No More Learning

12 In the first engagement, Philomelus drove the Thebans from their camp; 13 but in the next he was killed, fighting in front among the thickest of the enemy, and paid the penalty of his sacrilege by the effusion of his impious blood. 14 Onomarchus was made general in his stead.

[8. 2] L To oppose Onomarchus, the Thebans and Thessalians chose as general, not one of their own people, lest they should not be able to endure his rule if he should conquer, 2 but Philippus, king of Macedonia, voluntarily submitting to that power from a foreigner which they dreaded in the hands of their own countrymen. 3 Philippus, as if he were the avenger of the sacrilege, not the defender of the Thebans, ordered all his soldiers to assume crowns of laurel, and proceeded to battle as if under the leadership of the god. 4 The Phocians, seeing these symbols of the deity, and burdened with the consciousness of guilt, threw down their arms and fled, receiving punishment for their violation of religion by the bloodshed and slaughter that they suffered. 5 This affair brought incredibly great glory to Philippus in the opinion of all people, 6 who called him "the avenger of the god, and the defender of religion," and said that "he alone had arisen to require satisfaction for what ought to have been punished by the combined force of the world, 7 and was consequently worthy to be ranked next to the gods, as by him the majesty of the gods had been vindicated. "

8 The Athenians, hearing the result of the conflict, and fearing that Philippus would march into Greece, took possession of the straits of Thermopylae, as they had done on the invasion of the Persians, but by no means with like spirit, or in a similar cause; 9 for then they fought on behalf of the liberty of Greece, now, on behalf of public sacrilege; then to defend the temples of the gods from the ravages of an enemy, now, to defend the plunderers of temples against the avengers of their guilt, 10 acting as advocates of a crime of which it was dishonourable to them that others should have been the punishers, 11 and utterly unmindful that, in their dangers, they had often had recourse to this deity as a counsellor; that, under his guidance, they had entered on so many wars with success, had founded so many cities auspiciously, and had acquired so extensive a dominion by sea and land: and that they had never done anything, either of a public or private nature, without the sanction of his authority. 12 Strange that a people of such ability, improved by every kind of learning, and formed by the most excellent laws and institutions, should have brought such guilt upon themselves as to leave nothing with which they could afterwards justly upbraid barbarians.

[8. 3] L Nor did Philippus distinguish himself by more honourable conduct towards his allies; 2 for, as if he was afraid of being surpassed by his opponents in the guilt of sacrilege, he seized and plundered, like an enemy, cities of which he had just before been captain, which had fought under his auspices, and which had congratulated him and themselves on their victories; 3 he sold the wives and children of the inhabitants for slaves; 4 he spared neither the temples of the gods, nor other sacred structures, nor the penates, public or private, before whom he had recently presented himself as a guest; 5 so that he seemed not so much to avenge sacrilege as to seek a license for committing it.

6 In the next place, as if he had done everything well, he crossed over into Chalcidice, where, conducting his wars with equal perfidy, and treacherously capturing or killing the neighbouring princes, he united the whole of the province to the kingdom of Macedonia. 7 Afterwards, to throw a veil over his character for dishonesty, for which he was now deemed remarkable above other men, he sent persons through the kingdoms and the richest of the cities, 8 to spread a report that king Philippus was ready to contract, at a vast sum, for the re-building of the walls, temples, and sacred edifices, in the several towns, and to invite contractors by public criers; 9 but when those who were willing to undertake these works went to Macedonia, they found themselves put off with various excuses, and, from dread of the king's power, returned quietly to their homes. 10 Soon after he fell upon the Olynthians, because, after the death of one of his brothers, they had, from pity, afforded a refuge to two others, whom, being the sons of his step-mother, Philippus would gladly have cut off, as pretenders to a share in the throne. 11 For this reason he destroyed an ancient and noble city, consigning his brothers to the death long before destined for them, and delighting himself at the same time with a vast quantity of booty, and the gratification of his fratricidal inclinations. 12 Next, as if everything that he meditated was lawful for him to do, he seized upon the gold mines in Thessaly, and the silver ones in Thrace, 13 and, to leave no law or right unviolated, proceeded to engage in piracy. 14 While such was his conduct, it happened that two brothers, princes of Thrace, chose him as arbitrator in their disputes, not, indeed, from respect for his justice, but because each dreaded that he would unite his strength to that of the other. 15 Philippus, in accordance with his practice and disposition, came unexpectedly upon the brothers with an army in full array, not apparently to try a cause, but to fight a battle, and spoiled them both of their dominions, not like a judge, but with the perfidy and baseness of a robber.

[8. 4] L During the course of these transactions, ambassadors came to him from the Athenians to ask for peace. 2 Having listened to their request, he despatched ambassadors to Athens with terms, and a peace was concluded there to the advantage of both parties. 3 Embassies came to him also from other states of Greece, not from inclination for peace, but for fear of war; 4 for the Thessalians and Boeotians, with reviving wrath, entreated that he would prove himself the leader of Greece, as he had professed to be, against the Phocians; 5 such being the hatred with which they were inflamed towards that people, that they chose rather to perish themselves, than not to destroy them, and to submit to the known cruelty of Philippus, rather than spare their enemies. 6 On the other hand, ambassadors from the Phocians (the Lacedaemonians and Athenians joining with them) endeavoured to avert the war, forbearance from which they had thrice before purchased from Philippus. 7 It was a shameful and miserable sight, to behold Greece, even then the most distinguished country in the world for power and dignity, a country that had constantly been the conqueror of kings and nations, and was still mistress of many cities, waiting at a foreign court to ask or deprecate war;8 that the champions of the world should place all their hopes on assistance from another, and should be reduced, by their discords and civil feuds, to such a condition as to flatter a power which had lately been a humble portion of their dependencies; 9 and that the Thebans and Lacedaemonians should especially do this, who were formerly rivals for sovereignty, but now for the favour of a sovereign. 10 Philippus, to show his importance, assumed an air of disdain for these great cities, and deliberated to which of the two he should vouchsafe his favour. 11 Having heard both embassies privately, he promised to the one security from war, binding them by an oath to reveal his answer to nobody; to the other he engaged himself to come and bring them assistance. He charged them both neither to prepare for war, nor to fear it. 12 Different replies being thus given to each, he seized, while they were all free from apprehension, on the pass of Thermopylae.

[8. 5] L The Phocians in consequence, finding themselves overreached by the cunning of Philippus, were the first, in great trepidation, to take arms. 2 But there was no time to make due preparation for war, or to collect auxiliaries, and Philippus, unless a surrender should be made, threatened their destruction. 3 Overcome, accordingly, by necessity, they submitted, stipulating only for their lives. 4 But this stipulation was just as faithfully observed by Philippus as his promises had been respecting the war which they had deprecated. 5 They were everywhere put to the sword, or made prisoners; children were not left to their parents, nor wives to their husbands, nor the statues of the gods in the temples. 6 The sole comfort of the wretched people was, that as Philippus had defrauded his allies of their share of the spoil, they saw none of their property in the hands of their enemies.

7 On his return to his kingdom, as shepherds drive their flocks sometimes into winter, sometimes into summer pastures, so he transplanted people and cities hither and thither, according to his caprice, as places appeared to him proper to be peopled or left desolate. 8 The aspect of things was everywhere wretched, like that of a country ravaged by an enemy. 9 There was not, indeed, that terror of a foe, or hurrying of troops through the cities, or seizure of property and prisoners, which are seen during a hostile invasion; but there prevailed a sorrow and sadness not expressed in words, 10 the people fearing that even their very tears would he thought signs of discontent 11 Their grief was augmented by the very concealment of it, sinking the deeper the less they were permitted to utter it. 12 At one time they contemplated the sepulchres of their ancestors, at another their old household gods, at another the homes in which they had been born, and in which they had had families; 13 lamenting sometimes their own fate, that they had lived to that day, and sometimes that of their children, that they were not born after it.

