MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 92-80494 MICROFILMED 1992 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK 17 as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code ~ concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.. Columbia University Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: M'CRINDLE, JOHN W. TITLE: INVASION OF INDIA BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT PLACE: WESTMINSTER DATE: 1896 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Master Negative # BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARHFT Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 884.07 M13 < .3 y-^x-^ ANCIENT INDIA ITS INVASION BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 1^ ALEX AN I) E K T H E G R E A T M O U R N I N <; THE 1) E A r H O 1' BO U K K V H A L O S © ft o 31 u\ li. r> 3^ 'it THE Evasion of india BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT AS DESCRIBED BY . , • • • • •" • • • • • • ARRlXN;.-'g.C^R-rpi'^, "tflODOROS ' Being Translations of "such portions* of the Works of these and other Classical Authors ias d^nWAle^bd^ C;a5;paigns in Afghanistan the PaAjatD,-3indh;Gedrbs!a and Karmania WITH AN INTRODUCTION CONTAINING A LIFE OF ALEXANDER COPIOUS NOTES, ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND INDICES BY ^ J. W. M'CRINDLE, M.A., M.R.A.S., F.R.S.G.S. LATE PRINCIPAL OF THE GOVERNMENT COLLEGE. PATNA, AND FELLOW OF THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY, MEMBER OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH NEW EDITION Bringing the Work up to Date (2K)e0ftnttt0fer ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY MDCCCXCVl All rights reserved ) I ' • • m 1 » • • • t » » ». • • • • * » • • f • « • •> • » » I • • • * • t ■ « • t : » • » • . • » . • •, . • » • I • • • " I • • I , • » • TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE List of Illustrations ix Preface to Second Edition xi Preface to First Edition . • XXXV Introduction, containing a Life of Alexander 3 Arrian . . 57 Q. CURTIUS RUFUS .... 183 Diod6ros ..... 269 Plutarch ..... 305 Justin ..... 321 Appendices — Notes A-L/ .... 331 Biographical Appendix . 375 General Index .... 417 Index of Authorities quoted or referred to . 430 805210 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Alexander the Great Mourning for Boukephalos . Frontispiece By the Autotype Company from a French MS. in the British Museum of the Life of Alexander the Great y written in the fifteenth century. FIG. I. Lysimachos 2. Aristotle 3. Seal of Darius 4. Alexander the Great 5. DiODOTOS . 6. Antiochos the Great 7. EUTHYDiMOS 8. The Tyrian Herakl£s 9. Eumen^ . 10. Ptolemy S6t£r 11. Indian Bowman 12. SoPHYTfis . Gold coin of Lysimachos (B.C. 306- 281), struck at Lysimachia, in the British Museum .... From an intaglio gem, engraved on sard, in the British Museum From a cyhnder of chalcedony, in- scribed " I am .Darius the great king," in Persian, Median, and Babylonian, in the Brit. Museum On a silver coin struck in Thrace by Lysimachos, in tl^e Brit. Museum . On a gold stater struck in Baktria, in the British Museum On a gold coin (B.C. 222-187), in the British Museum .... On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum .... On a silver coin struck at Tyre (B.C. 125), in the British Museum Silver coin of Eumenes I. (b.c. 263- 241), struck at Pergamos, in the British Museum .... On a silver coin (B.C. 306-284), in the British Museum .... From a coin of Chandragupta II. (A.D. 395-415), in the Brit. Mus . From a silver coin, in the Brit. Mus. PAGE 16 16 29 48 52 52 53 71 120 151 210 280 / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ■ • • • FIG. 13. Greek Warship 14. Seleucus Nicator 15. EUKRATlDfiS 16. ANTI MACHOS 17. AGATHOKLfeS 18. HELIOKLiS 19. Apollodotos 20. As'oKA Inscription . 21. Antigonos Gonatas . 22. Antigonos D6s6n 23. Antiochos II. . 24. DeMETRIOS POLIORKiTfiS 25. Ptolemy III. PAGE From a silver coin of Sidon, in the British Museum . . . .3^6 Obverse of a silver coin struck in Pergamos, in the British Museum 327 On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum .... 344 On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum .... 370 Silver coin of Agathokles, in the British Museum . . . -371 On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum . . . • 37^ On a silver Baktrian coin, in the British Museum .... 372 Reduced from an impression of the Kalsi Edict by Dr. James Burgess, CI.F. ..... 373 Silver coin of Antigonos Gonatas (B.C. 277-239), in the Brit. Mus. . 376 Silver coin of Antigonos Doson (b.c. 229-220), in the British Museum . 377 On a silver coin (B.C. 261-246), in the British Museum .... 377 Silver coin of Demetrios Poliorketes (B.C. 294-288), in the Brit. Mus. . 383 On a gold coin (B.C. 247-222), in the British Museum .... 403 MAPS Map of Alexander's Route in the Panjab .... Facing 57 Map of the Route taken by Alexander in his Asiatic Expedition 432 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION Since this volume was written, three works have appeared which not only make important additions to our knowledge of Alexander's campaigns in Turkestan, Lower Sindh, and Makran respectively, but which also serve to correct some current errors with regard to the identification of places which lay in the route of the great conqueror, as he passed through these obscure regions. As the works referred to have been written by scholarly men, who possess an intimate personal knowledge of the localities which they describe, the conclusions to which their investigations have conducted them may be accepted with confidence, and we propose to give here a brief summary of these conclusions so far as they concern our subject. The works are these : I. Alexander des Grossen Feldzuge in Turkestan, von Franz Schwarz, Munchen ; 2. The Indus Delta: a Memoir chiefly on its Ancient History and Geography, by Major-General M. R. Haig, M.R.A.S., London ; 3. A Lecture on " The Retreat of Alexander the Great from India,'' by Colonel Holdich, R.E., as -reported in the Calcutta Englishman. We begin with Turkestan, by which is here meant the provinces called anciently Baktriana and Sogdiana. Their reduction, as will be seen from our Introduction (pp. 39-44), occupied the arms of Alexander for upwards of two years, from B.C. 329-327. The description of the xn PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION campaigns by which this conquest was effected has hitherto proved a task of unusual difficulty, due partly to imperfect knowledge of the geography of the seat of war, and partly also to discrepancies in the accounts of these campaigns as given by Arrian and Curtius, who neither drew their facts from the same original sources nor relate them in quite the same order of sequence. It is fortunate therefore that Herr Schwarz, who for fifteen years resided in Turkestan, and had occasion or opportunity during that time to visit all its places of importance, sedulously applied himself to study the antiquities of the country, and was thus able ultimately to identify with certainty, almost all the places in which Alexander is reported, by his historians, to have shown himself. His work is accom- panied by an excellent map, in which he has traced the line of the marches and the counter-marches of the Macedonian troops, while operating in the regions of the Oxus and the Jaxartes. Alexander, in the early spring of 329 B.C., left Kabul- istan, and having crossed the Indian Kaukasos, arrived at Drapsaka, and from thence continued his march to Aomos and Baktra. It has never been doubted that Baktra is now Balkh, but opinions have differed with regard to the other two places. Schwarz, on sufficient grounds, iden- tifies Drapsaka with Kunduz, and Aomos with Tash- Kurgan, near which are situated the ruins of Khulm. Alexander, marching from Baktra through a frightful desert, gained the banks of the Oxus, which he crossed with his army in five days. The passage was effected, not from Kizil, as has been hitherto supposed, but from Kilif, higher up the stream— a place which Schwarz thinks was probably the city of the Branchidai, which, with its inhabitants, Alexander so remorselessly destroyed. From the Oxus the expedition advanced by way of Karshi and PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION xin Jam to Marakanda, the famous city of Samarcand. Near Karshi, at the hill Kungur-tau, occurred the skirmish in which Alexander, on this march, received a wound. Marakanda was situated on the banks of the Polytimetos, now the Zerafshan or Kohik, which flows westward till its waters are lost in the sands of the Khorasmian Desert. Alexander marched thence to the river Tanais — the Jaxartes or Syr-darya — which formed the eastern bound- ary of the Persian empire, and separated it from the Skythians. On the Persian side of this river Alexander founded a city, which he called by his own name, Alex- andria. It is agreed on all hands that the site of this Alexandria was at or near where Khojent now stands. In this neighbourhood Alexander captured seven towns, which had shown signs of a purpose to revolt. The names of two of these have been recorded, Gaza and Kyropolis. The former Schwarz identifies with Nau, and the latter with Ura-tube, a considerable city occupying a commanding position, strongly fortified, and distant from Khojent about 40 miles. It had been founded by Cyrus to serve as a bulwark against incursions of the Skythians. Alexander having quelled the attempted revolt of the Sogdians, crossed the Jaxartes, and inflicted a defeat on the Skythians, who had mustered in great force on their own side of the river. He pursued them as far as what Curtius calls the boundary-stones of Father Bacchus, which Schwarz has identified as a pass over Mogul-Tau, near Mursa-rabat, a post-station, 17 miles distant from Khojent. On the heels of this victory tidings reached Alexander of the terrible defeat and slaughter of his Macedonian troops by Spitamenes in one of the islands of the Poly- timetos, and he immediately started for Marakanda, and reached it after a march of three days. As the distance XIV PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION from Khojent to Samarcand is 172 English miles, this march, made in broiling heat, and through a country without roads, must have tried to the very utmost the powers of endurance of the Macedonian soldiers, some of whom were hoplites, wearing their brazen helmets, carry- ing their shields, and clad in mail. Spitamenes made his escape into the desert, and Alexander could only sate his vengeance by ravaging with merciless severity the beautiful valley through which the river flowed. Schwarz tells us that he searched in vain to discover the island which was the scene of the disaster, and it probably no longer exists. It must, however, he thinks, have been situated in the neighbourhood of Ziadin and Kermineh. Alexander, pursuing his way down the river, passed Bokhara, the Sogdian capital, and advanced as far as Karakul, beyond which the river disappears in the sands. He then retired for the winter to Zariaspa. Zariaspa has been taken to be another name of Baktra, but Schwarz shows that such an opinion is altogether untenable, and identifies it, for reasons not to be gainsaid, with Charjui, a place some six or seven miles distant from where the Oxus is now spanned by the bridge of the Trans-Caspian Railway. From Zariaspa Alexander returned to Marakanda, passing on his route by Karakul, Bokhara, Kermineh, and Kata-Kurgan. Koinos meanwhile had difficulty in holding his own against the indomitable Spitamenes, who had collected at Bagai a body of 3000 Skythian horsemen, with a view to invade Sogdiana. Bagai is now Ustuk, a Bokharan frontier fortress, 28 miles below Charjui, but on the opposite side of the Oxus. The hostile forces at length came to an engagement. Koinos was victorious, and Spitamenes, who fled into the desert with his Skythian horsemen, fell a victim to their treachery. They cut off his head, and sent it as a peace-offering to Alexander. PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION XV After the reduction of Sogdiana, Alexander withdrew to Nautaka, where he spent the winter of 328-327 B.C. This place has been generally identified with Karshi, but Schwarz takes it to be Schaar, which lies 40 miles to the south of Samarcand. Alexander left Nautaka early in spring, and his next great exploit was the capture of the famous Sogdian Rock, in the fortress of which Oxyartes had placed for safety the members of his family, including his daughter, the beautiful Roxana, whose charms so fascinated her captor, that he made her his queen, in spite of all the remonstrances of his friends. Curtius calls this stronghold the Rock of Arimazes. Some have identified it with the steep crags which line one side of the narrow gorge near Derbent, called the Iron Gate, which forms the only direct approach from West-Bokhara to Hissar. Schwarz, how- ever, says that the Iron Gate, through which he has himself often passed, answers neither to the description of Arrian nor of Curtius, and his own identification of the Rock is with a mountain which ascends precipitously from a gorge similar to that of the Iron Gate, from which it is some five miles distant in a north-east direction. From the Rock the expedition marched eastward into the coun- try of the Paraitakai, the mountainous district now known as Hissar. Here Alexander's progress was arrested by another mountain fortress no less formidable than the Sogdian. It is called by Arrian the Rock of Chorienes, and by Curtius the Rock of Sysimithres. Its identification presents.no difficulty, as in all Hissar there is but one place which answers the descriptions of it, namely, the narrow pass at the river Waksh, where the Suspension Bridge (Pul-i-Sangin) overspans it on the way from Hissar through Faizabad to Badshuan. This pass, Schwarz tells us, is the most remarkable place to which he XVI PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION xvii came in the whole course of his travels. The fort having been surrendered through the persuasions of Oxyartes, the conqueror returned to Baktra, by way of Faizabad, Hissar, Karatag, and Yurchi, from which place he proceeded down the right bank of the Surkhan to Tormiz, and thence to the passage of the Oxus at Pata-gisar. On his return to Baktra, he there made his preparations for the invasion of India. We have here only further to notice that Alexander's visit to Margiana, the city now so well known as Merv, could not have been made, as Curtius informs us, from Bokhara, which is 215 miles distant and separated from it by a terrible intervening desert, all but entirely destitute of wells, but was probably made from Sarakhs in the earlier part of the march from the Caspian Gates. We turn now to Major-General Haig's Memoir on the Indus-Delta country — a work of which about a fourth part directly concerns our subject. The sections which are of this nature discuss the following points: — i. The Geography and Hydrography of the Delta Country (chap, i.) ; 2. The Delta at the time of Alexander's Expedition (chap, ii.) ; 3. The Delta according to later Greek Ac- counts (chap, iii.) ; The Lonibare Mouth of the Indus (Append. Note A) ; 5. The general course of the Indus in Sindh in ancient times (Append. Note C) ; 6. Itiner- aries in the Las Bela Country (Append. Note D) ; 7. The March to the Arabios (Append. Note E) ; 8. The voyage of Nearchos from Alexander's Haven to the Mouth of the Arabios (Append. Note F). Our author could scarcely have chosen for his subject one that is more beset with problems of aggravating per- plexity. The Indus is notable even among Indian rivers for the frequency, and sometimes also for the suddenness, with which it changes its courses. As Colonel Holdich well observes, " The difficulty of restoring to the map of India an outline of the ancient geography of Sindh and the Indus Delta is one which has baffled many genera- tions of scholars. The vagaries of the Indus, even within the limits of historic record, .... render this river, even before the Delta is reached, a hopeless feature for refer- ence with regard to the position of places said once to have been near its bank. Within the limits of the Delta the confusion of hydrography becomes even more con- founded." In my note on Alexander in Sindh, which will be found at page 352, I have noticed that the channel in which the Indus now flows lies much farther to the west than the channel in which the Macedonians found it flowing. This westings as it is called, is due to the operation of the law, first discovered by K. E. von Baer, that the difference of the velocity of the earth's rotation at the Equator and at the Poles causes eroding rivers in the Northern Hemisphere to attack their right bank more than the left, and to push their beds sideways — while in the Southern Hemisphere, this action is reversed. From the Memoir we learn how this law, and the other natural laws by which its action is modified, have affected the Indus. The river, we learn, pursues from the confluence of the Panjnad a very uniform S.W. direction for nearly 300 miles, till it reaches lat. 26° 56', long. 6f 53'. At this point the river changes its general direction to one due south, and maintains this for about 60 miles, till it strikes, in lat. 26° 20', long. 6f 55', the eastern base of the Laid Hills, just under the peak called Bhago Toro. Below this point the westing movement of centuries has now brought the stream to the extreme edge of the alluvial land, and into contact with the gravel slopes bordering the hill-country. As the gravel tracts project in a bow into the alluvial land of Lower Sindh, the river, XVlll PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION XIX unable to erode them, is forced to conform to their con- tour, and to run in a great curve for nearly i8o miles to Thata. This curve continues through the Delta to the sea, so that from Bhago Toro to the river-mouth the course of the Indus forms an arc of some 260 miles, of which the chord is about 160 miles, and the maximum depth nearly 50 miles. The general result is to give the course of the river in Sindh the form of the letter S. And, as its abandoned channels attest, such has been the fonn in which the river has run in past ages as it approached the sea. The lower curve of the S had a still bolder sweep eastward when the river ran far east of its present course, unchecked by rock or gravel bed, than it has now, when this part of the course has been shaped by a resistance which the current cannot overcome. This S-shaped course of the river in all ages should be remembered in considering questions of ancient local topography, such, for instance, as that of the site of Patala. It will then be seen to be impossible that the river can have run at the same period in its present course near Haidarabad, and, lower down through the Gh^ro, or ancient Sindh Sigara ; also that if Patala was at Haidardbad, the western river-mouth of Alexander's time must have lain, not at the western extremity of the sea-face of the Delta, but much to the east of that point. From these remarks (which I have abbreviated from the text), it will be seen that Haidarabad can no longer be taken to be the modern representative of Patala. Where then was the point at which, in Alexander's time, the Indus bifurcated, and Patala was situated ? Major-General Haig says that any precise identification of this site is hardly within the limits of possibility ; but, for reasons for which his work itself must be consulted, he is of opinion that " the ancient capital of the Delta was most likely not far from a spot 35 miles south-east of Haidarabad " — a spot which happens to be 160 miles distant from each extremity of the Delta coast, as supposed to have existed in Alexander's time. With regard to places which lie farther north than Patala, the views set forth in this volume do not differ from those of Major-General Haig. He is, however, of opinion that the kingdom of Mousikanos was of greater extent than is usually supposed, and must have embraced the district of Bahawulpur, which answers better to the description of that kingdom, as the most flourishing in all India^ than the country around Alor. The Delta tract, as taken in the Memoir^ extends from the sea northwards to the latitude of Haidarabad (25° 25' N.), and is bounded on the east by the desert, the Puran or old course of the Indus, now dry, and by the Kori mouth, which is the Lonibare mouth of Ptolemy; on the west by the outer border of the plains, where the boundary runs S. by W. for 50 miles to near Thata, from which point it turns almost due west, and runs for 60 miles more to the sea, near Karachi. This alluvial tract is everywhere furrowed by ancient channels, some con- tinuous, both above and throughout the Delta, and others all but totally obliterated. Our author has a notice of each of the more important of these channels. Regarding the Gharo, the western arm down which Alexander and his fleet sailed, he says that it runs nearly east and west along the southern border of the Kohistan (hill-country), that it is thus on the extreme edge of the Delta, and that it has a course of about 40 miles in length. Referring to the present channel of the Indus, he remarks : — "This divides the lower Delta region into two unequal portions. Of these, the western, and much the smaller, portion is in the form of an equilateral triangle, having sides of about 64 miles in length, consisting of the river, the coast-line, and the XX PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION southern edge of the Kohistan plains, and including an area of about 1700 square miles. This it will be convenient to call the * Western Delta,' a name the more suitable that all the westward- flowing branches of the river have, or have once had, their mouths within the limits of the tract to which it will apply." • A very interesting question is next discussed — that of the secular extension of the Delta seaw^ard — and the con- clusion arrived at, which is, however, conjectural, and below the estimate of Colonel Holdich, is that from Alexander's time to 1869 A.D. the advance of the Delta seaward has been eight miles, or at the rate of rather more than six yards in a year, this being less than a fourth of the growth of the Nile Delta in a not much greater period of time. We now proceed to show what new light we gain from the Memoir respecting the voyage of Nearchos from the naval station in the Indus to Alexander's Haven, now Karachi. We abridge the account which Arrian has given in his Indika of this part of the famous voyage : — Weighing from the Naval Station, the fleet reached Stoura, about 100 stadia further down stream, and at the further distance of 30 stadia came to another channel where the sea was salt, at a place called Kaumana. A run of 20 stadia from Kaumana brought it to Koreatis, where it anchored. After weighing from this, a bar (cpfta) was encountered at the spot where the Indus discharges into the sea, and through this, where it was soft, a passage had to be cut at low water, for a space of five stadia. On this part of the coast, which was rugged, the waves dashed with great violence. The next place of anchorage was at Krokala, a sandy island, which was reached after a course of 150 stadia, that had followed the windings of the coast. Near this dwelt the Arabics, who had their name from the river Arabis, which separates their territory from that of the Oreitai. On weighing from Krokala, a hill called Eiros lay to the right, and to the left a low flat island, which stretched along the face of the coast, and made the intervening creek narrow. The ships PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION XXI having cleared this creek, reached a commodious harbour to which Nearchos gave the name of ** Alexander's Haven." At the harbour's mouth, two stadia off", lay an island named Bibakta, which, acting as a barrier against the sea, caused the existence of the harbour. Our author thinks that some of the circumstances described in the above passage supply irresistible evi- dence that it was through the Ghiro that Nearchos sailed into the sea. If the obstruction at the mouth of the river was caused in part by rock, it is certain, he says, that that mouth cannot have been situated to the east of the Gharo, for along the whole sea-border of the Delta, to a depth of several miles, no rock, not even a stone, is to be found. The description again of the coast adjoining the bar as rugged or rocky (rpa^eZa) can apply with great propriety to the plain west of the Gh^ro, consisting, as it does, of a compact gravelly soil, frequently broken by outcropping rock, while the description would be utterly out of place if applied to the low mud-banks of the actual Delta coast. And further, the statement that the fleet, after leaving the river, ran a winding course, shows very pointedly that the Gharo must have been the mouth by which the fleet reached the sea, since, if it had issued from any of the mouths east of the Gh^ro, there would have been no windings to follow, the coast of the Delta being singularly straight and regular. The fleet probably entered the sea by the creek of the Gharo known as the Kudro, not far from the present mouth of which there is a smaH port named the W^ghiidar, accessible to river- boats of light draught. Sir A. Burnes, however, who visited the Delta in 1831, took the Pit! channel to have been that by which Nearchos gained the sea. He had seen in that channel what he took to be a rock, and con- cluded that it was the obstacle which Nearchos had XXII PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION encountered. It was not a rock, however, but probably an oyster-bank, for when search was made for it after- \yards during a survey it was no longer to be found. The island of Krokala, which General Cunningham erroneously identified with the island of Kiamari, which lies in front of Karachi, no longer exists as an island, but forms part of the mainland. It lay at the mouth of the Gisri Creek, by which the Malk river pours its waters into the sea. The headland which Arrian calls Eiros is to be identified with the eminence called " Clifton," the eastern headland of Karachi Bay, the " narrow creek " which the fleet entered on leaving Krokala, is Chini Creek, which leads into Karachi Bay and harbour. Kiamari thus corresponds with the " low, flat island " of the Greek narrative, while Manora (mistaken by Cunningham for Eiros), exactly corresponds with Bibakta. We must now briefly notice what is said regarding the eastern portion of the Delta. Here the most important of all the forsaken channels of the Indus is the Pur^n, which can still be clearly traced from two different starting- points in Central Sindh, one 24, the other 36 miles north- east of Haidarabad. The two head channels run south- east for about 50 miles, and unite at a spot 45 miles east by south from Haidar^b^d. The single channel has then a course of over 140 miles to the head of the Kori Creek, the last 50 miles being through the Ran of Kuchchha. The eastern arm of the Indus, which Alexander in person explored, was probably some channel running into the Pur^n not far above the point where it enters the Ran. On reaching the sea by this eastern branch, Alex- ander, as Arrian informs us, landed, and with some cavalry proceeded three marches along the coast. This statement the Memoir declares to be a fabrication, since such a march would be an utter impossibility. At the same time, the PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION XXllI notion of wells being dug in the locality is scouted as an absurdity. The Memoir further indicates the route by which Alex- ander, after starting from Patala to return homewards, reached the Arabis or Arabios — now the Purali river, which flows through Lus Bela, and discharges into Sonmiyani Bay. The eastern frontier of the Arabios lay near Krokala, and was very probably formed by the river called the Malir. Alexander, according to Curtius, reached this frontier in a nine-days' march from Patala, and the western frontier, which was about 65 miles distant from the other, in five days more. Our author, assuming that Alexander would not have marched his army across the comparatively waterless plain of the Kohistan, but would keep, if possible, within easy reach of the river or one of its branches, thinks it obvious that the earlier part of the route would follow the branch which ran westward — the branch, namely, of which the Kalri and Gharo formed the lower portion. From the position which he assigns to Patala, the distance traversed in the nine-days' march would be 117 miles, while the point on the Malir where Alexander encamped would be, he thinks, 7 or 8 miles east by north from Karachi canton- ments. The distance between the Malir and the Purali, it must be pointed out, is much greater now than it was in Alexander's time, for, like the Indus, the Purali has shifted its course far westward. The coast-line, moreover, at Sonmiyani has advanced 20 miles, if not more, since then. Our author, therefore, placing the mouth of the river rather to the north of the latitude of Liari, suggests that the point where the army reached the Arabios was about 10 miles east by north from Liari, and 20 miles north or north by east from Sonmiyani. The last Appendix in the Memoir is devoted to a review b XXIV PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION XXV of the narrative of the voyage by which Nearchos in six days reached the mouth of the Arabics or Pur^li from Alexander's Haven. It states in the outset that the dis- covery of the great advance of the coast about the head of Sonmiyani Bay serves to explain some difficulties in the account of the voyage which have hitherto defied solution. We here abridge that account : — The fleet, on weighing from the haven, ran a course of 60 stadia, and anchored under shelter of a desert island called Domai. Next day, with a run of 300 stadia, it reached Saranga, and on the following day anchored at a desert place called Sakala. Another run of 300 stadia brought it on the morrow to Morontobara or Women's Haven. This haven had a narrow entrance, but was deep, capacious, and well-sheltered. The fleet, before gaining the entrance, had passed through between two islets, which lay so close to each other that the oars grazed the rocks on each side. On leaving this harbour next day it had on the left a tree-covered island 70 stadia long which sheltered it from the violence of the sea. As the channel, however, which separated the island from the mainland was narrow, and shoal with ebb-tide, the passage through it was difficult and tedious, and it was not till near the dawn of the following day that the fleet succeeded in clearing it A course of 120 stadia brought it to a good harbour at the mouth of the Arabios. Not far from this harbour lay an island described as being high and bare. The island of Domai Colonel Holdich and others would identify with Manora. Manora, however, Haig points out, is even now 4 to 5 miles off from the nearest mainland, and must have been further in Alexander's time. He would, therefore, place Domai rather more than 4 miles due west of the town of Karachi, or perhaps further north. The fleet, in its course to Saranga, must have rounded Cape Monze or R^s Muari, but this projection is not mentioned by Arrian. The position of Saranga, to judge from the recorded length of the run, must have been near the mouth of the Hub river, which is 26 miles distant from the position assigned to Domai. The Hub mouth has been silted up, and this led, last century, to its port being abandoned. Our author points out that if K were sub- stituted for S in Saranga, we would then have in Karanga a very fair representation of Kharok, the name of the Hub port. However this may be, he adds, there can be no doubt that the Saranga of Nearchos was either at the Hub mouth or a few miles further north. He then corrects a mistake into which Dr. Vincent and myself had both of us fallen in our respective translations of the record of the next part of the voyage — that from Saranga to Sakala, and thence to Morontobara. Our versions represented the two rocky islets, between which the fleet passed instead of taking a circuitous course out in the open sea, as being in the neighbourhood of Sakala instead of that of Morontobara. Sakala, Haig thinks, may be placed a little east of Bidok Lak — a place 24 miles distant from Saranga, if Saranga be taken to lie a few miles north of the Hub mouth. Between these two places the fleet must have passed the island of Gadani, which is now a part of the mainland, and was probably the Kodane of Ptolemy. With regard to Morontobara, our author agrees with Colonel Holdich in thinking that it is now represented by the great depression known as " Sirondha," which, though usually a fresh-water lake, is occasionally quite dry. This, as the Colonel states, was at no very distant date a com- modious harbour or arm of the sea, which has extended north in historic times at least as far as Liari, and possibly further. He adds that south-west of Li^ri some of the land formation is probably very ancient, and that west- ward along the Makran coast there are many indications of local changes. The distance from Bidok Lak to the depression is estimated at about 27 miles, which repre- XXVI PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION sents very fairly the 3(X) stadia of the narrative. Liari is now about 20 miles distant from the sea. On leaving the Arabios the fleet, coasting the shores of the Oreitai, arrived at Kokala, a place near Ras Kachar, where Nearchos landed, and was joined by the division of the army under Leonnatus, from whom he received a supply of provisions for his ships. From Kokala, a course of 500 stadia brought him to the estuary of the Tomeros, or, as it is now called, the river Hingol. All connection between the fleet and the army was thenceforth lost until the district of Harmozia, in Karmania, was reached. The coast of the Oreitai extended westward from the Arabios to the great rocky headland of Malan, which still bears the name given to it in Arrian, Malana — a distance of fully TOO miles. The desolate shores of the Ichthyophagi succeeded, and inland lay the vast sandy wastes of Gedrosia. Between Cape Malan and the mouth of the Anamis river in Harmozia, from which Nearchos, with a small retinue, proceeded inland to meet Alexander, no fewer than twenty-one names of places at which the fleet touched are recorded in the narrative of the voyage. Most of these have been identified by Major Mockler, the political agent of Makran. We can refer to only one or two of the more notable. From Cape Malan the fleet proceeded to Bagisara, which, Colonel Holdich tells us, is likely enough the Dimizaar or eastern bay of the Urmara headland. The Pasiris, who are mentioned as a people of this neighbourhood, have left frequent traces of their existence along the coast. At Kalama, now Khor Khalmat, which was reached on the second day from Urmara, there can be traced a very considerable extension of the land seawards, which would have completely altered the course of the fleet from the present coasting tract. The island of Karbine, which was distant 100 stadia from PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION XXVll Kalama, cannot, our author points out, be the island of Astola, but is probably a headland now connected with the mainland by a low sandy waste. Astola, however, he takes to be the island sacred to the sun, which Arrian calls Nosala, and places at a distance of 100 stadia from the mainland. The nearest land to it is Ras Jaddi or Koh Zaren, in the neighbourhood of which was Mosarna, where Nearchos took on board a pilot, by whom thence- forth the course of the fleet was directed. The next place of importance was Barna, called by others Badara, and this Mockler identifies with Gwadar. The following identifications succeed : — Dendrobosa with the west point of Gwadar headland, Kophas with Pishikan Bay, Bagia with Cape Bres, Talmena with a harbour in Chahbar Bay, Kanate with Karatee, Dagasira with Jakeisar, near the mouth of the Jageen