The Bibliotheke

Book 3.1-6
Translated in the Loeb Classical Library by J. C. Rolfe, and now in the public domain

Chapter 1

1 Meanwhile Alexander, after sending Cleander;¹ with money to hire soldiers from the Peloponnesus and setting in orderthe affairs of Lvcia and Pamphylia, moved his army to the city of Celaenae.² 2 Through the middle of the city at that time flowed the Marsyas, a river famed in the storied songs of the Greeks. 3 Its source, gushing forth from the summit of a mountain, falls with a great noise of its waters upon a rock below; from there, divided into several branches,³ it irrigates the adjacent plains, clear⁴ and carrying only its own waters. 4 Therefore its colour, like that of a calm sea, has given opportunity for a fancy of the poets; for it is said that nymphs, kept there by love of the river, dwell upon that rock.⁵ 5 Now, so long as it flows within the city the river retains its own name, but when it rolls forth
beyond the ramparts and drives on its waters with greater force and mass, they call it the Lycus, “Wolf.”

6 The city, indeed, when Alexander entered it, had been abandoned by its inhabitants, but having determined to attack the citadel, in which they had taken refuge,⁶ he first sent a herald, to threaten that if they did not surrender it, they would suffer the utmost penalties. 7 They led the herald to a tower raised high both by its natural situation and by the hand of man, telling them to observe how lofty it was and to report to Alexander that he and the inhabitants did not set the same value on their fortifications; that they knew them to be impregnable and were ready to die as loyally as might be. 8 But when they saw that the citadel was beset on every side. and that all their supplies were becoming scantier day by day, the bargained for a truce of sixty days,⁷ agreeing that if Darius did not send them help within that time, they would surrender the city; and when no aid came to them from that quarter, on the stipulated day they gave themselves up to the king.

9 Then came envoys of the Athenians, asking that their citizens who had been taken prisoner at the river Granicus should be returned to them. Alexander replied that he would give orders that not only these but also the rest of the Greeks should be restored to their homes, as soon as the Persian war was ended.⁸ 10 Then, intent upon Darius, who, as he had learned, had not yet crossed the Euphrates, he assembled all his troops from every side, intending to meet the crisis of so great a war with all his strength.

11 Phrygia was the country through which the army was being led; abounding in villages rather than in cities, it was at that time the seat of the once famous palace of Midas. 12 Gordium is the city's name, and beside it nows the river Sangarius, which is equally distant from the Pontic and the Cilician sea. 13 We have been informed that between these two seas is the narrowest part of Asia, since they compress the lands into a narrow passageway. And because Asia is joined to the mainland, but is in great part surrounded by waters, it presents the appearance of an island, and were it not for this slight intervening space, what now separates the seas would unite them.⁹

14 Alexander, after reducing the city into his power, entered the temple of Jupiter. There he saw the wagon in which it was known that Gordius, the father of Midas rode,¹⁰ and it was in no way more elegant than ordinary ones in everyday use. 15 The noteworthy feature was the yoke, which was made fast by a great number of thongs,¹¹ closely tangled with one another and concealing their interlacing. 16 Thereupon, since the natives declared that the oracle had predicted that whoever should loose the intricate fastening would rule over Asia, the desire entered Alexander's mind of fulfilling that prophecy. 17 Around the king stood a throng of Phrygians and Macedonians, the former on tiptoe of expectation, the latter in anxiety because of the king's rash self-confidence; and in fact the series of thongs was so closely bound together that where a hidden interlacing began or where it ended could be made out neither by the eye nor by calculation; and the king's attempt to loose the knot made the throng anxious lest a failure should be regarded as an omen. 18 After having struggled for a long time without effect against the hidden folds: “It makes no difference,” said he, “how they are loosed,” and cutting through¹² all the thongs with his sword, he either tricked the oracle or fulfilled it.

19 Then, since he had resolved to overtake Darius wherever he might be, in order to leave everything behind him safe he gave Amphoterus command of the fleet at the shore of the Hellespont, but Hegelochus of the land-forces, in order that these officers might free Lesbos, Chios and Cos from the enemies' garrisons. 20 To them 500 talents were given for the expenses of the war, and to Antipater and those who were defending the Greek cities 600 talents were sent, and the allies were ordered, as was provided by their treaty, to furnish ships to guard the Hellespont. 21 For he had not yet learned of the death of Memnon,¹³ against whom he had directed all his attention, knowing well enough that all would be easy if that general made no move.