[8. 6] L Some people he planted upon the frontiers of his kingdom to oppose his enemies; others he settled at the extremities of it. Some, whom he had taken prisoners in war, he distributed among certain cities to fill up the number of inhabitants; 2 and thus, out of various tribes and nations, he formed one kingdom and people. 3 When he had settled and put in order the affairs of Macedonia, he reduced the Dardanians and others of his neighbours, who were overreached by his treacherous dealings. 4 Nor did he keep his hands even from his own relations; for he resolved on expelling Arrybas, king of Epirus, who was nearly related to his wife Olympias, out of his kingdom; 5 and he invited Alexander, a step-son of Arrybas, and brother of his wife Olympias (a youth of remarkable beauty), into Macedonia, in his sister's name, 6 and engaged him, after earnestly tempting him with hopes of his father's throne, and pretending violent love for him, in a criminal intercourse, thinking to find greater submission from him, whether through shame on account of his guilt, or through obligation for a kingdom conferred upon him. 7 When he was twenty years of age, accordingly, he took the kingdom from Arrybas, and gave it to the youth, acting a base part towards both, 8 for he disregarded the claims of kinship in him from whom he took the kingdom, and corrupted him to whom he gave it before he made him a king.

BOOK 9

[9. 1] L When Philippus had once come into Greece, allured by the plunder of a few cities, and had formed an opinion, from the spoil of such towns as were of less note, how great must be the riches of all its cities put together, he resolved to make war upon the whole of Greece. 2 Thinking that it would greatly conduce to the promotion of his design, if he could get possession of Byzantium, a noble city and seaport, which would be a station for his forces by land and sea, he proceeded, as it shut its gates against him, to lay close siege to it. 3 This city had been founded by Pausanias, king of Sparta, and held by him for seven years, but afterwards, as the fortune of war varied, it was regarded as at one time belonging to the Athenians, and at another to the Lacedaemonians; 4 and this uncertainty of possession was the cause that, while neither party supported it as its own, it maintained its liberty with the greater determination. 5 Philippus, exhausted by the length of the siege, had recourse to piracy for a supply of money, 6 and having captured a hundred and seventy ships, and sold off the cargoes, he was enabled for a while to relieve his craving wants. 7 But that so great an army might not be wasted in the siege of a single city, he marched away with his best troops, and stormed some towns of the Chersonese. 8 He also sent for his son Alexander, who was then eighteen years of age, to join him, and learn the rudiments of war in the camp of his father. 9 He made an expedition, too, into Scythia, to get plunder, that, after the practice of traders, he might make up for the expenses of one war by the profits of another.

[9. 2] L The king of the Scythians at that time was Atheas, who, being distressed by a war with the Istrians, sought aid from Philippus through the people of Apollonia, on the understanding that he would adopt him for his successor on the throne of Scythia. 2 But in the meantime, the king of the Istrians died, and relieved the Scythians both from the fear of war and the want of assistance. 3 Atheas, therefore, sending away the Macedonians, ordered a message to be sent to Philippus, that "he had neither sought his aid, nor proposed his adoption; 4 for the Scythians needed no protection from the Macedonians, to whom they were superior in the field, nor did he himself want an heir, as he had a son living. " 5 When Philippus heard this, he sent ambassadors to Atheas to ask him to defray at least a portion of the expense of the siege, that he might not be forced to raise it for want of money; 6 "a request," he said, "with which he ought the more readily to comply, as, when he sent soldiers to his assistance, he had not even paid their expenses on the march, to say nothing of remuneration for their service. " 7 Atheas, alluding to the rigour of their climate and the barrenness of their soil, which, far from enriching the Scythians with wealth, scarcely afforded them sustenance, replied, that "he had no treasury to satisfy so great a king, 8 and that he thought it less honourable to do little than to refuse altogether; 9 but that the Scythians were to be estimated by their valour and hardiness of body, not by their possessions. " 10 Philippus, mocked by this message, broke up the siege of Byzantium, and entered upon a war with the Scythians, first sending ambassadors to lull them into security, by telling Atheas that "while he was besieging Byzantium, he had vowed a statue to Hercules, 11 which he was going to erect at the mouth of the Ister, requesting an unobstructed passage to pay his vow to the god, since he was coming as a friend to the Scythians. " 12 Atheas desired him, "if his object was merely to fulfil his vow, to let the statue be sent to him," promising that "it should not only be erected, but should remain uninjured," but refusing "to allow an army to enter his territories," 13 and adding that, "if he should set up the statue in spite of the Scythians, he would take it down when he was gone, and turn the brass of it into heads for arrows. " 14 With feelings thus irritated on both sides, a battle was fought. Though the Scythians were superior in courage and numbers, they were defeated by the subtlety of Philippus. 15 Twenty thousand young men and women were taken, and a vast number of cattle, but no gold or silver. This was the first proof which they had of the poverty of Scythia. 16 Twenty thousand fine mares were sent into Macedonia to raise a breed.

[9. 3] L But as Philippus was returning from Scythia, the Triballi met him, and refused to allow him a passage, unless they received a share of the spoil. 2 Hence arose a dispute, and afterwards a battle, in which Philippus received so severe a wound through the thigh, that his horse was killed by it; 3 and while it was generally supposed that he was dead, the booty was lost. Thus the Scythian spoil, as if attended with a curse, had almost proved fatal to the Macedonians.

4 But as soon as he recovered from his wound, he made war upon the Athenians, of which he had long dissembled his intention. 5 The Thebans espoused their cause, fearing that if the Athenians were conquered, the war, like a fire in the neighbourhood, would spread to them. 6 An alliance being accordingly made between the two cities, which were just before at violent enmity with each other, they wearied Greece with embassies, stating that "they thought the common enemy should be repelled by their common strength, 7 for that Philippus would not rest, if his first attempts succeeded, until he had subjugated all Greece. " 8 Some of the cities were moved by these arguments, and joined themselves to the Athenians; but the dread of a war induced some to go over to Philippus. 9 A battle being brought on, though the Athenians were far superior in number of soldiers, they were conquered by the valour of the Macedonians, which was invigorated by constant service in the field. 10 They were not, however, in defeat, unmindful of their ancient valour; for, falling with wounds in front, they all covered the places which they had been charged by their leaders to defend, with their dead bodies. 11 This day put an end to the glorious sovereignty and ancient liberty of all Greece.

[9. 4] L Philippus' joy for this victory was artfully concealed. He abstained from offering the usual sacrifices on that day; he did not smile at table, or mingle any diversions with the entertainment; he had no chaplets or perfumes; and, as far as was in his power, he so managed his conquest that none might think of him as a conqueror. 2 He desired that he should not be called king, but general of Greece; 3 and conducted himself with such prudence, between his own secret joy on the one hand and the grief of the enemy on the other, that he neither appeared to his own subjects to rejoice, nor to the vanquished to insult them. 4 To the Athenians, whom he had found to be his bitterest enemies, he both sent back their prisoners without ransom, and gave up the bodies of the slain for burial; exhorting them to convey the relics of their dead to the sepulchres of their ancestors. 5 He also sent Alexander his son with his friend Antipater to Athens, to establish peace and friendship with them. 6 The Thebans, however, he compelled to purchase their prisoners, as well as the liberty of burying their dead. 7 Some of the chief men of their city, too, he put to death; others he banished, seizing upon the property of them all. 8 Afterwards, he reinstated in their country those that had been unjustly banished, of whom he made three hundred judges and governors of the city, 9 before whom when the most eminent citizens were arraigned on this very charge, that of having banished them unjustly, they had such spirit that they all acknowledged their participation in the fact, and affirmed that it was better with the state when they were condemned than when they were restored. 10 A wonderful instance of courage! They passed sentence, as far as they could, on those who had the disposal of them for life or death, and set at naught the pardon which their enemies could give them; and, as they could not avenge themselves by deeds, they manifested their boldness of spirit by words.