river, Badis with Koh Mubarak, and the mouth of the Anamis river with a point north by east from the island of Ormus. The distances which Arrian records as run by the fleet from day to day are generally excessive, especially after it had left the mouth of the Arabios. ^ We must now resume consideration of the movements of Alexander himself When we left him he had reached the banks of the Arabios, at a point distant some twenty miles from Sonmiyani, or perhaps even higher up the river. On crossing the stream he turned to his left towards the sea, and with a picked force made a sudden descent on the Oreitai. After a night's march he came to a well-inhabited district, defeated the Oreitai, and pene- trated to their capital — a mere village called Rambakia, which Colonel Holdich places at or near Khairkot. The Oreitai themselves are, in his opinion, represented by the Lumri tribes of Las Bela, who are of Rajput descent. From Rambakia Alexander proceeded with a part of his XXVlll PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION troops to force the narrow pass which the Gadrdsoi and the Oreitai had conjointly seized with the design of stopping his progress. This defile was most probably the turning pass at the northern end of the Hala range. The Gadrosoi seem to owe their name to the Gadurs, one of the Lumri clans, from which, however, they hold them- selves somewhat distinct. Alexander, after clearing the pass, pushed on through a desert country into the territory of the Gadrosoi, and drew down to the coast. He must then, says our author, have followed the valley of the Phur to the coast, and pushed on along the track of the modern telegraph line till he reached the neighbourhood of the Hingol river, where he halted to collect supplies for the fleet. On this part of the route were the tamarisk trees which yielded myrrh, the mangrove swamps, the euphorbias with prickly shoots, and the roots of spikenard. Beyond this he could no longer pursue his march along the coast in order to keep in touch with the fleet. The huge barrier of the Malan range, which abutted direct on the sea, stopped his way. There was no goat track in those days, such as, after infinite difficulty, helped the telegraph line over. He was consequently forced into the interior. Taking the only route that was possible, he followed up the Hingol till he could turn the Malan by the first available pass westward. Nothing here, we are told, has altered since his days. The magnificent peaks and mountains which surround the sacred shrine of Hinglaz are " everlasting hills," and it was through these that he proceeded to make his way. The windings of the Hingol river he followed for 40 miles up to its junction with the Parkan. The bed of this stream leads westward from the Hingol, and skirts the north of the Taloi range. Alexander had thus for the first time a chance of turning the Malan block, and directing his march westward to the PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION XXIX sea. He therefore pushed his way through this low valley, which was flanked by the Taloi hills, that rose on his left to a height of 2000 feet. All the region at their base was a wilderness of sandy hillocks and scanty grass-covered waste, which could aflbrd his troops no supplies and no shelter from the fierce autumn heat. All the miseries of his retreat, which are so graphically depicted by his historians, were concentrated into the distance between the Hingol and the point where he regained the coast. The Parkan route should have led him to the river Basol, but having lost his way, he must have emerged near the harbour of Pasni, almost on the line of the present telegraph. The distance from the Hingol to Pasni our author estimates at about 200 miles ; but in Curzon's well-known map of Persia it appears as if only 150. From Pasni Alexander marched for seven days along the coast till he reached the well-known highway to Karmania. He could only leave the coast near the Dasht river and strike into the valley of the Bahu, which would lead him to Bampur, the capital of Gadrosia. This part of the march probably occupied nearly a month. It has been doubted whether Bampur was, in Alexander's time, the capital of Gadrosia, rather than the place on the edge of the Kirman desert, called indifferently Fahraj, Purag, and Pura, where there are extensive ruins of a very ancient date. Colonel Holdich, however, adduces argu- ments which suffice to set aside the claims advanced in favour of Fahraj. Bampur is as old as Fahraj, and has in its neighbourhood the site of a city still older, and now called Pura and Purag. Besides, in order to reach Fahraj, Alexander must have passed Bampur, since there is no other way consistent with Arrian's account. With regard to the route pursued by Krateros with the heavy transport and invalids, our author points out that it was probably XXX PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION XXXI by the Mulla (and not the Bolan) pass to Kelat and Quetta. Thence he must have taken the Kandahar route to the Helmund, and followed that river down to the fertile plains of lower Seistan, whence he crossed the Kirman desert by a well-known modern caravan route and joined Alexander at or near Kirman. Since the publication of his lecture, of which we have thus summarised the contents, Colonel Holdich has con- tributed to the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (January 1896), an article on "The Origin of the Kafir of the Hindu-Kush," which contains some very interesting notices regarding Alexander as he fought his way from the Hindu-Kush to the banks of the Indus. The route by which the conqueror himself advanced with one division of his army, while the other division, which was more heavily armed, advanced by the Khaibar Pass, is thus described by our author : — *' The recognised road to India from Central Asia was that which passed through the plains of Kabul, by the Kabul river, into Laghman or Lamghan, and thence by the open Dasht-i- Gumbaz into the lower Kunar. From the Kunar valley this road, even to the time of Baber's invasion of India (early in the sixteenth century), crossed the comparatively low intervening range into Bajour; thence to the valley of the Panj-Kora and Swat, and out into India by the same passes with which we have now (after nearly 400 years) found it convenient to enter the same district." A reference to our notes, B. C. D. E., in the Appendix, will show that this view of the route is that which we ourselves had adopted. His views with regard to the position of Massaga, Aornos, and Embolima are also coincident with those at which we had arrived. Dyrta he takes to have been the place now known as Din That opinion was held by such great authorities as Court and Lassen, but we have pointed out an objection to it in p. ^6, n. 3. To Nysa, which, as will be seen by a reference to our long note pp. 338-340, we have identified with the Nagara or Dionysopolis of Ptolemy (B. vii., 43), thus placing it at a distance of four or five miles west of Jalalabad and near the Kabul river. Colonel Holdich assigns a different locality. " The Nysaeans," he says, "whose city Alexander spared, were the descendants of those conquerors, who, coming from the west, were probably deterred by the heat of the plains of India from carrying their conquests south of the Punjab. They settled on the cool and well-watered slopes of those mountains which crown the uplands of Swat and Bajour, where they culti- vated the vine for generations. ... It seems possible that they may have extended their habitat as far eastward as the upper Swat valley and the mountain region of the Indus, and at one time may have occupied the site of the ancient capital of the Assakenoi, Massaga, which there is reason to suppose stood in about the position now occupied by the town of Manglaor." The hill in the neighbourhood of Nysa called Mount Meros, which was clad with ivy, laurel, and vine-trees, he identifies with the Koh-i-Mor or Mountain of Mor, and gives this account of it : — " On the right bank of the Panj-Kora river (the ancient Ghoura), nearly opposite to its junction with the river of Swat (Suastos), is a very conspicuous mountain, whose three-headed outline can be distinctly seen from the Peshawar cantonment, known as the Koh-i-Mor or Mountain of Mor. On the southern slopes of this mountain, near the foot of it, is a large scattered village called Nuzar or Nasar. The sides of the mountain spurs are clothed with the same forest and jungle that is common to the mountains of Kafiristan, and to the hills intervening between Kafiristan and the Koh-i-Mor. Amid this jungle are to be found the wild vine and ivy." In note B. — Nikaia — page 332, some remarks will be found regarding the Kafirs. Colonel Holdich describes them similarly, but upholds the view, rejected by Elphin- XXXll PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION xxxiii ^! stone, of their Greek origin. The best known of them, he points out, are the Kamdesh Kafirs from the lower valley of the Bashgol, a large affluent of the Kunar river, which it joins from the north-west, some forty miles below Chitral. He then continues : — " In the case of the Kamdesh Kafir, at least, the tradition of Greek or Pelasgic origin seems likely to be verified in a very remarkable way. Scientific inquiry has been converging on him from several directions, and it seems possible that the ethnographical riddle connected with his existence will be solved ere long. In appearance he is of a distinct Aryan type, with low forehead, and prominent aquiline features, entirely free from Tartar or Mongolian traits ; his eyes, though generally dark, are frequently of a light grey colour ; his complexion is fair enough to pass for Southern European ; his figure is always slight, but indicating marvellous activity and strength ; and the modelling of his limbs would furnish study for a sculptor." Colonel Holdich subsequently calls our attention to certain strange inscriptions found in the valley of the Indus east of Swat, and engraved, most of them, on stone slabs built into towers which are now in ruins. These inscrip- tions, on being subjected to a congress of Orientalists, were pronounced to be in an unknown tongue. They may possibly, he adds, be found to be vastly more ancient than the towers they adorned, it being, at any rate, a notable fact about them that some of them " recall a Greek alpha- bet of archaic type." He concludes his observations regarding the Kafirs in these terms : " I cannot but believe them to be the modern representatives of that very ancient western race, the Nysaeans — so ancient that the historians of Alexander refer to their origin as mythical." I may, in conclusion, advert, in a word, to an article of great ability, contributed to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for October 1894, in which the writer endeavours to show that Alexander reached the Indus by a widely different route from that which is indicated in our pages, although it is also the route which, in its main outlines, has been determined by the best authorities — men of high military rank, personally acquainted with the country, and scholars of the greatest eminence. As the selection of the route advocated was mainly based on the opinion which the writer had formed as to the point whereat Alexander had effected his passage of the Indus, it will suffice to refute his theory if we prove that his opinion is altogether untenable. In his view, the Indus was crossed, not at Attock, but much higher up stream, at a point between Amb and the mouth of the Barhind river, the Parenos of the Greeks. Now, while the passage at Attock is that which, from time immemorial, has been used as the easiest means of access into India from the west, the passage higher up is much more diffi- cult and dangerous, for though the river is not there so wide, its current is much more impetuous, while the banks are, at the same time, much steeper. Had Alexander notwithstanding attempted to cross at that point, he would have had to encounter a desperate resistance on the part of his determined enemy Abisares, in whose dominions he would have found himself on reaching the eastern bank. He made, however, no such foolhardy attempt either here or afterwards at the Hydaspes. We find, as a matter of fact, that when he made the passage he met with no opposition, but was most hospitably received by his vassal, the King of Taxila, in whose dominions Attock was situated. The writer, it would appear, has been led to his erroneous assumption by applying to the Indus specially the remark in Strabo (quoted at page 64, note 4) regarding the rivers of Northern Afghanistan generally, that Alexander wished to cross them as near their sources as possible. The XXXIV PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION I remark, we may be certain, had no reference to the Indus at all, for Alexander could not but have learned from Taxiles, who had joined him at Nikaia before the two divisions of his army separated, where the Indus could best be crossed. Taxiles, moreover, accompanied the division which advanced towards the Indus by the Khaibar Pass, with instructions to make all the necessary preparations for the passage of the whole army. Could such instructions have been given if the point where the passage was to be made had still to be discovered ? A reference to Baber's Memoirs will show with what ease that other great conqueror transported his army into India by using the Attock passage. A sixth volume^ containing descriptions of India by Strabo and Pliny ^ together with incidental notices of India by other classical writers^ is in course of preparation , and will complete the series. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION En inventant I'histoire, la Grece inventa le jugement du monde, et, dans ce jugement, I'arret de la Grece fut sans appel. A celui dont la Grece n'a pas parle, I'oubli, c'est-a-dire le neant. A celui dont la Grece se souvient, la gloire, c'est-a-dire la vie. — Discours de M. Ernest Renan du 5 Mai 1892. This work is the fifth of a series which may be entitled Ancient India as described by the Classical Writers , since it was projected to supply annotated translations of all the accounts of India which have descended to us from classical antiquity. The volumes which have already appeared contain the fragments of the Indika of Ktesias the Knidian, and of the Indika of Megasthenes, the Indika of Arrian, the Periplous of the Erythraian Sea by an un- known author, and Ptolemy's Geography of India and the other Countries of Eastern Asia. A sixth work, containing translations of the chapters in Strabo's Geography which describe India and Ariana, is in preparation, and will complete, the series. I cannot at present say whether this work will appear as a separate publication, or will be included in a volume containing new and revised editions of the three Indikas mentioned above, which are now nearly out of print, as are also the other two works of the series. XXXVl PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION In the present work I have translated and annotated all the earliest and most authentic records which have been preserved of the Macedonian invasion of India under Alexander the Great. The notes do not touch on points either of grammar or of textual criticism, but are mainly- designed to illustrate the statements advanced in the narratives. When short, they accompany the text as footnotes, and when of such a length as would too much encumber the pages, they have been placed together in an appendix by themselves. Such notes again as refer to persons have been placed, whether short or long, in a second appendix, which I have designated a Biographical Appendix, In preparing the translations and notes I have consulted a great many works, of which the following may be specified as those which I found most useful: — Droysen's Geschichte Alexanders des Grossen, Williams's Life of Alexander, Sainte- Croix's Examen Critique des Anciens Historiens d Alexandre le Grand. C. M tiller's collection of the remaining fragments of the Historians of Alexander the Great, Thirlwall's History of Greece, vols, vi. and vii. Grote's History of Greece, vol. xii. Duncker's History of Antiquity, vol. iv., which treats of India exclusively. Talboys Wheeler's History of India. Le Clerc's Criticism upon Curtius, prefixed to Rooke's Translation of Arrian's Anabasis. Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde. General Sir A. Cunningham's Geography of Aficient India, V. de Saint-Martin's Atude sur la Geographic Grecque et Latine de Vlnde, and his Mimoire AnaJytique sur la carte de PAsie Ce fit rale et de Ilnde. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION XXXVll Rennell's Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan. Bunbury's History of Ancient Geography, Abbott's Gradus ad Aornon. Journal A siatique. Serie VIII. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. New Series. Mahafify's Alexander's Empire and his Greek Life and Thought from the Age of Alexander to the Roman Conquest. Professor Freeman's Essay on Alexander the Great, General Chesney's Lecture on the Indian Campaign of Alexa7ider, Wesseling's Latin Translation of Diodoros. Translations of Curtius by Digby, Pratt, and Vaugelas respectively. The Notes to the Elzevir edition of Curtius. Chinnock's Translation of Arrian's Anabasis of Alexander, and Notes thereto. Chaussard's Translation of Arrian into French. Moberly's Alexander the Great in the Punjaub, from Arrian. Book V. Burton's Sindh. Weber's Die Griechen in Indien. Dr. Belle w's Ethnogi^aphy of Afghanistan. Sir W. W. Hunter's and Professor Max Muller's Works on India. The Translations are strictly literal, but though such, will, I trust, be found to give, without crudeness of diction, a faithful' reflex not only of the sense, but also of the spirit, force, fluency, and perspicuity of the original com- positions. I have at all events spared no pains to combine in the translations the two merits of being at once literal and idiomatic in expression. In translating Arrian I adopted the text of Sintenis XXXVlll PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION XXXIX (2nd edition, Berlin, 1863); and with regard to Curtius, I found the work entitled Alexmider in India^ edited by Heitland and Raven, very serviceable, containing, as it does, exactly that portion of Curtius which it was my purpose to translate. Both the works referred to contain valuable prolegomena and notes, to which I must here acknowledge my obligations. The Introduction consists of two parts. In the first, I have pointed out the sources whence our knowledge of the history of Alexander has been derived, and dis- cussed their title to credibility ; while in the second, I have sketched Alexander's career, and added a very brief summary of the events that followed his death till the wars for the division of his empire were finally composed. In the transcription of Greek proper names I have followed as hitherto the method introduced by Grote, which scholars have now generally adopted. A vindica- tion of the method which, to my thinking, is unanswerable, has appeared in the preface to Professor Freeman's History of Sicilyy a work which the author unfortunately has not lived to complete. The most noticeable change resulting from this method is the substitution of K for C in the spelling of Greek names. This should be borne in mind by those who may have occasion to consult either the Biographical Appendix or the General Index. I may further note that in tran- scribing Sanskrit or other Indian names I have in all cases used the circumflex to distinguish the long d, which is sounded as a \r\fall, from the short a, which is sounded as u in dumb. In Sanskrit and its derivative dialects this short vowel ( ^ ) is never written unless it begin a word, for it is supposed to be inherent in every consonant. The letter / with the acute accent represents the palatal sibilant ( IT ), which is sounded like sh. Two maps accompany the work, the larger of which shows the entire line of the route which Alexander followed in the course of his Asiatic expedition, while the smaller shows more distinctly that part of his route which lay through the northern parts of Afghanistan and the Country of the Five Rivers. For both I consulted the latest and most authoritative maps, both British and German, in which these routes have been laid down, and I found them in pretty close agreement, except with regard to that part of the route which is traced in the smaller map. Here I have generally followed the sketch map of the Panj^b which is given in General Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India, but have ventured to differ from him with regard to the position of the Rock Aornos, of Alexander's bridge over the Indus, of Sangala, and of the Oxydrakai, whom I have placed, as in Sir E. H. Bunbury's map, to the south of the Malloi. The frontispiece to the volume, reproduced from a fifteenth-century French MS. of the Life of Alexander, may, it is hoped, appeal to many as a quaint rendering of a widely "popular" incident. I cannot conclude without expressing my great obligations to Mr. Archibald Constable, by whose firm this work is published, for all the trouble he has taken in connection with its passage through the press, and especially with the preparation of the illustrations. I have also to thank Dr. Burgess for supplying the photo- graph from which the Asoka inscription on page 373 has been reproduced, and for sundry valuable suggestions besides. J. W. M'C. 9 Westhall Gardens, Edinburgh, 1892. I INTRODUCTION B i "Of the life of Alexander we have five consecutive narratives, besides numerous allusions and fragments scattered up and down various Greek and Latin writers. . . . Unluckily, among all the five there is not a single con- temporary chronicler. . . . The value of all, it is clear, must depend upon the faithfulness with which they represent the earlier writings which they had before them, and upon the amount of critical power which they may have brought to bear upon their examination. Unluckily again, among all the five, one only has any claim to the name of a critic. Arrian alone seems to have had at once the will and the power to exercise a discreet judgment upon the statements of those who went before him. Diodoros we believe to be per- fectly honest, but he is, at the same time, impenetrably stupid. Plutarch, as he himself tells us, does not write history, but lives ; his object is rather to gather anecdotes, to point a moral, than to give a formal narrative of political and military events. Justin is a feeble and careless epitomizer. Quintus Curtius is, in our eyes, little better than a romance writer ; he is the only one of the five whom we should suspect of any wilful departure from the truth."— From Historical Essays, by Professor Freeman, 2d series, third edition, pp. 183, 184. V INTRODUCTION The invasion of India by Alexander the Great, like the . first voyage of Columbus to America, was the mean^ of opening up a new world to the knowledge of mankind. Before the great conqueror visited that remote and sequestered country, which was then thought to lie at the utmost ends of the earth, nothing was known regard- ing it beyond a few vague particulars mentioned by Herodotos, and such grains of truth as could be sifted from the mass of fictions which formed the staple of the treatise on India \yritten by Ktesias of Knidos. A com- parison of this work with the Indika of Megasthenes, which was written after the invasion, will show how entirely all real knowledge of the country was due to that event. It may even, we think, be asserted that had that invasion not taken place, the knowledge of India among the nations of the West would not have advanced much beyond where Ktesias left it, until the maritime passage to the East by the Cape of Good Hope had been dis- covered. It was early in the year 326 B.C. that Alexander, fresh from the cgnquest of the fierce tribes of northern Afghan- istan, led his army over into the plains of India by a bridge of boats, with which he had spanned the Indus a little below its junction with the Kabul river.^ He remained in the country not more than twenty months all told, yet ^ With the exception of Alexander, have sprung firom provinces towards all the great conquerors who have Tartary and Northern Persia, crossed the Indus to invade India 1 4 INTRODUCTION in that brief space he reduced the Panjab as far as the Satlej, and the whole of the spacious valley of the lower Indus, downwards to the ocean itself. He would even have penetrated to the Ganges had his army consented to follow him, and, in the opinion of Sandrokottos, would have succeeded in adding to his empire the vast regions through which that river flows. The rapidity with which he achieved his actual conquests in the country appears all the more surprising when we take into account that at every stage of his advance he encountered a most determined resistance. The people were not only of a most martial temperament, but were at the same time inured to arms ; and had they but been united and led by such a capable commander as Poros, the Macedonian army was doomed to utter destruction. Alexander, with all his matchless strategy, could not have averted such a catastrophe ; for what is the record of his Indian campaigns ? We find that the toughest of all his battles was that which he fought on' the banks of the Hydaspes against Poros ; that he had hot work in overcoming the resistance of the Kathaians before the walls of Sangala ; that he was wounded near to death in his assault upon the Mallian stronghold ; and that in the valley of the Indus he could only overpower the opposition instigated by the Brahmans by means of wholesale massacres and executions. It may hence be safely inferred that if Alexander had found India united in arms to withstand his aggression, the star of his good fortune would have culminated with his passage of the Indus. But he found, on the contrary, the political con- dition of the country when he entered it eminently favour- able to his designs. The regions of the Indus and its great tributary streams were then divided into separate states — some under kingly and others under republican governments, but all alike prevented by their mutual jealousies and feuds from acting in concert against a common enemy, and therefore all the more easy to over- come. Alexander, in pursuance of his usual policy, sought to secure the permanence of his Indian conquests INTRODUCTION 5 by founding cities,^ which he strongly fortified and garrisoned with large bodies of troops to overawe and hold in subjection the tribes in their neighbourhood. The system of government also which he established was the same as that which he had provided for his other subject provinces, the civil administration being entrusted to native chiefs, while the executive and military authority was wielded by Macedonian officers. The Asiatic nations in general submissively acquiesced in the new order of things, and after a time found no reason to regret the old order which it had superseded. Under their Hellenic masters they enjoyed a greater measure of freedom than they had ever before known ; commerce was promoted, wealth increased, the administra- tion of justice improved, and altogether they reached a higher level of culture, both intellectual and moral, than they could possibly have attained under a continuance of Persian supremacy. India did not participate to any great extent in these advantages. Her people were too proud and warlike to brook long the burden and reproach of foreign thraldom, and within a few years after the Conqueror's death they completely freed themselves from the yoke he imposed, and were thereafter ruled by their native princes. The Greek occupation having thus proved so transient, had little more effect in shaping the future course of the national destinies than a casual raid of Scottish borderers into Cumberland in the old days could have had in shaping the general course of English history.^ ^ According to Plutarch, seventy Asiatic cities at the least owed their origin to Alexander. Of those, forty can still be traced. Grote thinks the number is probably exaggerated, and disparages their importance. - In saying this, I do not forget that the Grseco-Baktrian kings at one time extended their sway in India even far beyond the parts conquered by Alexander ; but this cannot be regarded as having resulted from his invasion. It might have equally happened had his invasion been as mythical as the Indian expeditions of Dionysos and Herakles. Nor do I by any means overlook the effects produced by Greek ideas on the Indian mind — effects which can be traced in a variety of spheres, such as religion, poetry, philosophy, science, architec- ture, and the plastic arts. On this subject Professor A. Weber read a very learned paper, entitled "Die Griechen in Indien," before the Prussian Academy of Sciences in July /f A I 1#¥ m 6 INTRODUCTION By this disruption of her relations with the rest of Alexander's empire, India fell back into her former isola- tion from all the outside world, and for more than fifteen or sixteen centuries afterwards the western nations knew as little of her internal condition as they knew till lately of the interior of the Dark Continent. The invasion was, however, by no means fruitless of some good results. As has been already indicated, it drew aside the veil which had till then shrouded India from the observation of the rest of the world, and it thus widened the horizon of knowledge. It is fortunate that what then became known of India was not left for its preservation at the mercy of mere oral tradition, but was committed to the safer custody of writing. Not a few of Alexander's officers and com- panions were men of high attainments in literature and science, and some of their number composed memoirs^ of his wars, in the course of which they recorded their im- pressions of India and the races by which they found it inhabited.! These reports, even in the fragmentary state in which they have come down to us, have proved of inestim- able value to scholars engaged in the investigation of Indian antiquity — a task which the sad deficiency of Sanskrit literature in history and chronology has rendered one of no ordinary difficulty. Strabo, we must however note, stigmatized the authors referred to as being in general a set of liars, of whom only a few managed now and then to stammer out some words of truth. This sweeping censure is, however, a most egregious calumny. It may indeed be admitted that their descriptions are not uni- 1 890. It is a paper which well deserves to be translated into our language. Scholars now rather incline to believe that, whatever may be the exact de- gree of the indebtedness of India to Greece, the ancient civilization of India was much less original and self- contained than it was at one time supposed to be. 1 Patrokles, who held an important command in the East under Seleukos Nikator and his son Antiochos I., stated, in a work (now lost) which included a description of India, that while the army of Alexander took but a very hasty view of everything (in India), Alexander himself took a more exact one, causing the whole country to be described by men well acquainted with it. This description, Patrokles says, was put into his hands by Xenokles the Treasurer. On this subject Humboldt thus writes: "The Macedonian campaign, which opened so large and beautiful a portion of the earth to the influence INTRODUCTION 7 formly free from error or exaggeration, and may even be tainted by some intermixture of fiction, but on the whole they wrote in good faith — a fact which even Strabo him- self practically admits by frequently citing their authority for his statements. If one or two of them are to some extent liable to the censure, it must be remembered that Ptolemy, Aristoboulos, Nearchos, Megasthenes, and others of them, are writers of unimpeachable veracity. It is to be regretted that the works in which these writers recorded their Indian experiences have all, without exception, perished. We know, however, the main sub- stance of their contents from the histories of Alexander, written several centuries after his death by the authors we have here translated, as well as from Strabo, Pliny, Ailianos, Athenaios, Orosius, and others. The following is a list of the writers on India who visited the country either with Alexander, or not many years after his death, or who were at least his con- temporaries : — 1. Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, who became king of Egypt. 2. Aristoboulos of Potidaia, or, as it was called after- wards, Kassandreia. 3. Nearchos, a Kretan by birth, but settled at Amphi- polis, admiral of the fleet. 4. Onesikritos of Astypalaia, or, as some say, of Aegina, pilot of the fleet. 5. Eumenes of Kardia, Alexander's secretary, who kept the Ephemerides or Court Journal. His country- man, Hieronymos, in his work on Alexander's sux:cessors, made a few references to the campaigns of the Conqueror. 6. Chares of Mitylene, wrote anecdotes of Alexander's private life. of one sole highly - gifted race, may therefore certainly be regarded in the strictest sense of the word as a scien- tific expedition, and, moreover, as the first in which a conqueror had sur- rounded himself with men learned in all departments of science, as natural- ists, geometricians, historians, philo- sophers, and artists." 8 INTRODUCTION /. Kallisthciics of Olyiithos, Aristotle's kinsman, author of an account of Alexander's Asiatic expedition. iS. Kleitarchos (Clitarchus), son of Dcinon of Rhodes, author of a h"fc of Alexander. 9. /\ndrosthencs of Thasos, a naval ofllccr, author of a Paraplous. 10. Polyklcitos of Larissa, author of a history of Alexander, full of i^eojnaphical detail;. I I. Kyrsilos of J'harsalos, who wrote of the exploits of Alexander. 12. Anaximenes of Lanipsakos, author of a history of Alexander. 13. Diognetos, who, with Baiton, measured and recorded the distances of Alexander's marches. 14. Archelacis, a geographer, supposed to have accom- panied Alexander's expedition, r 5. Amyntas, author of a work on Alexander's Statluiioi, i.i'. stages or halting-places. 16. Patrokles, a writer on gcograph)-. 17. Megasthenes, friend of Seleukos Nikator, and his ambas.sador at the Court of Sandrokottos. kinu of ralibotlira, composed an Indika. 1 8. Dcimachos, ambassador at the same court in llic days of the son and successor of Sandrokottos, author of a work on India in two books. 19. Diodotos of Erythrai, who, like luimcnes, kc|)t Alexander's Court Journal, and may possibly have been in India. Five consecutive narratives of iMexander's Indian campaigns, compiled several centuries after his death from the v.orks of the writers enumerated, who were either witnesses of the events they described, or living at the time of their occurrence, have descended to our times, and are respectively contained in the following productions :— I. The .Anabasis of Alexander, by Arrian of Niko- mijdeia. INTRODUCTION 9 2. The History of Alexander the Great, by Ouintus Curtius Rufus. „ , t • 3. The Life of Alexander, in I'lutarch's Farallcl Lives. 