22 And now he had arrived at the city of Ancyra, from which, after having numbered his forces, he entered Paphlagonia; next to this were the Heneti, from whom some believe that the Veneti derive their origin. 23 All this region yielded to Alexander, and gave hostages and obtained freedom from the obligation of paying tribute,¹⁴ which they had not rendered even to the Persians. 24 Calas was made governor of that region, and Alexander himself, taking the troops that had lately arrived from Macedonia, made for Cappadocia.

Chapter 2

1 But Darius, when the death of Memnon was announced, being not less anxious than was natural, set aside all other hope, and decided to fight a decisive battle in person; for he condemned everything that had been done through his generals, believing that many of them had been lacking in care, and all in good fortune. 2 Accordingly, having encamped before Babylon,¹⁵ he made a display of all his forces, in order that they might enter upon the war with the greater confidence, and having built a circular enclosure, capable of containing a throng of 10,000 armed men, he began to number them as Xerxes¹⁶ had done. 3 From sunrise to nightfall the troops entered the enclosure, as they had been told off. Then, when sent out, they filled the plains of Mesopotamia, an all but innumerable mass of cavalry and foot, which gave the appearance of being greater than it actually was. 4 Of Persians there were 100,000, among them 30,000 horsemen. 5 The Medes had 10,000 horse and 50,000 foot. Of the Barcani there were 200 horse, armed with double-edged axes and light shields closely resembling Spanish bucklers;¹⁷ they were followed by 10,000 infantry, armed in the same manner as the horsemen. 6 The Armenians¹⁸ had sent 40,000 foot soldiers, besides 7000 cavalry. The Hyrcani had mustered 6000 as excellent horsemen as those nations could furnish, as well as 1000 Tapurian cavalry. 7 The Derbices had armed 40,000 foot-soldiers; most of these carried spears tipped with bronze or iron, but some had hardened the wooden shaft by fire. These also were accompanied by 2000 horsemen from the same nation. 8 From the Caspian Sea¹⁹ had come an infantry army of 8000, and 200 horsemen. With these were other less known nations; they had mustered 2000 foot and twice that number of horsemen. 9 To these forces were added 30,000 Greek mercenaries, excellent young soldiers. However, his haste²⁰ prevented the summoning of the Bactriani, the Sogdiani, the Indi, and other dwellers near the Red Sea,²¹ whose names were unknown even to Darius himself. 10 But there was nothing which he lacked less than numbers of soldiers.

Extravagantly happy at the appearance of the throng then assembled, while his courtiers puffed up his hope with their usual empty flattery, turning to Charidemus,²² an Athenian skilled in warfare and because of his banishment hating Alexander—for it was by his order that Charidemus had been expelled from Athens²³—he began to ask the Greek whether he seemed to him sufficiently equipped to trample down his enemy. 11 But Charidemus, forgetting his condition²⁴ and the pride of kings, replied: “You perhaps would not wish to hear the truth, but I, if I do not speak now, at some other time shall admit it in vain. 12 This army so splendidly equipped, this throng of so many nations and of the whole Orient, called forth from their homes, may be a cause of terror to their neighbours; it gleams with purple and gold, is resplendent with arms and with riches so great that those who have not seen them with their own eyes²⁵ cannot imagine them. 13 But the Macedonian army, savage, it is true, and without adornment, covers²⁶ with its shields and spears immovable wedges and serried power of men. They themselves call it the phalanx, a steadfast²⁷ body of infantry; man stands close to man, weapons are joined to weapons. Intent upon the nod of their commander, they have learned to follow the standards, to keep their ranks;  what is ordered all obey. 14 How to oppose, make circuits, run to support either wing, to change the order of battle²⁸ the soldiers are as well skilled as their leaders.

15 “And do not suppose that they are led by a desire for gold and silver: so far they have maintained that discipline in the school of poverty; when they are wearied, the earth²⁹ is their bed, such food as they can snatch amid toil satisfies them, their time for sleep is shorter than the night. 16 The Thessalian, the Acarnanian, and the Aetolian horsemen, invincible in war, will forthwith, forsooth, be repulsed by slings and by spears hardened in the fire! Strength like theirs is what you need; in that land which gave them birth you must look for aid: send that silver and gold of yours to hire soldiers.” 17 Darius had a mild and tractable disposition, but as a rule Fortune perverts even Nature. So, incapable of hearing the truth, he ordered a guest and a suppliant to be dragged off to execution, at the very moment when he was giving most salutary advice. 18 The Greek, not even then forgetful of his free birth, said: "I have at hand an avenger of my death: that very man against whom I have warned you will exact punishment for the scorning of my advice. You for your part, so suddenly changed by the licence of royal power, will be a lesson to coming generations that when men have surrendered³⁰ themselves to Fortune,³¹ they forget even their very nature. As Charidemus was shouting these words, those to whom the order had been given cut his throat. 19 Afterwards, too late, the king repented, and admitting that the Greek had spoken the truth, gave orders that he be given funeral rites.