[9. 5] L War being at an end in Greece, Philippus directed deputies from all the states to be summoned to Corinth, to settle the condition of affairs. 2 Here he fixed terms of peace for the whole of Greece, according to the merits of each city; and chose from them all a council, to form a senate as it were for the country. 3 But the Lacedaemonians, standing alone, showed contempt alike for the terms and the king; regarding the state of things, which had not been agreed upon by the cities themselves, but forced upon them by a conqueror, as a state, not of peace, but of slavery. 4 The number of troops to be furnished by each state was then determined, whether the king, in case of being attacked, was to be supported by their united force, or whether war was to be made on any other power under him as their general. 5 In all these preparations for war it was not to be doubted that the kingdom of Persia was the object in view. 6 The sum of the force was two hundred thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry. 7 Exclusive of this number there was also the army of Macedonia, and the adjacent barbarians of the conquered nations.

8 In the beginning of the next spring, he sent forward three of his generals into that part of Asia which was under the power of the Persians, Parmenion, Amyntas, and Attalus, 9 whose sister he had recently married, having divorced Olympias, the mother of Alexander, on suspicion of adultery.

[9. 6] L In the meantime, while the troops were assembling from Greece, he celebrated the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra with Alexander, whom he had made king of Epirus. 2 The day was remarkable for the pomp displayed on it, suitable to the magnificence of the two princes, him that gave his daughter in marriage, and him that married her. 3 Magnificent games were also celebrated, and as Philippus was going to view them, unattended by his guards, walking between the two Alexanders, his son and son-in-law, 4 Pausanias, a noble Macedonian youth, without being suspected by any one, posting himself in a narrow passage, killed him as he was going through it, and caused a day appointed for joy to be over-clouded with mourning for a death. 5 Pausanias, in the early part of his youth, had suffered gross violence at the hands of Attalus, to the indignity of which was added this further affront, 6 that Attalus had exposed him, after bringing him to a banquet and making him drunk, not only to insults from himself, but also to those of the company, as if he had been a common object for ill-treatment, and rendered him the laughing-stock of those of his own age. 7 Being impatient under this ignominy, Pausanias had often made complaints to Philippus, 8 but being put off with various excuses, not unattended with ridicule, and seeing his adversary also honoured with a general's commission, he turned his rage against Philippus himself, and inflicted on him, as an unjust judge, that revenge which he could not inflict on him as an adversary.

[9. 7] L It is even believed that he was instigated to the act by Olympias, Alexander's mother, and that Alexander himself was not ignorant that his father was to be killed; 2 as Olympias had felt no less resentment at her divorce, and the preferment of Cleopatra to herself, than Pausanias had felt at the insults which he had received. 3 As for Alexander, it is said that he feared his brother by his step-mother as a rival for the throne; and hence it happened that he had previously quarrelled at a banquet, first with Attalus, and afterwards with his father himself, 4 insomuch that Philippus pursued him even with his drawn sword, and was hardly prevented from killing him by the entreaties of his friends. 5 Alexander had in consequence retired with his mother into Epirus, to take refuge with his uncle, and from thence to the king of the Illyrians, 6 and was with difficulty reconciled to his father when he recalled him, and not easily induced by the prayers of his relations to return. 7 Olympias, too, was instigating her brother, the king of Epirus, to go to war with Philippus, and would have prevailed upon him to do so, had not Philippus, by giving him his daughter in marriage, disarmed him as a son-in-law. 8 With these provocations to resentment, both of them are thought to have encouraged Pausanias, when complaining of his insults being left unpunished, to so atrocious a deed. 9 Olympias, it is certain, had horses prepared for the escape of the assassin; 10 and, when she heard that the king was dead, hastening to the funeral under the appearance of respect, she put a crown of gold, the same night that she arrived, on the head of Pausanias, as he was hanging on a cross; an act which no one but she would have dared to do, as long as the son of Philippus was alive. 11 A few days after, she burnt the body of the assassin, when it had been taken down, upon the remains of her husband, and made him a tomb in the same place; she also provided that yearly sacrifices should be performed to his manes, possessing the people with a superstitious notion for the purpose. 12 Next she forced Cleopatra, for whose sake she had been divorced from Philippus, to hang herself, having first killed her daughter in her lap, and enjoyed the sight of her suffering this vengeance, to which she had hastened by procuring the death of her husband. 13 Last of all she consecrated the sword, with which the king had been killed, to Apollo, under the name of Myrtale, which was Olympias's own name when a child. 14 And all these things were done so publicly, that she seems to have been afraid lest it should not be evident enough that the deed was promoted by her.

[9. 8] L Philippus died at the age of forty-seven, after having reigned twenty-five years. 2 He had, by a dancing girl of Larissa, a son named Aridaeus, who reigned after Alexander. 3 He had also many others by several wives, as is not unusual with princes, some of whom died a natural death, and others by the sword. 4 As a king, he was more inclined to display in war, than in entertainments; 5 and his greatest riches were means for military operations. He was better at getting wealth than keeping it, 6 and, in consequence, was always poor amidst his daily spoliations. 7 Clemency and perfidy were equally valued by him; and no road to victory was, in his opinion, dishonourable. 8 He was equally pleasing and treacherous in his address, promising more than he could perform. He was well qualified either for serious conversation or for jesting. 9 He maintained friendships more with a view to interest than good faith. It was a common practice with him to pretend kindness where he hated, and to counterfeit dislike where he loved; to sow dissension among friends, and try to gain favour from both sides. 10 With such a disposition, his eloquence was very great, his language full of point and studied effect; so that neither did his facility fall short of his art, nor his invention of his facility, nor his art of his invention.

11 To Philippus succeeded his son Alexander, a prince greater than his father, both in his virtues and his vices. 12 Each of the two had a different mode of conquering; the one prosecuted his wars with open force, the other with subtlety; the one delighted in deceiving his enemies, the other in boldly repulsing them. 13 The one was more prudent in council, the other more noble in feeling. 14 The father would dissemble his resentment and often subdue it; when the son was provoked, there was neither delay nor bounds to his vengeance. 15 They were both too fond of wine, but the ill effects of their intoxication were totally different; the father would rush from a banquet to confront the enemy, fight with him, and rashly expose himself to dangers; the son vented his rage, not upon his enemies, but his friends. 16 A battle often sent away Philippus wounded; Alexander often left a banquet stained with the blood of his companions. 17 The one wished to reign with his friends, the other to reign over them. The one preferred to be loved, the other to be feared. 18 To literature both gave equal attention. The father had more cunning, the son more honour. 19 Philippus was more staid in his words, Alexander in his actions. 20 The son felt readier and nobler impulses to spare the conquered; the father showed no mercy even to his allies. The father was more inclined to frugality, the son to luxury. 21 By the same course by which the father laid the foundations of the empire of the world, the son consummated the glory of conquering the whole world.

BOOK 10

[10. 1] L Artaxerxes, king of Persia, had a hundred and fifteen sons by his concubines, but only three begotten in lawful wedlock, Darius, Ariarathes, and Ochus. 2 Of these the father, from paternal fondness, made Darius king during his own lifetime, contrary to the usage of the Persians, among whom the king is changed only by death; 3 for he thought nothing taken from himself that he conferred upon his son, and expected greater enjoyment from having progeny, if he saw the insignia of royalty adorning his son while he lived. 4 But Darius, after such an extraordinary proof of his father's affection, conceived the design of killing him. 5 He would have been bad enough, if he had meditated the parricide alone, but he became so much the worse, by enticing fifty of his brothers to a participation in his crime, and making them parricides in intention as well as himself. 6 It was certainly a kind of prodigy, that, among so great a number, the assassination should not only have been plotted, but concealed, and that of fifty children there should not have been found one, whom either respect for their father's dignity, or reverence for an old man, or gratitude for paternal kindness, could deter from so horrible a purpose. 7 Was the name of father so contemptible among so many sons, that he who should have been secured even against enemies by their protection, should be beset by their treason, and find it easier to defend himself against his foes than his children?