4 The History C)f Dio.l.uos the .Sicilian. r" The Book of Macedonian History, compiled from the Universal History of Trogus I'ompeius, by Justinus Frontinus. Akkian Arrian, who is universally allowed to be by far the best of all Alexander's historians, was at once a philosopher, a statesman, a military commander, an expert in the tactics of war, and an accomplished writer. He was born towards the end of the fust century of our aera at Nikomcdcia (now Ismiknid or Ismid), the capital of Bithynia, situated near the hca.l of a deep bay at the south-eastern end of the Tropontis or Sea of Marmora. He became a disciple of the Stoic philosopher Ep'kt^tos (much in the same way as Xenophon attached himself to Sokrates), and gave to the world an abstract of his master's lectures, together with an Encharuiwn or manual of his philosophy-a work which was long and widely popular. Under the lunperor Hadrian he was appointed in AD. 132 prefect of Kappadokia. He had not long filled this office when a large body of wild Alan horsemen made one of their fonni.lal.le raids into his province. They had hitherto proved irresistible, but on this occasion they were completely foiled by the skilful strategy and tactics of Arrian, who expelled them from his borders before they had ^secured any plunder. In Rome he was preferred to various high offices, and under Antoninus I'.us was raised to the consulship. In his later years he retired to his native city, where he occupied himself in composing treatises on a considerable variety of subjects, but chiefly on history and geography. He died at an advanced age in the reign of the Emperor IMarcus Aurelius. His account of Alexander's Asiatic expedition was 41 J 10 INTRODUCTION" followed by a treatise on India called the Imiiko The first part of this work, which gives a description of India and Its people, was based chicny on the Indika of IMc^as- thcncs ; and the second part, which narrates the fainous voyage of Ncarchos from the mouth of the Indus to the head of the Persian Gulf, was based on a journal kept by Nearchos himself The work is but a supplement to his History. I Ic speaks himself with noble pride of this jrreat work " llHs I do assert," he says, " that this historical record of Alexander's deeds is, and has been from mj- youth up in place to mc of native land, family, and honours of state ; and so I do not regard myself as un- worthy to take rank among tlie foremost writers in the Greek language, if Alexander be forsooth among the fore- most n, arms." "Quel delirc de I'amour propre ! " here exclaims Sainte-Croix. His merits as an author arc thus wel stated by a writer in Smith's Classical Diet, onary: This great work (the Anabasis) reminds the reader of Xenophons Anabasis,not only by its title, but also by the case and clearness of its style Great as his merits thus arc as an historian, they are jet surpassed bv his excellences as an historical critic. His Anabasis is based upon the most trustworthy historians among the contcm- poranes of Alexander. ... One of the great merits of the work is the clearness and distinctness with which he describes all military movements and operations, the clrawmg up of the armies for battle, an'> INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 23 in the rear. Alexander drew up his forces on the opposite ^d bank in the order which he adopted in all his great battles. Thus the phalanx formed his centre ; he commanded himself the extreme right, and the officer in whom he had most confidence the extreme left. To either wing were attached such brigades of the phalanx as circumstances seemed to require. The Persians having observed where Alexander was posted, strengthened their left wing with dense squadrons of their best cavalry, anticipating that this part of their line would be exposed to the first fury of the onset led by himself in person. | They judged aright. Alexander having sent a detach- j ment of cavalry across the stream, followed with othe-^ cavalry and a portion of the phalanx. I'ne Tcxs'ians made a gallant resistance, but were soon beaten. Their darts and scimitars were no match for the tough cornel of the Macedonian spears. Their ranks first broke where Alexander himself in the hottest of the fight was dealing death and wounds around him. A blow which was descending on his own head, and which if delivered woi^ld have proved fatal, was intercepted by Kleitos, who cut off the arm of the assailant, scimitar and all. The field was won before either the phalanx on the one side, or the Greek mercenaries on the other, could come into action. The Macedonians, after returning from a short pursuit, closed around the mercenaries and cut them down, all but 2000 who were made prisoners and sent in chains to Macedonia. The number of the Persians slain was about 1 000 against only 1 1 5 on the other side. Alexander did not, like most other conquerors after a victory, plunder the surrounding country, but regarding Asia as already his own, treated the inhabitants as subjects whose interests he was bound to protect and promote. Neither did he at once advance into the interior, but, acting by a rule of strategy which he was always careful to observe, resolved to make his rear secure. He there- fore first reduced all the western provinces of the empire which Darius after the defeat of his satraps had placed under the supreme authority of Memnon the Rhodian. Memnon was a formidable antagonist, both from his skill in war, and from his having a powerful fleet at his command, which gave him the dominion of the sea, and enabled him to threaten at will the shores of Greece and Macedonia. Alexander marched from the battle-field to Ilion, and advanced thence southward through the beautiful regions of Ionia and the other maritime states, which, in striking contrast to their present blighted condition, were then at the height of prosperity — adorned with numerous rich and splendid cities, which vied with each other in all the arts of refinement. The terror of his name preceded him, and these cities one after another, including even Sardis, the western capital, which was strongly fortified, threw open their gates to admit him. Miletos, however, and Halikarnassos, being supported by the Persian fleet, refused to surrender, and did not fall into his hands until each had been for some time besieged. After the fall of Halikarnassos, the rest of Karia, of which it was the capital, submitted, and then the operations of the first year of the war were brought to a close by the reduction of all Lykia. In this province he gave his army some rest. The next campaign opened with the conquest of Pamphylia, after which Alexander turned his march away from the coast with a view to invade Phrygia, which lay to the north beyond the lofty range of Tauros. It was now the depth of winter, but Alexander in defiance of all obstacles — frost and snow, torrents and precipices, and the resistance of the fierce Pisidian mountaineers — forced his way into the Phrygian plains. This passage of the Tauros at such a season was an achievement not unworthy to rank with the more celebrated passage of the Alps made by Hannibal about a century later. After he had cleared the defiles, a march of five days brought him to Kelainai, the capital of the greater Phrygia, which was pleasantly situated where the river Marsyas joins the Maeander, and I 2^ INTRODUCTION was embellished with a palace and a royal park. Alex- ander, deeming its acropolis to be impregnable, made terms with the inhabitants, and then advanced to the ancient capital called Gordion, after Gordios, the father of the celebrated Midas, the first king of the country. Here was the complicated knot to which the prophecy was attached that whoever untied it should be Lord of Asia. It was tied on a rope of bark which fastened the yoke to the pole of the wagon on which Midas had been carried into the city on the day when the people chose him as their king. Alexander either undid the knot or cut it through with his sword. On the return of spring he moved forward to Ankyra (now Angora), and there had the satisfaction to receive the submission of the Paphlagonians, who at that time were a very powerful nation. Being thus free to move southwards without leaving an enemy in his rear, he entered Kappadokia, and having overrun it without encountering any serious opposition, he recrossed the Tauros by a pass that admitted him into the fertile plains of Eastern Kilikia. The capital of this province was Tarsos, a flourishing seat of commerce, art, and learning, built on both banks of the river Kydnos, which was navigable to the sea. This important city fell without resistance into Alexander's hands, the satrap having fled at the tidings of his approach. Here, however, he nearly lost his hfe, having caught a violent fever by throwing himself when heated into the waters of the Kydnos*, ^vhich ran cold with the snows of Mount Tauros. After his recovery he sent Parmenion eastward to occupy the passes leading into Syria, called the Syrian Gates, and marched himself in the opposite direction to reduce the hill-tribes of Western Kilikia. In the meantime Darius, advancing from the East, had crossed the Euphrates and the Syrian desert at the head of an army not less numerous than that with which Napoleon invaded Russia, and was lying encamped on a wide plain suitable for his cavalry within a two days' march of the Syrian Gates. Here he INTRODUCTION 25 waited for some time ready to fall upon the Macedonian troops and crush them with the overwhelming superiority of his numbers when they debouched from the defile. When he despaired of their coming, he marched into Kilikia through a pass known as the Amanian Gates and encamped on the banks of the Pinaros which flows through the plain of Issos to the sea. He thus placed himself in a trap where he was hemmed in by the moun- tains and the sea in a narrow plain not more than a mile and a half in width. Alexander meanwhile had passed through the other gates into the Syrian plain when he learned to his astonishment that Darius was now in his rear. He at once retraced his steps, and by midnight regained the pass, where from one of its summits he beheld the Persian watchfires gleaming far and wide over the plain of Issos. At daybreak he marched down the pass, and on reaching the open part of the plain made the usual disposition of his forces, Parmenion commanding the left, and himself the right wing. Darius had drawn up his line, which extended from the mountains to the sea, along the northern bank of the river Pinaros. In the centre, which confronted the dreaded Macedonian phalanx, he had posted a body of 30,000 heavy -armed Greek mercenaries. Alexander began the action by dislodging a detach- ment of the enemy which had been posted at the base of the mountains and threatened his rear. Finding the Persians did not advance, he crossed the river and charged their left wing with such impetuosity that he broke their ranks and swept them from the field irretrievably dis- comfited. He then wheeled round and brought timely succour to his phalanx, which the Greek mercenaries of Darius were driving back with disordered ranks to the river. The struggle now became desperate, for these mercenaries, bitterly resenting the state of political degra- dation to which the Macedonians had reduced their compatriots in southern Greece, now fought against them with all the fury that the passions of hate and rivalry 26 INTRODUCTION could inspire. They were nevertheless driven back, and the tide of battle surged up towards the state chariot itself, on which Darius was mounted in the centre of his line. The pusillanimous monarch no sooner perceived that his person was in danger than he ordered his charioteer to turn the heads of his horses for flight. This^ decided the fortunes of the day ; it was the signal of his defeat, and his troops, on seeing it, at once broke from their ranks and fled from the fleld. The cavalry even, which on the extreme right had victory almost within their grasp, yielded to the general panic, and helped to swell the crowd of fugitives. As the narrow- ness of the plain allowed but very little room for escape, the vanquished were massacred in myriads. Darius escaped across the Euphrates, but his treasures and his family, consisting of his mother, wife, and children, fell into Alexander's hands, who treated these illustrious captives with all the kindness and courtesy which were due alike to their misfortunes and their exalted rank. He did not pursue Darius, and about two years passed away before he again met him in battle. His victory had left Syria and Egypt open to his arms, and these countries had to be reduced and the power of Persia effectually crushed at sea before he could advance with safety into the heart of the empire. He therefore marched southward to Phoenicia, the seaports of which supplied the Persians with most of their war-galleys. Parmenion he sent forward with a small detachment to seize Damascus, where Darius, before his defeat, had deposited his treasures. The city surrendered without resistance, and a vast and varied spoil fell into the hands of the Macedonians. The cities along the Syrian coast submitted in like manner to Alex- ander himself, all but Tyre, which sent him a golden crown, but refused to admit him within her gates. For this temerity the city of merchant princes paid a dreadful penalty. Alexander, having captured it after a seven months' siege, burned it to the ground, and most of the inhabitants he either slew or sold into slavery. This is INTRODUCTION 27 considered to have been the greatest of all Alexander's military achievements. Tyre had hitherto been deemed impregnable. It was built on an island separated from the mainland by a channel of the sea half a mile in width ; its walls, which were of great solidity, rose to an immense height, and its navy gave it the command of the sea. The inhabitants, moreover, were expert in arms, and defended themselves with such spirit and obstinacy that Alexander found himself unable to overcome their resist- ance, until he obtained from Cyprus and Sidon a fleet superior to their own. He had also to construct a cause- way through the channel to enable him to bring his engines close up to the walls, and this was a work of vast labour and difficulty. His merciless treatment of the vanquished darkly overshadows the glory of this memorable exploit. Palestine, with the adjoining districts, next submitted to the Conqueror. Gaza alone, like Tyre, closed its gates against him. This city, which stood not far from the sea, towards the edge of the desert which separates Syria from Egypt, was strongly fortified, and held out for two months. Alexander took it by storm, slaughtered the garrison, and then set out for Egypt. A seven days' march through the desert brought him to Pelusium. The Egyptians, who smarted under the bondage of Persia, like the Israelites of old under their own, hailed his advent as that of a deliverer, and gladly submitted to his rule. Alexander proceeded as far southward as Memphis and the Pyramids, and then embarking on the western or Kanopic branch of the Nile, sailed down to Lake Mareotis, and landed on the narrow sandy isthmus by which that lake is separated from the sea. This neck of land was faced on the north by the island of Pharos, a long ridge of rock which sheltered it from all the violence of the ocean. Alexander, discerning with his keen eye all the advantages of such a position for commerce, at once founded on the isthmus the city of Alexandria, which, as he anticipated, soon became the great centre of trade / 28 INTRODUCTION between the eastern and western worlds. His next object was to consult the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, which was said to have been visited by Herakles and Perseus, from both of whom he claimed to be descended. He therefore marched along the coast for about 200 miles to Paraitonion, which lay at the western extremity of Egypt. On the way he was met by deputies from Kyrene, who brought him valuable presents, and invited him to visit their city. From Paraitonion he marched southward through the Libyan desert, and, after some days, reached the large and beautiful oasis where, embosomed amid thick woods, rose the temple of Ammon and the palace of his priests. On consulting the 'oracle he obtained answers, about the nature of which he stated nothing further than that they were satisfactory. He then returned across the desert to Memphis, where he settled the future government of Egypt, and ordered justice to be dispensed according to the ancient laws of the country. From Memphis he directed his march to Syria, and on reaching Tyre, remained there for some time. While he was in Egypt he had been visited by Hegelochos, his admiral, who reported that the Persians had been dispossessed of the islands which they had ac- quired in the Aegean ; that their fleet had been dissipated, and that all their leaders were prisoners except Pharna- bazos, the successor of Memnon, who had died somewhat suddenly while Alexander was in Phrygia. Alexander was now, therefore, the undisputed master of all the countries west of the Euphrates, and could with complete security turn his arms eastward to bring his contest with Persia to a final issue. Darius, on the other hand, who, in the interval between his defeat and the fall of Tyre, had twice sent an embassy to the Conqueror to sue for peace and the ransom of his family, on terms which, though most tempting, had been haughtily refused, was mustering all his forces to encounter the storm of war which would sooner or later burst from the clouds that hung ominously on his western horizon. The army he now raised was far stronger numerically than that with INTRODUCTION 29 which he had fought at Issos, and, as it was drawn chiefly from the east, consisted of the best troops in his empire. ^, - \ Fig. 3. — Seal of Darius. He led it from Babylon across the Tigris, and marching northward along the eastern bank of that river, reached the plains of northern Assyria, which afforded ample space for the evolutions of his numerous cavalry. Here he encamped on a wide plain between the Tigris and the mountains of Kurdistan, near a village called Gaugamela. Alexander, having remained at Tyre until his prepara- tions were completed, started from that city after midsummer in the year 331 B.C. On crossing the Euphrates at the fords of Thapsakos, he learned where Darius was, and at once accelerated his march to find him. He passed the Tigris, which had been left unguarded, and advancing southward for a few days, came in sight of the Persian host, which he found already drawn up in line prepared for action. It is said that Parmenion, alarmed by the immense array of the hostile ranks, came at a late hour to the king's tent and proposed a night attack, and that Alexander's answer was that it would be a base thing to steal a victory. His forces amounted only to 40,000 infantry and 7000 horse, yet he was so confident of success that on the morning of the decisive day his sleep was deeper and longer than usual. In its main features, the battle that followed was but a repetition of the day of Issos. Alexander again 30 INTRODUCTION commanded the right wing and Parmenion the left. Again Darius posted himself in the centre of his line, and again the Greek mercenaries confronted the Macedonian phalanx. Again Alexander, at the head of the Companion cavalry, made havoc of the troops which guarded the royal standard ; and again Darius, terror-struck at his near approach, ignominiously fled from the field. His flight gave once more the signal of defeat, and that too, as at Issos, just at the time when his cavalry on the right had made the position of Parmenion most critical.^ Alexander was re- called from the pursuit of Darius, whom he was eagerly bent on capturing, by a messenger sent by Parmenion pressing for instant aid. He at once turned back. On his way he met the Persian and Parthian cavalry and the Indian troops now in full retreat. A combat close and hot followed. The fugitives were for the most part killed, but sold their lives dearly. On returning to the field Alexander found that his left wing was no longer in distress, but putting the enemy to rout, and he there- fore started once more in pursuit of Darius. The fugitive escaped, however, to Ekbatana, the capital in former days of the Median kings. Accounts differ as to the numbers that were killed in this battle. A,rrian says, absurdly enough, that 300,000 of the Persians were slain, and a greater number taken prisoners. Diodoros reduces the amount to 90,000, and Curtius to 40,000. The loss again on Alexander's side is reckoned by Arrian at 100, by Curtius at 300, and by Diodoros at 500.^ ^ The Macedonian line in this part of the field being broken, some of the Indians and of the Persian cavalry burst through the gap and fought their way to the enemy's baggage, where a desperate conflict ensued. — Arrian, iii. 14. - General Chesney, commenting lately on these numbers, remarks that '• numbers without discipline are, after a certain point, worse than use- less, the men only get in each others' way. This was especially the case in the battles of old times fought at close quarters." " The biographers of Sir Charles Napier," he continues, "have made a great point of the circum- stance that at the battle of Meani the British force of less than 3000 men was opposed by 40,000 of the enemy who fought desperately for several hours. Now, the whole British loss in killed and wounded was under 300, so that, assuming every wound to have been inflicted by a separate sword or bullet, it follows that out of INTRODUCTION 31 Alexander pursued the fugitive troops as far as Arbela — the place which has given its name to the battle, though it was sixty miles distant from the field whereon it was fought. Here he found the baggage of Darius, and having enriched himself with its spoils, he advanced southward to Babylon. This great capital, which once gave law to all the nations of the East, had under the rule of the Achai- menids gradually declined both in wealth and importance. Its inhabitants, like the Egyptians, detested their Persian masters, who oppressed them and persecuted their religion. They issued therefore from their gates in a joyful proces- sion to welcome the victor and present him with gifts. His first acts on entering the city were well calculated to make a favourable impression on their minds. He ordered the temple of Belus to be rebuilt, honoured that deity with a public sacrifice according to the Chaldaean ritual, and re- stored to his priests the immense revenues with which they had been endowed by the Assyrian kings.^ Alexander thus found himself the master of a more spacious empire than any the world had yet seen. No king or conqueror had ever before stood on such a giddy the 40,000 desperate fighters, 39,700 contributed nothing to the fighting." In another passage he points out that an ancient battle was in some respects a much more formidable thing than a modern one. In the battle of old days the absence of noise, except the words of command, the tramp of men, and the clashing of armour, above all the closeness of one's adversary, must have been of a kind to try the nerves much more than the rattle of musketry, the crashing of shells, and the thunder of the artillery in a modern battle. What we shall never get back to is hand-to-hand fighting at close quarters. It was this that made a battle so de- cisive in olden days, and caused the tremendous slaughter that used to be the fate of the beaten side. An ancient battle was really a very short ^affair. After the marshalling of the roops and the preliminary skirmish- tg of the cavalry and the archery " actice of the light troops, in which a good deal of time would be taken up, the business must have been de- cided in a very few minutes when once the infantry actually engaged. The fact is that when two bodies of men meet with sword or spear, a prolonged contest is from the nature of the case impossible. In modern warfare when a battle is lost, a large part of the defeated army is already at a distance and gets oft' unharmed. But there was no escape for the man in armour, and when he turned his back his shield was no defence. ^ "Against Phoenicians, Eg>'ptians, Babylonians, Alexander had no mis- sion of vengeance ; he might rather call on them to help him against the common foe. ... If the gods of Attica had been wronged and insulted (by the Persians) so had the gods of Memphis and Babylon". — Prof. Free- man, Historical Essays , ii. pp. 202, 203. 32 INTRODUCTION pinnacle of power. As he had made his way to this supreme height before he had yet reached those years or experienced those vicissitudes of fortune which have a sobering effect on the mind, it is not surprising that, as in the case of Napoleon, whose genius was at many points in close touch with his own, and who, at a like early age, had amazed the world with his deeds of arms, unbounded success tended to deteriorate his character. He is found henceforth becoming more arrogant and despotic, more suspicious, and avid of flattery, while less tolerant of advice or remonstrance, and less capable of controlling the violence of his passions. The simple style of living in which he had been brought up seemed no longer to please him, and he began to assume all the pomp and splendour with which an oriental despot loves to sur- round himself,^ an innovation in his habits which deeply mortified the pride of the Macedonians. It may be urged in his defence that he may have made the change less from any real inclination than from the politic motive of conciliating his new subjects by conforming to their tastes and habits. Before leaving Babylon he settled the affairs of Assyria and its dependencies in accordance with a principle on which he generally acted, committing the civil administra- tion to a native ruler, but leaving the command of the forces and the collection of the revenue in the hands of Macedonian officers. He then marched eastward, and in twenty days reached Sousa, the favourite capital of the Persian kings. Rich as Babylon was, its treasures were as nothing compared with those which had been here accumulated. The sums contained in the treasury amounted to 40,000 talents of uncoined gold and silver, and 9000 talents of coined gold, and there was other booty besides of immense value, including the spoils which Xerxes had carried off from Greece — the recovery ^ ** From this unhappy time all the upon him till he could bear neither^ wont failings of Alexander become restraint nor opposition." — Prof. Free - more strongly developed. . . . Im- man, Historical Essays^ ii. p. 206. petuosity and self-exaltation now grew INTRODUCTION 33 J* A. of which gratified beyond measure the patriotic feelings of the army. From Sousa Alexander took the road to Persepolis, the ancient capital of the Persians, a rich and splendid city lying to the south-east of Sousa, in the beautiful vale of Persis which was fertilised by the streams descending from Mount Zagros, the Medos, and the Araxes.i On his route he passed through the hill-country of the Ouxians, which like that of the Pisidians, was occupied by warlike and predatory tribes. These mountaineers were nominally subject to Persia, but they nevertheless at one of their defiles exacted toll even from the Great King himself whenever he passed through their country in going between his two capitals. They beset this defile with the whole of their effective force to levy the customary tribute from Alexander, who payed them what he called their dues in the form of a crushing defeat.^ He then plundered their villages, and, having received their sub- mission, pressed forward by way of the formidable pass called the Persian Gates.^ Here the satrap Ariobarzanes, at the head of more than 40,000 men, tried but in vain to arrest his progress. Alexander, with his usual skill and courage forced the position, and meeting with no further resistance reached Persepolis, where no defence was attempted. He not only permitted his soldiers to plunder this ancient capital, but, if we may believe the story, with which Dryden's Ode has made us familiar, set fire with his own hands in a drunken revel to the royal palace, a structure of supreme magnificence, as its ruins, which are still to be seen, attest. It is more probable, however, that he burned it from motives of policy, partly to show the Persians how absolutely he was now their master, and partly to avenge Greece for the destruction of her temples by Xerxes. In the royal treasury he found the vast sum of 120,000 talents, 1 The Medos is now the Polvar » jhe narrow defile near Kalek and the Araxes the Bund-Amir. Safed (the white fort), some fifty Knmeir places the Ouxian passes miles to the north-west of Shiraz. to the north-west of Bebehait. / D / 34 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION which falls little short of thirty million pounds of our money. As it was now mid-winter he here gave his army some respite from their toils. He gave himself, however, no rest, but led a detachment to Pasargadai, the primitive seat of the Achaimenids, which contained an august monument, the tomb of Cyrus, which still exists, and a rich treasury which he plundered.^ He next assailed the Mardians, and marching over ice and snow, reduced their mountain fastnesses and compelled their submission. In the spring of 330 B.C. he resumed the pursuit of Darius, who was still at Ekbatana making vain efforts to raise another army. The fallen monarch, on hearing that the enemy was again moving against him and had reached Media, fled eastward hoping to find protection and safety in the far remote province of Baktria, of which his kinsman Bessos was the satrap. The capital which he had left was the summer residence of the Persian kings, and was noted for the enormous strength of its citadel. Alexander therefore ordered Parmenion to transport thither, as to a place of peculiar security, the treasures which had been seized at the other capitals, and to confide their custody to a strong guard of Mace- donian soldiers.2 This done, he set out with a light detachment of troops in the hope of overtaking the fugitive king before he passed through the Kaspian Gates. At Rhagai, which was a day's rapid march from that pass, he learned that Darius had escaped beyond it, and he therefore halted for five days to recruit his troops. On renewing the pursuit and reaching the open country beyond the gates, he learned that the Persian officers who were escorting their sovereign had conspired 3S X ^ Curzon thinks that Pasargadai lay to the north-east of Persepolis at a distance of some thirty miles. For a discussion regarding their ruins and the tomb of Cyrus see his great work on Persia just published, vol. ii. pp. 70-92. - The reler.se of these enormous treasure-hoards produced such effects as resulted in recent times from the discoveries of gold in California and Australia. The prices of all commo- dities were greatly enhanced, and prosperity advanced by leaps and bounds. against him and deprived him of his liberty. Greatly fearing now lest the traitors had some deadlier purpose in view, he made incredible exertions to overtake them, and he came up with them on the fourth day — but all too late. The conspirators, among whom was Bessos, finding that the pursuit was gaining upon them, mortally wounded the hapless king, who breathed his last before Alexander reached him. " Such," says Arrian, " was the end of Darius, who as a warrior was singularly remiss and injudicious. In other respects his character is blameless, either because he was just by nature, or because he had no opportunity of displaying the contrary, as his accession and the Macedonian invasion were simultaneous. It was not in his power, therefore, to oppress his subjects, as his danger was greater than theirs. His reign was one un- broken series of disasters, and he was at last treacherously assassinated by his most intimate connections. At his death he was about fifty years old." Alexander sent his body into Persia with orders that it should be buried with all due honours in the royal sepulchre. Bessos escaped into his own satrapy where he assumed the upright tiara, the distinguishing emblem of Persian royalty, and took the name of Artaxerxes. Alexander now halted at Hekatompylos,^ a place which received this Greek name from its being the centre where many roads met, and which became in after times the capital of the Parthian kings. Being joined here by the rest of his army, he prepared to invade Hyrkania, from which he was separated by the chain of mountains now called the Elburz. As the passes were beset by robber- tribes, he divided his army into three bodies. The most numerous division crossed the mountains under his own command by the shortest and most difficult roads. Krateros made a circuit to the left through the country of the Tapeirians (Taburistan), while the third division ^ Perhaps Damaghan, but its posi- tion is very uncertain. According to Apollodoros it was 1260 stadia be- yond the Kaspian Gates, but accord- ing to Pliny only 133 miles. Sec Curzon's Persia^ i. p. 287. \ / 36 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 37 under Erigyios took the royal road which led westward from Hekatompylos to Zadrakarta.