Chapter 3

1 Thymondas, son of Mentor, was an energetic young man; he was ordered by the king to take over from Pharnabazus³² all the foreign soldiers in whom Darius had the greatest confidence: Thymondas was to use their services in the war. To Pharnabazus himself he transferred the command which he had previously given to Memnon.

2 Then, worried as he was by pressing cares, he was also tormented in sleep by visions of imminent dangers, whether these were called up by anxiety or by the divining power of a prophetic mind.³³ 3 Alexander's camp seemed to him to shine with a great glow of fire, and he dreamed that a little later Alexander was brought to him in the garb in which he himself had been made king, and that then, riding on horseback through Babylon, he had vanished from his sight, horse and all. 4 Beside this, the soothsayers had distracted his troubled mind by varying interpretations; some said that that dream was of good omen for the king because the enemies' camp had burned, and because he had seen Alexander, after laying aside his regal dress, brought to him attired as a Persian, and that too, dressed like one of the common sort; 5 others disagreed: for they conjectured that to have seen the Macedonians' camp illuminated foretold brilliance for Alexander; that he was fated even to seize the rule of Asia was shown beyond doubt, since Darius had worn the same attire when he was named king. 6 Worry had recalled old omens also, as is usual; for they bethought themselves that Darius at the beginning of his rule had ordered that the form of the Persian scabbard of the scimitar should be changed to that shape which the Greeks used, and that the Chaldeans had at once declared that the empire of the Persians would pass to those whose arms he had imitated.  7 However, Darius himself, rejoicing greatly both because of the prediction³⁴ of the seers which was made public, and the vision which had appeared to him in his sleep, gave orders that the camp should be advanced toward the Euphrates.

8 It was an ancestral custom of the Persians not to begin a march before sunrise. When the day was already bright, the signal was given from the king's tent with the horn;³⁵ above the tent, from which it might be seen by all, there gleamed an image of the sun enclosed in crystal. Now the order of march was as follows. 9 In front on silver altars was carried the fire³⁶ which they call sacred and eternal. 10 Next came the Magi chanting their traditional hymn.³⁷ These were followed by three hundred and sixty-five young men clad in purple robes, equal in number to the days of a whole year; for the Persians also divided the year into that number of days. 11 After that, white horses drew the chariot consecrated to Jupiter;³⁸ these were followed by a horse of extraordinary size, which they called the steed of the Sun. Golden wands and white robes adorned the drivers of the horses. 12 Not far off there were ten chariots, embossed with much gold and silver. 13 These were followed by the horsemen of twelve nations of varying arms and customs.

Next marched those whom the Persians call “the Immortals”³⁹ to the number of ten thousand. No others were more adorned the the splendour of barbaric wealth; theirs were golden necklets, and garments adorned with cloth of gold and long-sleeved tunics⁴⁰ adorned even with gems. 14 At a short interval came those whom they call the kindred,⁴¹ 15,000 men. This throng indeed, with its almost feminine elegance, was conspicuous rather for luxury than for  suitable arms.⁴² 15 The troop next to these, who were accustomed to take care of the royal robes, were called Spear-bearers.⁴³ These preceded the king's chariot, in which he rode outstanding among the rest. 16 Both sides of the chariot were adorned with images of the gods, embossed in gold and silver; the yoke was ornamented with sparkling gems, and on it rose two golden images a cubit high of the king's ancestors, one of Ninus, the other of Belus. Between these they had consecrated a golden eagle,⁴⁴ represented with outstretched wings.

17 The attire of the king was noteworthy beyond all else in luxury; a purple-edged tunic woven about a white centre, a cloak of cloth of gold, ornamented with golden hawks, which seemed to attack each other with their beaks; 18 from a golden belt, with which he was girt woman-fashion, he had hung a scimitar, the scabbard of which was a single gem.⁴⁵ 19 The Persians called the king's head-dress cidaris;⁴⁶ this was bound with a blue⁴⁷ fillet variegated with white. 20 The chariot was followed by 10,000 lancers, carrying spears richly adorned with silver and tipped with a point of gold.  21 About two hundred of the noblest relatives⁴⁸ of the king attended him on the right and on the left. The rear of this part of the procession was brought up by 30,000 foot-soldiers, followed by four hundred of the king's horses.⁴⁹

22 Next, at an interval of a single stade, one chariot carried Sisigambis, Darius' mother, and in another was his wife.⁵⁰ A throng of women of the queens’⁵¹ household rode on horses. 23 Then followed fifteen of what they call harmamaxae;⁵² in these were the king's children and their governesses, and a herd of eunuchs, who are not at all despised by those peoples. 24 Next rode the 365⁵³ concubines of the king, these also regally dressed and adorned. After these 600 mules and 300 camels carried the king's money, preceded by a guard of bowmen. 25 Next to this division rode the wives of his relatives and friends, and troops of sutlers and batmen. Last of all were bands of light-armed troops, to bring up the rear, each with its own officers.

