The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
suffered severely at the first onset, because they were obliged to
defend themselves in the river, where their footing was unsteady,
and where they were below the level of their assailants; whereas the
Persians were fighting from the top of the bank, which gave them an
advantage, especially as the best of the Persian horse had been posted
there. Memnon himself, as well as his sons, were running every risk
with these; and the Macedonians who first came into conflict with
the Persians, though they showed great valour, were cut down, except
those who retreated to Alexander, who was now approaching. For the
king was already near, leading with him the right wing. He made his
first assault upon the Persians at the place where the whole mass of
their horse and the leaders themselves were posted; and around him a
desperate conflict raged,[131] during which one rank of the Macedonians
after another easily kept on crossing the river. Though they fought on
horseback, it seemed more like an infantry than a cavalry battle; for
they struggled for the mastery, horses being jammed with horses and
men with men, the Macedonians striving to drive the Persians entirely
away from the bank and to force them into the plain, and the Persians
striving to obstruct their landing and to push them back again into
the river. At last Alexander’s men began to gain the advantage, both
through their superior strength and military discipline, and because
they fought with spear-shafts made of cornel-wood, whereas the Persians
used only darts.
Then indeed, Alexander’s spear being broken to shivers in the conflict,
he asked Aretis, one of the royal guards, whose duty it was to assist
the king to mount his horse, for another spear. But this man’s spear
had also been shivered whilst he was in the thickest of the struggle,
and he was conspicuous fighting with the half of his broken spear.
Showing this to Alexander, he bade him ask some one else for one. Then
Demaratus, a man of Corinth, one of his personal Companions, gave him
his own spear; which he had no sooner taken than seeing Mithridates,
the son-in-law of Darius, riding far in front of the others, and
leading with him a body of cavalry arranged like a wedge, he rode on
in front of the others, and hitting at the face of Mithridates with
his spear, struck him to the ground. But hereupon, Rhoesaces rode up
to Alexander and hit him on the head with his scimitar, breaking off
a piece of his helmet. But the helmet broke the force of the blow.
This man also Alexander struck to the ground, hitting him in the chest
through the breastplate with his lance. And now Spithridates from
behind had already raised aloft his scimitar against the king, when
Clitus, son of Dropidas, anticipated his blow, and hitting him on the
arm, cut it off, scimitar and all.[132] Meantime the horsemen, as many
as were able, kept on securing a landing all down the river, and were
joining Alexander’s forces.
CHAPTER XVI.
DEFEAT OF THE PERSIANS.—LOSS ON BOTH SIDES.
The Persians themselves, as well as their horses, were now being
struck on their faces with the lances from all sides, and were being
repulsed by the cavalry. They also received much damage from the
light-armed troops who were mingled with the cavalry. They first began
to give way where Alexander himself was braving danger in the front.
When their centre had given way, the horse on both wings were also
naturally broken through, and took to speedy flight. Of the Persian
cavalry only about 1,000 were killed; for Alexander did not pursue
them far, but turned aside to attack the Greek mercenaries, the
main body of whom was still remaining where it was posted at first.
This they did rather from amazement at the unexpected result of the
struggle than from any steady resolution. Leading the phalanx against
these, and ordering the cavalry to fall upon them from all sides in
the midst, he soon cut them up, so that none of them escaped except
such as might have concealed themselves among the dead bodies. About
2,000 were taken prisoners.[133] The following leaders of the Persians
also fell in the battle: Niphates, Petines, Spithridates, viceroy
of Lydia, Mithrobuzanes, governor of Cappadocia, Mithridates, the
son-in-law of Darius, Arbupales, son of Darius the son of Artaxerxes,
Pharnaces, brother of the wife of Darius,[134] and Onares, commander
of the auxiliaries. Arsites fled from the battle into Phrygia, where
he is reported to have committed suicide, because he was deemed by the
Persians the cause of their defeat on that occasion.
Of the Macedonians, about twenty-five of the Companions were killed
at the first onset; brazen statues of whom were erected at Dium,[135]
executed by Lysippus,[136] at Alexander’s order. The same statuary
also executed a statue of Alexander himself, being chosen by him for
the work in preference to all other artists. Of the other cavalry over
sixty were slain, and of the infantry, about thirty.[137] These were
buried by Alexander the next day, together with their arms and other
decorations. To their parents and children he granted exemption from
imposts on agricultural produce, and he relieved them from all personal
services and taxes upon property. He also exhibited great solicitude in
regard to the wounded, for he himself visited each man, looked at their
wounds, and inquired how and in the performance of what duty they had
received them, allowing them both to speak and brag of their own deeds.
He also buried the Persian commanders and the Greek mercenaries who
were killed fighting on the side of the enemy. But as many of them as
he took prisoners he bound in fetters and sent them away to Macedonia
to till the soil, because, though they were Greeks, they were fighting
against Greece on behalf of the foreigners in opposition to the decrees
which the Greeks had made in their federal council.[138] To Athens also
he sent 300 suits of Persian armour to be hung up in the Acropolis[139]
as a votive offering to Athena, and ordered this inscription to be
fixed over them: “Alexander, son of Philip, and all the Greeks except
the Lacedaemonians, present this offering from the spoils taken from
the foreigners inhabiting Asia.”