^ The divisions on emerging from the defiles united, and encamped near the last named place, which was the Hyrkanian capital. Hither came to Alexander with three of his sons the aged Artabazos, accompanied by the Tapeirian satrap and by deputies from the Greek mercenaries of Darius. Artabazos was received with distinguished honour, both because of his high rank and the fidelity he had shown to Darius, whom he had accompanied in his flight. The satrap was confirmed in his government, but the deputies were sternly told that as the mercenaries had violated the duty which they owed to their country, they must submit themselves unreservedly to the judgment of the king. Alexander then attacked the Mardians who inhabited the lofty mountains to the north-west of the Kaspian Gates. They submitted after a slight resistance, and were ordered to obey the Tapeirian satrap. Alexander's next object was to crush Bessos and possess himself of all the eastern provinces as far as the borders of India. He therefore marched eastward towards Baktria, and having traversed the northern part of Parthia, reached Sousia, a city of Areia (now Sous, near Meshed, the present capital of Khorasan). Satibarzanes, the satrap of that province, and one of the conspirators against Darius, met him here, and having tendered his submission, was confirmed in his government, and dismissed with an escort of Macedonian horsemen to his capital, Artakoana. Alexander then resumed his march towards Baktria, but was arrested on the way by receiving word that Satibar- zanes had revolted in favour of Bessos, armed the Areians, and slain his Macedonian escort. He therefore at once altered his route, and by the promptitude of his appear- ance confounded the plans of the satrap, who fled and was deserted by most of his troops. Artakoana was captured by Krateros after a short siege. This city stood in a plain of exceptional fertility at a point where all the roads ^ Sariy according to Droysen. from the north to the south, and from the west to the east, united, and Alexander, discerning the incomparable advantages of its position, whether for war or commerce, founded in its neighbourhood a new city in which he planted a Macedonian colony. He called it Alexandreia, and as it still exists as Herat, it will be seen how well grounded was its founder's belief in the strategetical and commercial importance of its site. Alexander, after suppressing this revolt, instead of resuming his march to Baktria, moved forward to Proph- thasia (now Furrah), the capital of Drangiana (Seistan), of which Barsaentes, another of the accomplices in the murder of Darius, was satrap. This traitor was seized and exe- cuted. Here an event occurred which has left a dark stain on the character of Alexander. He was led to suspect that a conspiracy had been formed against his life by some of his principal officers, and among others by the son of Parmenion, Philotas, who held the most coveted post in the army, that of commander of the Companion Cavalry. It is certain that he was not an accomplice in the plot ; but as he had been informed of its existence, and failed to give the king any warning of his danger, he was accused before the Macedonian army and condemned to death. He confessed under torture that his father, Parmenion, had formed a design against the king's life, and that he had himself joined the recent plot, lest his father, who was now an old man, might, before the plot was ripe, be snatched away by death from his command at Ekba- tana, which placed the vast treasures deposited there at his disposal. This confession, wrung by torture when its agonies became insupportable, and obviously framed to meet the wishes of the questioners, was no proof of the guilt either of the father or the son. Parmenion was, never- theless, on this worthless evidence condemned to death, and Alexander, whom he had so faithfully served, took care that the sentence should be executed before the news of his son's death, which he might seek to avenge, could reach his ears. Many other Macedonians were also at X INTRODUCTION this time tried and put to death. Alexander's confidence in his friends was thus much shaken ; and instead of entrusting as formerly the command of the Companion Cavalry to one individual, he divided that body into two regiments, giving the command of one to Kleitos, and of the other to Hephaistion. From Prophthasia he proceeded southwards into the fertile plains along the Etymander (R. Helmund), then inhabited by a peaceful tribe called the Ariaspians, who had received from Cyrus the title of Euergetai — that is, benefactors, because they had assisted him at a time when he had been reduced to great straits. Alexander spent two months in their dominions, probably awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Ekbatana. During this interval Demetrios, a member of the king's bodyguard, was arrested on suspicion of his having been implicated with Philotas in the recent plot, and his office was bestowed on Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, for whom this promotion opened the way to a royal destiny. Alexander before resuming his march appointed a governor over the Euer- getai, but rewarded their hospitality by augmenting their territory and confirming them in the enjoyment of their political privileges. He left this country about mid-winter, and ascending the valley of the Etymander penetrated into Arachosia, a province which stretched eastward to the Indus. As he advanced northward by Kandahar the snow lay deep on the ground, and the soldiers suffered severely both from hunger and cold. About this time he heard that the Areians had again revolted at the instigation of Satibar- zanes, who had entered their province at the head of 2000 horse, and he immediately sent a detachment under Eri- gyios to quell the insurgents. Continuing meanwhile his own advance, he arrived at the foot of the colossal mountain-barrier, the chain of Paropanisos, which separates Kabul from Baktria. Here in a commanding position, near the village of Charikar, which stands in the rich and beautiful valley of Koh-Daman, he founded yet another INTRODUCTION 39 Alexandreia (called by way of distinction Alexandreia of the Paropamisadai, or Alexandria apud Caucasum), and planted it with Macedonian colonists. According to Strabo he wintered in this neighbourhood, but Arrian leads us to suppose that he departed as soon as he had founded the city. He crossed the mountains, as some think, by the Bamian Pass, the most western of the four routes which give access from the Koh-Daman to the regions of the Upper Oxus. It is likelier, however, that he ascended by the more direct route along the course of the Panjshir river. The army again suffered on the way from the severity of the cold, and still more from the scarcity of provisions. According to Aristoboulos nothing grew on these hills but terebinth trees and the herb called silphium, on which the flocks and herds of the mountaineers pastured. This march, which terminated at Adrapsa, occupied fifteen days. The Macedonians had now reached a fertile country ; but as Bessos had ordered it to be ravaged, they found a wide barrier of desolation opposed to their further advance. The barrier was interposed in vain. Alexander resolutely pressed forward, and Bessos and his associates fled at his approach, and, crossing the Oxus, retired into Sogdiana. Aornos and Baktra, the two principal cities of the Baktrian satrapy, surrendered without resistance, and the satrapy itself was soon afterwards reduced. At Baktra Erigyios, who had succeeded in quelling the Areian revolt, rejoined the army. Alexander having appointed Artabazos satrap of his new conquest, inarched to the Oxus in pursuit of Bessos, and came upon that river at the point where KijiL now stands. There it was about three-quarters of a mile in breadth, and the current was found to be both deep and rapid. The passage, which occupied five days, was made on floats, supported by skins stuffed with straw, and rendered watertight. The army had no sooner gained the right bank than messengers arrived from two of the leading adherents of Bessos — Spitamenes, the satrap of Sogdiana, and Dataphernes — promising to surrender 40 INTRODUCTION Bessos, who was already their prisoner, if Alexander would send a small force to their support. The king assented, and sent Ptolemy forward to receive the traitor from their hands. They gave him up, and he was conducted with a rope round his neck into the presence of the king, who ordered him to be scourged and then conveyed to Zariaspa (which some identify with Baktra) there to await his final doom. ' The army next marched forward to Marakanda, now Samarkand, then merely the capital of the Sogdian satrapy, but destined to be in aftertimes the capital of the vast empire founded by Timour. It stood in the valley of the Polytimetos (R. Kohik), a region of such exuberant fertility and beauty that it figures in Persian poetry as one of the four paradises of the world. Alex- ander remained for some time in this pleasant neighbour- hood to remount his cavalry and otherwise recruit his forces. He then advanced to the river Jaxartes, which formed the boundary between the Persian empire and the barbarous Skythian tribes, and which the Greeks confounded with the Tanais or Don. The country was protected against the inroads of these warlike tribes by a hne of fortified towns, of which the largest and strongest Cyropolis, had been founded, as its name imports by Cyrus. Alexander captured all these fortresses 'and manned them with small Macedonian garrisons ; and to curb the Skythians still more effectually, founded on the banks of the Jaxartes, near where Khojent now stands still another Alexandria, which the Greeks for distinction's sake called Eschate, or " the Extreme." In the midst of this undertaking, he was interrupted by the sudden out- break of a widespread rebellion instigated by Spitamenes and his confederates. Taking immediate and energetic steps for its suppression, he in a few days recovered the seven towns; and then crossing the Jaxartes, defeated the bkythians, who with a view to aid the insurgents had mus- tered in great force on its right bank. After this victory he received tidings of the first serious disaster that had INTRODUCTION 41 befallen his arms. He had sent a large force to operate against Spitamenes, who was at the time besieging the Macedonian garrison which held Marakanda. On learning that this force was approaching, the rebel chief retired down the Polytimetos to Bokhara, and thence to the vast desert which stretches from Sogd to the Sea of Aral. Here he was joined by a large body of Skythian horse- men, and thus reinforced turned upon his pursuers, drove them back from the edge of the desert, which they had just entered, into the valley whence they had emerged, and there, amid the woody ravines of the Polytimetos, cut them to pieces almost to a man. Encouraged by this success, he returned to Marakanda and renewed the siege of its citadel, but on learning that Alexander was rapidly returning from the Jaxartes, he retraced his steps towards the desert, and reached it before the enemy overtook him. The course of the pursuit led Alexander to the scene of the late disaster. His first care was to bury the slain, and he then avenged their death by ravaging with fire and sword, in all its length and breadth, the lovely valley of the Polytimetos. He showed no mercy, but slaughtered all who fell into his hands, soldier and citizen alike. This is certainly, as Thirlwall remarks, one of the acts of his life for which it is most difficult to find an excuse. As the year (329 B.C.) was now drawing to a close, he recrossed the Oxus and returned to Zariaspa (Baktra?), where he spent the winter. Sentence was here pro- nounced upon Bessos, who was mutilated and then sent to Ekbatana for execution. Alexander's European forces, as the narrative has shown, were constantly undergoing diminution, not only by losses in the field, but also by his leaving Macedonian veterans to garrison important strong- holds, or to form the nucleus of the population of the cities he founded. He therefore from time to time sent requisitions for recruits to Macedonia and Greece, and as these were adequately met the fighting quality of his troops was always maintained at the same high level. During his stay at Baktra a great number of such recruits \ 42 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 43 arrived, and filled up the large gap which the late disaster had made in his ranks. There came thither also ambas- sadors from the King of the Skythians, bringing presents and the offer of a marriage alliance, which was declined. The King of the Khorasmians, moreover, whose dominions, according to his own account, bordered on the land of the Kolchians and the Amazons, came in person and offered his services to Alexander should he wish to subdue the nations to the north and west of the Kaspian Sea. Alexander, however, being now anxious to enter India, declined his offers for the present. The accounts of his next two campaigns are con- fused, and not always mutually consistent. According to Curtius, when he moved from Zariaspa, he crossed the river Ochos (now the Aksou), and came to a city called Marginia, probably the Marginan of our times. Arrian, however, makes no mention of this expedition. The Baktrians were still imperfectly subjugated, and the Sogdians, notwithstanding the severe chastisement they had received, were again up in arms against his authority. He therefore left Krateros to deal with the former, while he marched in person against Marakanda. On his way thither he performed another of his marvellous achieve- ments, the capture of a fortress perched on the summit of a steep, lofty, and strongly fortified rock, held by a power- ful garrison, and deemed to be impregnable. He captured it, nevertheless. Within this stronghold Oxyartes, a Baktrian chief, had for safety deposited his wife and daughters. Roxana, the eldest daughter, was, next to the wife of Darius, the most beautiful of all Asiatic women, and Alexander was so captivated with her charms that he did not hesitate to make her his wife. Spitamenes, meanwhile, assisted by the Massagetai, one of the Skythian tribes that ranged over the Khoras- mian desert, made a devastating irruption into Baktria, and though he was in the end repulsed by Krateros, escaped into the desert beyond the reach of pursuit! Fearing he might renew his attack in some other quarter, Alexander hastened to Marakanda to settle the province and provide for its security against future hostile incur- sions. To this end he directed a number of new towns to be founded and planted with Macedonian, Greek, and native colonists. In the course of this expedition he came to the Royal Park at Bazaria (perhaps Bokhara), and while hunting within its precincts killed a lion of extraordinary size with his own hand. On his return to Marakanda a tragic incident occurred — his murder of Kleitos, from whom he had received some provocation in the course of a drunken revel. As he was tenderly attached to Kleitos, who was the brother of his nurse, and had saved his life at the Granikos, his remorse for this frenzied deed knew no bounds at the time, and gave him many bitter moments in his after life. His next expedition led him towards the western frontier of the province, where he reduced the district called Xenippa, which lay on the skirts of the Noura mountains — a range that runs from east to west about ten miles north of Bokhara. As Spitamenes was sup- posed to be in the desert not far off, he left Koinos in that part of the country with orders to capture that audacious rebel, while he himself withdrew to Nautaka, where he intended to pass the winter. This place was situated in a fertile oasis between Samarkand and the Oxus, and must have occupied the site of Kurshee or Kesh, noted afterwards as the birthplace of Timour. Spitamenes, meanwhile, attacked Koinos, but was de- feated after a severe struggle, and driven back into the desert. His Skythian confedei ates, fearing their own country might be invaded, cut off his head and sent it to Alexander ; and so perished the most active, bold, and persevering antagonist that he had as yet encountered in Asia, one of the few who resolutely and to the last scorned to bend his neck to a foreign yoke. With the first return of spring (B.C. 327) he moved from his winter quarters to invade the Paraitakai, who, as their name indicates, inhabited a mountainous district, and / 44 INTRODUCTION were, some think, a branch of the widespread Takka tribe, the name of which appears in Taxila, which designated a great capital it possessed in India. In the country of the Paraitakai, which lay to the east of Baktria and Sogdiana, there was another great rock fortress, which, like the Sogdian, was deemed impregnable. It was the main stronghold of a chief called Khorienes, who, after holding out for some time, was persuaded by Oxyartes to cast himself on the generosity of the great conqueror, a quality of which he had himself a very satisfactory experience. Khorienes therefore surrendered, and was rewarded by being confirmed in his government. Alexander after this success proceeded to Baktra in order to make preparation for his expedition into India, but left Krateros to reduce such of the tribes as still held out for independence. At Baktra another tragedy was enacted. The court pages, at the instigation of one of their number, called Hermolaos, who had been subjected to some degrading punishment,' conspired against the king, who narrowly escaped assassi- nation. The pages, who all belonged to families of high rank, were tortured to extract confessions of their guilt, and were then stoned to death by the Macedonians. The confessions indicated, it is said, that Kallisthenes, a literary man attached to the court who had been permitted, on the recommendation of his kinsman Aristotle, to accompany the expedition, not only knew of the existence of the plot, but had encouraged the pages to persist in their design. He had rendered himself obnoxious to the king by the freedom with which he expressed his opinions and by his opposition to the Persian fashions introduced into the court, and his doom was sealed. Accounts differ as to the time and mode of his death. According to Ptolemy he was tortured and then crucified, but Aristoboulos and Chares agree in stating that he was carried about in chains and died at last of disease in India. The summer had set in when Alexander set out from Baktra on his Indian expedition. He crossed the chain of Paropamisos in ten days, and halted at the Alexandreia INTRODUCTION 45 which he had founded at their base to settle the affairs of that city and the surrounding district. The narrative of his campaigns, from the time he left this place till he led his army into Karmania, after its disastrous march through the burning sands of the Gedrosian desert, is given in full detail in the translations which form the body of this work. His march, which on his emerging from the desert lay through the beautiful and fertile province of Karmania, resembled a festive procession, and the licence in which he permitted his soldiers to indulge was meant no less to obliterate the memory of their terrible sufferings in the desert than to celebrate according to Bacchic fashion and example the conquest of India. In Karmania, Alexander received intelligence that Philip, who had been left in command of all the country west of the Indus had been slain in a mutiny by the Greek mercenaries under his command, but that the Macedonian troops had quelled the mutiny and put the assassins to death. He did not at the time appoint any successor to Philip, but empowered Eudemos and Taxiles to take temporary charge of the affairs of the satrapy. Before he left Karmania he was rejoined by Krateros who brought in safety the division of the army which he had led from the Indus by way of Arachosia, Drangiana, and the Karmanian desert. Nearchos also visited his camp, which at the time was a five days' journey distant from the sea, and communicated the welcome news that the fleet had arrived in safety at the mouth of the Persian Gulf The admiral was instructed to continue the voyage by sailing up the Gulf to the mouth of the Tigris, while Hephaistion was put in command of the main army with orHers to proceed to Sousa along the maritime parts of Persis and Sousiana. The king himself with a small division took the upper road which led to that capital through Pasar- gadai and Persepolis. In Persis things had not gone well in his absence. The satrap whom he had appointed was dead, and his office had been usurped by Orxines, a Persian of great wealth and high rank, against whom many acts of 46 INTRODUCTION violence and oppression were charged. He found also that the tomb of Cyrus had been desecrated and plundered, and this outrage excited his violent indignation, since he looked upon that conqueror as the founder of the vast empire which was now his own. He could not discover the perpetrators, but had to content himself with ordering the violated sepulchre to be properly restored. On reaching Persepolis he investigated the charges against Orxines, and finding them proved, put him to death, and gave his satrapy to Peukestas, one of the commanders of his bodyguard. In Persis the health of Kalanos, the Indian gymno- sophist, who, at Alexander's request, had abjured the ascetic life and followed him from India, began to fail, and, as he chose rather to die than suffer the infirmities of age, he announced that it was his intention to burn him- self The king attempted to dissuade him, but finding that he was inexorably bent on self-destruction, ordered a funeral pyre to be prepared for him, and all the arrange- ments connected with his cremation to be superintended by Ptolemy. On the day appointed the devotee ascended the pyre and perished in its flames, exhibiting throughout a serene fortitude and self-possession which greatly astonished the Macedonians who attended in throngs to witness this strange spectacle. Strabo makes Pasargadai to be the scene of this incident, but Diodoros, Sousa, and with more probability, since we know that Nearchos was an eye-witness of the burning. Alexander reached Sousa in the beginning of the year 324 B.C., and remained there for a considerable time, regulating the affairs of his new dominions. One of his great objects was to fuse together as far as was practicable his European with his Asiatic subjects ; and to this end he assigned to some eighty of his generals Asiatic wives, givmg with each an ample dowry. He took himself a second wife. Barsine, called sometimes Stateira, the eldest daughter of Darius, and, it is said, also a third, Parysatis, the daughter of Ochos, one of the predecessors of Darius! / INTRODUCTION 47 About 10,000 Macedonians followed the example of their suj)eriors, and all who did so received presents from their royal master. Carrying out this object in another form, he enrolled a large number of Asiatics among his European troops. These new schemes were so bitterly resented by tke better class of his Macedonian veterans that they rose against him in a mutiny which he had no little difficulty in quelling. About 10,000 of these veterans were dis- missed, and they returned to Europe under the command of Krateros. Towards the close of the year he went to Ekbatana, and there he lost his chief favourite Hephaistion, who succumbed to an attack of fever. His grief at this bereavement knew no bounds, and showed itself in acts which seem copied from those wherewith Achilles demon- strated his passionate sense of the loss of his beloved Patroklos. From Ekbatana he marched back towards Babylon, and was met on the way by ambassadors from all parts of the known world, who came to do homage to the greatest of all kings and conquerors, and also by a deputation of Chaldaean priests who warned him of danger if at that time he should enter Babylon. He entered it nevertheless, though with gloomy forebodings, early in the spring of 323 B.C. As this city was the best point of communication between the eastern and western parts of his dominions, he had selected it to be the capital of his vast empire, and accordingly took measures immediately on his return for the improvement of its internal condition, for the drainage of the swampy lands in its neighbour- hood which rendered its climate unhealthy, and also for removing obstacles to the safe and easy navigation of the great river by which it communicated with the sea. His ambition being still, however, unsated, he meditated fresh conquests, which, if effected, would have made him master of the world from the shores of the Atlantic to the Eastern Ocean. But his end was now drawing near. The climate of Babylon was malarious, and as his spirits were depressed both by his loss of Hephaistion and by superstitious fears, he was less able to withstand its >i^ 48 INTRODUCTION malignant influences. He caught a fever, and having aggravated its virulence by indulging in convivial excesses, was cut off in June 323 B.C. at the age of thirty-thn^e,' and after he had reigned for nearly thirteen years. "So passed from the earth," says Bishop Thirlwall, "one of the greatest of her sons : great above most for wb-.t he was in himself, and not, as many who have borne the title, for what was given him to effect. Great, not merely in the vast compass and the persevering ardour of his ambition ... but in the course which his ambition took, in the collateral aims which ennobled and purified it, so that it almost grew into one with the highest of which man is capable, the desire of knowledge and the love of good. In a word, great as one of the benefactors of his kind. ... It may be truly asserted that his was the first of the great monarchies founded in Asia that opened a prospect of progressive improvement, and not of continual degradation, to its subjects : it was the first that contained any element of moral and intellectual progress." This estimate, high as it is, appears to be just and sober, and to hold a due balance between the ex- travagant eulogiums and the damnatory criticisms of other writers such as Mitford, Williams, and Droysen on the one hand, and Niebuhr, Sainte-Croix, and Grote on the other, who all alike allowed their ethical and political proclivities to bias their judgment. Alexander was dignified both in his appearance and in his demeanour. He was not above the ordinary height, but his frame was well built and ex- tremely muscular. "He was very handsome in person," says Arrian, "devoted to exertion, of an active mind and a most heroic courage, tena- cious of honour, ever ready to meet dangers, indifferent to the pleasures of the body, and strictly observant of his religious duties." Plutarch tells us that the statues of Alexander Fig. 4. — Alexander THE Great. INTRODUCTION 49 which most resembled him were those of Lysippos, who alone had his permission to represent him in marble, and who best hit off the turn of his head, which leaned a little to one side.^ He adds that he was of a fair complexion, with a tinge of red in his face and upon his breast, and that his breath and whole person were so fragrant that they perfumed his under garments. In another passage, describing Alexander's habits, the same author says that he was very temperate in eating, and that he was not so much addicted to wine as he was thought to be. What gave rise to this opinion was his practice of spending a great deal of time at table. The time, however, was passed rather in talking than drinking, every cup introducing some long discussion. Besides, he never sat long at table except when he had abundance of leisure. There was always a magnificence at his table, and the expense rose with his fortune till it came to the fixed sum of 10,000 drachms for each entertainment. As in his dying moments he had given orders that his body should be conveyed to Ammon in the Libyan oasis, it was embalmed, and after more than two years had been spent in making preparations for its removal, it was conveyed with vast pomp in a car of wondrous magnificence to Egypt, where it was entombed first at Memphis, and afterwards, by the authority of Ptolemy,^ at Alexandreia, the greatest of all the cities which he had founded and called after his name. Alexander was so prematurely cut off, and was besides so much occupied before his death with organising fresh expeditions, both maritime and military, that he had no time to improve or complete the measures which he had initiated for promoting the fusion and securing the per- manent unification of the multifarious races comprised in his empire. Had he been vouchsafed a longer term of life, it seems probable that he would have succeeded ^ " Edicto vetuit ne quis se praeter 2 Pausanias, however, says that it Apellem Pingeret, aut alius Lysippo was Philadelphos who brought the duceret aera Fortis Alexandri vultum body to Alexandreia. simulantia. " — Horace. E Jo INTRODUCTION in welding so firmly together all the parts of his dominions that centuries might have elapsed before they became again disintegrated ; but the dissensions which speedily broke out between his great captains, originating in their ambition to rule with independent authority, shattered his empire and embroiled it in wars which lasted for nearly half a century. Soon after his death Perdikkas, to whom in his last moments he had given his signet-ring, was appointed to conduct the government on behalf of the royal family, which was held to consist of Arrhidaios, the king's half- brother, a man of weak intellect and character, and Queen Roxana, who a few months after her husband's death gave birth to a son who received the name of Alexander Aigos. The satrapies were then divided among the lead- ing generals. Perdikkas soon began to use his position for the furtherance of his own selfish designs, and having secured the support of Eumenes, attempted to crush his colleagues and assume all power to himself He marched first into Egypt against Ptolemy, but on the banks of the Nile he was defeated and slain in a mutiny of his own men 321 B.C. Tidings soon afterwards reached the army that Krateros had been defeated and slain in fight- ing against Eumenes while marching to assist Ptolemy. The ofBce of regent was upon this offered to Ptolemy, who declined its acceptance, as he held that the satrapies should become independent kingdoms. The army then conferred that office, along with the tutelage of the royal family, on Antipater of Macedonia, who had crossed over into Asia to oppose Perdikkas. A new partition of the provinces, which did not differ much from the former, was then made at a place in Upper Syria called Tripara- deisos. Under this arrangement Ptolemy held Egypt ; Lysimachos, Thrace ; Antigonos, Phrygia or Central Asia Minor ; Seleukos, Babylon ; Antigenes, Sousiana ; Peu- kestas, Persia; Peithon, son of Krateros, Media; Nearchos, Pamphylia and Lycia; Arrhidaios, Hellespontine Phrygia; Antipater and Polysperchon, Macedonia and Greece. INTRODUCTION 51 Eumenes still held the satrapy at first assigned to him — that of Kappadokia, Paphlagonia, and Pontos — and was now the feader of those who had been the adherents of Perdikkas. He was supported by Alketas, the brother of Perdikkas, Peukestas, Attalos, Antigenes, and by the influence of Olympias, the mother of Alexander. Besides Perdikkas and Krateros, two other great generals had by this time disappeared from the scene — Meleager, who had been cut off by Perdikkas, and Leonnatos, who had been slain in the Lamian war. Antigonos was appointed by Antipater to conduct the war against Eumenes, and after many fluctuations of fortune at last captured him and put him to death. This happened early in the year 3 1 6 B.C. The fortunes of Alexander's empire were then left at the disposal of five men — Antigonos, Lysimachos, Ptolemy, Seleukos, and Kassander, the son of Antipater, who had died in the year 319 B.C. The ambition and ever -increasing power of Antigonos soon led his colleagues to form a coalition against him, and a long series of hostilities followed. In the end Antigonos and his son Demetrios, surnamed Poliorketes, were defeated by the confederates in the battle of Ipsos in 301 B.C. Antigonos fell on the field of battle, and the greater part of his dominions fell to the share of Seleukos, whose cavalry and elephants had been chiefly instrumental in winning the victory. He received as his reward a great part of Asia Minor as well as the whole of Syria from the Euphrates to the Mediter- ranean. Ptolemy obtained Phoenicia and Hollow Syria, but these provinces afterwards gave rise to frequent wars between succeeding kings of Egypt and Syria. A war in later times broke out between Seleukos and Lysimachos, in which the latter was slain in 281 B.C. His kingdom of Thrace was afterwards merged in that of Macedonia. Thus the empire of Alexander, after a period of incessant wars continued for upwards of forty years, was divided between the powerful monarchs of Macedonia, Egypt, and Syria. 52 INTRODUCTION The successors of Seleukos were unable to retain hold of their remote eastern dependencies. About the middle of the third century B.C. Theodotos or Diodotos, the \ ^^ Fig. 5. — Diodotos. governor of Baktra, revolted from his grandson Antiochos II. and made Baktra an independent kingom. Not long afterwards As'oka, the grandson of Chandragupta, as we learn from one of his own inscriptions,^ sent missionaries to the kings of the West to proclaim to them and to their subjects the doctrines of Buddhism. The kings named in the inscription are Antiyoka (Antiochos II., king of Syria), Turamaya (Ptolemy III, Euergetes, king of Egypt), Antigona (Antigonas Gonatas, king of Macedonia), Maga (Magas, king of Kyrene). About the year 212 B.C. Antiochos III., surnamed the Great, marched eastward to V- \ -.. A^, Fig. 6.— Antiochos the Great. recover Parthia and Baktria which had both revolted from the second Antiochos. He was, however, unable, even after a war which lasted for some years, to effect the subju- gation of these kingdoms, and accordingly concluded a treaty with them in which he recognised their independence. ^ See Note L/ in Appendix. INTRODUCTION 53 With the assistance of the Baktrian sovereign Euthydemos, who founded the greatness of the Baktrian monarchy, he made an expedition into India, where he renewed the alliance with that country which had been formed in the Fig. 7. — Euthydemos. days of Sandrokottos. From Sophagasenos,^ the chief of the Indian kings, he obtained a large supply of elephants, and then returned to Syria by the route through Arachosia in the year 205 B.C. ^ This name, transliterates the a personal name but an official title. Sanskrit Subhagasena, which was not See Lassen, hid. Alt. II. p. 273. ARRIAN'S ANABASIS Fourth Book Chapter XXII, — Alexajider crosses the Indian Kaukasos to invade India and advances to the river Kophen After capturing the Rock of Chorienes, Alexander went himself to Baktra, but .despatched Krateros with 600 of the Companion Cavalry ^ and a force of infantry, consisting of his own brigade with that of Polysperchon and Attalos and that of Alketas, against Katanes and Austanes the only chiefs now left in the country of the Paraitakenai ^ who still held out against him. In the battle which ensued Krateros after a severe struggle proved victorious. Katanes fell in the action, while Austanes was made prisoner and brought to Alexander. Of the barbarians who had followed them to the field, there were slain 120 horsemen and about 1500 foot. Krateros after ^ The Companion Cavalry, called sometimes simply the Companions, were the Royal Horse Guards, a body which at the beginning of the campaign consisted of 1500 men, all scions of the noblest families of Macedonia and Thessaly. In the course of the war their numbers were augmented per- haps to 5000, as Miitzell conjectures. 2 The Parai-tak-enai possessed part of the mountainous country between the upper courses of the Oxus and the Jaxartes. They were perhaps one in race with the Takkas of India, who had a great and flourishing capital, Taxila {i.e. Takkasila, the Rock of the Takkas), situated between the Indus and Upper Hydaspes. The first part of their name Par at repre- sents perhaps the Sanskrit parvata, a hill, or pahdr (a hill) of the common dialect. A tribe of the same name occupied a mountainous part of Media (Herod, i. loi), and another is located by Isidoros of Charax between Dran- giana and Arachosia. Another form of the name is Paraitakai (Arrian, iii. 19 ; Strabo, xvi. 736 ; Stephanos Byz.) S8 THE INVASION OF INDIA V.^ the victory led his troops also to Baktra. While Alex- ander was here the tragic incident in his history, the affair of Kallisthenes and the pages, occurred. When spring was now past,^ he led his army from Baktra to invade the Indians, leaving Amyntas in the land f the Baktrians with 3500 horse and 10,000 foot. In ten days he crossed the Kaukasos ^ and arrived at the city of Alexandreia ^ which he had founded in the land of the Parapamisadai ^ when he first marched to Baktra. The ruler whom he had then set over the city he dismissed from his office because he thought he had not discharged its duties well. He recruited the population of Alex- andreia with fresh settlers from the surrounding district, and also with such of his soldiers as were unfit for further service."^ He then ordered Nikanor, one of the Companions, to take charge of the city itself and regulate its affairs, but he appointed Tyriaspes satrap of the land of the ^ The spring of 327 B.C. - Kaukasos here denotes the lofty mountain range, now called the Central Hindu Kush, which forms the northern frontier of Kabul. Its native designation was Parapamisos, or, as Ptolemy more correctly trans- literates it, Paropanisos. Till Alex- ander's time these mountains were altogether unknown to the Greeks. The officers of his army who wrote accounts of his Asiatic expedition sometimes considered them to be a continuation of the Tauros, and some- times of the Kaukasos. Arrian, who regarded them as an extension of the former range, says that the Mace- donian soldiers called them Kaukasos to flatter Alexander, as if, when he had crossed them to enter Baktria, he had carried his victorious arms beyond Kaukasos. The Greeks of those days, it must be observed, had no definite knowledge of the mountains to which that name was properly applicable, but vaguely conceived them to be the loftiest and the remotest to be found in the eastern parts of the world. The pass by which Alexander recrossed the Paropanisos was most probably the Kushan or Gborbund Pass. ^ See Note' A, Alexandreia under Kaukasos. ■* The tribes collectively designated Parapamisadai were, according to Ptolemy (who calls them Paropan- isadai), the five following : — The Bolitai, Aristophyloi, Parsioi, Pars- yetai, and Ambautai. They lived along the spurs of the Hindu Kush, chiefly along its southern and eastern sides. They thus occupied the whole of Kabulistan, and part of Afghanistan. The Bolitai were probably the people of Kabul, a city which, no doubt, represents that which Ptolemy calls Karoura (Kaboura?) or Ortospana. ^ The colonies which Alexander planted in the countries he overran were of a military character, designed to secure the permanence, cohesion, and ultimate unification of his con- quests. The war-worn soldiers whom he made colonists were condemned to perpetual exile, as may be gathered from the fate which overtook the colonists who of their own accord left Baktra and attempted to return to Greece. They were treated as de- serters, and were all put to death. y r BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 59 Parapamisadai and the rest of the country as far as the river Kophen.