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XVII.1‑16

This webpage reproduces a portion of
The Library of History

of
Diodorus Siculus

published in Vol. VIII
of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1963

The text is in the public domain.

This page has been carefully proofread
and I believe it to be free of errors.
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XVII.40‑63

(Vol. VIII) Diodorus Siculus
Library of History

(Book XVII, continued)

 p163  17 1 When Ctesicles was archon at Athens, the Romans elected as consuls Gaius Sulpicius and Lucius Papirius.​1 Alexander advanced with his army to the Hellespont and transported it from Europe to Asia. 2 He personally sailed with sixty fighting ships to the Troad, where he flung his spear from the ship and fixed it in the ground,​2 and then leapt ashore himself the first of the Macedonians, signifying that he received Asia from the gods as a spear-won prize. 3 He visited the tombs of the heroes Achilles, Ajax, and the rest and honoured them with offerings and other  p165 appropriate marks of respect,​3 and then proceeded to make an accurate count of his accompanying forces.

There were found to be, of infantry, twelve thousand Macedonians, seven thousand allies, and five thousand mercenaries, all of whom were under the command of Parmenion. 4 Odrysians, Triballians, and Illyrians accompanied him to the number of seven thousand; and of archers and the so‑called Agrianians one thousand, making up a total of thirty-two thousand foot soldiers. Of cavalry there were eighteen hundred Macedonians, commanded by Philotas son of Parmenion; eighteen hundred Thessalians, commanded by Callas son of Harpalus; six hundred from the rest of Greece under the command of Erigyius; and nine hundred Thracian and Paeonian scouts with Cassander in command, making a total of forty-five hundred cavalry. These were the men who crossed with Alexander to Asia.​4 5 The soldiers who were left behind in Europe under the command  p167 of Antipater numbered twelve thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse.5

6 As the king began his march out of the Troad and came to the sanctuary of Athena,​6 the sacrificant named Alexander noticed in front of the temple a statue of Ariobarzanes,​7 a former satrap of Phrygia, lying fallen on the ground, together with some other favourable omens that occurred. He came to the king and affirmed that he would be victor in a great cavalry battle and especially if he happened to fight within the confines of Phrygia; 7 he added that the king with his own hands would slay in battle a distinguished general of the enemy. Such, he said, were the portents the gods disclosed to him, and particularly Athena who would help him in his success.

18 1 Alexander welcomed the prediction of the seer and made a splendid sacrifice to Athena, dedicating his own armour to the goddess. Then, taking the finest of the panoplies deposited in the temple, he put it on and used it in his first battle.​8 And this he did in fact decide through his own personal fighting ability and won a resounding victory. But this did not take place till a few days later.

 p169  2 Meanwhile, the Persian satraps and generals had not acted in time to prevent the crossing of the Macedonians,​9 but they mustered their forces and took counsel how to oppose Alexander. Memnon, the Rhodian, famed for his military competence, advocated a policy of not fighting a pitched battle, but of stripping the countryside and through the shortage of supplies preventing the Macedonians from advancing further, while at the same time they sent naval and land forces across to Macedonia and transferred the impact of war to Europe.​10 3 This was the best counsel, as after-events made clear, but, for all that, Memnon failed to win over the other commanders, since his advice seemed beneath the dignity of the Persians. 4 So they decided to fight it out, and summoning forces from every quarter and heavily outnumbering the Macedonians, they advanced in the direction of Hellespontine Phrygia. They pitched camp by the river Granicus, using the bed of the river as a line of defence.

19 1 When Alexander learned of the concentration of the Persian forces, he advanced rapidly and encamped opposite the enemy, so that the Granicus flowed between the encampments. 2 The Persians, resting on high ground, made no move, intending to fall upon the foes as he crossed the river, for they supposed they could easily carry the day when the Macedonian  p171 phalanx was divided. 3 But Alexander at dawn boldly brought his army across the river and deployed in good order before they could stop him.​11 In return, they posted their mass of horsemen all along the front of the Macedonians since they had decided to press the battle with these.​12 4 Memnon of Rhodes and satrap Arsamenes held the left wing each with his own cavalry; Arsites was stationed next with the horsemen from Paphlagonia; then came Spithrobates satrap of Ionia at the head of the Hyrcanian cavalry. The right wing was held by a thousand Medes and two thousand horse with Rheomithres as well as Bactrians of like number.​13 Other national contingents occupied the centre, numerous and picked for their valour. In all, the cavalry amounted to more than ten thousand. 5 The Persian foot soldiers were not fewer than one hundred thousand,​14 but they were posted behind the line and did  p173 not advance since the cavalry was thought to be sufficient to crush the Macedonians.15

6 As the horse of each side joined battle spiritedly, the command of Parmenion gallantly met the attack of the troops posted opposite them; and Alexander, who had the finest of the riders on the right wing with him, personally led the attack upon the Persians and closing with them, began to inflict substantial losses upon them.

20 1 But the Persians resisted bravely and opposed their spirit to the Macedonian valour, as Fortune brought together in one and the same place the finest fighters to dispute the victory. 2 The satrap of Ionia Spithrobates, a Persian by birth and son-in‑law of King Dareius, a man of superior courage, hurled himself at the Macedonian lines with a large body of cavalry, and with an array of forty companions, all Royal Relatives​16 of outstanding valour, pressed hard on the opposite line and in a fierce attack slew some of his opponents and wounded others. 3 As the force of this attack seemed dangerous, Alexander turned his horse toward the satrap and rode at him.17

To the Persian, it seemed as if this opportunity for a single combat was god-given. He hoped that by his individual gallantry Asia might be relieved of its  p175 terrible menace, the renowned daring of Alexander arrested by his own hands, and the glory of the Persians saved from disgrace. He hurled his javelin first at Alexander with so mighty an impulse and so powerful a cast that he pierced Alexander's shield and right epomis and drove through the breastplate.​18 4 The king shook off the weapon as it dangled by his arm, then applying spurs to his horse and employing the favouring momentum of his charge drove his lance squarely into the satrap's chest. 5 At this, adjacent ranks in both armies cried out at the superlative display of prowess. The point, however, snapped off against the breastplate and the broken shaft recoiled, and the Persian drew his sword and drove at Alexander; but the king recovered his grip upon his lance in time to thrust at the man's face and drive the blow home. 6 The Persian fell, but just at this moment, Rhosaces, his brother, galloping up brought his sword down on Alexander's head with such a fearsome blow that it split his helmet and  p177 inflicted a slight scalp wound. 7 As Rhosaces aimed another blow at the same break, Cleitus, surnamed the Black, dashed up on his horse and cut off the Persian's arm.