[10. 2] L The cause of the intended parricide was even more atrocious than the crime itself; 2 for after Cyrus was killed in the war against his brother, of which mention has been previously made, Artaxerxes had married Aspasia, the concubine of Cyrus; 3 and Darius had required that his father should resign her to him as he had resigned the kingdom. Artaxerxes, from fondness for his children, said at first that he would do so, 4 but afterwards, from a change of mind, and in order plausibly to refuse what he had inconsiderately promised, made her a priestess of the sun, an office which obliged her to perpetual chastity. 5 The young Darius, being incensed at this proceeding, broke out at first into reproaches against his father, and subsequently entered into this conspiracy with his brothers. But while he was meditating destruction for his father, he was discovered and apprehended with his associates, and paid the penalty of his guilt to the gods who avenge paternal authority. 6 The wives of them all, too, together with their children, were put to death, that no memorial of such execrable wickedness might be left. 7 Soon after Artaxerxes died of a disease contracted by grief, having been happier as a king than as a father.

[10. 3] L Possession of the throne was given to Ochus, who, dreading a similar conspiracy, filled the palace with the blood and dead bodies of his kinsmen and the nobility, being touched with compassion neither for consanguinity, nor sex, nor age, lest, apparently, he should be thought less wicked than his brothers that had meditated parricide.

2 Having thus, as it were, purified his kingdom, he made war upon the Cadusii; 3 in the course of which one Codomannus, followed by applause from all the Persians, engaged with one of the enemy that offered himself for single combat, and, having killed his antagonist, regained the victory for his fellow soldiers, as well as the glory which they had almost lost. 4 For this honourable service Codomannus was made governor of Armenia. 5 Sometime after, on the death of Ochus, he was chosen king by the people from regard to his former merits, and, that nothing might be wanting to his royal dignity, honoured with the name of Darius. 6 He maintained a long war, with various success, but with great efforts, against Alexander the Great. 7 But being at last overcome by Alexander, and slain by his relations, he terminated his life and the kingdom of the Persians together.

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Justinus: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories
- books 11 to 12
Translated by Rev. J. S. Watson (1853). See key to translations for an explanation of the format.


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BOOK 11

[11. 1] L In the army of Philippus there were various nations, and after his death different feelings prevailed among them. 2 Some, oppressed with an unjust yoke, were excited with hopes of recovering their liberty; 3 others, from dislike of going to war in a distant country, rejoiced that the expedition was broken off; 4 others grieved that the torch, kindled at the daughter's nuptials, should have been applied to the funeral pile of the father. 5 It was no small fear, too, that possessed his friends on so sudden a change, contemplating at one time Asia that had been provoked, at another Europe that was not yet pacified, 6 at another the Illyrians, Thracians, Dardanians, and other barbarous nations, who were of wavering faith and perfidious dispositions, and whom, if they should all rebel at once, it would be utterly impossible to resist.

7 To all these apprehensions the succession of Alexander was a relief, 8 who, in a public assembly, so effectually soothed and encouraged the people, as to remove all uneasiness from those that were afraid, and to fill every one with favourable expectations. 9 He was now twenty years old; at which age he gave great promise of what he would be, but with such modesty, that it was evident he reserved the further proofs of his ability for the time of action. 10 He granted the Macedonians relief from all burdens, except that of service in war; by which conduct he gained such popularity with his subjects, that they said they had changed only the person, not the virtues, of their king.

[11. 2] L His first care was about his father's funeral, when he caused all who had been privy to his murder to be put to death at his burial-place. 2 The only one that he spared was Alexander Lyncestes his brother, preserving in him the man who had first acknowledged his royal authority, for he had been the first to salute him king. 3 His brother Caranus, a rival for the throne, as being the son of his step-mother, he ordered to be slain.

4 In the beginning of his reign he put down many tribes that were revolting, and quelled some seditions in their birth. 5 Encouraged by his success, he marched with haste into Greece, where, after his father's example, having summoned the states to meet at Corinth, he was appointed general in his place. 6 He then turned his attention to the war with Persia, of which a commencement had been made by Philippus; 7 but, as he was engaged in preparations for it, he received intelligence that "the Thebans and Athenians had gone over from his side to that of the Persians, and that the author of the defection was the orator Demosthenes, who had been bribed by the Persians with a large sum of money, 8 and who had asserted that the whole army of the Macedonians, with their king, had been cut off by the Triballi, producing the author of the information before an assembly of the people, a man who said that he had been wounded in the battle in which the king had fallen. 9 In consequence of which statement," it was added, "the feelings of almost all the cities were changed, and the garrisons of the Macedonians besieged. " 10 To repress these commotions, he marched upon Greece with an army in full array, and with such speed, that they could scarcely believe they saw him of whose approach they were so little aware.

[11. 3] L In the course of his march he had exhorted the Thessalians to peace, reminding them of the kindnesses shown them by his father Philippus, and of his mother's connection with them by the family of the Aeacidae. 2 The Thessalians gladly listening to such an address, he was chosen, like his father, supreme commander of the whole nation, and they resigned into his hand all their customs and public revenues. 3 The Athenians, as they had been the first to rebel, were also the first to repent of their rebellion, 4 turning their contempt for their enemy into admiration of him, and extolling the youth of Alexander, which they had previously despised, above the merits of old generals. 5 Sending ambassadors, therefore, they deprecated war; and Alexander, listening to their treaties, and severely reproving them for their conduct, laid aside hostilities against them. 6 He then directed his march towards Thebes, intending to show similar indulgence, if he found similar penitence. 7 But the Thebans had recourse, not to prayers or in treaties, but to arms, and, being conquered, suffered the severest hardships of the most wretched state of subjugation. 8 It being debated in a council of war whether the city should be destroyed, the Phocians, Plataeans, Thespians, and Orchomenians, who were the allies of Alexander and sharers in his victory, dwelt upon the destruction of their own cities and the cruelty of the Thebans, 9 urging against them not only their present, but former, defection to the Persians, to the prejudice of the common liberty of Greece; 10 "on which account," they said, "they were an object of general hatred, as was manifest from the fact that all the Greeks had bound themselves by an oath to demolish Thebes as soon as they had conquered the Persians. " 11 They brought forward also the fabulous accounts of their old crimes, with which they had filled every theatre, to make them odious not only for their recent perfidy, but for their ancient infamy.