26 If on the other hand anyone should look upon the Macedonians’ army, its appearance was different;⁵⁴ men and horses gleaming, not with gold and particoloured garments, but with steel and bronze; 27 an army prepared to stand or to follow, not over-weighted with excessive numbers or with baggage, watchful, not only for the signal, but even for the nod of its leader. Thus there was enough room for both a camp and the army's supplies. 28 Hence Alexander did not lack soldiers in the battle; Darius, king of so vast a multitude, was reduced by the narrow limits of the place in which he fought to the small number which he had scorned in his enemy.

Chapter 4 

1 Meanwhile Alexander, having given Sabistamenes charge of Cappadocia, on his way to Cilicia with all his forces had arrived at the place which is called the Camp of Cyrus; there Cyrus had had a permanent camp when he was leading his army into Lydia against Croesus.⁵⁵ 2 That place was distant fifty stadia from the pass by which we enter Cilicia; “the Gates” is what the natives call that very narrow entrance, and in its natural formation it resembles fortifications made by our human hands.⁵⁶ 3 Therefore Arsames, who governed Cilicia, recalling what Memnon⁵⁷ had advised at the beginning of the war, decided too late to follow a plan which at the time was salutary; he devastates Cilicia with fire and sword, in order to make a desert for the enemy, and destroys everything that could be of use, intending to leave barren and bare the soil which he was unable to defend.

4 But it would have been far more advantageous to beset with a strong force the narrow pass which opens the way into Cilicia, and to hold possession of a height which opportunely overhangs the road, from which without danger he would have been able to stop or destroy the enemy as they came up. 5 As it was, leaving a few to guard the mountain paths,⁵⁸ he himself retreated, a devastator of the land which he ought to have protected against devastation. Therefore those who had been left behind, supposing that they had been betrayed, were not able to endure even the sight of the enemy, although even fewer men than they would have been able to hold the position. 6 For Cilicia is shut in by a continuous range of rugged and steep mountains. This range, rising from the sea and curving in a kind of winding fold, so to speak, runs back with its other extremity to a different part of the shore.

7 Through this range, where it withdraws farthest inward from the sea, there are three rough and very narrow passes, one of which must be used for entering Cilicia. 8 That country where it slopes toward the sea is level and its plain is divided by frequent streams; the famous rivers Pyramus and Cydnus flow through it. The Cydnus is noteworthy, not because of the extent of its waters,⁵⁹ but for their clearness; for gliding with gentle course from its springs, it is received by a pure soil, and no torrents empty into it to discolour its quietly flowing channel. 9 Hence it is undefiled and also extremely cold,⁶⁰ since it is shaded charmingly by its banks, and it passes into the sea in the same state throughout as at its source. 10 In that region lapse of time had destroyed many memorials made famous in song; the sites of the cities Lyrnesus⁶¹ and Thebes were pointed out, the cave of Typhon too,⁶² and the Corycian grove, where saffron grows,⁶³ and other places of which only the fame has endured.

11 Alexander entered that pass in the range which is called “the Gates.” Having examined the situation of the region, he is said never to have wondered more at his good fortune; he admitted that he might have been overwhelmed even by rocks, if there had been any to roll them down on his men as they came up. 12 The road barely allowed four armed men to walk abreast; a ridge of the mountain overhung a passage that was not merely narrow, but often broken by frequent streams which crossed it, trickling from the roots of the mountains. 13 Nevertheless he had ordered his light-armed Thracians to go in advance and examine the mountain paths,⁶⁴ in order that a hidden foe might not burst forth upon them as they went up the pass.  A band of bowmen also had taken their place on the ridge; they kept their bows bent, since they had been warned that they were not entering upon a march, but a battle. 14 In this manner the army came to the city of Tarsus, to which at that very time the Persians were setting fire, in order that the enemy might not invade a rich city. 15 But Alexander had sent Parmenion⁶⁵ on with a light-armed troop to check the fire, and as soon as he knew that the barbarians had been put to flight by the arrival of his men, he entered the city which he had saved.