21 1 The Relatives now pressed in a solid body about the two fallen men;​19 at first they rained their javelins on Alexander, and then closing went all out to slay the king. 2 But exposed as he was to many and fierce attacks he nevertheless was not overborne by the numbers of the foe. Though he took two blows on the breastplate, one on the helmet, and three on the shield​20 which he had brought from the temple of Athena, he still did not give in, but borne up by an exaltation of spirit surmounted every danger. 3 After this, several of the other noble Persians fighting against him fell, of whom the most illustrious were Atizyes and Pharnaces, brother of Dareius's queen, and also Mithrobuzanes who commanded the Cappadocians.21

4 Now that many of their commanders had been slain and all the Persian squadrons were worsted by the Macedonians, those facing Alexander were put to flight first, and then the others also. Thus the  p179 king by common consent won the palm for bravery and was regarded as the chief author of the victory, and next to him the Thessalian cavalry won a great reputation for valour because of the skilful handling of their squadrons and their unmatched fighting quality. 5 After the rout of the cavalry, the foot soldiers engaged one another in a contest that was soon ended. For the Persians, dismayed by the route of the cavalry and shaken in spirit, were quick to flee.​22 6 The total of the Persian infantry killed was more than ten thousand; of the cavalry not less than two thousand; and there were taken alive upwards of twenty thousand.​23 After the battle the king gave magnificent obsequies to the dead,​24 for he thought it important by this sort of honour to create in his men greater enthusiasm to face the hazards of battle.

7 Recovering his forces, Alexander led them down through Lydia and took over the city of the Sardians with its citadels and, what is more, the treasures stored therein, for Mithrines the satrap surrendered them without resistance.25

22 1 Since the Persian survivors of the battle together with the general Memnon had taken refuge  p181 in Miletus, the king set up camp near the city and every day, using his men in relays, made continuous assaults on the walls. 2 At first the besieged easily defended themselves from the walls, for many soldiers were gathered in from the city, and they had abundant provision of missiles and other things useful for the emergency. 3 But when the king, in a more determined fashion, brought up siege engines and rocked the walls and pressed the siege very actively both by land and by sea, and the Macedonians forced an entry through the crumbling walls, then at last yielding to superior force, they took to flight. 4 Immediately the Milesians, falling before the king with suppliant olive boughs, put themselves and their city into his hands. Some of the Persians were slain by the Macedonians, others, breaking out of the city, sought refuge in flight, and all the remainder were taken captive. 5 Alexander treated the Milesians kindly but sold all the rest as slaves.​26 Since the naval force was now useless and entailed great expense, he dismissed the fleet with the exception of a few ships which he employed for the transport of his siege engines. Among these was the Athenian contingent of twenty ships.27

23 1 There are those who say that Alexander's strategic conception was sound, when he dismissed his fleet. For Dareius was still to be reckoned with and there was bound to be a great battle, and he judged that the Macedonians would fight more desperately if he deprived them of all hope of escape by flight. 2 He employed the same device, they say, at  p183 the battle of the Granicus, where he placed the stream at his rear, for no one could think of flight when destruction of any who were followed into the bed of the river was a certainty. There is also, they note, in later years the case of Agathocles, king of the Syracusans, who copied the strategy of Alexander and won an unexpected and decisive victory. 3 He had crossed to Libya with a small force and by burning his ships deprived his men of any hope of escape by flight, thus constraining them to fight like heroes and thereby win a victory over the Carthaginians, who had an army numbering many tens of thousands.28

4 After the capture of Miletus, the bulk of the Persians and mercenaries, as well as the most enterprising of the commanders, concentrated their forces at Halicarnassus. This was the largest city in Caria, containing the palace of the kings of the Carians, and was well provided with interior fortresses. 5 About the same time Memnon sent his wife​29 and children to Dareius, because he calculated that leaving them in the king's care was a good way to ensure their safety, while at the same time the king, now that he had good hostages, would be more willing to entrust Memnon with the supreme command. And so it turned out. 6 For Dareius straightway sent letters to those who dwelt next the sea, directing them one and all to take orders from Memnon. Accordingly, having assumed the supreme command, he made all the necessary dispositions for a siege in the city of the Halicarnassians.

24 1 King Alexander had his siege engines and provisions  p185 conveyed by sea to Halicarnassus while he himself with all his army marched into Caria, winning over the cities that lay on his route by kind treatment. He was particularly generous to the Greek cities, granting them independence and exemption from taxation, adding the assurance that the freedom of the Greeks was the object for which he had taken upon himself the war against the Persians. 2 On his journey he was met by a woman named Ada, who belonged by blood to the ruling house of Caria.​30 When she presented a petition to recover the position of her ancestors and requested his assistance, he gave orders that she should become the ruler of Caria. Thus he won the loyal support of the Carians by the favour that he bestowed on this woman. 3 For straightway all the cities sent missions and presented the king with golden crowns and promised to co‑operate with him in everything.

Alexander encamped near the city and set in motion an active and formidable siege.​31 4 At first he made continued assaults on the walls with relays of attackers and spent whole days in active fighting. Later he brought up all sorts of engines of war, filled in the trenches in front of the city with the aid of sheds to protect the workers, and rocked the towers and the curtains between them with his battering rams. Whenever he overthrew a portion of the wall, he attempted by hand-to‑hand fighting to force an  p187 entry into the city over the rubble. 5 But Memnon at first easily beat off the Macedonians assaulting the walls, for he had large numbers of men in the city. Where the siege engines were attacking, he issued from the city at night with numbers of soldiers and applied fire to the machines. 6 Fierce fights occurred in front of the city, in which the Macedonians showed far superior prowess, but the Persians had the advantage of numbers and of fire power. For they had the support of men who fought from the walls using engines to shoot darts, with which they killed some of the enemy and disabled others.

25 1 At the same moment, the trumpets sounded the battle signal on both sides and cheers came from all parts as the soldiers applauded in concert the feats of brave men on one side or the other. 2 Some tried to put out the fires that rose aloft among the siege engines; others joined with the foe in close combat and wrought great slaughter; others erected secondary walls behind those which crumbled, heavier by far in construction than the preceding. 3 The commanders under Memnon took their places in the front line and offered great rewards to those who distinguished themselves, so that the desire for victory rose very high on both sides. 4 There could be seen men encountering frontal wounds or being carried unconscious out of the battle, others standing over the fallen bodies of their companions and struggling mightily to recover them, while others who were on the point of yielding to the storm of terrors were again put in heart by the appeals of their officers and  p189 were renewed in spirit. 5 At length, some of the Macedonians were killed at the very gates, among them an officer Neoptolemus, a man of distinguished family.32

Presently two towers were levelled with the ground and two curtains overthrown, and some of Perdiccas's soldiers, getting drunk, made a wild night attack on the walls of the citadel.​33 Memnon's men noticed the awkwardness of these attackers and issuing forth themselves in considerably larger numbers routed the Macedonians and killed many of them. 6 As this situation became known, large numbers of Macedonians rushed up to help and a great struggle took place, and when Alexander and his staff came up, the Persians, forced back, were confined within the city, and the king through a herald asked for a truce to recover the Macedonians who had fallen in front of the walls. Now Ephialtes and Thrasybulus,​34 Athenians fighting on the Persian side, advised not to give up the dead bodies for burial, but Memnon granted the request.