[11. 4] L Cleadas, one of those who had been taken prisoners, being permitted to speak in their behalf, said, that "they had not revolted from the king, whom they understood to be killed, but from the king's heirs; 2 that what had been done in the matter was the fault, not of treachery, but of credulity; for which, however, they had already suffered severely by the loss of the flower of their soldiery; 3 that there was left them only a multitude of old men and women, equally weak and harmless, but who had been so harassed by contumelies and insults, that they had never endured anything more grievous; 4 and that he did not now intercede for his countrymen, of whom so few survived, but for their unoffending natal soil, and for a city which had given birth, not only to men, but to gods. " 5 He endeavoured to work upon the king, too, from his superstitious regard for Hercules, who had been born at Thebes, and from whom the family of the Aeacidae was descended, and from the reflection that the youth of his father Philippus had been spent at Thebes; 6 and he conjured him "to spare a city which adored some of his ancestors, who had been born in it, as gods, and saw others who had been brought up in it, princes of the highest dignity. " 7 But resentment was more powerful than entreaty. The city was in consequence demolished, the lands divided among the conquerors, 8 and the prisoners publicly sold, their price being settled not for the profit of those who bought them, but according to the hatred of their enemies. 9 Their fate seemed to the Athenians deserving of pity; and they therefore, though contrary to the king's prohibition, opened their gates for the reception of the exiles.
10 At this proceeding Alexander was so displeased, that when they deprecated war by a second embassy, he forbore from hostilities only on condition that their orators and leaders, through confidence in whom they had so often rebelled, should be delivered up to him. 11 The Athenians preparing to comply, lest they should be compelled to abide a war, the matter ended in this arrangement, that the orators should be retained and the generals banished; 12 when the latter immediately went over to Darius, and formed no inconsiderable addition to the strength of the Persians.

[11. 5] L When he set out to the Persian war, he put to death all his step-mother's relations whom Philippus had advanced to any high dignity, or appointed to any command. 2 Nor did he spare such of his own kinsmen as seemed qualified to fill the throne, lest any occasion for rebellion should be left in Macedonia during his absence; 3 and of the tributary princes he took such as were distinguished for ability to the war with him, leaving the less able at home for the defence of his dominions. 4 Having then assembled his troops, he put them on shipboard, where, excited with incredible animation at the sight of Asia, he erected altars to the twelve gods to offer prayers for success in the war. 5 He divided all his private property, which he had in Macedonia and the rest of Europe, among his friends, saying, "that for himself Asia was sufficient. " 6 Before any ship left the shore, he offered sacrifices, praying for "victory in that war, in which he had been chosen the avenger of Greece so often assailed by the Persians, 7 to whom," he said, "a reign sufficiently long had been granted, a reign that had now reached maturity, and it was time that others, who would conduct themselves better, should take their place. " 8 Nor were the anticipations of the army different from those of the prince; 9 for all the soldiers, unmindful of their wives and children, and of the length of the expedition from home, contemplated the Persian gold, and the wealth of the whole east, as already their own prey, thinking neither of the war nor its perils, but of riches only. 10 When they arrived at the continent of Asia, Alexander first of all threw a dart into the enemy's country, and leaped on the shore in full armour, like one dancing the tripudium. He then proceeded to offer sacrifices, 11 praying that "those countries might not unwillingly receive him as their king. " 12 He also sacrificed at Troy, at the tombs of the heroes who had fallen in the Trojan war.

[11. 6] L Marching forward in quest of the enemy, he kept the soldiers from ravaging Asia, telling them that "they ought to spare their own property, and not destroy what they came to possess. " 2 His army consisted of thirty-two thousand infantry, and four thousand five hundred cavalry, with a hundred and eighty-two ships. 3 Whether, with this small force, it is more wonderful that he conquered the world, or that he dared to attempt its conquest, is difficult to determine. 4 When he selected his troops for so hazardous a warfare, he did not choose robust young men, or men in the flower of their age, but veterans, most of whom had even passed their term of service, and who had fought under his father and his uncles; 5 so that he might be thought to have chosen, not soldiers, but masters in war. 6 No one was made an officer who was not sixty years of age; so that he who saw the captains assembled at head-quarters, would have declared that he saw the senate of some ancient republic. 7 None, on the field of battle, thought of flight, but every one of victory; none trusted in his feet, but everyone in his arms.

8 King Darius, on the other hand, from confidence in his strength, abstained from all artifice in his operations; observing that "clandestine measures were fit only for a stolen victory;" he did not attempt to repel the enemy from his frontiers, 9 but admitted them into the heart of his kingdom, thinking it more honourable to drive war out of his kingdom than not to give it entrance. 10 The first engagement, in consequence, was fought on the plains of Adrastia. 11 The Persian army consisted of six hundred thousand men, who were conquered not less by the valour of the Macedonians than by the conduct of Alexander, and took to flight. The slaughter among the Persians was great. 12 Of the army of Alexander there fell only nine foot-soldiers, and a hundred and twenty horse, 13 whom the king buried sumptuously as an encouragement to the rest, honouring them also with equestrian statues, and granting privileges to their relatives. 14 After this victory the greater part of Asia came over to his side. 15 He had also several encounters with Darius's lieutenants, whom he conquered, not so much by his arms, as by the terror of his name.

[11. 7] L During the course of these proceedings, he was acquainted, on the information of a certain prisoner, that a conspiracy was forming against him by Alexander Lyncestes the son-in-law of Antipater, who had been made governor of Macedonia. 2 Fearing, therefore, that, if he were put to death, some disturbance might arise in Macedonia, he only kept him in prison.

3 He soon after marched to a city called Gordium, which is situated between the Greater and Lesser Phrygia, 4 and which he earnestly desired to take, not so much for the sake of plunder, as because he had heard that in that city, in the temple of Jupiter, was deposited the yoke of Gordius's cart; the knot of which, if anyone should loose, the oracles of old had predicted that he should rule all Asia. 5 The cause and origin of the matter was as follows. When Gordius was ploughing in these parts, with oxen that he had hired, birds of every kind began to fly about him. 6 Going to consult the augurs of the next town on the occurrence, he met at the gate a virgin of remarkable beauty, and asked her "which of the augurs he had best consult. " 7 When she, having heard his reason for consulting them, and knowing something of the art from the instruction of her parents, replied, that "a kingdom was portended to him," and offered to become his wife and the sharer of his expectations. 8 So fair a match seemed the chief felicity of a throne. 9 After his marriage a civil war arose among the Phrygians; 10 and when they consulted the oracles how their discord might be terminated, the oracles replied that "a king was required to settle their disputes. " 11 Inquiring a second time as to the person of the king, they were directed to regard him as their king whom they should first observe, on their return, going to the temple of Jupiter on a cart. 12 The person who presented himself to them was Gordius, and they at once saluted him king. 13 He dedicated the cart, in which he was riding when the throne was offered him, "to kingly majesty," and it was placed in the temple of Jupiter. 14 After him reigned his son Midas, who, having been instructed by Orpheus in sacred rites, filled all Phrygia with ceremonies of religion, by which he was better protected, during his whole life, than by arms. 15 Alexander, having taken the city, and gone to the temple of Jupiter, requested to see the yoke of Gordius's cart, 16 and, when it was shown him, not being able to find the ends of the cords, which were hidden within the knots, he put a forced interpretation on the oracle, and cut the cords with his sword; and thus, when the coils were opened out, discovered the ends concealed in them.

[11. 8] L While he was thus engaged, intelligence was brought him that Darius was approaching with a vast army. 2 Fearing the defiles, he crossed Mount Taurus with the utmost speed, advancing, in one of his forced marches, five hundred stades. 3 Arriving at Tarsus, and being charmed with the pleasantness of the river Cydnus, which flows through the midst of the city, he threw off his armour, and, covered as he was with dust and sweat, plunged himself into the water, which was then excessively cold; 4 when, on a sudden, such a numbness seized his nerves, that his voice was lost, and not only was there no hope of saving his life, but not even a means of delaying death could be found. 5 One of his physicians, named Philippus, was the only person that promised a cure; but a letter from Parmenion, which arrived the day before from Cappadocia, rendered him an object of suspicion; 6 for Parmenion, knowing nothing of Alexander's illness, had written to caution him against trusting Philippus, as he had been bribed by Darius with a large sum of money. 7 Alexander, however, thought it better to trust the doubtful faith of the physician, than to perish of certain disease. 8 Taking the cup from Philippus, therefore, he gave him Parmenion's letter to read, and, as he drank, fixed his eyes upon the physician's countenance while he was reading. 9 Seeing him unmoved, he became more cheerful, and recovered his health on the fourth day after.