Chapter 5

1 The river Cydnus, which was mentioned a short time ago, flows through the middle of Tarsus; it was then summer,⁶⁶ the heat of which burns no other shore more than that of Cilicia with the sun's fires,⁶⁷ and the hottest time of the day had begun. 2 The clear water of the river tempted the king, who was covered with dust and at the same time with sweat, to bathe his body when it was still heated; accordingly, laying off his clothing in the sight of the army—thinking that it would also be fitting if he should show his men that he was content with attention to his person which was simple and easily attained—he went down into the river. 3 But hardly had he entered it when his limbs began to stiffen with a sudden chill, then he lost his colour, and the vital warmth left almost his entire body.⁶⁸ 4 His attendants caught him in their arms, looking like a dying man, and carried him almost unconscious into his tent.

There was great anxiety, and already almost mourning in the camp; 5 with tears they lamented that the most glorious king of any age or time, in the midst of so swift a career of success, had been laid low, not in battle (which would have been bad enough), not by enemy, but had been taken off and done to death while bathing. 6 Darius (they said) was close at hand, a victor before he had seen his enemy. As for them, they must go back to the same lands through which they had passed victorious, where everything had been laid waste by themselves or by the enemy. Marching through desert wastes, even if no one wished to pursue them, they could be vanquished by hunger and want. 7 Who would direct them in their flight? Who would venture to succeed Alexander? Just suppose that they should reach the Hellespont in their flight, who would prepare a fleet in which to cross it? 8 Then their pity turned again to the king himself and, forgetting themselves, they lamented that such flower of youth, so powerful a mind, at once their king and their fellow-soldier, was torn and wrested away from them.

9 Meanwhile the king's breath had begun to pass more freely, and he had raised his eyes; and as his senses began to return to him, he recognized his friends who stood about him, and the violence of his illness seemed to have abated for the sole reason that he felt the greatness of the disaster. 10 However, trouble of mind oppressed his body; for it was announced that Darius would be in Cilicia in four days. Therefore he lamented that he was being handed over to him in bonds, that so great a victory was being snatched from his hands, and that he was being blotted out in his tent by an obscure and in glorious death. 11 And so, having admitted his friends, as well as his physicians, he said: “You see in what a crisis of my affairs Fortune has surprised me. Methinks I hear the din of hostile arms, and I who was the aggressor in war, am now challenged. 12 Thus Darius, when he was writing those haughty letters, was privy to my fortune, but to no purpose, if I am allowed to be treated according to my desire. 13 My exigency cannot wait for slow remedies and dilatory physicians; in my opinion it is better even to die speedily than to recover tardily. Therefore, if there is any help, if there is any skill, in physicians, let them know that I do not so much desire a remedy against death as one that will enable me to make war.”

14 This headlong rashness of the king had smitten all with great anxiety. Hence each man individually began to entreat him not to increase his danger by haste but to submit to the control of his physicians; 15 that they had good reason to suspect untried remedies, since his enemy might bribe someone to destroy him even from among his own intimates. 16 And in fact Darius had ordered it to be proclaimed that lie would give a thousand talents to the slayer of Alexander. Hence they thought that no one would venture even to try a remedy which on account of its novelty could be suspected.

Chapter 6

1 Among the famous⁶⁹ physicians who had followed the king from Macedonia was Philip, a native of Acarnania, most loyal to Alexander; made the king's comrade and the guardian of his health from boyhood, he loved him with extreme affection, not onlv as his king, but even as a foster-child. 2 He promised to apply remedy that was not sudden but effective, and to allay the violence of his illness, great as it was, with a medicated draught.⁷⁰ 3 His promise pleased no one except the very one at whose peril it was made. For the king could endure anything except delay; arms and armies were before his eyes,⁷¹ and he thought that victory depended merely upon his ability to take his place before the standards, impatient only because he was not to take the draught until the third day should have come—for so the physician had directed.

4 In the meantime he received a letter from Parmenion,⁷² the most faithful of his generals, in which he strongly warned the king not to trust his life to Philip; that he had been bribed by Darius with a thousand talents and the hope of marriage with the king's sister.⁷³ 5 This letter had filled Alexander's mind with great anxiety, and whatever fear or hope cast into either scale he weighed in secret calculation. 6 “Should I resolve⁷⁴ to take the draught, with the result that if poison shall have been given me, it may seem that I deserved whatever shall have happened? Shall I distrust the loyalty of my physician? Shall I then allow myself to be overwhelmed in my tent? But it is better for me to die of another's crime than of my own fear.” 7 After having turned his thoughts in various directions for a long time, he revealed to no one what had been written, but impressed the seal of his ring upon the letter and put it under the pillow on which he was lying.