26 1 After this at a council of the commanders, Ephialtes advised them not to wait till the city was taken and they found themselves captives; he proposed that the leaders of the mercenaries should go out themselves in the front rank and lead an attack  p191 on the enemy.​35 2 Memnon recognized that Ephialtes was eager to prove himself and, having great hopes of him because of his courage and bodily strength, allowed him to do as he wished. 3 Accordingly he collected two thousand picked men and, giving half of them lighted torches and forming the others so as to meet the enemy, he suddenly threw all the gates wide open. It was daybreak, and sallying forth with his band he employed the one group to set fire to the siege engines, causing a great conflagration to flame up at once,​36 4 while he personally led the rest deployed in a dense phalanx many ranks deep and charged the Macedonians as they issued forth to help extinguish the fire. When the king saw what was happening, he placed the best fighters of the Macedonians in front and he posted a third group also consisting of others who had a good record for stout fighting. He himself​37 at the head of all took command and made a stand against the enemy, who had supposed that because of their mass they would be invincible. He also sent men out to extinguish the fire and to rescue the siege engines.

5 As violent shouts arose at the same time on both sides and the trumpets sounded the attack, a terrific contest ensued because of the valour of the contestants and their consummate fighting spirit. 6 The Macedonians prevented the fire from spreading, but Ephialtes's men had the advantage in the battle,  p193 and he himself, who had far greater bodily strength than the rest, slew with his own hand many who traded blows with him. From the top of the recently erected replacement wall, the defenders slew many of the Macedonians with dense showers of missiles — for there had been erected a wood tower, a hundred cubits high, which was filled with dart-hurling catapults. 7 As many Macedonians fell and the rest recoiled before the thick fire of missiles, Memnon threw himself into the battle with heavy reinforcements and even Alexander found himself quite helpless.

27 1 Just at that moment as the men from the city were prevailing, the tide of battle was surprisingly reversed.​38 For the oldest Macedonians, who were exempt from combat duty by virtue of their age, but who had served with Philip on his campaigns and had been victorious in many battles, 2 were roused by the emergency to show their valour, and, being superior in pride and war experience, sharply rebuked the faintheartedness of the youngsters who wished to avoid the battle. Then they closed ranks with their shields overlapping and confronted the foe, who thought himself already victorious. 3 They succeeded in slaying Ephialtes and many others, and finally forced the rest to take refuge in the city. 4 Night had already fallen as the Macedonians pushed within the walls along with their fleeing enemies, but the king ordered the trumpeter to sound the recall and they withdrew to their camp.​39 5 Memnon, however, assembled his generals and satraps, held a meeting, and  p195 decided to abandon the city.​40 They installed their best men in the acropolis with sufficient provision and conveyed the rest of the army and the stores to Cos. 6 When Alexander at daybreak learned what had taken place he razed the city and surrounded the citadel with a formidable wall and trench.​41 A portion of his force under certain generals he dispatched into the interior with orders to subdue the neighbouring tribes.42

These commanders, campaigning vigorously, subdued the whole region as far as greater Phrygia, supporting their men on the land. 7 Alexander, for his part, overran the litoral as far as Cilicia, acquiring many cities and actively storming and reducing the strong points. One of these he captured surprisingly with such a curious reversal of fortune that the account of it cannot be omitted.43

28 1 Near the frontiers of Lycia there is a great rock fortress​44 of unusual strength inhabited by people named Marmares. As Alexander marched by, these people attacked the Macedonian rear guard and killed many, carrying off as booty numerous men  p197 and pack animals. 2 The king was enraged at this, established a siege, and exerted every effort to take the place by force. The Marmares were very brave and had confidence in the strength of their fortifications, and manfully withstood the attack. For two whole days there were constant assaults and it was clear that the king would not leave until he had captured the "rock."

3 First, then, the older men of the Marmares advised their younger countrymen to end their resistance and make peace with the king on whatever terms were possible. They would have none of this, however, but all were eager to die together simultaneously with the end of the freedom of their state, so next the elders urged upon them that they should kill with their own hands their children and wives and aged relatives, and those who were strong enough to save themselves should break out through the midst of the enemy at night and take refuge in the neighbouring mountain. 4 The young men agreed, and consequently gave orders to go each to his own house and there, enjoying the best of food and drink with their families, await the dread event. Some of them, however (these were about six hundred), decided not to kill their relatives with their own hands, but to burn them in the houses, and so issuing forth from the gates to make their way to the mountain. 5 These carried out their decision and so caused each family to be entombed at its own hearth, while they themselves slipped through the midst of the enemy encamped about them and made their way to the near-by hills under cover of darkness.

This is what happened in this year.

 p199  29 1 When Nicocrates was archon at Athens, Caeso Valerius and Lucius Papirius became consuls at Rome.​45 In this year Dareius sent money to Memnon and appointed him commanding general of the whole war. 2 He gathered a force of mercenaries, manned three hundred ships, and pursued conflict vigorously. He secured Chios, and then coasting along to Lesbos easily mastered Antissa and Methymna and Pyrrha and Eressus. Mitylenê also, large and possessed of rich stores of supplies as well as plenty of fighting men, he nevertheless captured with difficulty by assault after a siege of many days and with the loss of many of his soldiers. 3 News of the general's activity spread like wildfire and most of the Cyclades sent missions to him. As word came to Greece that Memnon was about to sail to Euboea with his fleet, the cities of that island became alarmed, while those Greeks who were friendly to Persia, notably Sparta, began to have high hopes of a change in the political situation. 4 Memnon distributed bribes freely and won many Greeks over to share the Persian hopes, but Fortune nevertheless put an end to his career. He fell ill and died, seized by a desperate malady, and with his death Dareius's fortunes also collapsed.46

30 1 The king had counted on Memnon's transferring  p201 the impact of the war from Asia into Europe, but learning of his death called a session of his Council of Friends and laid before them the alternatives, either to send generals with an army down to the coast or for himself, the king, to march down with all his armed forces and fight the Macedonians in person. 2 Some said that the king must join in battle personally, and they argued that the Persians would fight better in that event. Charidemus,​47 however, the Athenian, a man generally admired for his bravery and skill as a commander — he had been a comrade-in‑arms of King Philip and had led or counselled all his successes​48 — recommended that Dareius should on no account stake his throne rashly on a gamble, but should keep in his own hands the reserve strength and the control of Asia while sending to the war a general who had given proof of his ability. 3 One hundred thousand men would be an adequate force, so long as a third of these were Greek mercenaries, and Charidemus hinted that he himself would assume the responsibility for the success of the plan.

4 The kings moved by his arguments at first but his Friends opposed them stoutly, and even brought Charidemus into suspicion of wanting to get the command so that he could betray the Persian empire to  p203 the Macedonians. At this, Charidemus became angry and made free with slurs on Persian lack of manliness. This offended the king, and as his wrath blinded him to his advantage, he seized Charidemus by the girdle according to the custom of the Persians, turned him over to the attendants, and ordered him put to death. 5 So Charidemus was led away, but as he went to his death, he shouted that the king would soon change his mind and would receive a prompt requital for this unjust punishment, becoming the witness of the overthrow of the kingdom.

Charidemus's prospects had been high, but he missed their fulfilment because of his ill-timed frankness and he ended his life in this fashion. 6 Once the king's passion had cooled he promptly regretted his act and reproached himself for having made a serious mistake, but all his royal power was not able to undo what was done. 7 He was haunted by dreams of the Macedonian fighting qualities and the vision of Alexander in action was constantly before his eyes. He searched for a competent general to take over Memnon's command but could find no one, and finally felt constrained to go down himself to take part in the contest for the kingdom.

