] For this use of φθείρομαι, cf. Aristophanes (_Plutus_, 610); _Alciphron_, i. 13, 3; with Bergler’s note. [844] Cf. _Curtius_, x. 5. [845] She was also called Statira. See _Diodorus_, xvii. 107; Plutarch (_Alex._, 70). She is called Arsinoe by Photius. [846] “By these two marriages, Alexander thus engrafted himself upon the two lines of antecedent Persian kings. Ochus was of the Achaemenid family, but Darius Codomannus, father of Statira, was not of that family; he began a new lineage. About the overweening regal state of Alexander, outdoing even the previous Persian kings, see _Pylarchus apud Athenaeum_, xii. p. 539.”—_Grote._ [847] See p. 242. [848] Cf. Aelian (_Varia Historia_, viii. 7). A copious account of this celebrated marriage feast is given in _Athenæus_, xii. p. 538. [849] Cf. _Curtius_, x. 8. [850] About £4,600,000. _Justin_, xii. 11, agrees with Arrian; but _Diodorus_ (xvii. 109); Plutarch (_Alex._, 70); _Curtius_ (x. 8) say 10,000 talents. [851] Cf. _Curtius_ (ix. 41); _Arrian_ (vi. 22) supra. [852] The Epigoni, or Afterborn, were the sons of the seven chiefs who fell in the first war against Thebes. See Herodotus, Pindar, Sophocles, etc. [853] For this _mesanculon_ see Gellius (_Noctes Atticae_, x. 25); _Polybius_, xxiii., 1, 9; Euripides (_Phoenissae_, 1141; _Andromache_, 1133); _Alciphron_, iii. 36. [854] It was at this time that Harpalus, viceroy of Babylon, having squandered a great deal of the treasure committed to his charge, became frightened at the return of Alexander, and fled to Greece with 50,000 talents and 6,000 mercenary troops. See _Diodorus_, xvii. 108. [855] The Eulaeus is now called Kara Su. After joining the Coprates it was called Pasitigris. It formerly discharged itself into the Persian Gulf, but now into the Shat-el-Arab, as the united stream of the Euphrates and Tigris is now called. In Dan. viii. 2, 16, it is called Ulai. Cf. _Pliny_, vi. 26, 31; xxxi. 21. [856] The Greeks and Romans sometimes speak of Mesopotamia as a part of Syria, and at other times they call it a part of Assyria. The Hebrew and native name of this country was Aram Naharaim, or “Syria of the two rivers.” [857] The Tigris now falls into the Euphrates. [858] Cf. _Arrian_, iii. 7, supra; _Curtius_, iv. 37. [859] Cf. _Strabo_, xvi. 1; _Herodotus_, i. 193; _Ammianus_, xxiv. 3, 14. [860] Probably this city stood at the junction of the Tigris with the Physcus, or Odorneh. See Xenophon (_Anab._ ii. 4, 25); _Herodotus_, i. 189; _Strabo_, (xvi. 1) says that Alexander made the Tigris navigable up to Opis. [861] Cf. _Justin_ (xii. 11); _Diodorus_ (xvii. 109); _Curtius_ (x. 10, 11). These authors put the punishment of the ringleaders after the speech instead of before. [862] Thracians mean _mountaineers_; Hellenes, _warriors_; Dorians, _highlanders_; Ionians, _coast-men_; and Aeolians, _mixed men_. See Donaldson (_New Cratylus_, sect. 92). [863] The gold and silver mines at Mount Pangaeon near Philippi brought Philip a yearly revenue of more than 1,000 talents (_Diodorus_, xvi. 8). _Herodotus_ (v. 17) says that the silver mines at Mount Dysorum brought a talent every day to Alexander, father of Amyntas. [864] This is a Demosthenic expression. See _De Falsa Legatione_, 92; and _I. Philippic_, 45. [865] B.C. 346. [866] He here refers to his own part in the victory of Chaeronea, B.C. 336. See _Diodorus_, xvi. 86; Plutarch (_Alex._ 9). [867] This fact is attested by Demosthenes (_De Haloneso_, 12). [868] The Thebans under Pelopidas settled the affairs of Macedonia, and took young Philip to Thebes as a hostage, B.C. 368. [869] About £122,000. Cf. Plutarch (_Alex._ 15); _Curtius_, x. 10. [870] Ἴων is the Hebrew Javan without the vowel points. In the Persian name for the Greeks Ἰάονες, one of these vowels appear. See Aeschўlus (_Persae_, 178, 562). [871] Larger Phrygia formed the western part of the great central table-land of Asia Minor. Smaller Phrygia was also called Hellespontine Phrygia, because it lay near the Hellespont. See _Strabo_, xii. 8. [872] A blue band worked with white, which went round the tiara of the Persian kings. [873] Cf. _Ammianus_, xxv. 4, 15: “(Julianus) id aliquoties praedicans, Alexandrum Magnum, ubi haberet thesauros interrogatum, apud amicos benevole respondisse.” [874] Cf. _Arrian_, i. 16 supra. [875] It is supposed that the Saxones, _i.e._ Sacasuna, _sons of the Sacae_, originated from this nation. [876] At the Persian court, kinsman was a title bestowed by the king as a mark of honour. Curtius says they were 15,000 in number. Cf. _Diodorus_, xvi. 50; Xenophon (_Cyropaedia_, i. 4, 27; ii. 2, 31). [877] As to this Persian custom, see Xenophon (_Agesilaus_, v. 4; _Cyropaedia_ i. 4, 27). [878] Cf. _Justin_, xii. 7; Plutarch (_Eumenes_, 16); _Curtius_, viii. 17; _Livy_ xxxvii. 40; _Polybius_, v. 79, 4. [879] ἔμενον λιπαροῦντες. The more usual construction would be ἐλιπάρουν μένοντες. Cf. _Herodotus_, ix. 45 (λιπαρέετε μένοντες); iii.