CHAPTER XVII.
ALEXANDER IN SARDIS AND EPHESUS.
Having appointed Calas to the post of viceroy of the territory
which had been under the rule of Arsites, and having commanded the
inhabitants to pay to him the same tribute which they had paid to
Darius, he ordered as many of the natives as came down from the
mountains and surrendered to him to depart to their several abodes.
He also acquitted the people of Zeleia[140] of blame, because he
knew they had been compelled to assist the Persians in the war. He
then despatched Parmenio to occupy Dascylium,[141] which he easily
performed; for the garrison evacuated it. He himself advanced towards
Sardis; and when he was about 70 stades[142] distant from that city, he
was met by Mithrines, the commandant of the garrison in the Acropolis,
accompanied by the most influential of the citizens of Sardis. The
latter surrendered the city into his hands, and Mithrines the fortress
and the money laid up in it. Alexander encamped near the river
Hermus,[143] which is about twenty stades[144] distant from Sardis;
but he sent Amyntas, son of Andromenes, to occupy the citadel of
Sardis.[145] He took Mithrines with him, treating him with honour; and
granted the Sardians and other Lydians the privilege of enjoying the
ancient laws of Lydia, and permitted them to be free. He then ascended
into the citadel, which was garrisoned by the Persians. And the
position seemed to him a strong one; for it was very lofty, precipitous
on every side, and fenced round by a triple wall. He therefore resolved
to build a temple to the Olympian Zeus on the hill, and to erect an
altar in it; but while he was considering which part of the hill was
the most suitable site, suddenly a winter storm arose, though it was
the summer season, loud claps of thunder were heard, and rain fell on
the spot where the palace of the kings of Lydia had stood. From this
Alexander thought that the deity had revealed to him where the temple
to Zeus ought to be built; and he gave orders accordingly. He left
Pausanias, one of the Companions, to be superintendent of the citadel
of Sardis, Nicias to supervise the collection of the tribute and taxes,
and Asander, son of Philotas, to be superintendent of Lydia and the
rest of the dominion of Spithridates, giving him as large a number
of cavalry and light-armed infantry as seemed sufficient for present
emergencies. He also sent Calas and Alexander, son of Aëropus, into the
country of Memnon,[146] in command of the Peloponnesians and most of
the other Grecian allies, except the Argives, who had been left behind
to guard the citadel of Sardis.
Meantime, when the news of the cavalry battle was spread abroad, the
Grecian mercenaries who formed the garrison of Ephesus, seized two of
the Ephesian triremes and set off in flight. They were accompanied
by Amyntas,[147] son of Antiochus, who had fled from Alexander out
of Macedonia, not because he had received any injury from the king,
but from ill-will to him, and thinking it not unlikely that he should
suffer some ill-treatment from him (on account of his disloyalty). On
the fourth day Alexander arrived at Ephesus, where he recalled from
exile all the men who had been banished from the city on account
of their adherence to him; and having broken up the oligarchy, he
established a democratical form of government there. He also ordered
the Ephesians to contribute to Artemis[148] all the tribute which
they were in the habit of paying to the Persians. When the people of
Ephesus were relieved of their dread of the oligarchs, they rushed
headlong to kill the men who had brought Memnon into the city, as also
those who had pillaged the temple of Artemis, and those who had thrown
down the statue of Philip which was in the temple, and those who had
dug up and carried off from the tomb in the market place the bones of
Heropythus, the liberator of their city. They also led Syrphax, and
his son Pelagon, and the sons of Syrphax’s brothers out of the temple
and stoned them to death. But Alexander prevented them making any
further quest of the rest of the oligarchs for the purpose of wreaking
their vengeance upon them; for he knew that if the people were not
checked, they would kill the innocent along with the guilty, some from
hatred, and others for the sake of seizing their property. At this time
Alexander gained great popularity both by his general course of action
and especially by what he did at Ephesus.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ALEXANDER MARCHES TO MILETUS AND OCCUPIES THE ISLAND OF LADE.
Men now came to him both from Magnesia[149] and Tralles, offering to
surrender those cities; and to them he sent Parmenio, giving him 2,500
infantry from the Grecian auxiliaries, an equal number of Macedonians,
and about 200 of the Cavalry Companions. He also sent Lysimachus, son
of Agathocles,[150] with an equal force to the Aeolic cities,[151] and
to as many of the Ionic cities[152] as were still under the Persians.
He was ordered to break up the oligarchies everywhere, to set up the
democratical form of government, to restore their own laws to each of
the cities, and to remit the tribute which they were accustomed to pay
to the foreigners. But Alexander himself remained behind at Ephesus,
where he offered a sacrifice to Artemis and conducted a procession in
her honour with the whole of his army fully armed and marshalled for
battle.[153]
On the following day he took the rest of his infantry, the archers, the
Agrianians, the Thracian cavalry, the royal squadron of the Companions,