31 1 He wasted no time in summoning his forces from all directions and ordered them to muster in Babylon. He canvassed his Friends and Relatives and selected those who were suitable, giving to some commands suited to their abilities and ordering others to fight at his side as his personal staff. 2 When the time set for the march had come, they had all arrived in Babylon. The number of the soldiers was over  p205 four hundred thousand​49 infantry and not less than one hundred thousand cavalry.

This was the force with which Dareius marched out of Babylon in the direction of Cilicia; he had with him his wife and children — a son and two daughters — and his mother. 3 As to Alexander, he had been watching how, prior to his death, Memnon had won over Chios and the cities in Lesbos and had taken Mitylenê by storm. He learned that Memnon planned to carry the war into Macedonia with three hundred ships of war and a land army also, while the greater part of the Greeks were ready to revolt. 4 This caused him no little anxiety, but when persons came with the news of Memnon's death, he was relieved of this fear; but shortly thereafter he became seriously ill,​50 and afflicted by severe pain, sent for his physicians. 5 All the rest were hesitant to treat him, but Philip the Acarnanian offered to employ risky but quick-acting remedies and by the use of drugs to break the hold of the disease. 6 This proposal the king accepted gladly, for he had heard that Dareius had already left Babylon with his army. The physician gave him a drug to drink and, aided by the natural strength of the sufferer as well as by Fortune, promptly relieved Alexander of the trouble. Making an astonishing recovery, the king honoured the physician with magnificent gifts and assigned him to the most loyal category of Friends.51

 p207  32 1 Alexander's mother wrote at this time to him, giving him other useful advice and warning him to be on his guard against the Lyncestian Alexander.​52 This was a man distinguished for bravery and high spirit who accompanied the king in the group of Friends in a trusted capacity. 2 There were many other plausible circumstances joining to support the charge, and so the Lyncestian was arrested and bound and placed under guard, until he should face a court.53

Alexander learned that Dareius was only a few days march away, and sent off Parmenion with a body of troops to seize the passage of the so‑called . . . Gates.​54 When the latter reached the place, he forced out the Persians who were holding the pass and remained master of it. 3 Dareius decided to make his army mobile and diverted his baggage train and the non-combatants to Damascus in Syria;​55 then, learning that Alexander was holding the passes and thinking that he would never dare to fight in the plain, made his way quickly to meet him. 4 The people of  p209 the country, who had little respect for the small numbers of the Macedonians but were much impressed with the great size of the Persian army, abandoned Alexander and came over to Dareius. They brought the Persians food and other materials with great goodwill, and mentally predicted victory for them. Alexander, however, occupied Issus, a considerable city, which was terrified into submission.

33 1 When his scouts reported that Dareius was only thirty stades away​56 and advancing in alarming fashion with his forces drawn up for battle, a frightening spectacle, Alexander grasped that this was a god-given opportunity to destroy the Persian power in a single victory. He roused his soldiers with appropriate words for a decisive effort and marshalled the battalions of foot and the squadrons of horse appropriately to the location. He set the cavalry along the front of the whole army, and ordered the infantry phalanx to remain in reserve behind it. 2 He himself advanced at the head of the right wing to the encounter, having with him the best of the mounted troops. The Thessalian horse was on the left, and this was outstanding in bravery and skill. 3 When the armies were within missile range, the Persians launched at Alexander such a shower of missiles that  p211 they collided with one another in the air, so thickly did they fly, and weakened the force of their impact. 4 On both sides the trumpeters blew the signal of attack and then the Macedonians first raised an unearthly shout followed by the Persians answering, so that the whole hillside bordering the battlefield echoed back the sound, and this second roar in volume surpassed the Macedonian warcry as five hundred thousand men shouted with one voice.57

5 Alexander cast his glance in all directions in his anxiety to see Dareius, and as soon as he had identified him, he drove hard with his cavalry at the king himself, wanting not so much to defeat the Persians as to win the victory with his own hands. 6 By now the rest of the cavalry on both sides was engaged and many were killed as the battle raged indecisively because of the evenly matched fighting qualities of the two sides. The scales inclined now one way, now another, as the lines swayed alternately forward and backward. 7 No javelin cast or sword thrust lacked its effect as the crowded ranks offered a ready target. Many fell with wounds received as they faced the enemy and their fury held to the last breath, so that life failed them sooner than courage.

34 1 The officers of each unit fought valiantly at the head of their men and by their example inspired courage in the ranks. One could see many forms of wounds inflicted, furious struggles of all sorts inspired by the will to win. 2 The Persian Oxathres was the brother of Dareius and a man highly praised for his  p213 fighting qualities; when he saw Alexander riding at Dareius and feared that he would not be checked, he was seized with the desire to share his brother's fate. 3 Ordering the best of the horsemen in his company to follow him, he threw himself with them against Alexander, thinking that this demonstration of brotherly love would bring him high renown among the Persians. He took up the fight directly in front of Dareius's chariot and there engaging the enemy skilfully and with a stout heart slew many of them. 4 The fighting qualities of Alexander's group were superior, however, and quickly many bodies lay piled high about the chariot. No Macedonian had any other thought than to strike the king, and in their intense rivalry to reach him took no thought for their lives.58

5 Many of the noblest Persian princes perished in this struggle, among them Antizyes and Rheomithres and Tasiaces, the satrap of Egypt.​59 Many of the Macedonians fell also, and Alexander himself was wounded​60 in the thigh, for the enemy pressed about him. 6 The horses which were harnessed to the yoke of Dareius's chariot were covered with wounds and terrified by the piles of dead about them. They refused  p215 to answer to their bridles,​61 and came close to carrying off Dareius into the midst of the enemy, but the king himself, in extreme peril, caught up the reins, being forced to throw away the dignity of his position and to violate the ancient custom of the Persian kings. 7 A second chariot was brought up by Dareius's attendants and in the confusion as he changed over to it in the face of constant attack he fell into a panic terror.62

Seeing their king in this state, the Persians with him turned to flee, and as each adjacent unit in turn did the same, the whole Persian cavalry was soon in full retreat. 8 As their route took them through narrow defiles and over rough country, they clashed and trampled on one another and many died without having received a blow from the enemy. For men lay piled up in confusion, some without armour, others in full battle panoply. Some with their swords still drawn killed those who spitted themselves upon them.​63 Most of the cavalry, however, bursting out into the plain and driving their horses at full gallop succeeded in reaching the safety of the friendly cities. 9 Now the Macedonian phalanx and the Persian infantry were engaged only briefly, for the rout of the cavalry had been, as it were, a prelude of the  p217 whole victory. Soon all of the Persians were in retreat and so many tens of thousands were making their escape through narrow passes the whole countryside was soon covered with bodies.

35 1 When night fell, the remainder of the Persian army easily succeeded in scattering in various directions while the Macedonians gave over the pursuit and turned to plunder, being particularly attracted by the royal pavilions because of the mass of wealth that was there.​64 2 This included much silver, no little gold, and vast numbers of rich dresses from the royal treasure, which they took, and likewise a great store of wealth belonging to the King's Friends, Relatives, and military commanders. 3 Not only the ladies of the royal house but also those of the King's Relatives and Friends, borne on gilded chariots, had accompanied the army according to an ancestral custom of the Persians, 4 and each of them had brought with her a store of rich future and feminine adornment, in keeping with their vast wealth and luxury.