[11. 9] L Meantime Darius advanced to battle with four hundred thousand foot and a hundred thousand horse. 2 So vast a multitude of enemies caused some distrust in Alexander, when he contemplated the smallness of his own army; but he called to mind, at the same time, how much he had already done, and how powerful people he had overthrown, with that very moderate force. 3 His hopes, therefore, prevailing over his apprehensions, and thinking it more hazardous to defer the contest, lest dismay should fall upon his men, he rode round among his troops, and addressed those of each nation in an appropriate speech. 4 He excited the Illyrians and Thracians by describing the enemy's wealth and treasures, and the Greeks by putting them in mind of their wars of old, and their deadly hatred towards the Persians. 5 He reminded the Macedonians at one time of their conquests in Europe, and at another of their desire to subdue Asia, boasting that no troops in the world had been found a match for them, 6 and assuring them that this battle would put an end to their labours and crown their glory. 7 In the course of these proceedings he caused the army occasionally to halt, that they might, by such stoppages, accustom themselves to endure the sight of so great a multitude. 8 Nor was Darius less active in drawing up his forces. Rejecting the services of his officers, he rode himself through the whole army, encouraged the several divisions, and put them in mind of the ancient glory of the Persians, and the perpetual possession of empire vouchsafed them by the immortal gods. 9 Soon after a battle was fought with great spirit. Both kings were wounded in it. The result remained doubtful until Darius fled,10 when there ensued a great slaughter of the Persians, of whom there fell sixty-one thousand infantry and ten thousand horse, and forty thousand were taken prisoners. On the side of the Macedonians were killed a hundred and thirty foot and a hundred and fifty horse. 11 In the camp of the Persians was found abundance of gold and other treasures; 12 and among the captives taken in it were the mother and wife, who was also the sister, of Darius, and two of his daughters. 13 When Alexander came to see and console them, they threw themselves, at the sight of his armed attendants, into one another's arms, and uttered mournful cries, as if expecting to die immediately. 14 Afterwards, falling at the feet of Alexander, they begged, not that they might live, but that their death might be delayed till they should bury the body of Darius. 15 Alexander, touched with the respectful concern of the princesses for Darius, assured them that the king was still alive, and removed their apprehensions of death; directing, at the same time, that they should be treated as royal personages, 16 and giving the daughters hopes of husbands suitable to the dignity of their father.

[11. 10] L As he afterwards contemplated the wealth and display of Darius, he was seized with admiration of such magnificence. 2 Hence it was that he first began to indulge in luxurious and splendid banquets, and fell in love with his captive Barsine for her beauty, 3 by whom he had afterwards a son that he called Hercules. 4 Not forgetting, however, that Darius was still alive, he despatched Parmenion to seize the Persian fleet, and commissioned some others of his friends to secure the cities of Asia, 5 which, on hearing the report of the victory, had immediately submitted to the conqueror, the satraps of Darius surrendering themselves with a vast quantity of treasure. 6 He next marched into Syria, where he was met by several princes of the east with fillets on their heads. 7 Of these, according to their respective deserts, he received some into alliance; others he deprived of their thrones, and put new kings in their places. 8 Above the rest Abdolonymus, appointed by Alexander king of Sidon, stood pre-eminent; 9 a man whom, when he was living a life of poverty, being accustomed to draw water, and water gardens for hire, Alexander made a king, setting aside the nobles, lest they should regard his favour as shown to their birth, and not as proceeding from the kindness of the giver.

10 The city of Tyre sending Alexander, by the hands of a deputation, a golden crown of great value, as a token of congratulation, he received their present kindly, and told them that "he intended to visit Tyre to pay his vows to Hercules. " 11 The deputies replying that "he would do that better at Old Tyre, and in the more ancient temple;" he was so provoked with them, because they evidently deprecated his visit, that he threatened their city with destruction. 12 Bringing up his army, soon after, to the island, he was met with a hostile resistance, the Tyrians, from reliance on Carthage, being not less determined than himself. 13 The example of Dido had stimulated the Tyrians; for that queen, after founding Carthage, had secured the empire over the third part of the world; and they thought it would be dishonourable if their women should show more courage in acquiring dominion than they in defending their liberty. 14 They removed to Carthage, therefore, such as were unfit for war, and sent at once for assistance, but were, not long afterwards, reduced by treachery.

[11. 11] L Alexander next got possession of Rhodes and Cilicia without an effort. 2 He then went to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, to consult the oracle about the event of his future proceedings, and his own parentage. 3 For his mother Olympias had confessed to her husband Philippus, that "she had conceived Alexander, not by him, but by a serpent of extraordinary size. " 4 Philippus, too, towards the end of his life, had publicly declared that "Alexander was not his son;" 5 and he accordingly divorced Olympias, as having been guilty of adultery. 6 Alexander, therefore, anxious to obtain the honour of divine paternity, and to clear his mother from infamy, instructed the priests, by messengers whom he sent before him, what answers he wished to receive. 7 The priests, as soon as he entered the temple, saluted him as the son of Ammon. 8 Alexander, pleased with the god's adoption of him, directed that he should be regarded as his son. 9 He then inquired "whether he had taken vengeance on all that had been concerned in the assassination of his father. " He was answered that "his father could neither be assassinated, nor could die; but that vengeance for Philippus' death had been fully exacted. " 10 On putting a third question, he was told that "success in all his wars, and dominion over the world, was granted him. " 11 A response was also given by the oracle to his attendants, that "they should reverence Alexander as a god, and not as a king. " 12 Hence it was that his haughtiness was so much increased, and a strange arrogance arose in his mind, the agreeableness of demeanour, which he had contracted from the philosophy of the Greeks and the habits of the Macedonians, being entirely laid aside. 13 On his return from the temple of Ammon he founded Alexandria, and desired that that colony of the Macedonians might be considered the metropolis of Egypt.

[11. 12] L Darius, having fled to Babylon, entreated Alexander, in a letter, "to give him permission to redeem his prisoners," offering a large sum for their ransom. 2 But Alexander demanded his whole kingdom, and not a sum of money, as the price of their release. 3 Sometime after, another letter from Darius was brought to Alexander, in which one of his daughters was offered him in marriage, and a portion of his kingdom. 4 Alexander replied that "what was offered was his own," and desired him ''to come to him as a suppliant, and to leave the disposal of his kingdom to his conqueror. " 5 All hopes of peace being thus lost, Darius resumed hostilities, and proceeded to meet Alexander with four hundred thousand infantry and a hundred thousand cavalry. 6 On his march he was informed that "his wife had died of a miscarriage, and that Alexander had mourned for her death, and attended her funeral; acting, in that respect, not from love, but merely from kindness of feeling; 7 as Darius's wife had been visited by him but once, though he had often gone to console his mother and her little daughters. "

8 Darius now considered himself indeed overcome, since, after losing so many battles, he was surpassed by his enemy even in kindnesses, and declared that it was a consolation to him since he could not conquer, to be conquered by such an enemy. 9 He therefore wrote a third letter to Alexander, thanking him for not having acted as an enemy towards his family, 10 and offering him a larger portion of his kingdom, even as far as the river Euphrates, another of his daughters in marriage, and thirty thousand talents for the other prisoners. 11 To this Alexander replied, that "thanks were needless from an enemy; 12 that nothing had been done by him to flatter Darius, or to gain the means of mollifying him, with a view either to the doubtful results of war, or to conditions of peace; 13 but that he had acted from a certain greatness of mind, by which he had learned to fight against the forces of his enemies, not to take advantage of their misfortunes;" 14 and he promised at the same time, that "he would comply with the wishes of Darius, if he would be content to be second to him, and not his equal; 15 but that the universe could not be governed by two suns, nor could the earth with safety have two sovereigns; 16 and that he must consequently either prepare to surrender on that day, or to fight on the next, and must promise himself no better success than he had already experienced. "