^ Having reached the city of Nikaia - and sacrificed to the goddess Athena, he despatched a herald to Taxiles ^ and the chiefs on this side of the river Indus, directing them to meet him where it was most convenient for each. Taxiles accordingly and the other chiefs did meet him and brought him such presents as are most esteemed by the Indians. They offered also to give him the elephants which they had with them amounting in number to five-and-twenty. Having here divided his army, he despatched Hephais- tion and Perdikkas with the brigades of Gorgias, Kleitos,"^ and Meleager, half of the companion cavalry, and the whole of the mercenary cavalry, to the land of Peukelaotis ^ and the river Indus.^ He ordered them either to seize by force whatever places lay on their route or to accept their submission if they capitulated, and when they came to the Indus to make whatever preparations were neces- sary for the transport of the army across that river. capital of Gandhara was known. General Cunningham has fixed its position at the two large towns of Parang and Charsada, which form part of Hashtnagar, or eight cities^ that are seated close together on the eastern bank of the L ajida i or lower Swat river. The position thus indicated is nearly seventeen miles to the north- west of Peshawar. The city was in early times a great emporium of com- merce. Ptolemy, who with the author of the Periplus of the Erythraian sea, calls it Proklais, has correctly located it on the eastern bank of the river of Souastene, i.e. the river of Swat. Wilson, however, and Abbott take Pekhely (or Pakholi) in the neigh- bourhood of Peshawar to be the modern representative of the old Gandharian capital {v. Cunningham's Anc. Geog. of India^ pp. 49-51). ^ The route assigned to this division lay along the course of the Kabul river and through the Khaiber Pass to Peukelaotis, which was situated where, or near where, Hasht-nagar on the river Landai now stands. 1 This is the Kabul river, called otherwise by the classical writers the Kdphes^ except by Ptolemy, who calls it the K6a. Its name in Sanskrit is the KubM. 2 See Note B. 3 Taxiles. His distinctive name, as we learn from Curtius (viii. 14), was Omphis. Diodoros (xvii. 86) less accurately calls him Mophis, and says that Alexander changed his name to Taxiles. This is, however, a mistake, for Taxiles was a territorial title which each sovereign of Taxila assumed on his accession to power. Indian princes are generally designated in the classics by their territorial or dynastic titles. The father of Omphis died about the time Alexander was making his pre- parations to invade India. * Kleitos had been killed before the army left Baktra, but his brigade continued to bear his name even after his death. ^ Peukelaotis designated both a dis- trict and its capital city. The name is a transliteration of Pukkalaoti, which is the Pali form of the Sanskrit Push- kalavatijthe name by which the ancient 6o THE INVASION OF INDIA They were accompanied on their march by Taxiles and the other chiefs. On reaching the river Indus they began to carry out the instructions which they had received from Alexander. One of the chiefs, however, Astes, a prince of the land of Peukelaotis, revolted, but perished in the attempt, besides involving in ruin the city to which he had fled for refuge, which the troops under Hephaistion captured in thirty days. Astes himself fell, and Sang- gaios,^ who had some time before fled from Astes and' deserted to Taxiles, a circumstance which guaranteed his fidelity to Alexander, was appointed governor of the city. Chapter XXIII. — Alexander wars against the Aspasians Alexander took command in person of the other division of the army, consisting of the hypaspists,^ all the companion cavalry except what was with Hephaistion, the brigades of infantry called the foot-companions, the archers, the Agrianians, and the horse lancers, *and advanced into the country of the Aspasians and Gour- aians and Assakenians.^ The route which he followed^ ^ This name is perhaps a trans- literation of the Sanskrit Sanjaya, which means victor. A Shinwari tribe called Sangu is found inhabiting a part of the Nangrihar district west of the Khaiber Pass. ^ The hypaspists, so called because they carried the round shield called aspis, while the hoplites carried the oblong shield called hoplon, formed a body of about 3000 men at the outset of the war, but were perhaps aug- mented to double that number during its progress. They were not so heavily armed as the hoplites, and were therefore more rapid in their movements. The foot companions were another distinguished corps of guards. The Agrianians, who made excellent light-armed troops, were a Paionian people whose country ad- joined the sources of the river Strymon. ^ Aspasioi and Assakenoi. See Note C. \ Strabo (xv. 697) states the reasons which led Alexander to select the northern route to the Indus in prefer- ence to the southern. "Alexander was informed," he says, "that the mountainous and northern parts were the most habitable and fertile, but that the southern part was either without water or liable to be over- flowed by rivers at one time, or entirely burnt up at another, more fit to be the haunts of wild beasts than the dwell- ings of men. He resolved therefore to master first that part of India which had been well spoken of, considering at the same time that the rivers which it was necessary to pass, and which flowed transversely through the country which he proposed to attack, would be crossed with more facility BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 61 was hilly and rugged, and lay along the course of the river called the Khoes,^ which he had difficulty in cross- ing. This done "he^ ordered the mass of the infantry to follow leisurely, while he rode rapidly forward, taking with him the whole of his cavalry, besides 800 Mace- donian foot soldiers, whom he mounted on horseback with their infantry shields ; for he had been informed that the barbarians inhabiting those parts had fled for refuee to their native mountains, and to such of their cities as were strongly fortified. When he proceeded to attack the first city of this kind that came in his way, he found men drawn up before it in battle order, and on these he fell at once, just as he was, put them to rout, and shut them up within the gates. He was wounded, however, in the shoulder by a dart which penetrated through his breast-plate, but not severely, for the breast- plate prevented the weapon from going right through his shoulder. Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, and Leonnatos were also wounded. He then encamped near the city on the side where he thought the wall was weakest. Next day, as soon as towards their sources." The districts through which he passed are now called Kafiristan, Chittral, Swat, and the Yusufzai country. It is more difficult to trace in this than in any other of his campaigns the course of his movements, and to identify with certainty the various strongholds which he attacked. The country through which he passed is but little known even at the present day, and, as Bun- bury remarks, a glance at the labyrinth of mountains and valleys, which occupy the whole space in question in the best modern maps, will sufficiently show how utterly bewildering they must have been to the officers of Alexander, who neither used maps nor the compass, and were incapable of the simplest geographical observa- tions. The time occupied by Alex- ander in marching from the foot of Kaukasos to the Indus was about a year. Like Napoleon, he kept the field even in winter, though in these parts the cold at that season is intense. 1 Khoes. This is the first river Alexander would reach after he had left his encampment near the junction of the Panjshir with the Kophen, which appears to have been the place where he divided his army. It cannot have been, as Lassen thought, the Kamah or Kunar, but is rather the stream formed by the junction of the Alishang and the Alinghar, which joins the Kophen on the left in the neighbourhood of Mandrour above Jalalabad. The Alinghar river, as we learn from Masson, is called also the Kow. The Koa of Ptolemy must not be confounded with the Khoes of the text, for that author in describing the Koa says that it receives a tributary from the Paro- panisadai, and that after being joined by the Souastos (the river of Swat) it falls into the Indus. The Koa is therefore probably the Kophen after its reception of the Kamah or Kunar river. 62 THE INVASION OF INDIA there was light, the Macedonians attacked the outer of the two walls by which the city was encompassed, and as it was but rudely constructed they captured it without difficulty. At the inner wall, however, the barbarians made some resistance ; but when the ladders were ap- plied, and the defenders were galled with darts wherever they turned, they no longer stood their ground, but issued from the city through the gates and made for the hills. Some of them perished in the flight, while such as were taken alive were to a man put to death by the Macedonians, who were enraged against them for having wounded Alexander. Most of them, however, made good their escape to the mountains, which lay at no great distance from the city. Alexander Vazed it to the ground, and then marched forward to another city called Andaka, which surrendered on capitulation. When the place had thus fallen into his hands he left Krateros in these parts, with the other infantry officers, to take by force whatever other cities refused voluntary submission, and to settle the affairs of the surrounding district in the best way existing circumstances would permit, while he himself advanced to the river Euaspla,^ where the chief of the Aspasians was. Chapter XXIV. — Operations against the Aspasians In this expedition Alexander took with him the hypaspists, the archers, the Agrianians, the brigade of Koinos and Attalos, the cavalry guard, about four squadrons of the other companion cavalry, and one half of the mounted archers. After a long march he reached, on ^ Euaspla R. This name, which, so far as I know, occurs only in Arrian, has not been satisfactorily explained. It designated, no doubt, the river which Aristotle, Strabo, and Curtius call the Choaspes, and which the best authorities identify with the Kamah °5^ I^^inar, a river which rivals the Kophen itself in the volume of its waters and the length of its course. It rises at the foot of the plateau of Pamir, not far from the sources of the Oxus, and joins the Kophen at some distance below Jalalabad. Strabo says that the Choaspes traverses Bandobene (Badakshan) and Gand- aritis after having passed near the towns of Plegerion and Gory dale. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 63 the second day, the city of the Aspasian chief.^ The barbarians on hearing of his approach set fire to their city and fled to the mountains. But Alexander's men followed close at the heels of the fugitives, as far as the mountains, and made a great slaughter^ of the bar- barians before they could escape to rough and difficult ground. During the pursuit Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, descried the chief of the Indians of that country standing at the time on a small eminence, with some of his shield-bearing guards around him, and, although his own following was much smaller, he nevertheless continued the chase, being still on horseback. When the ascent, however, became so difficult that his charger could no longer mount it at a good pace, he left him there, and handing him over to one of the hypaspists to lead, he proceeded on foot, just as he was, to come up with the Indian. The latter on seeing that Ptolemy was now near at hand, turned round to face him, as did also his shield-bearing guards. The Indian, closing with his adversary, struck him on the breast with a long spear which pierced his cuirass, but the cuirass broke all the force of the blow. Ptolemy, on the other hand, smote the Indian right through the thigh, laid him prone at his feet, and stripped him of his arms. When his men saw their leader lying dead they left the place, but the other Indians, when they saw on looking from the mountains that the dead body of their chief was being carried off by the enemy, were filled with grief and rage, and rushing down to the small eminence fought for the recovery of the corpse with the utmost determination ; for by this time Alexander also was on the eminence, and had brought with him the infantry soldiers, who had now alighted from their horses. This reinforcement falling upon the Indians succeeded after a hard struggle in driving them ofl* to the mountains and securing the possession of the dead body. Alexander then crossed the mountains, and came to a ^ The capital of this chief was probably Gorys on the Choaspes. 64 THE INVASION OF INDIA city at their base, named Arigaion.^ He found that the inhabitants had burned the place and taken to flight. Here Krateros, with his staff and the troops under his command, rejoined him, after having fully carried out all the orders given by the king. As the city seemed to occupy a very advantageous site, he commanded Krateros to fortify it strongly, and people it with as many natives of the neighbourhood as should consent to make it their home, together with any soldiers found unfit for further service. He then marched to a place where, as he had ascertained, most of the barbarians of that part of the country had taken refuge, and on reaching a certain mountain encamped at its base. Meanwhile Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, who had been sent out by Alexander to procure forage, and had gone with a few followers a considerable distance in advaoce to reconnoitre the enemy, came back to Alexander to report that he had seen more fires where the barbarians were posted than in Alexander's camp. Alexander, without believing that the fires were so numerous, was still con- vinced that a host of barbarians had mustered together from the surrounding country, and therefore leaving a part of his army where it was encamped in proximity to the mountain, he took with .him such a force as the reports led him to think would be adequate, and when the fires were near in view, he divided it into three parts. The command of one part he gave to Leonnatos, an officer of the bodyguard, placing under him the brigade of Attalos, along with that of Balakros. The command of the second division he gave to Ptolemy, the son of Lagos. It consisted of a third of the royal hypaspists, / ^ Arigajoji. This place, which was situated to the e^ _of .the Choaspes, is perhaps now represented by ITaogBl, a village in the province of Bajore. Ritter identified it with Bajore or Bagawar, the capital of this province. The mountains to which the inhabitants fled for refuge may perhaps, as V. de Saint-Martin sug- gests, be those which Justin (xii. 7) calls Daedali, whereto he says Alex- ander led his troops after the Bac- chanalian revelry with which they had been indulged at Nysa, There is no mention elsewhere of Arigaion, unless it be the "Argacum urbem " of the Itiner. Alex. 105. It is taken by Schneider to be the Acadira of Curtius. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 65 together with the brigade of Philippos and Philotas, two companies of archers, each a thousand strong, the Agri- anians, and half of the horsemen. The third division Alexander led in person against the position occupied by the main body of the barbarians. Chapter XXV. — Defeat of the Aspasians — The Assakenians and Gouraians attacked When they saw the Macedonians advancing against them they came down from the high ground which they had occupied into the plain below, confident in their numbers, and despising the Macedonians for the small- ness of theirs. A sharp conflict followed, but Alexander without much trouble gained the victory. Ptolemy did not draw up his men in line upon the plain, but since the barbarians were posted on a small hill, he formed his battalions into column, and led them up the hill on the side where it was most assailable. He did not surround the entire circuit of the hill, but left an opening for the barbarians by which to escape if they meant flight. With these men also the conflict was sharp, not only from the difficult nature of the ground, but also because the Indians were of a different mettle from the other barbarians there, and were by far the stoutest warriors in that neighbourhood ; but brave as they were they were driven from the hill by the Macedonians. The men of the third division under Leonnatos were equally successful, as they also routed those with whom they engaged. Ptolemy states that the men taken prisoners were in all above 40,000, and that there were also cap- tured more than 230,000 oxen, from which Alexander chose out the best — those which he thought superior to the others both for beauty and size — with a view to send them to Macedonia to be employed in agriculture. He marched thence to invade the country of the Assakenians, for they were reported to have under arms F ^Hll^W THE INVASION OF INDIA and ready for battle an army of 20,000 cavalry and more than 30,000 infantry, besides 30 elephants. Krateros had now completed the work of fortifying the city which he had been left to plant with colonists, and rejoined Alexander with the heavy armed troops and the engines which it might be necessary to employ in besieging towns. Alexander himself then proceeded to attack the Assakenians, taking with him the companion cavalry, the horse archers, the brigade of Koinos and Polysperchon, and the thousand Agrianians and the archers. He passed through the country of the Gour- aians, where he had to cross the Gouraios,^ the river named after that country. The passage was difficult on account of the depth and swiftness of the stream, and also because the stones at the bottom were so smooth and round that the men on stepping on them were apt to stumble. When the barbarians saw Alex- ander approaching they had not the courage to encounter him in the open field with their collective forces, but dispersed to their several cities, which they resolved to defend to the last extremity. Chapter XXVL — Siege of Massaga Alexander marched first to attack Massaga,^ which was the greatest city in those parts. When he was now approaching the walls, the barbarians, supported by a body of Indian mercenaries brought from a distance, and no less than 7000 strong, sallied out with a run against the Macedonians when they observed them preparing to en- camp. Alexander thus saw that the battle would be ^ The Gouraios is the river Paiij- kora, which unites with the river of Swit to form the Landai, a large affluent of the Kabul river. It appears under the name of the Gauri in the sixth book of the Mahdbhdrata, where it is mentioned along with the Suvastu (the Swat river) and the Kampana. It owes its name to the Ghori^ a great and wide-spread tribe, branches of which are still to be found on the Parijkora, and also on both sides of the Kabul River where it is joined by the Landai. It formed the boundary between the Gouraians and the Assa- kenians. * Mazaga. See Note D. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 67 fought close to the city, whereas he wished the enemy to be drawn away to a distance from the walls, so that, if they were defeated, as he was certain they would be, they might have less chance of escaping with their lives by a short flight into the city. Alexander therefore ordered the Macedonians to fall back to a little hill which was about seven stadia distant from the place where he had meant to encamp. This gave the enemy fresh courage as they thought the Macedonians had already given way before them, and so they charged them at a running pace and without any observance of order. But when once their arrows began to reach his men, Alexander immediately wheeled round at a signal agreed on and led the phalanx at a running pace to fall upon them. But his horse-lancers and the Agrianians and the archers darted forward, and were the first to come into conflict with the barbarians, while he was leading the phalanx in regular order into action. The Indians were confounded by this unexpected attack, and no sooner found themselves in- volved in a hand-to-hand encounter than they gave way and fled back to the city. About 200 of them were killed, and the rest were shut up within the walls. Alexander brought up the phalanx against the fortifications, but was wounded in the ankle, though not severely, by an arrow shot from the battlements. The next day he brought up the military engines, and without much difficulty battered down a part of the wall. But when the Macedonians attempted to force their way through the breach which had been made, the Indians repelled all their attacks with so much spirit that Alexander was obliged for that day to draw off his forces. On the morrow the Macedonians renewed their assault with even greater vigour, and a wooden tower was brought up against the wall from which the archers shot at the Indians, while missiles were discharged against them from engines. They were thus driven back to a good distance, but still their assailants were after all unable to force their way within the walls. On the third day Alexander led the phalanx once more 6S THE INVASION OF INDIA to the assault, and causing a bridge to be thrown from an engine over to that part of the wall which had been battered down, by that gangway he led the hypaspists over to the breach — the same men who by a similar expedient had enabled him to capture Tyre. The bridge, however, broke down under the great throng which was pushing forward with eager haste, and the Macedonians fell with it. The barbarians on the walls, seeing what had happened, began amid loud cheering to ply the Macedonians with stones and arrows and whatever missiles they had ready at hand or could at the moment snatch up, while others sallying out from posterns in the wall between the towers, struck them at close quarters before they could extricate themselves from the confusion caused by the accident. Chapter XXVII. — Massaga taken by storm — Or a and Bazira besieged Alexander then sent Alketas with his brigade to take up the wounded and recall to the camp the active com- batants. On the fourth ,day another gangway on a different engine was despatched by him against the wall. Now the Indians, as long as the chief of that place was still living, continued with great vigour to maintain the defence, but when he was struck by a missile from an engine and was killed by the blow, while some of them- selves had fallen in the uninterrupted siege, and most of them were wounded and disabled for fighting, they sent a herald to treat with Alexander. To him it was always a pleasure to save the lives of brave men, and he came to an agreement with the Indian mercenaries to the effect that they should change their side and take service in his ranks. Upon this they left the city, arms in hand, and encamped by themselves on a small hill which faced the camp of the Macedonians. But as they had no wish to take up arms against their own countrymen, they resolved to arise by night and make off with all BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 69 fy speed to their homes. When Alexander was informed of this he surrounded the hill that same night with all his troops, and having thus intercepted the Indians in the midst of their flight, cut them to pieces. The city now stripped of its defenders he took by storm, and captured the mother and daughter of Assakenos.^ Alexander lost in the siege from first to last five-and-twenty of his men in all. He then despatched Koinos to Bazira,^ convinced that the inhabitants would capitulate on learning that Massaga had been captured. He, moreover, sent Attalos, Alketas, and Demetrios, the captain of cavalry, to another city, Ora, instructing them to draw a rampart round it, and to invest it until his own arrival. The inhabitants of this place sallied out against the troops under Alketas, but the Macedonians had no great difficulty in routing them, and driving them back within the walls of the city. As regards Koinos, matters did not go well with him at Bazira, for as it stood on a very lofty eminence, and was strongly fortified in every quarter, the people trusted to the strength of their position and made no proposals about surrendering. Alexander, on learning this, set out for Bazira, but as he knew that some of the barbarians of the neighbouring country were going to steal unobserved into the city of Ora, having been sent by Abisares ^ for this very purpose, he directed his march first to that city. He then sent orders to Koinos to fortify some strong position as a basis of operations against the city of the Bazirians, and to leave in it a sufficient garrison to prevent the inhabitants from ^ Alexander seems to have treated these mercenaries with less than his usual generosity towards brave ene- mies. Plutarch reprobates his slaugh- ter of them as a foul blot on his military fame. The attack upon the city after it had capitulated on terms admits of no justification. 2 See Note E. ^ Abisares. Arrian in a subsequent passage calls this chief King of the Mountaineer Indians. His name shows that he ruled over Abhisara, that region of mountain-girt valleys, now called Hazara, which lies between the Indus and the upper Hydaspes. In Hazdra the ancient name of the country seems to be preserved. It has been supposed, but less reason- ably, that the district was so called from the great number of its petty chiefs, hazdra being the numeral for a thousand (in Persian). Abisares was a very powerful prince, and it is supposed with reason that Kashmir was subject to his sway. THE INVASION OF INDIA going into the country around for provisions without fear of danger. He was then to join Alexander with the remainder of his troops. When the men of Bazira saw Koinos departing with the bulk of his troops they regarded the Macedonians who remained, as contemptible antago- nists, and sallied out into the plain to attack them. A sharp conflict ensued in which 500 of the barbarians were slain, and upwards of 70 taken prisoners. The rest fled together into the city and were more rigorously than ever debarred all access to the country by the garrison of the fort. The siege of Ora did not cost Alexander much labour, for he captured the place at the first assault, and got possession of all the elephants which had been left therein. Chapter XXVIII. — Bazira captured — Alexander marches to the rock Aornos When the inhabitants of Bazira heard that Ora had fallen, they regarded their case as desperate, and at the dead of night fled from their city to the Rock, as all the other barbarians were doing, for, having left their cities, they were fleeing to the rock in that land called Aornos ; ^ for this is a mighty mass of rock in that part of the country, and a report is current concerning it that even Herakles, the son of Zeus, had found it to be impregnable. Now whether the Theban, or the Tyrian, or the Egyptian Herakles penetrated so far as to the Indians ^ I can neither ^ Aornos. See Note F. - 2 *' Herakles," says Herodotos (ii. 43, 44), " is one of the ancient gods of the Egyptians, and, as they say them- selves, it was I7,cx)0 years before the reign of Amasis, when the number of their gods was increased from eight to twelve, of whom Herakles was accounted one. And being desirous of obtaining certain information from whatever source I could, I sailed to Tyre in Phoenicia, where, as I had been informed, there was a temple dedicated to Herakles." The name of the Egyptian Herakles was Dsona or Chon, or, according to Pausanias, Makeris, and that of the Tyrian was Melkart. These were more ancient than the Theban Herakles, the son of Zeus and Alkmene. The Indian Herakles, called Dorsanes, who, ac- cording to Arrian, was the father of Pandaia, has been identified with S'iva, but also with Balarama, the eighth avatar ot~Vw}HiUj_ Diodoros (ii. 39) ascribes to him the building of BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 71 positively affirm nor deny, but I incline to think that he did not penetrate so far ; for we know how common it is for men when speaking of things that are difficult to magnify the difficulty by declaring that it would • ,*■'' Fig. 8. — The Tyrian Herakles. baffle even Herakles himself. And in the case of this rock my own conviction is that Herakles was mentioned to make the story of its capture all the more wonderful. The rock is said to have had a circuit of about 200 stadia, and at its lowest elevation a height of eleven stadia.^ It was ascended by a single path cut by the hand of man, yet difficult. On the summit of the rock there was, it is also said, plenty of pure water which gushed out from a copious spring. There was timber besides, and as much good arable land as required for its cultivation the labour of a thousand men. Alexander on learning these particulars was seized with an ardent desire to capture this mountain also, the story current about Herakles not being the least of the incentives. With this in view he made Ora and Massaga strongholds for bridling the districts around them, and at the same time strengthened the defences of Bazira. The division under Hephaistion and Perdikkas fortified for him the walls and of the palace of Pali- bothra (now Patna). Arrian in the second book of this work (c. i6) distinguishes the Tyrian Herakles from the Egyptian and Argive or Theban. The latter, he says, lived about the time of Oidipous, son of Laios. ^ The Olympic stadium, which was the chief Greek measure for itinerary distances, was equal to 600 Greek feet, 625 Roman feet, and 606 feet 9 inches English. The stadium of this length was the only one in use before the third century of our aera. m^ THE INVASION OF INDIA another city called Orobatis ^ in which they left a garrison and then marched on to the river Indus. On reaching it they began preparing a bridge to span the Indus in accordance with Alexander's orders. Alexander now appointed Nikanor, one of the com- panions, satrap of the country on this side of the Indus,- and then first marched himself towards that river and received the submission of the city of Peukelaotis which lay not far from the Indus. He placed in it a garrison of Macedonian soldiers under the command of Philippos, and then occupied himself in reducing other towns — some small ones — situated near the river Indus.^ He was accompanied on this occasion by Kophaios and Assagetes the local chiefs.** On reaching Embolima,^ a city close ^ The site of Orobatis must be sought for in the district west of Peu- kelaotis, through which Hephaistion advanced on his way to the Indus. The position and name of Arabutt, a village in this locality where ruins exist, plainly show its identity with the Orobatis of the text. It is situ- ated on the left bank of the Landai, and is near Naoshera. It is probably the Oroppa of the Ravenna geo- grapher. - Nikanor was succeeded in this office by Philippos, who was placed in command of the garrison of Peu- kelaotis. ^ Peukelaotis, as has been stated, stood on the Landai at a distance of seventeen miles north-west from Pesha- war. Alexander after the fall of Bazira moved westwards toward that river, judging it expedient before attacking the Rock to reduce all the yet un- conquered region west of the Indus. He took Peukelaotis, and then directed his march eastward till he approached the embouchure of the Kophen, whence turning northwards he ad- vanced up the right bank of the Indus till he reached Embolima, about eight miles distant from Aornos, and as high up the river as an army could go. ^ Kophaios, to judge from his name and from what is here stated, must have been the ruler of the valley of the lower Kophen or Kabul river. Hence it is unlikely, as some have supposed, that the dominions of Taxiles lay partly in the country west of the Indus. I find nothing any- where in the classical writers lending countenance to such a supposition. The name of Assagetes is probably a transliteration into Greek of the Sans- krit As'vajity •* gaining horses by conquest." ^ Ritter taking Embolima to be a word of Greek origin, equivalent in meaning to U^oki], "the mouth of a river," thought that this place lay opposite to Attak, in the angle of land where the Kophen discharges into the Indus, and was thus led to identify Aornos with the hill in that locality on which the fort of Raja Hodi stands. Embolima appears, however, to be rather a combination of two native names, Amb and Balimah. Amb is the name of a fort, now in ruins, from which runs the ordinary path up to the summit of Mahaban. It crowns a position of remarkable strength, which faces Derbend, a small town on the opposite side of the Indus. Not far westward from this fort, and on the same spur of the Mahaban, there is another fort also in ruins, which preserves to this day in the tradition of the inhabitants the name of Balimah. It is in accordance with Indian custom thus to combine into one the names of two neighbouring places. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 73 adjoining the rock of Aornos,^ he there left Krateros with a part of the army to gather into the city as much corn as possible and all other requisites for a long stay, that the Macedonians having this place as the basis of their operations might, during a protracted siege, wear out the defenders of the rock by famine, should it fail to be captured at the first assault. He himself then advanced to the rock, taking with him the archers, the Agrianians, the brigade of Koinos, the lightest and best-armed men selected from the remainder of the phalanx, 200 of the companion cavalry, and 100 horse-archers. At the end of the day's march he encamped on what he took to be a convenient site. The next day he advanced a little nearer to the Rock, and again encamped. Chapter XXIX. — Siege of Aornos Some men thereupon who belonged to the neighbour- hood came to him, and after proffering their submission undertook to guide him to the most assailable part of the rock, that from which it would not be difificult to capture the place. With these men he sent Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, a member of the bodyguard, leading the Agrianians and the other light-armed troops and the selected hypaspists, and directed him, on securing the position, to hold it with a strong guard and to signal to him when he had occupied it. Ptolemy, who followed a route which proved rough and otherwise difficult to traverse, succeeded in occupying the position without being perceived by the barbarians.^ ^ See Note F, Aornos. 2 ** All this account," says Abbott, who takes Aornos to be Mount Maha- ban, *' will answer well for the Maha- ban, which is a mountain-table about five miles in length at summit, scarped on the east by tremendous precipices from which descends one large spur down upon the Indus between Sitana and Amb. The mountain spur being comparatively easy of ascent would not probably be contested by the natives, who would concentrate their power to oppose the Macedonians as they climbed the precipitous fall of the main summit. The great extent of the mountain, covered as it is with pine forest, would enable Ptolemy, under the guidance of natives, to gain any distant point of the summit with- out observation." 