The lot of these captured women was pathetic in the extreme.​65 5 They who previously from daintiness only with reluctance had been conveyed in luxurious carriages and had exposed no part of their bodies unveiled now burst wailing out of the tents clad only in a single chiton, rending their garments, calling on the gods, and falling at the knees of the conquerors. 6 Flinging off their jewelry with trembling hands and with their hair flying, they fled for their lives over rugged ground and, collecting into groups, they  p219 called to help them those who were themselves in need of help from others. 7 Some of their captors dragged these unfortunates by the hair, others, ripping off their clothing, drove them with blows of their hands or spear-butts against their naked bodies, thus outraging the dearest and proudest of the Persian possessions by virtue of Fortune's generosity to them.

36 1 Now the most prudent of the Macedonians looked on this reversal of Fortune with compassion and felt pity for the case of those who had seen their former lot so violently changed; everything belonging to their high rank was far removed from them, and they were encompassed by what was foreign and hostile. (This, however, was not the attitude of most of the soldiery,)​66 and the women were herded off into a luckless and humiliating captivity.

2 What particularly moved to tears of pity those who saw it was the family of Dareius, his mother, wife, two daughters of marriageable age, and a son who was a mere boy.​67 3 In their case, the change in fortune and the magnitude of their loss of position, incredible as it were, was a spectacle that might well inspire compassion in those who beheld it. 4 They knew nothing of Dareius, whether he lived and survived or had perished in the general disaster, but they saw their tent plundered by armed men who were unaware of the identity of their captives and committed many improper acts through ignorance. They saw the whole of Asia taken prisoner with them, and as the wives of the satraps fell at their feet and implored their help, they were not able to assist any one ofº  p221 them, but themselves sought the assistance of the others in their own misfortunes.

5 The royal pages now took over the tent of Dareius and prepared Alexander's bath and dinner and, lighting a great blaze of torches, waited for him, that he might return from the pursuit and, finding ready for him all the riches of Dareius, take it as an omen for his conquest of the empire of all Asia.68

6 In the course of the battle there died on the Persian side more than one hundred thousand infantry and not less than ten thousand cavalry;​69 on the Macedonian side, the casualties were three hundred infantry and one hundred and fifty cavalry.​70 This was the conclusion of the battle at Issus of Cilicia.

37 1 The kings, however, were still occupied. When he knew that he was decisively defeated, Dareius gave himself up to flight and mounting in turn one after another of his best horses galloped on at top speed, desperately seeking to escape from Alexander's grasp and anxious to reach the safety of the upper satrapies. 2 Alexander followed him with the companion cavalry​71 and the best of the other horsemen, eager to get possession of Dareius's person. He continued on for two hundred furlongs and then turned back, returning to his camp about midnight.  p223 Having dispelled his weariness in the bath, he turned to relaxation and to dinner.

3 Someone came to the wife and the mother of Dareius​72 and told them that Alexander had come back from the pursuit after stripping Dareius of his arms. At this, a great outcry and lamentation arose among the women; and the rest of the captives, joining in their sorrow at the news, sent up a loud wail, so that the king heard it and sent Leonnatus, one of his friends, to quiet the uproar and to reassure Sisyngambris​73 by explaining that Dareius was still alive and that Alexander would show them the proper consideration. In the morning he would come to address them and to demonstrate his kindness by deeds. 4 As they heard this welcome and altogether unexpected good news, the captive women hailed Alexander as a god and ceased from their wailing.

5 So at daybreak, the king took with him the most valued of his Friends, Hephaestion, and came to the women. They both were dressed alike, but Hephaestion was taller and more handsome. Sisyngambris took him for the king and did him obeisance. As the others present made signs to her and pointed to Alexander with their hands she was embarrassed by her mistake, but made a new start and did obeisance to Alexander. 6 He, however, cut in and said, "Never  p225 mind, Mother. For actually he too is Alexander."​74 By thus addressing the aged woman as "Mother," with this kindliest of terms he gave the promise of coming benefactions to those who had been wretched a moment before. Assuring Sisyngambris that she would be his second mother he immediately ratified in action what he had just promised orally.

38 He decked her with her royal jewelry and restored her to her previous dignity, with its proper honours. He made over to her all her former retinue of servants which she had been given by Dareius and added more in addition not less in number than the preceding. He promised to provide for the marriage of the daughters even more generously than Dareius had promised and to bring up the boy as his own and to show him royal honour. 2 He called the boy to him and kissed him, and as he saw him fearless in countenance and not frightened at all, he remarked to Hephaestion that at the age of six years the boy showed a courage beyond his years and was much braver than his father.​75 As to the wife of Dareius, he said that he would see that her dignity should be so maintained that she would experience nothing inconsistent with her former happiness.

3 He added many other assurances of consideration and generosity, so that the women broke out into uncontrolled weeping, so great was their unexpected joy. He gave them his hand as pledge of all this and was not only showered with praises by those who had been helped, but won universal recognition throughout his own army for his exceeding propriety of conduct.  p227 4 In general I would say that of many good deeds done by Alexander there is none that is greater or more worthy of record and mention in history than this. 5 Sieges and battles and the other victories scored in war are due for the most part either to Fortune or valour, but when one in a position of power shows pity for those who have been overthrown, this is an action due only to wisdom.​76 6 Most people are made proud by their successes because of their good fortune​77 and, becoming arrogant in their success, are forgetful of the common weakness of mankind. You can see how very many are unable to bear success, just as if it were a heavy burden. 7 Although Alexander lived many generations before our time, let him continue to receive in future ages also the just and proper praise for his good qualities.78

39 1 Dareius hurried to Babylon and gathered together the survivors of the battle at Issus. He was not crushed in spirit in spite of the tremendous setback he had received, but wrote to Alexander advising him to bear his success as one who was only human and to release the captives in return for a large ransom. He added that he would yield to  p229 Alexander the territory and cities of Asia west of the Halys River if he would sign a treaty of friendship with him. 2 Alexander summoned his Friends to a council and concealed the real letter. Forging another more in accord with his interests he introduced it to his advisers and sent the envoys away empty handed.​79 3 So Dareius gave up the attempt to reach an agreement with Alexander by diplomatic means and set to work on vast preparations for war. He re-equipped those who had lost their armour in the defeat and he enlisted others and assigned them to military units. He sent for the levies from the upper satrapies,​80 which he had previously left unemployed because of the haste of the last campaign. 4 He took such pains over the constitution of the army that he ended up with one twice the size of that which had been engaged at Issus. He assembled eight hundred thousand infantry and two hundred thousand cavalry, and a force of scythe-bearing chariots in addition.

These were the events of this year.


The Loeb Editor's Notes:

1 Ctesicles was archon from July 334 to May 333 B.C. Broughton (1.138 f.) lists C. Sulpicius Longus as one of the consuls of 337, and L. Papirius Crassus as one of the consuls of 336. The latter is apparently repeated in chap. 29.1.