8 After he had spent two days in such thoughts as these, the day designated by the physician dawned, and Philip entered with the cup in which he had mixed a the drug.⁷⁵ 9 On seeing him Alexander raised himself in bed and, holding the letter sent by Parmenion in his left hand, took took the cup and drank fearlessly: then he bade Philip read the letter, and he did not turn his eyes from the physician's face as he read, thinking that he would be able to detect any signs of guilt in his very expression. 10 But Philip, when he had read the letter through, showed more indignation than fear, and throwing his cloak and the letter before the couch: “My king,” said he, “the breath of my life has always depended upon you, but now, I verily believe that it is drawn by your sacred and revered lips.⁷⁶ 11 The accusation of murder with which I have been charged your recovery will refute; when saved by me you will have given me life. I beg and beseech you, cease your fear: allow the remedy to be taken into your veins: free for a time your mind, which your friends, faithful indeed but, alas, officious, are disturbing by their ill-timed solicitude.”

These words made the king, not only free from care, but even joyful and full of good hope. 12 Accordingly he said: “If the gods, Philip, had granted you to test my feelings in the manner which you most desired, you would surely have chosen a different way, but you could not even have wished for a surer one than you experienced, since after receiving this letter I nevertheless drank the mixture you had prepared. And now, believe me, I am not less anxious to prove your loyalty than I am for my recovery.” Having said this, he offered Philip his right hand. 13 But so great was the strength of the drug that what followed seemed to support the calumny of Parmenion. The king's breath was impeded and passed with difficulty. 14 But Philip left nothing untried; it was he that applied hot lotions to the king's body, he that roused him from languor by the odour now of food, now of wine. 15 As soon as he perceived that Alexander was conscious, he did not cease to remind him, at one time of his mother and sisters, again of his approaching great victory. 16 But as the drug spread into the king's veins and gradually its healing power could be felt in his whole body, at first his mind regained its vigour and then his body also, more speedily than could have been expected; for after the third day which he had spent in that condition, he appeared in sight of the soldiers.

17 Nor did the army look with more eagerness upon the king himself than upon Philip: each man individually grasped the physician's right hand and returned thanks, as if to an all-powerful god.⁷⁷ For it is not easily expressed how great, apart from the native reverence of the Macedonians for their kings, was their admiring devotion to this particular king, or, I may say, their burning affection for him. 18 For first of all, he seemed to undertake nothing without divine help; for since good fortune everywhere attended him, his very rashness had resulted in glory. 19 His years too, which seemed hardly ripe for such great deeds, but had proved amply sufficient, enhanced all his exploits. Also things which are commonly regarded as trifling, are usually more pleasing to a crowd of soldiers: bodily exercise in their company, dress and bearing differing but little from those of a man in private station, a soldier's vigour; 20 by these, whether they were natural gifts or consciously acquired, he had made himself alike beloved and worthy of deep respect.

¹ According to Arrian (ii.20.5), he brought back 4000 Greek mercenaries.

² Cf. Xen. Anab. i. 2. 7. It was the principal city of Phrygia (Livy xxxviii. 13 .5); Apamea Cibotus was founded near its site by Antiochus Soter.

³ Eight or nine, Pococke, Travels, quoted by Mützell (see bibliographical note, p. xxxiii).

⁴ Cf. Ovid, Metam. vi. 400 Marsya…Phrygiae liquidissimus omnis.

⁵ There is no other reference to this.

⁶ According to Arrian (i. 29. 1), the citadel was held by a garrison of 1000 Carians and 100 Greek mercenaries under the command of the satrap of Phrygia.

⁷ Sexaginta is doubtful; Arrian (i. 29. 2) merely says that they specified a date.

⁸ Arr. i. 29. 6 gives, as Alexander's reason, that he wished to keep the Greeks on the anxious seat.

⁹ Curtius seems to refer to the Bay of Issus, from which the ancient geographers drew the longer diameter of the “isthmus,” by way of the Cilician Pylae to the bay east of Sinopê on the Euxine; cf. Strabo xii. 1. 3 and Pliny, N.H. vi. 2. 7. A shorter line, however, which would pass near Gordium and would include in Asia Minor a more nearly homogeneous Hellenic population, was drawn from the head of the Pamphylian Sea to the bay on the Euxine west of Heraclea Pontica. The idea that Asia minor narrowed to a neck goes back to Herodotus (Hdt. ii. 34). 