74 THE INVASION OF INDIA The whole circuit of this he fortified with a pah'sade and a trench, and then raised a beacon on the moun- tain from which the flame was likely to be seen by ■ Alexander. Alexander did see it, and next day moved forward with his army, but as the barbarians obstructed his progress he could do nothing more on account of the difficult nature of the ground. When the barbarians perceived that Alexander had found an attack to be impracticable, they turned round, and in full force fell upon Ptolemy's men. Between these and the Macedonians hard fighting ensued, the Indians making strenuous efforts to destroy the palisade by tearing up the stakes, and Ptolemy to guard and maintain his position. The bar- barians were worsted in the skirmish and when night began to fall withdrew. From the Indian deserters Alexander selected one who knew the country and could otherwise be trusted, and sent him by night to Ptolemy with a letter importing that when he himself assailed the rock, Ptolemy should no longer content himself with defending his position but should fall upon the barbarians on the mountain, so that the Indians, being attacked in front and rear, might be perplexed how to act. Alexander, starting at daybreak from his camp, led his army by the route followed by Ptolemy when he went up unobserved, being convinced that if he forced a passage that way, and effected a junction with Ptolemy's men, the work still before him would not then be difficult ; and so it turned out ; for up to mid-day there continued to be hard fighting between the Indians and the Macedonians — the latter forcing their way up the ascent, while the former plied them with missiles as they ascended. But as the Macedonians did not slacken their efforts, ascending the one after the other, while those in advance paused to rest, they gained with much pain and toil the summit of the pass early in the afternoon, and joined Ptolemy's men. His troops being now all united, Alexander put them again in motion and led them against the rock itself; but to get close up BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 75 to it was not yet practicable. So came this day to its end. Next day at dawn he ordered the soldiers to cut a hundred stakes per man. When the stakes had been cut he began piling them up towards the rock (beginning from the crown of the hill on which the camp had been pitched) to form a great mound, whence he thought it would be possible for arrows and for missiles shot from engines to reach the defenders. Every one took part in the work helping to advance the mound. Alexander himself was present to superintend, commending those that were intent on getting the work done, and chastising any one that at the moment was idling. Chapter XXX. — Capture of Aornos — Advance to the Indus The army by the first day's work extended the mound the length of a stadium, and on the following day the slingers by slinging stones at the Indians from the mound just constructed, and the bolts shot at them from the engines, drove them back whenever they sallied out to attack the men engaged upon the mound. The work of piling it up thus went on for three days, without inter- mission, when on the fourth day a few Macedonians forced their way to a small hill which was on a level with the rock, and occupied its crest. Alexander without ever resting drove the mound towards the hill which the handful of men had occupied, his object being to join the two together. But the Indians terror-struck both by the unheard-of audacity of the Macedonians in forcing their way to the hill, and also by seeing that this position was now con- nected with the mound, abstained from further resistance, and, sending their herald to Alexander, professed they were willing to surrender the rock if he granted them terms of capitulation. But the purpose they had in view 7^ THE INVASION OF INDIA was to consume the day in spinning out negotiations, and to disperse by night to their several homes. When Alex- ander saw this he allowed them to start off as well as to withdraw the sentinels from the whole circle of outposts. He did not himself stir until they began their retreat, but, when they did so, he took with him 700 of the body- guards and the hypaspists and scaled the rock at the point abandoned by the enemy. He was himself the first to reach the top, the Macedonians ascending after him pulling one another up, some at one place and some at another. Then at a preconcerted signal they turned upon the retreating barbarians and slew many of them in the flight, besides so terrifying some others that in retreating they flung themselves down the precipices, and were in con- sequence dashed to death. Alexander thus became master of the rock which had baffled Herakles himself He sacri- ficed upon it and built a fort, giving the command of its garrison to Sisikottos,^ who long before had in Baktra deserted from the Indians to Bessos, but after Alexander had conquered the Baktrian land served in his army, and showed himself a man worthy of all confidence. He then set out from the rock and invaded the land of the Assakenians,- for he had been apprised that the brother of Assakenos, with the elephants and a host of the barbarians from the adjoining country, had fled for refuge to the mountains of that land. On reaching Dyrta^ he found there were no inhabitants either in the city itself or the surrounding district. So next day he sent out Nearchos and Antiochos, commanders of the hypaspists, the former with the light-armed Agrianians, and the latter valleys or the mountains by which they were enclosed. Dyrta probably lay to the north of Mahaban, near the point where the Indus issues from the mountains. Court's opinion that Dyrta was a place so far remote from the rock as Dir, which lies beyond the Pafijkora river, seems altogether improbable. Yet it is adopted by Lassen, though the regions in which Dir is situated had already been sub- dued. ^ His name seems a transliteration of S'as'igupta, " protected by the moon." - That is the eastern part of their country. He had already reduced the western and the capital Massaga. ^ On descending the Mahaban by its northern or western spurs, Alex- ander would have found himself in the valleys of Chumla and Buner. The fugitives from the rock would no doubt flee for shelter to these BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT n with his own regiment and other two regiments besides. They were despatched to examine the nature of the localities, and to capture, if possible, some of the bar- barians who might give information about the state of matters in the country, and particularly about the elephants, as he was very anxious to know where they were. He himself now marched towards the river Indus, and the army going on before made a road for him, without which there would have been no means of passing through that part of the country.^ He there captured a few of the barbarians, from whom he learned that the Indians of the country had fled away for refuge to Abisares,^ but had left their elephants there at pasture near the river Indus. He ordered these men to show him the way to the elephants. Now many of the Indians are elephant hunters,^ and men of this class found favour with him and were kept in his retinue, and on this occasion he went with them in pursuit of the elephants. Two of these animals were killed in the chase by throwing them- selves down a steep place, but the others on being caught suffered drivers to mount them, and were added to the army. He was further fortunate in finding serviceable timber^ along the river, and this was cut for him by the army and employed in building boats. These were taken down the river Indus to the bridge which a ^ " This road," says Abbott, *' was probably the path leading amongst precipices above and along the torrent of the Burindu, a river which, after watering the valleys of Buner and Chumla, flows into the Indus above Amb. The path even now is very difficult. This would have brought Alexander back to Amb." On this route probably lay the pass which the chief called Eryx by Curtius and Aphrikes by Diodoros attempted, but unsuccessfully, to defend against Alexander. The river Burindu above mentioned may be identified with the Parenos of the Greek writers. ■^ In doing so they had of course to cross over to the left bank of the Indus. ^ Arrian in his Indika (c. 14) has described the mode of elephant hunt- ing practised by the Indians. It is still in vogue. ^ Abbott points out that at Amb large quantities of drift timber are yearly arrested at an eddy near Der- bend. It is probable, he thinks, that the pine forest in those days descended lower down the river than it does at present. At one time forests of fine sisoo, mulberry, and willow timber grew along both banks of the Indus at that part of its course. 78 THE INVASION OF INDIA good while before this Hephaistion and Perdikkas had constructed.^ ^ The bridge in all probability spanned the Indus near Attak, which stands on a steep and lofty part of the left bank about two miles below the junction of the Kabul and Indus. The width of the latter river at the fortress of Attak is, according to Lieutenant Wood who measured it, 286 yards. A little lower down where the channel is usually spanned by a bridge of boats it varies, as stated by Vigne, from 80 to 120 yards. According to Cunningham, the bridge was made higher up the river, at Ohind. From Alexander's campaign north of the Kabul river, General Chesney (in a lecture at Simla) hints that a moral may be drawn : — " We have been accustomed," he says, "to consider the country north of the Kabul river as virtually impregnable. The march of Alexander's army is a practi- cal proof to the contrary, and although he was not burdened with artillery, and had apparently only mule trans- port, yet the Greek soldiers all marched in heavy armour, which must have added greatly to the difficulties of warfare among those mountains. There is an obvious moral to be drawn by us from these incidents." Fifth Book Chapter I. — Alexander at Nysa In the country traversed by Alexander between the Kophen and the river Indus, they say that besides the cities already mentioned, there stood also the city of Nysa,^ which owed its foundation to Dionysos, and that Dionysos founded it when he conquered the Indians, whoever this Dionysos in reality was, and when or whencesoever he made his expedition against the Indians; for I have no means of deciding whether the Theban Dionysos setting out either from Thebes or the Lydian Tmolos^ marched with an army against the Indians, passing through a great many warlike nations unknown to the Greeks of those days, but without subjugating any of them by force of arms except only the Indian nations ; all I know is, that one is not called on to sift minutely the legends of antiquity concerning the gods ; for things that are not credible, if one reasons as to their consistency with the course of nature, do not seem to be incredible altogether if one takes the divine agency into account. When Alexander came to Nysa, the Nysaians sent out to him their president, whose name was Akouphis,^ and along with him thirty deputies of their most eminent citizens, to entreat him to spare the city for the sake of ^ See Note G, Nysa. considered to be a favourite haunt of ^ Mount Tmolos, as we learn the wine-god. from Virgil, Ovid, and Pliny, was ^ As the Greek ^ represents the hh famous for its vines. It was therefore of Sanskrit, his name would htAkubhi. 8o THE INVASION OF INDIA the god. The deputies, it is said, on entering Alexander's tent found him sitting in his armour, covered with dust from his journey, wearing his helmet and grasping his spear. They fell to the ground in amazement at the sight, and remained for a long time silent. But when Alexander had bidden them rise and to be of good courage, then Akouphis taking up speech thus addressed him. " The Nysaians entreat you, O King ! to permit them to be still free and to be governed by their own laws from reverence towards Dionysos ; for when Dionysos after conquering the Indian nation was returning to the shores of Greece he founded with his war-worn soldiers, who were also his bacchanals, this very city to be a memorial to posterity of his wanderings and his victory, just as you have founded yourself an Alexandreia near Kaukasos, and another Alexandreia in the land of the Egyptians, not to speak of many others, some of which you have already founded, while others will follow in the course of time, just as your achievements exceed in number those displayed by Dionysos. Now Dionysos called our city Nysa, and our land the Nysaian, after the name of his nurse Nysa ; and he besides gave to the mountain which lies near the city the name of Meros, because according to the legend he grew, before his birth, in the thigh of Zeus. And from his time forth we inhabit Nysa as a free city, and are governed by our own laws, and are a well-ordered community. But that Dionysos was our founder, take this as a proof, that ivy which grows nowhere else in the land of the Indians, grows with us."^ Chapter II, — Alexander permits the Nysaians to retain their Autonomy — Visits Mount Meros It gratified Alexander to hear all this, for he was desirous that the legends concerning the wanderings of ^ Ivy abounds, however, in Hazara as well as in some other parts of India. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 8i Dionysos should be believed, as well as that Nysa owed its foundation to Dionysos, since he had himself reached the place to which that deity had come, and meant to penetrate farther than he ; for the Macedonians, he thought, would not refuse to share his toils if he advanced with an ambition to rival the exploits of Dionysos. He therefore confirmed the inhabitants of Nysa in the enjoy- ment of their freedom and their own laws ; and when he enquired about their laws, he praised them because the government of their state was in the hands of the aristocracy. He moreover requested them to send with him 300 of their horsemen, together with 100 of their best men selected from the governing body, which con- sisted of 300 members. He then asked Akouphis, whom he appointed governor of the Nysaian land, to make the selection. When Akouphis heard this, he is said to have smiled at the request, and when Alexander asked him why he laughed, to have replied, " How, O King ! can a single city if deprived of a hundred of its best men con- tinue to be well-governed ? But if you have the welfare of the Nysaians at heart, take with you the 300 horsemen, or, if you wish, even more ; but instead of the hundred of our best men you have asked me to select, take with you twice that number of our worst men, so that on your returning hither you may find the city as well governed as it is now." By these words he persuaded Alexander, who thought he spoke sensibly, and who ordered him to send the horsemen without again asking for the hundred men who were to have been selected, or even for others to supply their place. He requested Akouphis, however, to send him his son and his daughter's son to attend him on his expedition. Alexander felt a strong desire to see the place where the Nysaians boasted to have certain memorials of Diony- sos. So he went, it is said, to Mount Meros with the companion cavalry and the body of foot -guards, and found that the mountain abounded with ivy and laurel and umbrageous groves of all manner of trees, and that G $M THE INVASION OF INDIA it had also chases supplied with game of every description. The Macedonians, to whom the sight of the ivy was par- ticularly welcome, as it was the first they had seen for a long time (there being no ivy in the land of the Indians, even where they have the vine), are said to have set them- selves at once to weave ivy chaplets, and, accoutred as they were, to have crowned themselves with these, chanting the while hymns to Dionysos and invoking the god by his different names.^ Alexander, they say, offered while there sacrifice to Dionysos and feasted with his friends. Some even go so far as to allege, if any one cares to believe such things, that many of his courtiers, Mace- donians of no mean rank, while invoking Dionysos, and wreathed with ivy crowns, were seized with the inspiration of the god, raised in his honour shouts of Evoi, and revelled like Bacchanals celebrating the orgies. Chapter III. — How Eratosthenes views the legends con- cerning Herakles and Dio7iysos — Alexander crosses the Indus Any one who hears these stories is free to believe them or disbelieve them as he chooses. For my own part, I do not altogether agree with Eratosthenes the Kyrenian, who says that all these references to the deity were circulated by the Macedonians in connection with the deeds of Alexander, to gratify his pride by grossly exaggerating their importance. For, to take an instance, he says that the Macedonians, on seeing a cavern among the Paropamisadai, and either hearing some local legend about it, or inventing one themselves, spread a report that this was beyond doubt the cave in which Prometheus had been bound, and to which the eagle resorted to prey upon his vitals, until Herakles, coming that way, slew the ^ His other names were Bacchos, Bromios, and among the Romans lacchos, Lyaios, Lenaios, Evios, Liber also. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 83 eagle and freed Prometheus from his bonds.^ And again, he says that the Macedonians transferred the name of Mount Kaukasos from Pontos to the eastern parts of the world and the land of the Paropamisadai adjacent to India (for they called Mount Paropamisos, Kaukasos), to enhance the glory of Alexander as if he had passed over Kaukasos. And again, he says that when the Mace- donians saw in India itself oxen marked with a brand in the form of a club, they took this as a proof that Herakles had gone as far as the Indians. Eratosthenes has like- wise no belief in similar stories about the wanderings of Dionysos. Whether or not the accounts about them are true, I cannot decide, and so leave them. When Alexander arrived at the river Indus he found a bridge already made over it by Hephaistion, and two thirty-oared galleys, besides a great many small boats. He found also a present which had been sent by Taxiles the Indian, consisting of 200 talents of silver, 3000 oxen fattened for the shambles, 10,000 sheep or more, and 30 elephants. The same prince had also sent to his assist- ance a force of 700 horsemen, and these brought word that Taxiles surrendered into his hands his capital Taxila, the greatest of all the cities between the river Indus and the Hydaspes. Alexander there offered sacrifices to the gods to whom it was his custom to sacrifice, and enter- tained his army with gymnastic and equestrian contests ^ Arrian writes to the same effect in his Ittdika, c. 5: "When the Greeks noticed a cave in the domin- ions of the Paropamisadai, they asserted that it was the cave of Pro- metheus the Titan, in which he had been suspended for steaHng the fire." At the distance of thirty-four miles from Birikot, a place near the river Swat, is Daityapur, now called Daiti- Kalli, said to have been built by one of the Daityas, i.e. enemies of the gods, such as were the Titans of the Greeks. In the hill adjacent is a vast cavern which, as Abbott has suggested, the companions of Alexander may have taken to be the cave frequented by the eagle which preyed upon the vitals of Prometheus the Titan. At Bamian, which lies on one of the routes from Kabul to Baktria, there are some very notable caves, one of which, some think, must have been that which the Greeks took to be the cave of Prometheus. But Alexander does not appear to have selected the Bamian route either in crossing or recrossing the Kaukasos. The moun- tains of the real Kaukasos were the loftiest known to the Greeks before Alexander's time, and hence to have crossed them was regarded as a tran- scendent achievement. 84 THE INVASION OF INDIA on the banks of the river. The sacrifices proved to be favourable for his undertaking the passage. Chapter IV. — General description of t/ie Indus and of the people of India That the Indus is the greatest of all the rivers of Asia, except the Ganges, which is itself an Indian river ; that its sources lie on this side of the Paropamisos or Kaukasos ; ^ that it falls into the great sea which washes the shores of India towards the south wind ; that it has two mouths, both of which outlets abound with shallows, like the five mouths of the Ister ; and that it forms a delta in the land of the Indians closely resembling the Egyptian Delta, and that this is called in the Indian tongue Patala,- let this be my description of the Indus, setting forth those facts which can least be disputed, since the Hydaspes and the Akesines and the Hydraotes and the Hyphasis, which are also Indian rivers, are considerably larger than any other rivers in Asia, but are smaller, I may even say much smaller, than the Indus, just as also the Indus itself is smaller than the Ganges. Indeed, Ktesias (if any one thinks him a proper authority) states ^ Arrian, like other ancient writers, supposed that the Indus had its sources in those mountains from which it emerges into the plains some sixty miles above Attak. It is now known that it rises in Tibet on a lofty Himalayan peak, Mount Kailasa, famous in Hindu fable as the residence of S'iva and the Paradise of Kuvera, and that before it issues into the plains it has nearly run the half of its course of about 1800 miles. The number of its mouths has varied from time to time. Ptolemy, the geographer, gives it seven. - Patala in Sanskrit mythology denotes the unde} world — the abode of snakes and demons — to which the sun at the close of day seems to descend. It was, therefore,' Ritter says, the name applied by the Brah- mans to all the provinces in India that lay towards sunset. Cunning- ham, however, suggests that Patali, a Sanskrit word meaning the trumpet- Jiower {bignonia stiaveolens) may have given its name to the Delta "in allu- sion," he says, "to the 'trumpet' shape of the province included be- tween the eastern and western branches of the mouth of the Indus, as the two branches as they approach the sea curve outwards like the mouth of a trumpet." But could the idea of such a resemblance have occurred to the minds of the Indians unless maps were in use among them ? For a better etymology see Note U. It has been conclusively proved that Haidara- bad is the modern representative of the ancient Patala. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 85 that where the Indus is narrowest its banks are 40 stadia apart, and where broadest 100 stadia, while its ordinary breadth is the mean between these two distances.^ This river Indus Alexander began to cross at day- break with his army to enter the country of the Indians. Concerning this people I have, in this present work, described neither under what laws they live, nor what strange animals their country produces, nor in what number and variety fish and water -monsters are bred in the Indus, the Hydaspes, the Ganges, and other Indian rivers. Nor have I described the ants which dig up gold for them, nor its guardians the griffins,^ nor other stories invented rather to amuse than to convey a knowledge of facts, since there was no one to expose the falsehood of any absurd stories told about the Indians. However, Alexander and those who served in his army did expose the falsehood of most of them, although some even of these very men invented lies of their own. They proved also, in contradiction of the common belief, that the Indians were goldless, those tribes at least, and they were many, which Alexander visited with his army ; and that they were not at all luxurious in their style of living, while they were of so great a stature ^ that they were amongst the tallest men in Asia, being five cubits in height, or nearly so. They were blacker than any other men except the Aethiopians,* while in the art of war they were far superior to the other nations by which Asia was at that time inhabited. For ^ The Indus after receiving the united streams of the great Panjab rivers is increased in breadth from 600 to 2000 feet. Its breadth is therefore grossly exaggerated here unless the extent to which its inunda- tions spread beyond its banks enters into the account. 2 See Note H. ^ The Afghans and Rajputs are still noted for their great stature. •* The Greek geographers derived the name of the Aethiopians from oXQw, I burn ^ and w^, the visage^ and applied it to all the sun-burnt, dark-com- plexioned races south of Egypt. As the Aethiopic language is, however, purely Semitic, the name, if indi- genous, must also be Semitic, since, as Salt states, the Abyssinians to this day call themselves Itiopjawan. Herodotus (vii. 70) speaks of Asiatic Aethiopians. These served in the army which Darius led into Greece, and were marshalled with the Indians, and did not at all differ from the others in appearance, but cnly in their language and in their hair, which was straight, while that of the Aethiopians of Libya (Africa) was woolly. 86 THE INVASION OF INDIA I cannot make any proper comparison between the Indians and the race of ancient Persians, who, under the command of Cyrus, the son of Kambyses, wrested the supremacy of Asia from the Medes, and added to their empire other nations, some by conquest and others by voluntary sub- mission ; for the Persians of those days were but a poor people, inhabiting a rugged country and approximating closely in the austerity of their laws and usages to the Spartan discipline.^ Then with regard to the discomfiture of the Persians in the Skythian land, I cannot with certainty conjecture to what cause it was attributable, whether to the difficult nature of the country into which they were led, or to some other mistake made by Cyrus, or whether it was that the Persians were inferior in the art of war to those Skythians whose territories they invaded." Chapter V. — T/ie rivers and vioun tarns of Asia However, I shall treat of the Indians in a separate work,' in which I shall set down whatever seems to be most credible in the reports supplied by those who accompanied Alexander in his expedition, and by Nearchos who made a voyage round the Great Sea which adjoins the Indians. I shall then add the accounts of the country which were compiled by Megasthenes and Eratosthenes, who are both writers of standard authority. ^ The Persians were originally the inhabitants of that poor and insignifi- cant province called Persis, which was included between the Persian Gulf in the south and Media in the north, and which stretched eastward from Susiana (Elam) to the deserts of Karmania. The great empire won by their amis, extended from the Mediterranean to the Jaxartes and Indus. Xenophon says that the Persians in early times led a life of penury and hard toil, as they in- habited a iiigged country which they cultivated with their own hands {Kyrop. vii. 5, 67). - Cyrus is said to have perished in this expedition against the Skythians, who lived beyond the Jaxartes, and were led by Queen Tomyris. The account of this expedition, given by Herodotos in the closing chapters of his first book, is examined at length by Duncker in the sixth volume of his History of Antiquity, pp. 11 2- 1 24. Xenophon represents Cyrus as dying in peace at an advanced age. ^ Called the Indika, written in the Ionic dialect, and based chiefly on the works (now lost) of Megasthenes and Nearchos. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 87 I shall describe the customs of the Indians and the remarkable animals which their country is said to produce, and also the voyage which was made by Nearchos in the outer sea.^ In the meantime it will suffice if I content myself with describing only what seems requisite to make the account of Alexander's operations clearly intelligible. Mount Tauros divides Asia, beginning from Mykale, the mountain which lies opposite to the island of Samos ; then forming the boundary of the country of the Pam- phylians and Kilikians, it stretches onwards to Armenia. From the Armenians it passes into Media, and runs through the country of the Parthians and the Khorasmians. Reaching Baktria it there unites with Mount Parapamisos, which the Macedonians of Alexander's army called the Kaukasos, for the purpose, it is said, of magnifying the deeds of Alexander, for it could thus be said that he had carried his victorious arms even beyond the Kaukasos. It is possible, however, that this mountain range may be a continuation of that other Kaukasos which is in Skythia, in the same way as it is a continuation of the Tauric range. For this reason I have before this occasionally called this range Kaukasos, and in future I mean to call it so. This Kaukasos extends as far as the great Indian Ocean in the direction of the east.^ All the important rivers of Asia accordingly rise either in Mount Tauros or Mount Kaukasos, and shape their courses some to the north, and others to the south. Those which run north- ward discharge their waters either into the Maiotic Lake, or into the Hyrkanian Sea, which is in reality a gulf of the Great Sea.^ The rivers which run southward are the 1 The Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, in contrast to the interior sea or Mediterranean. 2 By the Indian Ocean (called immediately afterwards the Great Sea) is meant here the Bay of Bengal and the ocean beyond, then unknown, which extended to the shores of China. By the Kaukasos, which ex- tended to this eastern ocean, is meant the vast Himalayan range. ^ Regarding the Maiotic Lake, now generally called the Sea of Azof, the ancients entertained very hazy and inaccurate notions. They sup- posed it to be situated in the remotest regions of the earth (Aisch. Prom. 427), and to be almost equal in size to the Euxine (Herod, iv. 86). Arrian, who might have known better, seems here to have adopted the crude notion current in Alexander's time 88 THE INVASION OF INDIA Euphrates, Tigris, Indus, Hydaspes, Akesines, Hydradtes, and Hyphasis, together with the rivers between these and the Ganges. All these either enter the sea, or, like the Euphrates, disappear among the swamps which receive their waters. Cfuxpter VI.— Position and boundaries of India and how its plains may have been formed If anyone takes this view of Asia, that it is divided by the Tauros and the Kaukasos from west to east then he finds that it is formed by the Tauros itself into two great sections, one of which lies towards the south and the south wind, and the other towards the north and the north wind. The southern section is divided into four parts, of which, according to Eratosthenes, India is the largest, this being also the opinion of Megasthenes who resided with Siburtios the satrap of Arakh6sia and who tells us that he frequently visited Sandrakottos the king of the Indians.' They say that the smallest part is that which IS bounded by the river Euphrates, and which extends to our own inland sea, while the other two parts which lie between the river Euphrates and the Indus will scarcely bear comparison with India even if both were taken together. They also say that India is bounded towards the east and the east wind as far as the south by the Great Sea, and towards the north by Mount Kaukasos, as far as its junction with the Tauros, while the river Indus cuts it off from other countries towards the west and the north-west wind as far as the Great Sea The larger portion of India is a plain, and this, as they conjecture, has been formed from the alluvial deposits of „^! J K ^ T""^'' "'■ ^°" ">enes was sent on frequent em- KSn'^er""jK'"^*r'"u" '^■'^^ '° Sandrakottos!T«t that IS guiltless of this geographical heresy. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 89 the rivers, just as in other countries plains which are not far off from the sea are generally formations of their respective rivers, a fact which explains why the names of such countries were applied of old to their rivers. There is, for instance, in the country of Asia the plain of the Hermos, a river which rises in the mountain of Mother Dindymene, and on its way to the sea flows past the Aiolian city of Smyrna. There is again another Lydian plain, called that of the Kaystros, which is a Lydian river, and another plain in Mysia, that of the Kaikos, and another in Karia, that of the Maiandros, which extends as far as the Ionian city of Miletos. In the case of Egypt again, the two historians, Herodotos, and Hekataios (or at any rate the author of the work on Egypt, if he was other than Hekataios) agree in declaring that in the same way Egypt was the gift of its river,^ and clear pr'oofs have been adduced by Herodotos in support of this view, so that even the country itself got perhaps its name from the river, for that in early times Aigyptos was the name of the river which the Egyptians and other nations now call the Nile the words of Homer sufficiently prove, since he says - that Menelaos anchored his ships at the mouth of the river Aigyptos. Now if the rivers we have men- tioned, which are of no great size, can each of them separately form in its course to the sea a large tract of new country, by carrying down silt and slime from the upland districts in which they have their sources, there can be no good reason for doubting that India is mostly a plain which has been formed by the alluvial deposits of its rivers.^ For if the Hermos and the Kaystros and the Kaikos and the Maiandros and the other rivers of ^ See Herodotos, ii. 5. Diodoros applies to Lower Egypt the epithet iroTaixoxiaffTos, i.e. deposited by the river. 2 See Odyssey J iv. 477, 581. ^ Modern science confirms this theory. Thus Sir W. Hunter in his Brief History of the Indian People, says: "In order to understand the Indian plains we must have a clear idea of the part played by these great rivers ; for the rivers first create the land, then fertilize it, and finally dis- tribute its produce. The plains were in many parts upheaved by volcanic action, or deposited in an aqueous aera long before man appeared on the earth. " 90 THE INVASION OF INDIA V Asia which fall into the inland sea were united, they could not be compared in volume of water with one of the Indian rivers, and much less with the Ganges, which is the greatest of them all, and with which neither the volume of the Egyptian Nile, nor the Istros (Danube) which flows through Europe, can be for a moment com- pared. Nay, the whole of those rivers if combined into one would not be equal to the Indus, which is already a large river where it issues from its springs, and which after receiving as tributaries fifteen rivers,^ all greater than those of Asia, enters the sea still retaining its own name. Let these remarks which I have made about the country of the Indians suffice for the present, while I reserve all other particulars for my description of India. Chapter VII . — The bridging of rivers In what manner Alexander made his bridge over the Indus neither Aristoboulos nor Ptolemy, the authorities whom I chiefly follow, have given any account ; nor can I decide for certain whether the passage was bridged with boats, as was the Hellespont by Xerxes and as were the Bosporos and the Istros by Darius,^ or whether the bridge he made over the river was one continuous piece of work. I incline, however, to think that the bridge must have been made of boats,^ for neither would the depth of the river have admitted the construction of an ordinary kind of bridge, nor could a work so vast and difificult have been executed in so short a time. But if the passage was bridged with boats I cannot decide whether the vessels being fastened together with cables and anchored in a row sufficed to form a bridge as did those by which, as Herodotos the Halikarnassian says, the Hellespont was joined, or whether the method was that which is used by the Romans in bridging the Istros and the Keltic Rhine,* 2c' V' ... , . , made by a bridge of boats. T^. f/^^"^^°^-V"- 33-36; IV. 83,97, * There is a Rhenos in Italy-the 33- HI. Reno, a tributary of the Po, from BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 91 and by which they bridged the Euphrates and the Tigris as often as necessity required. Since, however, the Romans, as far as my knowledge goes, have found that the bridging of rivers by boats is the most expeditious method of crossing them, I think it worth a description here. The vessels at a preconcerted signal are let go from their moorings and rowed down stream not prow but stern foremost. The current of course carries them down- ward, but a small pinnace furnished with oars holds them back till they settle into their appointed place. Then baskets of wicker work, pyramid-shaped and filled with rough stones, are lowered into the river from the prow of each vessel to make it hold fast against the force of the current. As soon as one of those vessels has been held fast another is in the same way anchored with its prow against the stream as far from the first as is com- mensurate with their bearing the strain of what is put upon them. On both of them beams of wood are rapidly laid lengthwise, and on these again planks are placed crosswise to bind them together. In this manner the work proceeds through all the vessels which are required for bridging the passage. At each end of the structure firmly fixed railed gangways are thrown forward to the shore so that horses and beasts of burden may with the greater safety enter upon it. These gangways serve at the same time to bind the bridge to the shore. In a short time the whole is completed amid great noise and bustle, though discipline is by no means lost sight of as the work proceeds. In each vessel the occasional exhorta- tions of the overseers and their rebukes of negligence neither prevent orders from being heard nor the work from being quickly executed. which the great Rhine is distinguished as the Keltic. The famous bridge made by Caesar over the latter river is described in his £>e Bello GallicOt iv. 17. 