2 Justin, 11.5.10.

3 Justin, 11.5.12; Plutarch, Alexander, 15.4; Arrian, 1.11.7.

4 Diodorus is our only source for the detailed troop list of Alexander. Justin (11.6.2) gives simply 32,000 foot and 4500 horse; Plutarch (Alexander, 15.1), 30,000–43,000 foot and 4000–5000 horse; Arrian (1.11.3) "not much more than" 30,000 foot and 5000 horse. Plutarch (De Fortuna aut Virtute Alexandri, 1.3 [327D/E]) states that Aristobulus gave 30,000 foot and 4000 horse, Ptolemy 30,000 foot and 5000 horse, and Anaximenes 43,000 foot and 5500 horse. Plutarch (Alexander, 15.1) adds that Alexander had with him only seventy talents (from Aristobulus) and provisions for thirty days (Duris), while Onesicritus stated that he was in debt in the amount of 200 talents. It will be noted that Diodorus's figures for the cavalry add up to 5100, and to 4500, as stated.

Diodorus correctly states that Philotas commanded the Companion Cavalry and Callas the Thessalians, but Erigyius did not get command of the Allied Cavalry until the arrest of Alexander of Lyncestis in the winter of 334/3. "Cassander" is a mistake, or he is otherwise unknown; Ariston commanded the Scouts at the Granicus and later (Berve, Alexanderreich, 2, nos. 138 and 302).

5 These figures are not given elsewhere.

6 The well-known temple at Ilium (Arrian, 1.11.7; Plutarch, Alexander, 15.4).

7 It may be that Diodorus has garbled his source; no sacrificant Alexander is otherwise mentioned, and this may be a mistake for Aristander (Berve, Alexanderreich, 2, no. 117). Ariobarzanes was satrap of Phrygia in 388‑361 B.C., and then arrested and punished as a rebel. His statue may have been overthrown at that time.

8 Cp. chap. 21.2, below, and Arrian, 1.11.7‑8, who states that the arms were carried before him into battle. The shield was carried by Peucestes in the assault on the citadel of the Malli in 325 (Arrian, 6.9.3).

9 The battle of the Granicus is described by Justin (11.6.8‑13), Plutarch (Alexander, 16), and Arrian (1.12.6‑16.7). A good analysis of this and Alexander's other battles is given by Major General J. F. C. Fuller, The Generalship of Alexander the Great (1958).

10 Arrian, 1.12.9.

11 This account of the battle differs from that of Arrian (1.13) in two respects which cannot be reconciled. There, the attack takes place in the late afternoon and in the lower course of the Granicus, where the river flows through relatively flat country but in a deep and muddy bed. He, as Plutarch also (Alexander, 16), describes the action as taking place between Macedonians trying to cross and Persians holding the river bank. Diodorus, in contrast, places the battle at dawn, and lets the Macedonians cross without difficulty and engage the Persians on the far bank. Probably he located the battle further upstream, in the foothills. According to Plutarch (Alexander, 16.2), the battle would have occurred in the Macedonian month Daesius, but as that was unlucky militarily, Alexander ordered the intercalation of a second Artemisius. See further above, p100, note 114.

12 The novelty of this arrangement consisted in the fact that each army placed its cavalry in front of at the point of contact. This may not have been specifically planned. Alexander threw his cavalry across the river to gain a bridgehead, and the Persians naturally countered with their cavalry, so that a piecemeal engagement followed.

13 Arsites was the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia and Spithridates of Lydia and Ionia (Arrian, 1.12.8). Arrian names these Persians and adds Petines and Niphates, but does not give the Persian order of battle. He gives that of the Macedonians, which Diodorus omits, in 1.14.1‑3. Arsamenes (Arsames, Curtius, 3.4.3; Arrian, 2.4.5) was satrap of Cilicia.

14 Justin (11.6.11) gives the Persian strength as 600,000, Arrian (1.14.4) as 20,000 foot and 20,000 horse.

15 This comment is a rationalization after the event. The Persian infantry would not move up to meet the Macedonian cavalry.

16 This was an honorary title of high nobility in the Persian Empire, as later in the Hellenistic kingdoms.

17 According to Arrian (1.14.6‑7), Alexander opened the battle with a mixed force under Ptolemy the son of Philip, probably the one of the bodyguards who was killed at Halicarnassus. He had light troops including the Scouts under Amyntas the son of Arrhabaeus, a battalion of the phalanx, and a squadron of the Companions. His mission was to open a gap in the Persian line. Then Alexander, as usual, charged with the Companions obliquely towards the Persian centre.

18 If Alexander may be assumed to have carried a shield on his left arm, it would have been possible for the javelin to pass through this and his breastplate and catch in his epomis on the right shoulder (not the shoulder itself, since Alexander was not wounded; Plutarch, Alexander, 16.5), although this would have required a remarkably violent cast, especially since the weapon, dangling from the right arm, must have passed its entire length completely through the shield. This all suggests some exaggeration if not confusion, and it is doubtful if the Macedonian cavalry carried shields; Alexander is shown without one in the mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, which, of course, pictures the Battle of Issus, and not that at the Granicus (cp. Berve, Alexanderreich, 1.104, n4; such pictures as that in Doro Levy, Antioch Mosaic Pavements, 2 (1947), LXIX, which, however, show that cavalry could carry shields; so also Polybius, 6.25; but in Arrian 1.6.5 and 4.23.2, mounted troops carried shields only when they expected to fight on foot). If this shield is the same as the hoplon taken from Ilium and mentioned below, chap. 21.2, it may be that, as Arrian reports (1.11.7‑8), it was actually carried before him by an attendant (this does not, of course, make the course of the javelin any more easily explicable). In the mosaic, Alexander wears the chlamys over his breastplate, and fastened with a fibula on his right shoulder.

19 That is, Spithridates and Rhosaces. This incident is variously reported. In Plutarch, Alexander, 16.4‑5, Rhosaces and Spithridates attacked Alexander simultaneously; the king killed the former, while the latter cracked his helmet and was run through by Cleitus's spear. In Plutarch, De Fortuna aut Virtute Alexandri, 1.2 (326 F), the antagonists are Spithridates and Mithridates. In Arrian, 1.15.7‑8, Mithridates is Dareius's son-in‑law. Alexander dismounted him with his lance. Rhosaces cracked Alexander's helmet but was overborne by the king, while it was Spithridates whose arm was severed by Cleitus. The text of Diodorus here might allow one to suppose that Alexander also was thrown to the ground, and a figure appearing in two of the reliefs of the Alexander Sarcophagus in Constantinople, with cracked helmet and broken spear, has been thought to be Alexander at the Battle of Granicus, but this is all very uncertain.

20 Cp. chap. 18.1 above.

21 Arrian, 1.16.3, gives a longer list of Persian casualties, but omits the name of Atizyes. Diodorus gives this name also among the Persians who fell at Issus (chap. 34.5).

22 By allowing their entire cavalry force to be first contained and then routed by the Macedonians, the Persian commissioners left their infantry without protection from the flanks and rear, and with little chance of withdrawal. Arrian (1.16.2) speaks only of the annihilation of the Greek mercenary phalanx. According to Diodorus, the Persian infantry would have got away with a loss of some thirty per cent of its effectives.