[11. 13] L On the next day they drew up their armies; when, on a sudden, before they came to battle, a deep sleep fell on Alexander, who was wearied with making arrangements. 2 Nothing but the presence of the king being wanting, in order to commence the engagement, he was awakened, though with difficulty, by Parmenion, and as those about him asked the reason of his sleeping in the midst of danger, when he was sparing of sleep even in time of security, 3 he answered that "he had been relieved from great concern, and that his repose was occasioned by sudden freedom from apprehension, since he should now engage with the forces of Darius in a body; whereas he had dreaded, if the Persians should divide their army, that the war would be greatly protracted. " 4 Before the battle commenced, each army was an object of admiration to its antagonists. 5 The Macedonians admired the host of men opposed to them, their stature, and the beauty of their armour. The Persians were amazed that so many thousands of their countrymen had been defeated by so small a force. 6 Nor did the kings forbear to ride round among their troops. 7 Darius told his men, that "if a division of the enemy were made, scarcely one man would fall to ten of his own armed followers. " 8 Alexander exhorted the Macedonians "not to be alarmed at the numbers of the enemy, their stature, or the strangeness of their complexion. " 9 He bade them remember only that "they were now fighting for the third time with the same adversaries; and not to imagine that they had been rendered braver by defeat, as they would bring into the field with them the sad recollection of former disasters, and of the bloodshed in the two previous engagements;" 10 adding, that "Darius had the greater number of human beings, but he himself the greater number of men. " 11 He admonished them "to despise an army glittering with gold and silver, in which they would find more spoil than danger, since victory was to be gained, not by splendour of arms, but by the power of the sword. "

[11. 14] L Soon after, the battle was begun. The Macedonians rushed upon the swords presented to them, with contempt for an enemy whom they had so often defeated. The Persians, on the other hand, were desirous to die rather than be conquered. 2 Seldom has there been so much bloodshed in a battle. 3 Darius, when he saw his army repulsed, wished himself to die, but was compelled by his officers to flee. 4 Some advising that the bridge over the Cydnus should be broken down, in order to stop the advance of the enemy, he said that "he would not provide for his safety in such a way as to expose so many thousands of his followers to the foe; and that the road which was open to himself, ought also to be open to others. " 5 Alexander, meanwhile, made the most hazardous efforts; where he saw the enemy thickest, and fighting most desperately, there he always threw himself, desiring that the peril should be his, and not his soldiers'. 6 By this battle he gained the dominion over Asia, in the fifth year after his accession to the throne. 7 His victory was so decisive, that after it none ventured to rebel against him; and the Persians, after a supremacy of so many years, patiently submitted to the yoke of servitude. 8 After rewarding his soldiers, and allowing them to recover their strength for thirty-four days, he took account of the spoil. 9 He afterwards found forty thousand talents in the city of Susa. 10 Next he took Persepolis, the metropolis of the kingdom of Persia, a city which had been eminent for many years, and which was filled with the spoils of the world, as was now first seen at its destruction. 11 In the course of these proceedings, about eight hundred Greeks met Alexander, men who had been punished in captivity by mutilation of their bodies, and who entreated that, "as he had delivered Greece, he would also release them from the cruelty of their enemies. " 12 Permission was given to them to go home, but they preferred receiving portions of land in Persia, lest, instead of causing joy to their parents by their return, they should merely shock them by the horrid spectacle which they presented.

[11. 15] L Meanwhile, to gain the favour of the conqueror, Darius was confined in golden fetters and chains in a village of the Parthians named Thara; 2 the immortal gods, I suppose, ordaining that the empire of the Persians should have its termination in the country of those who were to succeed them in dominion. 3 Alexander, hastening his march, arrived there on the following day, when he found that Darius had been conveyed from the place in the night, in a covered vehicle. 4 Directing his army to follow him, he pursued the flying prince with six thousand cavalry. On his march he had several severe encounters, 5 and advanced many miles without finding any traces of Darius. But while he was allowing the horses time to rest, one of the soldiers, going to a neighbouring spring, found Darius in the vehicle, wounded in several places, but still alive. 6 One of the Persian captives being brought forward, the dying prince, knowing from his voice that he was his countryman, said that "he had at least this comfort in his present sufferings, that he should speak to one who could understand him, and that he should not utter his last words in vain. " 7 He then desired that the following message should be given to Alexander: that "he died without having done him any acts of kindness, but a debtor to him for the greatest, 8 since he had found his feelings towards his mother and children to be those of a prince, not of a foe; that he had been more happy in his enemy than in his relations, for by his enemy life had been granted to his mother and children, but taken from himself by his relatives, to whom he had given both life and kingdoms; 9 and that such a requital must therefore be made them as his conqueror should please. 10 For himself, that he made the only return to Alexander which he could at the point of death, by praying to the gods above and below, and the powers that protected kings, that the empire of the world might fall to his lot. 11 That he desired the favour of a decent rather than a magnificent funeral; 12 and, as to avenging his death, it was not his cause alone that was concerned, but precedent, and the common cause of all kings, which it would be both dishonourable and dangerous for him to neglect; since, in regard to vengeance, the interests of justice were affected, and, in regard to precedent, those of the general safety. 13 To this effect he gave him his right hand, as the only pledge of a king's faith to be conveyed to Alexander. " Then, stretching out his hand, he expired.

14 When this intelligence was communicated to Alexander, he went to see the body of the dead monarch, and contemplated with tears a death so unsuitable to his dignity. He also directed his corpse to he buried as that of a king, and his relics to be conveyed to the sepulchres of his ancestors.

BOOK 12

[12. 1] L Alexander interred the soldiers, whom he had lost in the pursuit of Darius, at great expense, and distributed thirteen thousand talents among the rest that attended him in that expedition. 2 Of the horses, the greater part were killed by the heat; and those that survived were rendered unfit for service. 3 All the treasure, amounting to a hundred and ninety thousand talents, was conveyed to Ecbatana, and Parmenion was entrusted with the charge of it. 4 In the midst of these proceedings, letters from Antipater in Macedonia were brought to Alexander, in which the war of Agis king of Sparta in Greece, that of Alexander king of Epirus in Italy, and that of Zopyrion his own lieutenant-general in Scythia, were communicated. 5 At this news he was affected with various emotions, but felt more joy at learning the deaths of two rival kings, than sorrow at the loss of Zopyrion and his army.

6 After the departure of Alexander from Macedonia, almost all Greece, as if to take advantage of the opportunity for recovering their liberty, had risen in arms, yielding, in that respect, to the influence of the Lacedaemonians, 7 who alone had rejected peace from Philippus and Alexander, and had scorned the terms on which it was offered. The leader in this insurrection was Agis, king of the Lacedaemonians, 8 but Antipater, assembling an army, suppressed the commotion in its infancy. 9 The slaughter, however, was great on both sides; 10 for king Agis, when he saw his men taking to flight, dismissed his guards, and, that he might seem inferior to Alexander in fortune only, not in valour, made such a havoc among the enemy, that he sometimes drove whole troops before him. 11 At last, overpowered by numbers, he fell superior to all in glory.