92 THE INVASION OF INDIA Chapter VIII. — Alexander arrives at Taxila — Receives an embassy from Abisarcs and advances to the Hydaspes This method has been practised by the Romans from of old, but how Alexander bridged the river Indus I cannot say, for even those who served in his army are silent on the matter. But the bridge was made, I should think, as nearly as possible in the Way described, or if it was otherwise contrived let it be so. When Alexander had crossed to the other side of the Indus he again offered sacrifice according to his custom. Then marching away from the Indus he arrived at Taxila,^ a great and flourishing city, the greatest indeed of all the cities which lay between the river Indus and the Hydas- pes. Taxiles, the governor of the city, and the Indians who belonged to it received him in a friendly manner, and he therefore added as much of the adjacent country to their territory as they requested. While he was there Abisares, the king of the Indians of the hill-country, sent him an embassy which included his own brother and other grandees of his court. Envoys came also from Doxares, the chief of the province, and those like the others brought presents. Here again in Taxila Alexander offered his customary sacrifices and celebrated a gymnastic and equestrian contest. Having appointed Philip, the son of Makhatas, satrap of the Indians of that district, he left a garrison in Taxila and those soldiers who were invalided, and then moved on towards the river Hydaspes — for he had learned that Poros with the whole of his army lay on the other side of that river resolved either to prevent him from making the passage or to attack him when crossing.^ ^ See Note I, Taxila. ^ We learn from Curtius that Alexander, before taking hostile action against Poros, demanded from him through an envoy called Cleo- chares that he should pay tribute and come to meet him on the frontiers of his dominions. To this Poros replied that in compliance with the second request he would meet Alexander at the place appointed, but would attend in arms. Alexander was perhaps justified by the laws of war in exact- ing submission from the tribes west of the Indus, since these had been subject to Darius, whom he had over- BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 93 Upon learning this Alexander sent back Koinos, the son of Polemokrates, to the river Indus with orders to cut in pieces all the boats that had been constructed for the passage of the Indus and to bring them to the river Hydaspes. In accordance with these orders the smaller boats were cut each into two sections and the thirty-oared galleys into three, and the sections were then transported on waggons to the banks of the Hydaspes. There the boats were reconstructed, and appeared as a flotilla upon that river. Alexander then taking the forces which he had with him when he arrived at Taxila and 5000 of the Indians commanded by Taxiles and the chiefs of that country advanced towards the Hydaspes.^ thrown, and to whose rights he had succeeded, but the tribes of the Panjab, those at least that lay to the east of the Hydaspes, had never, so far as is known, been under Persian domina- tion, and hence his invasion, accord- ing to modern ideas, was altogether indefensible. He could, however, justify himself on the ground of the principles held by the Greeks of his day, who considered that their superi- ority in wisdom and virtue teethe rest of mankind gave them a natural right to attack, plunder, and enslave all barbarians except such only as were protected by a special treaty. Such a view, repugnant as it seems to every principle of justice, was held never- theless by Aristotle, who no doubt impressed it on the mind of his illus- trious pupil. Hence Alexander, in attacking Poros, was not conscious, like Caesar, when he invaded Britain, of perpetrating an unwarrantable aggression for which some kind of an excuse had to be trumped up. 1 The Hydaspes, now the Jhllam, is called by the natives of Kas'mir, where it rises, the Bedasta, which is but a slightly altered form of its Sanskrit name, the Vitasta, which means ' ' wide-spread. " In Ptolemy^s geography it appears as the Bidaspes — a form nearer the original than Hydasph. It is mentioned in one of the hymns of the Rig - Veda, along with other great Indian rivers : " Receive favourably this my hymn, O Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, S'utudri, Parashni ; hear O Marudvridha, with the Asikni and Vitasta, and thou Arjikiya with the Sushoma." In advancing from the Indus at Attak to the Hydaspes, Alexander followed the Rajapatha, that is, the kings highway, called by Megasthenes the 656s ^aaCK-qi-q. It is the route which has been taken by all foreign con- querors who have penetrated into India by the valley of the Kophes. Elphinstone, who followed this route in returning from Kabul, describes it thus: "The whole of our journey across the track between the Indus and Hydaspes was about 160 miles ; for which space the country is among the strongest I have ever seen. The difficulty of our passage across it was increased by heavy rain. While in the hilly country our road sometimes lay through the beds of torrents" {Missio7i to Kabul, p. 78). In another passage (p. 80) he says: *'I was greatly struck with the difference between the banks of this river ; the left bank had all the characteristics of the plains of India. The right bank, on the contrary, was formed by the end of the range of the Salt Hills, and had an air of extreme ruggedness and wildness that must inspire a fearful presentiment of the country he was entering into the mind of a traveller from the East." General THE INVASION OF INDIA BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 95 Chapter IX, — Alexander on reaching the Hydaspcs finds Poros prepared to dispute its passage Alexander encamped on the banks of the river,^ and Poros was seen on the opposite side, with all his army and his array of elephants around him.^ Against the place where he saw Alexander had encamped, he remained himself to guard the passage, but he sent detachments of his men, each commanded by a captain, to guard all parts of the river where it could be easily forded, as he was resolved to prevent the Macedonians from effecting a landing. When Alexander saw this, he thought it expedient to move his army from place to place, so that Poros might be at a loss to discover his real intentions. For this purpose he divided his army into many parts, and some of the troops he led himself in different directions, sometimes to ravage the enemy's country, and sometimes to find out where he could most easily ford the river. He placed various commanders at various times over different divisions of his army, and despatched them also in different directions. At the same time he caused provisions to be conveyed to the camp from all parts of the country on this side of the river, to impress Poros with the conviction that he intended to remain where he was near the bank^ till the waters of the river subsided in winter, and afforded him a large choice of passages. As the boats were constantly plying up and down the stream, and the Chesney, in the lecture already cited, thus remarks on the advance of Alex- ander to the Hydaspes: "What is remarkable about this part of the advance is that it was not made direct on Jhelum, as would appear natural. True, that line is over what would be a very difficult country, as any traveller by the existing road knows. Still it would be the easiest line ; neverthe- less it appears certain that Alexander took a more southerly line, and threading his way through the intri- cate ravines of the upper part of the Salt range, and leaving Tilla and Rhotas on his left, penetrated that range by the gorge through which runs the Bhundar river, and struck the river Jhelum at Jalalpur, about thirty miles below Jhelum." ^ See Note I, Site of Alexander's camp on the Hydaspes. '^ The Greeks, for the first time, saw elephants used in war at the battle of Arbela. skins were being filled with hay, while all the bank was lined, here with horse and there with foot, all this prevented Poros from resting and concentrating his preparations at any one point selected in preference to any other as the best for defending the passage. At this time of the year besides, all the Indian rivers were swollen and flowing with turbid and rapid currents, for the sun is then wont to turn towards the summer tropic.^ At this season incessant rains deluge the soil of India, and the snows of the Kaukasos then melting flood the numerous rivers to which they give birth. In winter they again subside and become small and clear, and in many places fordable, with the exception of the Indus and the Ganges, and perhaps some one or two others. The Hydaspes at all events does become fordable. Chapter X. — Alexander's devices to deceive Porvs and steal the passage of the river Alexander therefore publicly announced that he would remain where he was throughout that season of the year if his passage was for the present to be obstructed, but he continued as before waiting in ambush to see whether he could anywhere rapidly steal a passage to the other side without being observed. He clearly saw that it was impossible for him to cross where Poros himself had encamped near the bank of the Hydaspes, not only because he had so many elephants, but also because his large army arrayed for battle, and splendidly accoutred, was ready to attack his troops the moment they ^ Arrian, in the nineteenth chapter of this book, states that the battle with Poros was fought in the Archon- ship of Hegemon at Athens, in the month of Mounychion, i.e. between the iSth of April and i8th of May, 326 B.C. Here, however, according to the reading of all the MSS., he makes the battle take place after the solstice of June 21st, }x^rk Tpoirds. Editors remove the difficulty by sub- stituting /card for fieTd, and I have translated accordingly. As the rainy season, however, does not set in till near the end of June, and it had set in, as Strabo informs us, during the march to the Hydaspes, the later date has probability in its favour. u THE INVASION OF INDIA landed. He foresaw besides that his horses would refuse to mount the opposite bank, where the elephants would at once encounter them, and by their very aspect and their roaring would terrify them outright; nor did he think that even before they gained the shore they would remain upon the inflated hides during the passage ; but that on seeing the elephants even at a distance off, they would become frantic and leap into the water. He resolved therefore to steal the passage, and to do this in the following way. Leading out by night the greater part of his cavalry along the river bank in different directions, he ordered them to set up a loud clamour, raise the war-shout,^ and fill the shores with every kind of noise, as if they were really preparing to attempt the passage. Poros marched meanwhile along the opposite bank, in the direction of the noise, having his elephants with him, and Alexander gradually accustomed him to lead out his men in this way in opposition. When this had been done repeatedly, and the men did nothing more than make a great noise and shout the war-cry, Poros no longer made any counter-movement when the cavalry issued out from the camp, but remained within his own lines, his spies being, however, posted at numerous points along the bank. When Alexander had thus quieted the suspicions of Poros about his nocturnal attempts, he devised the following stratagem. Chapter XL — Arrangements made by Alexander for crossing the Hydaspes unobserved There was a bluff ascending from the bank of the Hydaspes at a point where the river made a remarkable bend, and this was densely covered with all sorts of trees. Over against it lay an island in the river overspread with jungle, an untrodden and solitary place. Perceiving that this island directly faced the bluff, and that both places ^ Enyalios, an epithet of the war-god. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 97 >yere wooded and adapted to screen his attempt to cross the river, he decided to take his army over this way. Now the bluff and the island were 150 stadia distant from the great camp.^ But along the whole of the bank he had posted running sentries ^ at a proper distance for keeping each other in sight, and readily transmitting along the line any orders that might be received from any quarter. In every direction, moreover, shouts were raised by night, and fires were burnt for many nights together. But when he had made up his mind to attempt the passage, the preparations for crossing were made in the camp without any concealment. In the camp Krateros had been left with his own division of the cavalry, and the Arakhosian and Parapamisadan horse- men, together with the brigades of the Macedonian phalanx commanded by Alketas and Polysperchon and the contingent of 5000 men under the chiefs of the hither Indians. He had ordered Krateros not to attempt to cross the river before Poros moved off against them, or before learning that he was flying from the field, and that they were victorious. " If, however," said he, " Poros with one part of his army advances against me while he ^ Curtius mentions that near the bluff there was a deep hollow or ravine which sufficed to screen both the infantry and the cavalry, and on this Cunningham remarks: '* There is a ravine to the north of Jalalpur which exactly suits the descriptions of the historians. This ravine is the bed of the Kandar Nala, which has a course of six miles from its source down to Jalalpur, where it is lost in a waste of sand. Up this ravine there has always been a passable, but difficult road towards Jhelum. From the head of the Kandar this road proceeds for three miles in a northerly direc- tion down another ravine called the Kasi, Which then turns suddenly to the east for six and a half miles, and then again one and a half mile to the south, where it joins the river Jhelum immediately below Dilawar, the whole distance from Jalalpur being exactly seventeen miles." These seventeen miles are about the equivalent of the 150 stadia given by Arrian as the distance from the great camp to the bluff. 2 "Arrian," says Cunningham, "records that Alexander placed run- ning sentries along the bank of the river at such distances that they could see each other and communicate his orders. Now, I believe that this opera- tion could not be carried out in the face of an observant enemy along any part of the river bank, excepting only that one part which lies between Jalalpur and Dilawar. In all other parts the west bank is open and ex- posed, but in this part alone the wooded and rocky hills slope down to the river and offer sufficient cover for the concealment of single sentries." — Geog. of Anc. India, pp. 170, 171. H 98 THE INVASION OF INDIA leaves the other part and his elephants in his camp, then please to remain where you are ; but if Poros takes all his elephants with him, and a portion of the rest of his army is left behind in the camp, then do you cross the river with all possible speed ; for," added he, " it is the elephants only which make it impossible for the horses to land on the other bank. The rest of the army can cross over without difficulty." Chapter XIL — Alexander crosses the Hydaspes Such were the instructions given to Krateros ; but half-way between the island and the main camp in which he had been left, there were posted Meleager, Attalos and Gorgias, with the mercenary cavalry and infantry, who had received orders to cross to the other side in detach- ments, into which their ranks were to be separated as soon as they saw the Indians fairly engaged in battle. He then selected to be taken under his own command the corps of body-guards called Companions, the regiments of cavalry under Hephaistidn, Perdikkas and Demetrios, also the Baktrian, Sogdian, and Skythian cavalry, and the Daan horse-archers, and from the phalanx of infantry the hypaspists, the brigade of Kleitos and Koinos, and the archers and the Agrianians, and with these troops he marched with secrecy, keeping at a considerable distance from the bank that he might not be seen to be moving towards the island and the bluff, from which he intended to cross over to the other side. There in the night the skins, which had long before been provided for the purpose, were stuffed with hay, and securely stitched up. During the night a violent storm of rain came on, whereby his preparations and the attempt at crossing were not betrayed to the enemy by the rattle of arms and the shouting of orders, since the thunder and rain drowned all other sounds. Most of the boats which he had ordered to be cut into sections had been conveyed to this place, and when secretly BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 99 pieced together again were hidden away in the woods along with the thirty-oared galleys. Towards daybreak the wind had died down and the rain ceased. The rest of the army then crossed over in the direction of the island, the cavalry mounted on the skin pontoon rafts, and as many of the foot-soldiers as the boats could hold em- barked in them. They so proceeded, that they were not seen by the sentries posted by Poros till they had passed beyond the island, and were not far from the bank. Chapter XIII . — hicidents of the passage of the river Alexander himself embarked on a thirty-oared galley, and went over accompanied by Ptolemy, Perdikkas, and Lysimachos, his body-guards, and by Seleukos, one of the companions, who was afterwards king, and by one half of the hypaspists, the other half being on board of the other galleys of like size. As soon as the soldiers had passed beyond the island, they steered for the bank, being now full in view of the enemy, whose sentinels on seeing their approach galloped off at the utmost speed of each man's horse to carry the tidings to Poros. Mean- while Alexander was himself the first to disembark, and taking the horsemen who had been conveyed over in his own and the other thirty-oared galleys, he at once formed them into line as they kept landing, for the cavalry had orders to be the first to disembark. At the head of these duly marshalled he moved forward. Owing, however, to his ignorance of the locality he had unawares landed not on the mamland, but upon an island, the great size of which prevented it all the more from being recognised as an island. It was separated from the mainland by a branch of the river in which the water was shallow ; but the violent storm of rain which had lasted the most of the night had so swollen the stream that the horsemen could not find the ford, and he feared that the latter part of the passage would be as laborious as the first. When lOO THE INVASION OF INDIA at last the ford was found he led his men through it with difficulty ; for the water where deepest reached higher than the breasts of the foot soldiers, and as for the horses their heads only were above the river. When he had crossed this piece of water also, he selected the mounted corps of body-guards, and the best men from the other squadrons of cavalry, and brought them from column into line upon the right wing.^ Then in front of all the cavalry he posted the horse archers, and next in line to the cavalry and in front of all the infantry the royal hypaspists commanded by Seleukos. Next to these again he placed the royal foot guards, and then the other hypaspists, each in what happened to be the order of his precedence for the time being. At each extremity of the phalanx were posted the archers and the Agrianians and the javelin men. I Chapter XIV. — Skirmish with the son of Poros at the landing-place Alexander having made these dispositions, ordered the infantry, which numbered nearly 6000 men, to follow him at the ordinary marching pace and in regular order, for when he saw that he was superior in cavalry, he took with himself only the horsemen, about 5000 in number, and led them forward at a rapid pace. Taur6n, the captain of the archers, he ordered to hasten forward with his men to give support to the cavalry. He had come to the conclusion that if Poros engaged him with all his troops he would either, without difficulty, overpower him by charging with his cavalry, or would remain on the defensive till the infantry came up during ^ With Alexander's passage of the Hydaspes may be compared Hanni- bal's passage of the Rhone made upwards of a century later. The Carthaginian general, whose education included a knowledge of Greek, was no doubt familiar with the history of Alexander's wars, and from knowing how the Hydaspes was crossed may have laid his plans for crossing the Rhone, v, Livy, xxi. 26-28 ; Polyb. iii. 45, 46. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT lOI the action, or that if the Indians, terrified by the mar- vellous audacity of his passage of the river, should take to flight, he would be able to pursue them closely, and the slaughter being thus all the greater there would not be left much more work for him to do. Aristoboulos says that the son of Poros arrived with about 60 chariots before Alexander made the final pas- sage from the large island, and that he could have hindered Alexander from landing (for he made the passage with difficulty even when no one opposed him), if the Indians had but leaped down from their chariots and fallen upon those who first stepped on shore. The prince, however, passed by with his chariots, and allowed Alexander to accomplish the passage in complete safety. Against these Indians Alexander, he says, despatched his horse archers, who easily put them to a rout which was by no means bloodless. Other writers say that while the troops were landing an encounter took place between the Indians who had come with the son of Poros and Alexander at the head of his cavalry, and that as the son of Poros had come with a superior force Alexander himself was wounded by the Indian prince, and that his favourite horse Boukephalas was killed, having been wounded, like his master, by the son of Poros. But Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, with whom I agree, gives a different account, for he states, like the others, that Poros sent off his son, but not in command of merely 60 chariots ; and indeed it is not at all likely that Poros, on learning from the scouts that either Alex- ander himself, or, at all events, a part of his army, had made the passage of the Hydaspes, would have sent his own son with no more than 60 chariots, which, con- sidered as a reconnoitring party, would have been too numerous, and not rapid in retreat, but considered as meant to repel such of the enemy as had not yet crossed the river, and to attack those who had already landed, an altogether inadequate force. He says that the son of Poros arrived at the head of 2000 men and 1 20 chariots, 102 THE INVASION OF INDIA and that Alexander had made even the final passage from the island before the prince appeared upon the scene. Chapter XV, — The arrangements made by Poros for the conflict Ptolemy states further that Alexander at first de- spatched against the prince the horse archers, and led the cavalry himself, under the belief that Poros was advancing against him with the whole of his army, and that this was a body of advanced cavalry thrown for- ward by Pdros. But when he discovered what the real strength of the Indians was he then briskly charged them with what cavalry he had with him. When they noticed that Alexander himself and his body of cavalry did not charge them in an extended line, but by squad- rons, their ranks gave way, and 400 of their horsemen fell, and among them the son of Poros. Their chariots, moreover, were captured, horses and all, for they proved heavy in the retreat and useless in the action itself, by having stuck fast in the clay. When the horsemen who had escaped from this rout reported one after another to Poros that Alexander himself had crossed the river with the strongest division of his army, and that his son had been slain in the fight, he was still at a loss what to determine, for the division which had been left with Krateros in the great camp right opposite to his own position appeared to be undertaking the passage, but he at last decided to march with all his forces against Alex- ander and fight it out with the strongest division of the Macedonians led by the king in person. He nevertheless left there in his camp a few of the elephants and a small force to deter the cavalry under the command of Krateros from landing. He then took all his cavalry, 4000 strong, all his chariots, 300 in number, 200 of his elephants, and 30,000 efficient infantry, and marched against Alex- ander. When he found a place where he saw there was BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 103 no clay, but that the ground from its sandy nature was all flat and firm, and suited for the movements of cavalry whether charging or falling back, he then drew up his army in order of battle,^ posting his elephants in the front line at intervals of at least 100 feet, so as to have his elephants ranged in front before the whole body of his infantry, and so to spread terror at all points among Alexander's cavalry. He took it for certain besides that none of the enemy would have the audacity to push in at the intervals between the elephants — not the cavalry, since their horses would be terrified by these animals, and much less the infantry, since they would be checked in front by his heavy-armed foot soldiers falling upon them, and trampled down when the elephants wheeled round upon them. Behind these he drew up his infantry, which did not close up in one line with the elephants, but formed a second line in their rear, so that the regiments were only partly pushed forward into the intervals. He had also troops of infantry posted on the wings beyond the elephants, and on both sides of the infantry the cavalry had been drawn up, and in front of it the chariots. Chapter XVI. — The plan of attack adopted by Alexander In this manner had Poros arranged his troops. As soon as Alexander perceived that the Indians had been drawn up in battle order he made his cavalry halt, that he might get in hand each regiment of the infantry as it came up ; and even when the phalanx by a rapid march had effected a junction with the cavalry he still did not at once marshal its ranks and lead it into action, and thus expose the men, while tired and out of breath, to the barbarians, who were quite fresh, but he gave them time, while he rode round their ranks, to rest until they 1 Here, or in the immediate neigh- sion the inferiority of the British com- bourhood, was fought, in 1849, the mander as a strategist to Alexander battle of Chilianwala. On this occa- was signally manifested. I04 THE INVASION OF INDIA could recover themselves. When he had observed how the Indians were arranged he made up his mind not to advance against the centre, in front of which the elephants had been posted, while the intervals between them had been filled with compact masses of infantry, for he feared lest Poros should reap the advantage which he had cal- culated on deriving from that arrangement. But as he was superior in cavalry he took the greater part of that force, and marched along towards the left wing of the enemy to make his attack in this quarter.^ Koinos he sent at the head of his own regiment of horse and that of Demetrios to the right, and ordered him, when the barbarians on seeing what a dense mass of cavalry was opposed to them, should be riding along to encounter it, to hang close upon their rear.^ The command of the phalanx of infantry he committed to Seleukos, Antigenes, and Tauron, who received orders not to take part in the action till they saw that the phalanx of infantry and the cavalry of the enemy were thrown into disorder by the cavalry under his own command. When the Indians were now within reach of his missiles he despatched against their left wing the horse archers, who were looo strong, to throw the enemy in that part of the field into confusion with storms of arrows and charges of their horses. He marched rapidly for- ^ The left wing of the Indian army was flanked by the river. - This passage, as interpreted by Droysen, Thirlwall, and indeed as generally understood, intimates that Alexander ordered Koinos to station himself opposite the enemy'' s right, and not on the Macedonian extreme right. Thus Moberly, who holds the general view, remarks {Alexander in the Punjaub^ p. 6i): — "Coenus was ordered to station himself opposite the enemy's right ; then, in case of Porus withdrawing all his cavalry from the right, in order to meet Alexander's attack on the left, Coenus was to pass from one wing to the other, appar- ently in front of the Macedonian line, and to attack the Indian cavalry in the rear as soon as, in advancing to meet Alexander, they had got some little distance from their supports. . . . Distance can be got over quickly by cavalry." Kochly and Rustow, however, in their History of the Greek Military System, advocate a different view. "Alexander," they say, " must have sent Koinos to the extreme right wing with the order, that if the cavalry broke from the line against himself (Alexander) he was to fall upon their rear. Had he been detached to oppose the right wing of Poros he would have been too far off to support Alexander's front attack by an attack on the enemy's rear." This seems the pre- ferable view. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 105 ward himself with the companion cavalry against the left wing of the barbarians, making haste to attack their cavalry in a state of disorder while they were still in column, and before they could deploy into line. Chapter X VII. — Description of the battle of the Hydaspes — Defeat of Poros The Indians meanwhile had collected their horsemen from every quarter, and were riding forward to repulse Alexander's onset, when Koinos, in accordance with his orders, appeared with his cavalry upon their rear. See- ing this the Indians had to make their cavalry face both to front and rear — the largest and best part to oppose Alexander, and the remainder to wheel round against Koinos and his squadrons. This therefore at once threw their ranks into confusion, and disconcerted their plan of operations ; and Alexander, seeing that now was his opportunity while their cavalry was in the very act of forming to front and rear, fell upon those opposed to him with such vigour that the Indians, unable to withstand the charge of his cavalry, broke from their ranks, and fled for shelter to the elephants as to a friendly wall.^ Upon this the drivers of the elephants urged these animals for- ward against the cavalry ; but the Macedonian phalanx itself now met them face to face, and threw darts at the men on the elephants, and from one side and the other struck the elephants themselves as they stood around ^ *' To meet the double assault (of Alexander and Coenus) they resorted to one of those changes of front in which Indian cavalry are often so surprisingly rapid — facing partly to the front and partly to the rear. Yet Alexander was beforehand with them ; and his renewed charge threw them into utter confusion before they could fully assume their new formation. Flying along the front of their own infantry, they took refuge in the spaces left between every two ele- phants, and (as it would seem in the absence, from Arrian's account, of the full details) passed as soon as possible through the intervals of the foot regiments, so as to be for the moment quite outside the battle. As soon as they were out of the way the Indian elephants were sent on, supported by the infantry, but were at once met face to face by the Macedonian phalanx." — v. Moberly's Alexander in the Punjatib, Introd. p. 12. io6 THE INVASION OF INDIA them. This kind of warfare was different from any of which they had experience in former contests, for the huge beasts charged the ranks of the infantry, and wher- ever they turned went crushing through the Macedonian phalanx though in close formation ; while the horsemen of the Indians, on seeing that the infantry was now engaged in the action, again wheeled round and charged the cavalry. But Alexander's men, being far superior in personal strength and military discipline, again routed them, and again drove them back upon the elephants, and cooped them up among them. Meanwhile the whole of Alexander's cavalry had now been gathered into one battalion, not in consequence of an order, but from being thrown together in the course of the struggle, and wher- ever they fell upon the ranks of the Indians they made great carnage before parting from them. The elephants being now cooped up within a narrow space, did no less damage to their friends than to their foes, trampling them under their hoofs as they wheeled and pushed about. There resulted in consequence a great slaughter of the cavalry, cooped up as it was in a narrow space around the . elephants. Many of the elephant drivers, moreover, had been shot down, and of the elephants themselves some had been wounded, while others, both from ex- haustion and the loss of their mahouts, no longer kept to their own side in the conflict, but, as if driven frantic by their sufferings, attacked friend and foe quite indiscrim- inately, pushed them, trampled them down, and killed them in all manner of ways. But the Macedonians, who had a wide and open field, and could therefore operate as they thought best, gave way when the elephants charged, and when they retreated followed at their heels and plied them with darts ; whereas the Indians, who were in the midst of the animals, suffered far more the effects of their rage. When the elephants, however, became quite ex- hausted, and their attacks were no longer made with vigour, they fell back like ships backing water, and merely kept trumpeting as they retreated with their faces to the BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 107 enemy. Then did Alexander surround with his cavalry the whole of the enemy's line, and signal that the infantry, with their shields linked together so as to give the utmost compactness to their ranks, should advance in phalanx. By this means the cavalry of the Indians was, with a few exceptions, cut to pieces in the action. Such also was the fate of the infantry, since the Macedonians were now pressing upon them from every side. Upon this all turned to flight wherever a gap could be found in the cordon of Alexander's cavalry. Chapter X VII L — Sequel of the battle and surrender of Poros Meanwhile Krateros and all the other officers of Alex- ander's army, who had been left behind on the opposite bank of the Hydaspes, crossed the river when they per- ceived that Alexander was winning a splendid victory. These men, being fresh, were employed in the pursuit, instead of Alexander's exhausted troops, and they made no less a slaughter of the Indians in the retreat than had been made in the engagement. The loss of the Indians in killed fell little short of 20,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry, and all their chariots were broken to pieces.^ Two sons of Poros fell in the battle, and also Spitakes,^ the chief of the Indians of that district. The drivers of the elephants and of the chariots were also slain and the cavalry officers and the generals in the army of Poros all . . ? The elephants, moreover, that escaped destruction in the field were all captured. On Alexander's side there fell about 80 of the 6000 in- fantry who had taken part in the first attack, i o of the 1 Diodoros gives the number of Alexander during the march of the Indians killed at upwards of 12,000, latter from Taxila to the Hydaspes, and of the captured at more than as Droysen and Thirlwall agree m 9000, besides 80 elephants. thinking. 