23 Plutarch, Alexander, 16.7, gives the Persian casualties as 2500 horse and 20,000 foot; Arrian as 1000 horse and the most of the Greek phalanx, except for 2000 who were captured.

24 The Macedonian casualties were 9 foot and 120 horse (Justin, 11.6.12), 9 foot and 25 horse (Plutarch, Alexander, 16.7), or 30 foot and 60 horse (including 25 "Companions," Arrian, 1.16.4). These were honoured with statues (Justin, Plutarch, Arrian, ll.cc.; Velleius Paterculus, 1.11.3‑4).

25 Plutarch, Alexander, 17.1. The account of Arrian, 1.17‑18.2, is fuller.

26 Plutarch, Alexander, 17.1; Arrian, 1.18.3‑19.6.

27 Arrian, 1.20.1. Naval operations were resumed six months later under the command of Hegelochus and Amphoterus (Curtius, 3.1.19).

28 See Book 20.7.

29 This wife, Barsinê the daughter of Artabazus, was captured after Issus and was believed later to have borneº Alexander a son, Heracles.

30 Arrian, 1.23.7‑8. Ada had been "dynast" of Caria previously on the death of her elder brother and husband, Idrieus (Book 16.69.2) but had been ousted by her younger brother Pixodarus (Book 16.74.2; cp. Strabo, 14.2.17 [647]).

31 Arrian, 1.20.5‑23.6. Diodorus omits Alexander's abortive attack on Myndus (Arrian, 1.20.5‑7), and his narrative is told rather from the Persian than from the Macedonian side (W. W. Tarn, Alexander the Great, 2 (1948), 73 f.).

32 According to Arrian (1.20.10), Neoptolemus, the son of Arrhabaeus and brother of that Amyntas who accompanied Alexander as a staff officer (Arrian, 1.12.7; 14.1; 28.4) had deserted to the Persians and was killed in the attack on Halicarnassus. Diodorus here places him on the Macedonian side — and in view of the continued trust reposed by Alexander in his brother, this is a more reasonable account.

33 Two men only of Perdiccas's battalion; the event took place some days later (Arrian, 1.21.1). Was Perdiccas trying to repeat his success at Thebes (chap. 12.3)? It was the kind of exploit which Alexander would reward liberally. The drunkenness may have been a fiction, since Perdiccas acted without orders.

34 Two of the Athenian generals whose surrender had been demanded after the capture of Thebes (chap. 15.1). Cp. Realencyclopädie, 5 (1905), 2852 f.; 5A (1936), 575. Arrian (1.10.4) mentions Ephialtes but not Thrasybulus.

35 Arrian mentions two sallies of the besieged, one or the other of which may be identified with this (1.21.5‑6; 22.1‑3).

36 Arrian, 1.22.1.

37 Arrian, 1.21.5.

38 Cp. Arrian, 1.22.4‑6, who simply refers to Ptolemaeus with two battalions of the phalanx.

39 Arrian, 1.22.7, giving as the reason a desire to spare the citizens of Halicarnassus the horrors of a sack.

40 Arrian, 1.23.1.

41 Arrian, 1.23.6.

42 Arrian, 1.24.3, states only that Parmenion was sent back to Sardes with mostly non-Macedonian troops, to proceed thence into Phrygia.

43 Presumably Diodorus means to say that this story was in his source, and too interesting to be omitted. He does actually at this point omit all the other events of Alexander's Pisidian campaign including the miraculous passage of the Climax, as well as the famous story of the Gordian knot. These are told by Curtius (3.1), Justin, 11.7, Plutarch (Alexander,17‑18.2), and Arrian (1.24.3‑2.4.6). Tarn's argument (Alexander the Great, 2, 72) that these popular stories were not in Diodorus's source of the moment is untenable if his source was Trogus (p13).

44 Here and elsewhere, Diodorus uses the term petra for the abrupt and isolated rocky hills which are not uncommon in Asia, and which made excellent fortresses. This story is not otherwise reported. Freya Stark (Journal of Hellenic Studies, 78 (1958), 116; cp. Alexander's Path (1958), 250 f.) identifies this place with Chandir in Pamphylia. Appian (Bell. Civ. 4.10.80) tells the same story of Xanthus, traditionally destroyed in this way three times (Herodotus, 1.176; Plutarch, Brutus, 31), and it was something of a literary topos (also Diodorus, Book 18.22.4‑7; Strabo, 14.5.7 [671]). Strabo (14.3.9 [666]) remarks that this destruction was necessary to open the passes.

45 Nicocrates was archon from July 333 to June 332 B.C. Broughton (1.139) lists the consuls of 336 B.C. as L. Papirius Crassus and K. Duillius. The former has apparently already been named by Diodorus, chap. 17.1.

46 Arrian, 2.1, gives a similar account, but states that Mitylenê was not captured until after Memnon's death.

47 Curtius, 3.2.10‑19, with strong reminiscences of the rôle of Demaratus in Herodotus. Charidemus is not mentioned in Justin, Plutarch, or Arrian (except earlier, 1.10.4‑6).

48 It seems impossible that Diodorus can be right here. Charidemus was not always a dutiful Athenian, but he was one of the generals whom Alexander had demanded after the capture of Thebes, and who had had to flee like Ephialtes and Thrasybulus (chap. 25.6). It is possible that Charidemus had visited Philip's court about 354 B.C., when his patron Chersobleptes became Philip's friend, but most of Charidemus's career was spent in operations against the Macedonians (Berve, Alexanderreich, 2, no. 823).

49 Justin (11.9.1) also gives 400,000. The unknown writer of the Alexander History P. Oxyrhynchus 1798 (Frag. 44, col. 2.2/3) and Arrian (2.8.8) give the Persian strength as 600,000.

50 Either from fatigue, as Aristobulus, or from swimming in the cold river Cydnus (Arrian, 2.4.7).

51 Other writers add that Alexander was warned against the physician by Parmenion, but that Alexander showed the letter to Philip only as he drank the medicine (Curtius, 3.5‑6; Justin, 11.8.3‑9; Plutarch, Alexander, 19; Arrian, 2.4.7‑11; P. Oxyrhynchus 1798, Frag. 44, col. 1).

52 Justin (11.7.1‑2) and Arrian (1.25) say that the plot of Alexander was revealed by a Persian captive, and place the incident earlier. Perhaps for this reason, Tarn (Alexander the Great, 2.68) thought that the "king's mother" here was Dareius's mother, Sisygambis. But he recognized that she did not yet know Alexander and had no motive for such a warning; Olympias, on the other hand, was both in close touch with and watchful over her son. Diodorus's account is very credible.

53 Alexander belonged to the ruling family of Lyncestis. His two brothers had been executed by King Alexander at his accession, but this Alexander had demonstrated his loyalty and remained a trusted friend of the king. He was, however, a possible rival for the thrown of Macedonia, and doubtless suspected by Olympias. He was executed without facing specific charges at the time of Philotas's conspiracy (chap. 80.2).