[12. 2] L Alexander, too, the king of Epirus, having been invited into Italy by the Tarentines, who desired his assistance against the Bruttians, had gone thither as eagerly as if, in a division of the world, the east had fallen by lot to Alexander, the son of his sister Olympias, and the west to himself, 2 and as if he was likely to have not less to do in Italy, Africa, and Sicily, than Alexander in Asia and Persia. 3 To this was added, that as the oracle at Delphi had forewarned Alexander the Great against treachery in Macedonia, so that of Jupiter at Dodona had admonished the other Alexander "to beware of the city Pandosia and the river Acheron;" and as both these were in Epirus, 4 and he was ignorant that they were also to be found in Italy, he had the more eagerly fixed on this foreign expedition, in hope of escaping the dangers signified in the warning. 5 On his arrival in Italy, his first contest was with the Apulians; 6 but when he learned the destiny appointed to their city, he soon concluded a peace and alliance with their king. 7 The chief city of the Apulians, at that time, was Brundisium, which a party of Aetolians that followed Diomedes, a leader rendered famous and honourable by his achievements at Troy, had founded; 8 but being expelled by the Apulians, and having recourse to some oracle, they received for answer that "they would possess forever the place which they had sought to recover. " 9 On this ground they demanded of the Apulians that their city should be restored, threatening them with war unless the demand should be complied with. 10 But the oracle becoming known to the Apulians, they put the ambassadors to death, and buried them in the city, that they might have a perpetual abode there; and, having thus given the oracle a fulfilment, they long kept possession of the city. 11 Alexander, hearing of this occurrence, and having great respect for the oracles of antiquity, made an end of hostilities with the Apulians.

12 He engaged also in war with the Bruttians and Lucanians, and captured several cities; and he formed treaties and alliances with the Metapontines, Poediculi, and Romans. 13 But the Bruttians and Lucanians, having collected reinforcements from their neighbours, renewed the war with fresh vigour; 14 when the king was slain near the city Pandosia and the river Acheron, not knowing the name of the fatal place before he fell in it, and understanding, as he was expiring, that the death, for fear of which he had fled from his country, had not been to be dreaded in his country. 15 The Thurians ransomed his body at the public expense, and buried it.

16 During these events in Italy, Zopyrion, who had been left governor of Pontus by Alexander the Great, thinking that, if he did not attempt something, he should be stigmatized as indolent, collected a force of thirty thousand men, and made war upon the Scythians. 17 But being cut off, with his whole army, he paid the penalty for a rash attack upon an innocent people.

[12. 3] L When these occurrences were reported to Alexander, who was then in Parthia, he assumed a show of grief on account of his relationship to Alexander, and caused the army to mourn for three days. 2 But while all his men were expecting, as if the war had been ended, to return to their country, and were embracing in imagination their wives and children, he called a general assembly of the troops; 3 in which he told them that "nothing had been done in so many glorious battles, if the barbarians more to the eastward should be left unmolested; that he had not sought the body, but the throne, of Darius; and that those who had revolted from his government must be punished. " 4 Having, by this speech, revived the spirits of his soldiers for new exertions, he subdued Hyrcania and the Mardians. 5 Here Thalestris, or Minithya, queen of the Amazons, came to meet him, having travelled for twenty-five days, with three hundred women in her train, and through extremely populous nations, in order to have issue by him. 6 Her appearance and arrival was a cause of astonishment to all, both from her dress, which was an unusual one for women, and from the object of her visit. 7 To gratify her, thirteen days' rest was allowed by the king; and when she thought herself pregnant, she took her leave.

8 Soon after, Alexander assumed the attire of the Persian monarchs, as well as the diadem, which was unknown to the kings of Macedonia, as if he gave himself up to the customs of those whom he had conquered. 9 And lest such innovations should be viewed with dislike, if adopted by himself alone, he desired his friends also to wear the long robe of gold and purple. 10 That he might imitate the luxury too, as well as the dress of the Persians, he spent his nights among troops of the king's concubines of eminent beauty and birth. 11 To these extravagances he added vast magnificence in feasting; and lest his entertainments should seem jejune and parsimonious, he accompanied his banquets, according to the ostentation of the eastern monarchs, with games; 12 being utterly unmindful that power is accustomed to be lost, not gained, by such practices.

[12. 4] L During the course of these proceedings, there arose throughout the camp a general indignation that he had so degenerated from his father Philippus as to abjure the very name of his country, and to adopt the manners of the Persians, whom, from the effect of such manners, he had overcome. 2 But that he might not appear to be the only person who yielded to the vices of those whom he had conquered in the field, he permitted his soldiers also, if they had formed a connection with any of the female captives, to marry them; 3 thinking that they would feel less desire to return to their country, when they had some appearance of a house and home in the camp, 4 and that the fatigues of war would be relieved by the agreeable society of their wives. 5 He saw, too, that Macedonia would be less drained to supply the army, if the sons, as recruits, should succeed their veteran fathers, and serve within the ramparts within which they were born, 6 and would be likely to show more courage, if they passed, not only their earliest days of service, but also their infancy, in the camp. 7 This custom was also continued under Alexander's successors. 8 Maintenance was provided for the boys, and arms and horses were given them when they grew up; and rewards were assigned to the fathers in proportion to the number of their children. 9 If the fathers of any of them were killed, the orphans notwithstanding received their father's pay; and their childhood was a sort of military service in various expeditions. 10 Inured from their earliest years to toils and dangers, they formed an invincible army; they looked upon their camp as their country, and upon a battle as a prelude to victory. 11 These children bore the title Epigoni {"The Descendants"}. 12 Alexander then conquered the Parthians, and a Persian nobleman, Andragoras, was appointed to be their governor; it was from him that the Parthian kings of later times were descended.

[12. 5] L Alexander, meanwhile, began to show a passionate temper towards those about him, not with a princely severity, but with the vindictiveness of an enemy. 2 What most incensed him was, that reflections were cast upon him in the common talk of the soldiers, for having cast off the customs of his father Philippus and of his country. 3 For this offence, Parmenion, an old man, next to the king in rank, and his son Philotas, were put to death; an examination by torture having been previously held on both of them. 4 At this instance of cruelty, all the soldiers, throughout the camp, began to express their displeasure, being concerned for the fate of the innocent old general and his son, and saying, at times, that "they must expect nothing better for themselves. " 5 These murmurs coming to the knowledge of Alexander, he, fearing that such reports would be carried to Macedonia, and that the glory of his victories would be sullied by the stain of cruelty, pretended that he was going to send home some of his friends to give an account of his successes. 6 He exhorted his soldiers to write to their relatives, as they would now have fewer opportunities on account of the scene of warfare being further from home. 7 The packets of letters, as they were given in, he commanded to be privately brought to him, 8 and having learned from them what everyone thought of him, he put all those, who had given unfavourable opinions of his conduct, into one regiment, with an intention either to destroy them, or to distribute them in colonies in the most distant parts of the earth.

9 He then subdued the Drancae, the Euergetae, the Parymae, the Parapammeni, the (? ) Arimaspi, and other nations that dwelt at the foot of Mount Caucasus.

10 In the meantime Bessus, one of the former friends of Darius, who had not only betrayed his sovereign, but put him to death, was brought to Alexander in chains, 11 who, that he might be punished for his treachery, delivered him to the brother of Darius to be tortured, considering not so much that Darius had been his enemy, as that he had been the friend of the man by whom he had been lulled.

12 That he might leave his name to these parts, he founded the city of Alexandria on the river Tanais, completing a wall six miles in circuit in seventeen days, and transplanting into it the inhabitants of three cities that had been built by Cyrus. 13 He also built twelve cities in the territories of the Bactrians and Sogdians, and distributed among them such of the soldiers as he had found mutinous.

[12. 6] L After these proceedings, he invited his friends on some particular day, to a banquet, 2 where mention being made, when they were intoxicated, of the great things achieved by Philippus, he began to prefer himself to his father, and to extol the vastness of his own exploits to the skies, the greater part of the company agreeing with him; 3 and when Cleitus, one of the older guests, trusting to his hold on the king's friendship, in which he held the principal place, defended the memory of Philippus, and praised his acts, he so provoked Alexander, that he snatched a weapon from one of the guards, and slew him with it in the midst of the guests.