¹⁰ When he came to Phrygia, invited to be its king; Justin xi. 7.

¹¹ The knot was of cornel bark; Arr. ii. 3. 7. Plut. Alex. xviii. 2 follows Aristobulus.

¹² Aristobulus said that he took out the pole-pin, a dowel driven through the pole and holding the knot together (Arr. ii. 3. 7).

¹³ In names in -o and -on it is moor usual in English to use the latter form, except when, as in Plato, the name has been anglicized, hence Memnon, Parmenion, etc.

¹⁴ Tribunorum ferre, for conferee, is poetic usage, or perhaps due to Greek influence (φόρον φέρειν).

¹⁵ Curtius sometimes uses the Greek form of the accusative singular regularly in this word; cf. Sidona, iv. 1. 15, Parmeniona, iii. 13. 2; Trapezunta, x. 10. 3.

¹⁶ At Doriscus, a town on the coast of Thrace west of the river Hebrus; cf. Hdt. vii. 59.

¹⁷ Small leather shields, Isid, Orig. xvii. 12. 5.

¹⁸ Here not divided into Greater and Lesser Armenia.

¹⁹ An indefinite expression; perhaps the Caspii, iv. 12. 9.

²⁰ Yet the time since the battle at the Granicus was at least a year.

²¹ In Greek, and so in Roman writers also, “Red” Sea often includes the real Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, the Persian Gulf, and even the Indian Ocean.

²² Cf. Diod. xvii. 30. 4, who puts his death immediately after that of Memnon.

²³ See Arr. i. 10. 4-6.

²⁴ Cf. ix. 2. 6 ultimae sortis

²⁵ Oculis subicere is a common expression in Livy; cf. xxxvii. 26. 6, and Drakenborch's note.

²⁶ i.e. protects; see iv. 15. 16; Livy xxxii. 17.

²⁷ Cf. Livy ix. 19. 8 (of the Macedonians) statarius miles.

²⁸ For pugna almost = acies cf. Livy xxii. 45. 8; for an example of mutare acme Sall. Jug. xlix. 6, with the note in the L.C.L. Sallust.

²⁹ Cf. Sen. Cons. ad Helv. vii. 10; Amm. xxii. 4. 6.

³⁰ The indic. in such subordinate clauses is not uncommon in Curtius; here perhaps, as in some other instance, there is an iterative force.

³¹ Curtius uses fortuna of both good-fortune and ill-fortune, and sometimes, as here, we clearly have personification (Fortuna).

³² Nephew of Memnon and a high officer in his fleet, Memnon with his dying breath left him the command (Arr. ii. 1. 3), which was confirmed by Darius (Curt. iv. 1. 37).

³³ See Cicero, De Div. i. 55. 124 ff.; cf. i. 31. 65 ff.

³⁴ That is, the favourable one.

³⁵ Veget. iii. 5 bucina (appellatur) quae in semet ipsum aereo circulo flectitur.

³⁶ Cf. iv. 14. 24; Amm. xxiii. 6. 34. The fire was in charge of the Magi, and was put out at the king's death.

³⁷ Cf. v. 1. 22; on the Magi Amm. xxiii. 6. 32-36.

³⁸ That is, Ormuzd (Ahura-mazda); Hdt. vii. 40 (cf. i. 131).

³⁹ A body of 10,000 infantry; their number was fixed and constantly maintained; Hdt. vii. 83.

⁴⁰ Regarded by the Romans as effeminate; Cic. In Cat. ii. 10. 22; Gell. vi. 12.

⁴¹ As their number indicates, the cognate were not related to the king by birth, but it was an honorary title bestowed upon those who sat at the king's banquets, namely, the members of his court and others upon whom that distinction was conferred (for an example, see Amm. xviii. 5. 6). In general, see B. Brisson, De Regio Persarum Principatu, Index, s.v.

⁴² It is implied that their arms were highly decorated by not very serviceable.

⁴³ The Doryphoroe were chosen as the king's bodyguard from among the “Immortals;” the duty here ascribed to them does not suit their name and is not elsewhere recorded.

⁴⁴ The Persian symbol of royal power. Xen. Cyrop. vii. 1. 4.

⁴⁵ Cf. Sen. De Prov. 3; perhaps “adorned with gems;” the language may have either meaning.

⁴⁶ The tiara, worn upright by the Persian kings (Arr. iv. 7. 4, who calls it κίταρις); also the head-dress of a satrap, by whom it was ordinarily not worn upright (Arr. vi. 29. 3; Amm. xviii. 5. , where he calls it apex, and xviii. 8. 5, where he calls it tiara). These two passages throw light on its significance. So in Arist. Aves 487, the “Persian bird” (the cock) “alone wears his κυρβασία erect.”