54 Actually, the Syrian Gates; cp. Arrian, 2.5.1, who calls them simply "the other gates."

55 Curtius, 3.8.12; Arrian, 2.11.9‑10.

56 A little less than four miles (Curtius, 3.8.23). Of all the historians, Diodorus alone fails to state that Dareius occupied Issus in Alexander's rear, and his narrative is very conventional. Actually, Dareius established a fortified line along the north bank of the river Pinarus, and Alexander was compelled to turn the position by a movement through the hills to the east. Cp. Polybius, 12.17‑23; Curtius, 3.8‑11.15; Justin, 11.9.1‑9; Plutarch, Alexander, 20.1‑5; Arrian, 2.8‑11. The battle was fought in the Attic month Maimacterion, perhaps in November, 333 B.C. (Arrian, 2.11.10), or somewhat earlier (M. J. Fontana, Kokalos, 2 (1956), 47).

57 This is the total Persian strength as given above, chap. 31.2.

58 Curtius, 3.11.8. This is the scene pictured in the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun at Pompeii.

59 Rheomithres was mentioned as a cavalry commander on the Persian right wing at the Granicus (chap. 19.4). Curtius (3.11.10) mentions the death of Atizyes, Rheomithres, and Sabaces, satrap of Egypt; Arrian (2.11.8) names Arsames, Rheomithres, Atizyes, Sabaces of Egypt, and Bubaces. Although Diodorus has reported Atizyes dead at the Granicus (chap. 21.3), it is possible that he is the otherwise unknown Antixyes here.

60 By Dareius himself, according to Chares (Plutarch, De Fortuna aut Virtute Alexandri, 2.9 [341B]). Alexander's wound is mentioned by Curtius (3.11.10), Justin (11.9.9), Plutarch (Alexander, 20.5), and Arrian (2.12.1).

61 A more literal rendering would be "they shook off (or out) their bits," but it is hard to see how horses could do this. Curtius (3.11.11) renders the same idiom as "iugum quatere," "toss the yoke." If, as has been suggested in the Introduction (p13), Diodorus was using Trogus as a source, it may be that he was put to it to translate a Latin saying. We may assume that the horses reared and tossed and shook their heads, making their control almost impossible. This is how they are represented in the Alexander Mosaic.

62 The Alexander Mosaic shows Dareius about to mount a horse to make his escape, as in Curtius (3.11.11) and Arrian (2.11.5). In chap. 37.1, also, Dareius makes his escape on horseback. Perhaps he intended to continue the battle in the second chariot.

63 Arrian (2.11.8) quotes Ptolemy as reporting that Alexander's cavalry in the pursuit crossed a deep gully on the piled up bodies of the dead. Even a king, it seems, might draw the long bow on occasion in writing history.

64 This capture of the personal baggage and retinue of the king and his nobles was followed by that of the military train at Damascus (chap. 32.3), which Diodorus does not mention (Arrian, 2.11.10).

65 The same picture is sketched by Curtius, 3.11.21‑23.

66 There seems to be an omission in the manuscript here. The words in parenthesis represent what may have been the original sense.

67 In chap. 38.2, he is said to have been six years old.

68 Curtius, 3.11.23; Justin, 11.10.1‑5; Plutarch, Alexander, 20.6‑8. Justin and Plutarch (21.4) state that Alexander married Barsinê at this time (above, p183, note 29). Curtius mentions Barsinê (3.13.14) but not the marriage.

69 These same figures are given by Curtius (3.11.27), Plutarch (Alexander, 20.5), and Arrian (2.11.8). Justin gives (11.9.10) 61,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry killed and 40,000 captured.

70 Curtius gives 4500 wounded, 302 missing, 150 killed (3.11.27); Justin (11.9.10), 130 infantry killed and 150 cavalry; Arrian (2.10.7), 120 Macedonians killed.

71 This is the usual term for the Macedonian royal horse guards.

72 Curtius, 3.11.24‑12.18; Justin 11.9.12‑16; Plutarch, Alexander, 21; Arrian, 2.12.3‑8. According to the last, Ptolemy and Aristobulus wrote that Alexander sent Leonnatus to the queens, but did not visit them himself; this is the version followed by Plutarch. The personal visit of Alexander and Hephaestion is attributed to another source, not identified.

73 The usual spelling is Sisigambis, as in Curtius, 3.3.22.

74 This recalls the proverbial Greek definition of a friend as a "Second Self," ascribed to Zenon in Diogenes Laertius, 7.23. Cp. also Plutarch, De amicorum multitudine, 2 (93E).

75 Curtius, 3.12.26.

76 This was a well-known cliché in later Greek literature; cp. Plutarch, Pericles, 38.4; De Fortuna aut Virtute Alexandri, 1.(329D); 11 (332C); 2.7 (339A/B).

77 The words "because of their good fortune" are out of place here, and may belong after "a position of power" three lines before. See the critical note 2 on p226.

The critical note to the Greek text, at ὁ δ’ ἐν ταῖς (ἐξουσίαις εἰς τοὺς ἐπταικότας κτλ), reads:

Fischer suggests adding here κατὰ τὴν εὐτυχίαν from Book 18.59.5. It is possible that this phrase may have been displaced two lines below, where it is out of place. (Dindorf conjectured reading there εὐήθειαν, Bezzel ῥαθυμίαν.)

78 If we follow the manuscript reading here (critical note 3) we should translate, "he should receive from future writers also just praise proper to their narrative." Arrian (2.12.8) is not sure that this incident occurred, but approves it if so. It is praised by Curtius (3.12.18‑23) and Plutarch (Alexander, 21.4‑5).

The critical note to the Greek text, at καὶ πρέποντος ταῖς ἰδίαις ἀρεταῖς ἐπαίνου, reads:

ἀρεταῖς] ἱστορίαις RX, and F in margin.

79 Diodorus is the only author to report this forgery. Three approaches by Dareius to Alexander are mentioned. (1) After the battle of Issus. Justin (11.12.1‑2), Arrian (2.14), and Curtius (4.1.7‑14) state that this letter of Dareius demanded that Alexander withdraw from Asia and release his captives with (Curtius, Justin) or without (Arrian) a ransom. Curtius adds that this letter was cast in an insulting tone, suggesting the manner of the one here stated to have been forged by Alexander. (2) After the capture of Tyre. Dareius now offered the hand of one of his daughters and all the territory west of the Halys River (Curtius, 4.5.1‑8) or a share in the kingdom (Justin, 11.12.3‑4). This is approximately the same as the true letter which Diodorus mentions here. Arrian locates at this point what appears elsewhere as the third letter. (3) After the departure from Egypt and before Gaugamela, and connected with Alexander's kindly treatment of Dareius's queen. This took the form of an embassy, probably (Diodorus, 17.54.1‑6; Curtius, 4.11; Arrian, 2.25), rather than a letter (Justin, 11.12.7‑16; Plutarch, Alexander, 29.4). Dareius offered the hand of another daughter in marriage, cession of all territory west of the Euphrates, and a ransom for the royal women of 10,000 (Plutarch, Arrian) or 30,000 (Diodorus, Curtius, Justin) talents. An extensive correspondence, largely fictional, between Alexander and Dareius was in circulation in antiquity, and fragments of it occur in the papyri (cp. PSI, 12.1285). Much of it found a place in or contributed to the Alexander Romance.

80 These are listed by Arrian, 3.8.3‑6.


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