⁴⁷ Caerulea is not a contradiction of purpureum in vi. 6. 4, but is a variation of that colour. 

48 Propinquorum, “relatives,” obviously more closely relate to the king than the cognati of iii. 3. 14 (see note); cf. vi. 2. 7 and Amm. xxiii. 6. 81 abomindae aliae (legs) per quas ob noxiam unius omnis propinquity perit. Brisson (l.c., not on iii. 3. 14) has no comment on the word except to cite the passage from Amm., and hence seems to take it literally. An Associated Press dispatch from Madrid of Oct. 11, 1940 said that “Generalissimo Franco was made a cousin of Italy’s Victor Emanuele (sic).”

⁴⁹ He also had at least one horse near his chariot, for emergencies; see iii. 11. 11.

⁵⁰ Statira; she was also his sister, and called the most beautiful woman of Asia.

⁵¹ Including the queen mother and the princesses.

⁵² A kind of enclosed litter, probably drawn by mules: Xen. Anab. i. 2. 16; Hdt. vii. 41.

⁵³ Cf. vi. 6. 8; Diod. xvii. 77. 6, who adds that they were “not less in number than the days of the year.”

⁵⁴ This seems rather out of place, since it was not Darius' army which was described; and besides, it is more or less a repetition of iii. 2. 13 ff.

⁵⁵ Arrian (ii. 4. 3) believed that it was the younger Cyrus; cf. Xen. Anab. i. 2. 20-21. Possibly the elder Cyrus may also have camped there; see Justin i. 7. 4.

⁵⁶ But see Diod. xiv. 20. 1 ff.

⁵⁷ See Arr. i. 12. 9; Diod. xvii. 18. 2.

⁵⁸ Calles is a favourite word with Curtius, strangely misplaced in the Thes. Ling. Lat. iii. 174. 16; see A.J.P. xxvi. (1915), p. 363.

⁵⁹ Solinus (xxxviii. 5) calls it tennis until it is swollen by the winter snows, which also add to its coldness; Xenophon (Anab. 1. 2. 23) gives its width as two plethra, or about 200 feet.

⁶⁰ Strabo (xiv. 5. 12 (673)) calls it ψυχρός, but Kinneir, Journey through Asia Minor, p. 121, quoted by Mützell, found it no colder than other streams in that region.

⁶¹ Really in Pamphylia near Lycia, Strabo xiv. 5. 21, ch, 677. Curtius also confuses it with Lyrnesus in the Troad.

⁶² Cf. Pindar, Pyth. i. 30 ff; Mela i. 13. 24.

⁶³ Cf. Hor. Sat. ii. 4. 68; Pliny, N. H. xxi. 6. 17 (31).

⁶⁴ See iii. 4. 5, note 58.

⁶⁵ iii. 1. 21, note 13.

⁶⁶ Since the battle of Issus took place in November, 333 (Arr. ii. 11. 10), aestas is used of a southern autumn with its varying temperature.

⁶⁷ Solis…accendit: cf. iv. 7. 6; vii. 5. 3. The language is poetic; Lucr. v. 595 sol calido perfundit cuncta vapore.

⁶⁸ Arrian (ii . 4. 7-11) makes much less of this incident than Curtius, who indulges in his love for the dramatic and for rhetoric. Probably Alexander, who had descended 3000 feet in three days, already had the Cilician fever, and the bath aggravated his ailment, rather than caused it. Aristobulus (Arr. l.c.) says that he fell ill from fatigue.

⁶⁹ Arrian (ii. 4. 8) says that he was also a brave man in the field.

⁷⁰ It was a strong purge (Arr. ii. 4. 8).

⁷¹ In oculis, most frequently of actual sight, as in ix. 4. 11, less so of the mind or fancy; cf. iv. 13. 1; viii. 6. 21.

⁷² He was in Cappadocia (Justin xi. 8. 5). Justin's ignarus infirmitatis Alexandri is contradicted by vi. 10. 34.

⁷³ Plut. Alex. xix. 3 says his daughter; Justin and Arrian mention only the bribe of money.

⁷⁴ For this meaning see viii. 8. 22; in a different sense, viii. 6. 19.

⁷⁵ Diluerat is the technical term.

⁷⁶ Cf. ix. 5. 30; Sen. De Clem. i. 4 confessus omnes unius spiritu vivere.

⁷⁷ Cf. vi. 7. 5; Ter. Phormio 345; Hor. Odes i. 35. 2.