2 The Spitakes here mentioned as ^ The hiatus is supposed to have one of the slain is probably the same contained the number of officers as Pittacus, who is recorded by Poly- killed. ainos to have had an encounter with io8 THE INVASION OF INDIA BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 109 horse archers who first began the action, 20 of the com- panion cavalry, and 200 of the other cavalry.^ When Poros, who had nobly discharged his duties throughout the battle, performing the part not only of a general, but also that of a gallant soldier, saw the slaughter of his cavalry and some of his elephants lying dead, and others wandering about sad and sullen without their drivers, while the greater part of his infantry had been killed, he did not, after the manner of Darius, the great'^ king, abandon the field and show his men the first ex- ample of flight, but, on the contrary, fought on as long as he saw any Indians maintaining the contest in a united body ; but he wheeled round on being wounded in the right shoulder, where only he was unprotected by armour in the battle. All the rest of his person was rendered shot-proof by his coat of mail, which was remarkable for its strength and the closeness with which it fitted his person, as could afterwards be observed by those who saw him. When he found himself wounded he turned his elephant round and began to retire. Alexander, perceiv- , ing that he was a great man and valiant in fight, was anxious^ _-^-^--j~.^ ^.^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^.^ purpose sent to him first of all Taxiles the Indian. Taxiles, who was on horseback^ approached as near the elephant which carried Poros as seemed safe, and entreated him, since it was no longer possible for him to flee, to stop his elephant and listen to the message he brought from Alexander. But Poros, on finding that the speaker was his old enemy Taxiles, turned round and prepared to smite him with his javelin ; and he would probably have killed him had not Taxiles instantly put his horse to the gallop and got beyond the reach of Poros. But not even for this act did Alexander feel any resentment against Poros, but sent to him messenger after messenger, and last of all Heroes, an Indian, as he had learned that Poros and this L 1/ ^ This death-roll evidently greatly under-estimates the loss on Alexander's side. Diodoros says that there fell of the Macedonians 280 cavalry and more than 700 infantry. Heroes were old friends. As soon as Poros heard the message which Heroes now brought just at a time when he was overpowered by thirst, he made his elephant halt and dismounted. Then, when he had taken a draught of water and felt revived, he requested Heroes to conduct him without delay to Alexander.^ Cliapter XIX. — Alexander makes Poros his firm friend and ally — Founds two cities — Death of his famous horse Boukephalas He was then conducted to Alexander, who, on learn- ing that Heroes was approaching with him, rode forward in front of his line with a few of the Companions to meet him. Then reining in his horse he beheld with admira- tion the handsome person and majestic stature of Poros, which somewhat exceeded five cubits. He saw, too, with wonder that he did not seem to be broken and abased in spirit, but that he advanced to meet him as a brave man would meet another brave man after gallantly contending with another king in defence of his kingdom. Then Alexander, who was the first to speak requested Poros to say how he wished to be treated. The report goes that Poros said in reply, " Treat me, O Alexander ! as befits a king ; " and that Alexander, being pleased with his answer, replied, " For mine own sake, O Poros ! thou shalt be so treated, but do thou, in thine own behalf, ask for whatever boon thou pleasest," to which Poros replied that in what he had asked everything was included. Alexander was more delighted than ever with this re- joinder, and not only appointed Poros to govern his own Indians, but added to his original territory another of still greater extent. Alexander thus treated this brave man 1 Poros was the first sovereign that Alexander had captured on the field of battle. Curtius and Diodoros re- late somewhat differently from Arrian the story of his capture, representing him to have been protected to the last by his faithful elephant. / no THE INVASION OF INDIA BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT III as befitted a king, and he consequently found him in all respects faithful and devoted to his interests. Such, then, was the result of the battle in which Alexander fought against Poros ^ and the Indians of the other side of the Hydaspes in the month of Mounychion of the year when Hegemon was archon in Athens.^ Alexander founded two cities, one on the battlefield, and the other at the point whence he had started to cross the river Hydaspes. The former he called Nikaia in honour of his victory over the Indians, and the other Boukephala^ in memory of his horse Boukephalas, which died there, not from being wounded by any one, but from toil and old age, for he was about thirty years old,^ and had heretofore undergone many toils and dangers along with Alexander. This Boukephalas was never mounted by any one except Alexander only, for he disdained all other riders. He was of an uncommon size and of generous mettle. He had by way of a distinguishing mark the head of an ox impressed upon him, and some say that from this circumstance he got his name. But others say that though he was black, he had on his fore- head a white mark which bore a close resemblance to the brow of an ox. In the country of the Ouxians this horse disappeared from Alexander, who sent a proclamation through the land that he would kill all the Ouxians if 1 See Note ^, Battle with Poros. the great camp at Jalalpur. It be- ^ Diodoros says the battle occurred came a great emporium of commerce, while Chremes was archon at Athens. as we find from the Peripl{ls of the ^ Nikaia most probably occupied the Erythraian Sea, c. 47. In the Peu- site of the modern town of Mong, near tinger Tables it is called Alexandria the left bank. Nothing is known of Bucefalos. its history. With respect to its sister ** " Schmieder says that Alexander city Bouk^phala, the ancient writers could not have broken in the horse are not m agreement. Plutarch before he was sixteen years old. But places it on the left or eastern bank since at this time he was in his twenty- of the Hydaspes, for he says that ninth year he would have had him Boukephalas was killed in the battle, thirteen years. Consequently the and that the city was built where he horse must have been at least seven- fell and was buried. According, how- teen years old when he acquired ever, to Strabo, Arrian, and Diodoros, him. Can any one believe this ? Yet it stood on the west bank ; but while Plutarch also states that the horse Strabo places it at the point where was thirty years old at his death." the troops embarked, Arrian places it Chinnock's Anabasis of Alexander^ farther down the stream on the site of p. 296, note 4. / they did not bring him his horse, and brought back he was immediately after the proclamation had been issued ^ — so great was Alexander's attachment to his favourite, and so great was the fear of Alexander which prevailed among the barbarians. Let so much honour be paid by me to this Boukephalas for Alexander's sake. Chapter XX. — Alexander conquers the Glaus ai, receives embassies from Abisaris and other chiefs ^ and crosses the Akesines When Alexander had duly honoured with splendid obsequies those who had been slain in the battle, he offered to the gods in acknowledgment of his victory the customary sacrifices, and celebrated athletic and equestrian contests on the bank of the river Hydaspes, at the place where he first crossed with his army. He then left Krateros behind with a part of the army to build and fortify the cities which he was founding there, while he advanced himself against the Indians whose country lay next to the dominions of Poros. Aristoboulos says that the name of the nation was the Glaukanikoi, but Ptolemy calls them the Glausai.^ By which of the names it was called I take to be a matter of no consequence. Alex- ander invaded their country with the half of the companion cavalry, picked men from each phalanx of the infantry, all the horse-archers, the Agrianians, and the other archers. The people everywhere surrendered on terms of capitula- 1 This incident is referred by Plu- Chenab. The name of the inhabit- tarch to Hyrkania, and by Curtius to ants, Glausai or Glaukanikoi, has the land of the Mardians. The been identified by V. de Saint-Martin Ouxioi lived on the borders of Persis, with that of the Kalaka, a tribe men- between that province and Sousiana. tioned in the Vardha Sanhita, a work ^ Alexander, according to Dio- of the sixth century of our aera. In doros, halted to recruit his army for the Mahdbhdrata the name is written thirty days in the dominions of Poros. Kalaja, and in the Rajput Chronicles He then advanced northwards with a Kalacha, a form which justifies the part of his army to the fertile and Greek Glausai. The second part of populous regions that lay in the south the longer name, anika, means a of Kas'mir (the Bhimber and Bajaur troop or army in Sanskrit. —z'. Saint- districts) between the upper courses Martin's Etude, pp. 102, 103. of the Hydaspes and the Akesines and •^ X 112 THE INVASION OF INDIA tion. In this manner he took seven-and-thirty cities, the smallest of which contained not fewer than 5000 in- habitants, while many contained upwards of 10,000. He took also a great many villages which were not less populous than the towns ; and this country he gave to Poros to rule,^ and between him and Taxiles he effected a reconciliation. He then sent Taxiles home to his capital. At this time envoys came from Abisares to say that their king surrendered himself and his whole realm to Alexander.- Yet before the battle in which Alexander had defeated Poros, Abisares was ready with his army to fight on the side of Porosr But he now sent his brother along with the other envoys to Alexander, taking with them money and forty elephants as a present. Envoys also arrived from the independent Indians, and from another Indian ruler called Poros.^ Alexander ordered Abisares to come to him as quickly as possible, threaten- ing that if he did not come he would see him and his army arriving where he would not rejoice to see them. At this time Phratophernes, the satrap of Parthia and Hyrkania, at the head of the Thracians who had been left with him came to Alexander. There came also envoys from Sisikottos, the satrap of the Assakenians, reporting that these people had slain their governor and revolted from Alexander. Against these he sent Philip- pos and Tyriaspes to quell the insurrection and restore tranquillity and order to the province. Alexander himself advanced towards the river Ake- ^ This is the only Indian river of which Ptolemy, smes.' 1 Conf. Strabo, XV. i. 3. *' Other writers affirm that the Macedonians conquered nine nations situated be- tween the Hydaspes and the Hypanis (Beas), and obtained possession of 500 cities, not one of which was less than Kos Meropis, and that Alex- ander, after having conquered all this country, delivered it up to Poros. " 2 This was a second embassy. An earlier is mentioned in Chapter VIII. of this book. 3 Strabo (XV. i. p. 699) says this Poros was a nephew of the Poros whom Alexander had defeated, and that his country was called Gandaris. The Gandarai were a widely extended people, occupying a district stretching from the upper part of the Panjabtothe west of the Indus as far as Qandahar. They are the Gandhara of Sanskrit. ■* The Akesines, now the Chenab, is called in the Vedic Hymns the Asikni^ i.e. " dark-coloured." It was called also, and more commonly, BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 113 the son of Lagos, has mentioned the size. He states that where Alexander crossed it with his army in boats and on inflated hides the current was so rapid that the waters dashed with foam and fury against the large and jagged rocks with which the channel was bestrewn. He informs us also that it was i 5 stadia in breadth ; and while the passage was easy for those who crossed upon inflated hides, not a few of those who were carried in boats per- ished in the waters, as many of the boats were dashed to pieces by striking against the rocks. From this descrip- tion we may fairly conclude, if we institute a comparison, that the size of the river Indus has been pretty correctly stated by those who take it to have an average breadth of 40 stadia, while, where narrowest and of course deepest, it contracts to a breadth of i 5 stadia, which I take to be its actual breadth in many parts of its course, for I con- clude that Alexander selected a part of the Akesines where the passage was widest, and where the current would consequently be slower than elsewhere. Chapter XXL — Pursuit after Poros, nepliezu of the great Poros — Conquest of the country between the Akesines and the Hydraotes — Passage of the latter river After crossing the river he left Koinos there upon the bank with his own brigade, and ordered him to superin- tend the passage of the river by those troops which had been left behind to collect corn and other supplies from the part of India which was now under his authority. Poros he sent home to his capital with orders to select the best fighting men of the Indians, and to muster all Chandrabhaga, which, being trans- literated into Greek, becomes Sandro- phagos. This word suggested to the soldiers of Alexander another of bad omen, Ale-xandrophagoSy which means devourer of Alexander^ and hence they adopted its other name, perhaps on account of the disaster which befell the Macedonian fleet at the turbulent junction of this river with the Hydas- pes. In Ptolemy's Geography it is called Sandabala by an obvious error for Sandabaga. The Akesines, though joined by the other great Panjab rivers, retained its name until it fell into the Indus. 114 THE INVASION OF INDIA the elephants he possessed, and to rejoin him with these. He resolved to pursue in person the other Poros — the bad one — with the lightest troops in his army, for word had been brought that he had fled from the country of which he was the ruler ; for, while hostilities still sub- sisted between Alexander and the other Poros, this Poros had sent envoys to Alexander offering to surrender into his hands both his person and the country over which he ruled, but this more from enmity to Pdros than friend- liness to Alexander. On learning therefore that Poros had not only been set at liberty, but had his kingdom restored to him, and that too with a large accession of territory, he was overcome with fear, not so much of Alexander as of his namesake Poros, and fled from his country, taking with him as many fighting men as he could persuade to accompany him in his flight. Alexander, while marching to overtake him, arrived at the Hydraotes — another Indian river, not less in breadth than the Akesines, but not so rapid.^ Over all the country which he overran he planted garrisons in the most suitable places, so that the troops under Krateros and Koinos might, while scouring it far and near for forage, traverse it in safety to join him. He then despatched Hephaistion with a force comprising two divisions of infantry, his own regiment of cavalry and that of Demetrios, aind one -half of the archers, into the country of that Poros who had revolted. He received orders to hand over the country to the other Poros, and when he had reduced all the independent Indian tribes bordering on the banks ^ The Hydraotes is called by Strabo (XV. i. 21 ) the Hyarotis, and in Ptolemy's Geography the Adris or Rhouadis. It is now the Rdvi^ which is an abridged form of its Sanskrit name, the Airavati. It passes the city of Lahore, and joins the Chenab about 30 miles above Multan. In former times, however, the junction occurred 15 miles below that city. In Ptolemy's Geography the Rhouadis is erroneously made to join the Hydas- pes, or, as Ptolemy calls it, the Bidaspes. Arrian in his Indika (c. 4) describes the Hydraotes as rising in the country of the Kambistholoi, and after receiving the Hyphasis among the Astrybai, and the Saranges from the Kekeans (the Sekaya of Sanskrit), and the Neudros from the Attakenoi, falling into the Akesines. The Hyphasis does not, however, join the Hydraotes. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 115 of the Hydraotes, to place these also under the rule of Poros. He himself then crossed the river Hydraotes, where he met with none of the difficulties which had attended the passage of the Akesines. When he was advancing into the country beyond the Hydraotes he found most of the natives willing to surrender on capitu- lation, while some met him in arms, and others were captured when attempting to escape and reduced to submission. Chapter XXIL — Alexander marches against the Kathaians — Takes Pimprama, and lays siege to Sangala Alexander meanwhile had learned that the Kathaians ^ and other tribes of independent Indians " were preparing to meet him in battle if he invaded their country, and were inviting the neighbouring tribes, which were independent like themselves, to cooperate with them. He learned also that the city near which they meant to engage him was strongly fortified, and was called Sangala.^ The Kathaians themselves enjoyed the highest reputation for courage and skill in the art of war, and the same warlike spirit characterised the Oxydrakai, another Indian race, and the Malloi, who were also an Indian race, for when shortly before this time Poros and Abisares had marched against them with their armies, and had besides stirred up many of the independent Indians against them, they were obliged, as it turned out, to retreat without accom- plishing anything at all adequate to the scale of their preparations. Alexander, on receiving this intelligence, marched rapidly against the Kathaians, and on the second day after he had left the river Hydraotes arrived at a city ^ V, Note L, Kathaians. ^ The expression independent shows that the Greeks were cognisant of the Indian village system. Each of its rural units they took to be an inde- pendent republic. ^ V. Note M, Sangala. ii6 THE INVASION OF INDIA BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 117 named Pimprama, belonging to an Indian race called the Adraistai/ which surrendered on terms of capitulation. Alexander gave his troops rest the next day, and on the third day advanced to Sangala, where the Kathaians and the neighbouring tribes that had joined them were mus- tered before the city, and drawn up in battle-order on a low hill, which was not on all sides precipitous. They lay encamped behind their waggons, which, by encircling the hill in three rows, protected the camp with a triple barricade. Alexander, on perceiving the great number of the barbarians, and the nature of the position they occu- pied, drew up his army in the order which seemed best suited to the circumstances, and at once despatched against them the horse-archers just as they were, with orders to ride along and shoot at the Indians from a dis- tance, so as not only to prevent them from making a sortie before his own dispositions should be completed, but to wound them within their stronghold even before the battle began. Upon his right wing he posted the corps of horseguards and the cavalry regiment of Kleitos, next to these the hypaspists, and then the Agrianians. The left wing he assigned to Perdikkas, who commanded his own cavalry regiment and the bat- talions of the footguards. The archers he formed into two bodies, and placed them upon each wing. While he was making these dispositions the infantry and cavalry which formed the rearguard arrived upon the field. This cavalry he divided in two parts, and led one to each wing, and with the infantry that had arrived he closed up the ranks of the phalanx more densely. Then he took the cavalry which had been drawn up on the right and advanced against the waggons ranged on the left wing ^ The Adraistai appear to be the people called in the Feriphh of the Erythraean Sea, the Aratrioi. Lassen identifies them with the Aratta of the Mah&bh&rata. Diodoros calls them the Adrestai, and Orosius in his History (iii. 19) the Adrestae. Their capital, Pimprama, has not as yet been identi- fied with certainty, but V. de Saint- Martin suggests that it may be repre- sented by Bht'ranah, a. place eight leagues distant from Lahore towards the south-east. The same author thinks that the Adrastae are very probably the Airdvatd or Rdivdtaka of Sanskrit. f of the Indians, where the position seemed easier to assault, and where the waggons were not so closely packed together. Chapter XX II I. — Alexander drives the Kathaians into Sangala^ which he invests on every side), But when the Indians, instead of sallying out from behind their waggons to attack the cavalry as it advanced, mounted upon them, and began to shoot from the top of them, Alexander saw that this was not work for cavalry, and so, having dismounted, he led on foot the phalanx of infantry against them. The Macedonians found no difficulty in driving the Indians from the first row of waggons, but on the other hand the Indians, having formed in line in front of the second row, were able to force back their assailants with greater ease, standing as they did more compactly together, and in a narrower circle, while the Macedonians had less room in which to operate against them. At this time they quietly drew back the waggons of the first row, and through the gaps each man, as he found an opportunity, assailed the enemy in an irregular way.^ Yet even from these waggons they were forcibly driven by the phalanx of infantry, and even at the third row they no longer held ground, but fled with all the haste they could into the city and shut them- selves up within its gates. Alexander that same day encamped with his infantry around the city, as far at least as the phalanx enabled him to surround it, for the wall was of such great extent that his camp did not com- pletely environ it. Opposite the part where the gap was left, and where also was a lake not far from the walls, he posted the cavalry all round the lake, as he knew it not to be deep, and at the same time anticipated that the Indians, terrified by their previous defeat, would abandon ^ Chinnock notes that Caesar's manner by the Helvetians. — v, troops were assailed in a similar Caesar's De Bella Gallico, i. 26. ii8 THE INVASION OF INDIA the city during the night. The event showed he had con- jectured aright, for about the second watch the most of them dropped down from the wall and came upon the outposts of the cavalry. The foremost of them were cut to pieces by the sentinels, but those in the rear, perceiving that the lake was guarded all round, withdrew into the city. Alexander now encompassed the city with a double stockade, except where the lake shut it in, and around the lake he posted guards to keep still stricter watch. He resolved also to bring up the military engines against the place for battering down the walls. Some deserters, how- ever, came to him from the city and informed him that the Indians intended that very night to escape from the city by way of the lake where the gap occurred in the stockade. So at that point he stationed Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, with three divisions of the hypaspists, each looo strong, all the Agrianians, and a single line of archers, and pointed out to him the particular spot where the barbarians, as he conjectured, were likeliest to attempt forcing their passage. " And now," said he, " when thou perceivest the barbarians forcing their way at this point, do thou with the army arrest their advance, and order the trumpets to sound the signal ; and do you, sirs," he added, turning to the officers, "as soon as the signal is given, each of you with your men in battle-order, hasten towards the noise wherever the trumpet summons you. I shall not myself stand idly by away from the broil." Chapter XXIV. — Alexander captures Sangala, razes it to the ground, and advances to the river Hyphasis Such were the directions he gave, and Ptolemy in that place collected as many as he could of the waggons which the enemy had left behind in their first flight, and placed them athwart so that the fugitives might imagine there were many obstacles to their escaping by night. He ordered the stakes, which had been cut but not fixed in BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 119 the ground, to be formed into stockades at different points between the lake and the wall. All this was done by the soldiers during the night. But when it was now about the fourth watch the barbarians, in accordance with the information Alexander had received, opened the gates which fronted the lake and rushed towards it at full speed. They did not, however, escape the vigilance either of the picquets posted there, or of Ptolemy who lay behind ready to support them ; and just then the trumpeters gave him the signal, and he advanced against the barbarians with his troops which were under arms and drawn up ready for action. The waggons, moreover, as well as the stockade, which had been constructed between the wall and the lake, impeded the fugitives ; and as soon as the trumpet sounded the alarm Ptolemy with his men fell upon them and killed them, one after another, as they slunk out from the waggons. Upon this the Indians fled back once more to the city for refuge, and as many as 500 of them were slain in the retreat. Meanwhile P6ros also arrived, bringing with him the remainder of his elephants and a force of 5000 Indians, and the military engines which had been constructed by Alexander were now being brought up to the wall. But the Macedonians, before any part of it was battered down, took the city by storm, having undermined the wall, which was of brick, and planted ladders against it all round. In the capture 17,000 of the Indians were slaughtered, and more than 70,000 were captured, together with 300 waggons and 500 horsemen.^ The loss in Alexander's army during all the siege was somewhat under 100 killed, but the proportion of the wounded to the number killed was higher than usual, for there were 1200 wounded, including some officers, and among these Lysimachos, a member of the body-guard. Alexander having buried the dead according to custom, sent Eumenes, his secretary, in command of 300 ^ Curtius gives the loss of the numbers here seem to be greatly Kathaians at Socxd killed. Arrian's exaggerated. I20 THE INVASION OF INDIA horsemen to the two cities which had revolted along with Sangala, to tell those who held them that Sangala had been captured, and that Alexander would not at all deal hardly with them if they remained where they were and received BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 121 / Fig. 9. — EumenIs. him in a friendly way, for that none of the independent Indians who had voluntarily surrendered themselves had received any ill-treatment at his hands. But they had already learned that Sangala had been stormed by Alex- ander, and being terrified by the news had left the cities and were in flight. When Alexander was informed of their flight he hastened after them, but as they had a long start of him most of them baffled his efforts to overtake them. Those, however, who were left behind in the retreat when their strength failed were taken by the troops and slaughtered to the number of about 500. As he gave up the design of pursuing the fugitives any farther, he drew back to Sangala and razed the city to the ground! The land belonging to it he made over to those Indians who had formerly been independent, but who had volun- tarily submitted to him. He then sent Poros with his own forces to the cities which had submitted to introduce garrisons within them, but he himself with his army advanced to the river Hyphasis^ to conquer the Indians ^ The Hyphasis, now the Beas or Beias, is variously called by the classical writers the Bibasis, the Hypasis, and the Hypanis. Its Sans- krit name is the Fzpdsd, which means *' uncorded," and it is said to have been so called because it destroyed the cord with which one of the Indian sages intended to hang himself. It joins the Satlej (not the Hydraotes, as Arrian says in his Indika), and the united stream is called in Sanskrit the S'atadru, i.e. ** flowing in a hundred channels." It marked the limit of Alexander's advance eastward. In his time it flowed in a different r who dwelt beyond it. Nor did there appear to him any end of the war as long as an enemy remained to be encountered. Chapter XXV. — Alexander finding the army unwilling to advance beyond the Hyphasis, convokes his officers and addresses them on the subject It was reported that the country beyond the Hyphasis was exceedingly fertile, and that the inhabitants were good agriculturists, brave in war, and living under an excellent system of internal government ; for the multitude was governed by the aristocracy, who exercised their authority with justice and moderation. It was also reported that the people there had a greater number of elephants than the other Indians, and that those were of superior size and courage. This information only whetted Alexander's eagerness to advance farther, but the Macedonians now began to lose heart when they saw the king raising up without end toils upon toils and dangers upon dangers. The army, therefore, began to hold conferences at which the more moderate men be- wailed their condition, while others positively asserted that they would follow no farther though Alexander him- self should lead the way. When this came to Alexander's knowledge he convoked the officers in command of brigades, before the disorder and despondency should channel, one by which it reached the Chenab about 40 miles above Uchh. Curtius and Diodoros inform us that Alexander before reaching this river had entered the dominions of King Sophites, who submitted without re- sistance, and was therefore left in possession of his sovereignty. Another chief (called Phegeus by Diodoros, but more correctly Phegelas by Cur- tius), whose dominions adjoined the Hyphasis, entertained Alexander and his army for two days. By this time he had been rejoined by Hephaistion, who had been conducting operations elsewhere, and he then proceeded to the bank of the river. The country beyond it Arrian represents as exceed- ingly fertile, whereas in Curtius and Diodoros we read how Alexander was informed that a desert lay beyond it which would occupy a journey of eleven days. Arrian 's statement holds true of the northern districts beyond the river, and the other statement of the southern districts. Thirlwall, following the latter statement, takes it that Alexander reached the Satlej after it had received the Hyphasis, but this is a very questionable view. K 122 THE INVASION OF INDIA be further developed among the soldiers, and he thus addressed them : " On seeing that you, O Macedonians and allies ! no longer follow me into dangers with your wonted alacrity, I have summoned you to this assembly that I may either persuade you to go farther, or be persuaded by you to turn back. If you have reason to complain of past labours, and of me your leader, I need say no more. But if by those labours you have acquired Ionia,i and the Hellespont with the two Phrygias, Kappadokia, Paphla- gonia, Lydia, Karia, Lykia, and Pamphylia, as well as Phoenikia and Egypt, together with Hellenic Lybia, part of Arabia, Hollow Syria, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Sousiana, Persis, and Media, and all the provinces governed by the Medes and Persians, not to mention other states which were never subject to them; if in addition we have conquered the regions beyond the Kaspian Gates, those beyond Kaukasos, the Tanais - also, and the country beyond, Baktria, Hyrkania, and the Hyrkanian Sea; if we have driven the Skythians back into their deserts, and if besides, the Indus, Hydaspes, Akesines, and Hydraotes flow through territories that are ours, why should you hesitate to pass the Hyphasis also and add the tribes beyond it to your Macedonian conquests? Are you afraid there are other barbarians who may yet successfully resist you, although of those we have already met some have willingly submitted, others have been captured in flight, while others have left us their deserted country to be distributed either to our allies or to those who have voluntarily submitted to us." ^ The name of Ion, the eponymous ancestor of the lonians, had origin- ally the digamma, and hence was written as Ivon. The Hebrew trans- cription of this digammated form is lavan, the name by which Greece is designated in the Bible. The Sans- krit transcription is Yavana, the name applied in Indian works to lonians or Greeks and foreigners generally. - The Tanais is properly the Don, but Alexander meant by it the Jax- artes, which formed the eastern boundary of the Persian empire, and which he had crossed to attack the nomadic Skythians, who had made threatening demonstrations against him on the right or northern bank {v. the 1 6th and 17th chapters of the fourth book). BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 123 Chapter XXVL — Continuation of Alexander s Speech " For my part, I think that to a man of spirit there is no other aim and end of his labours except the labours themselves, provided they be such as lead him to the performance of glorious deeds. But ii any one wishes to know the limits of the present warfare, let him under- stand that the river Ganges and the Eastern Sea are now at no great distance off. This sea, I am confident, is connected with the Hyrkanian Sea, because the Great Ocean flows round the whole earth.i I shall besides prove to the Macedonians and their allies that the Indian Gulf is connected with the Persian, and the Hyrkanian Sea with the Indian Gulf From the Persian Gulf our fleet will sail round to Lybia as far as the Pillars of Herakles.2 From these pillars all the interior of Lybia becomes ours, and thus all Asia shall belong to us,^ and the boundaries of our empire in that direction will coincide with those which the deity has made the boundaries of the earth. ^ It was a prevalent belief in antiquity that the Kaspian or Hyr- kanian Sea was a gulf of the great ocean which encircles the earth, and not an inland sea. 2 Arrian (vii. i) says: "When Alexander reached Pasargadai and Persepolis he conceived an ardent desire to sail down the Euphrates and Tigres to the Persian sea, and survey their mouths. . . . Some writers have stated that he had in contemplation a voyage round the greater portion of Arabia, the land of the Aethiopians, Lybia, and Numidia beyond Mount Atlas to Gadeira (Cadiz) inward into the Mediterranean." One of the writers referred to is Plutarch, who says {Alexander^ c. 68): " Nearchos joined him (Alexander) here (at the capital of Gedrosia), and he was so niuch delighted with the account of his voyage that he formed a design to sail in person from the Euphrates with a great fleet, circle the coast of Arabia and Africa, and enter the Mediter- ranean by the Pillars of Hercules. " Herodotos (iv. 42) says that Neko, king of the Egyptians, sent certain Phoenicians in ships with orders to sail back through the Pillars of Hercules into the Northern Sea (the Mediterranean that is), and so to return to Egypt. The pillars de- signated the twin rocks which guard the entrance to the Mediterranean at the eastern extremity of the Straits of Gibraltar, the one on the European side being called Kalpe, and that on the African side, where now stands the citadel of Ceuta, Abila or Abyla. V. Pliny (iii. prooem.): " Proximis autem faucibus utrimque impositi montes coercent claustra, Abyla Africae, Europae Calpe, laborum Herculis metae, quam ob causam in- digenae columnas ejus dei vocant." ^ Arrian (iii. 30) informs us that in the opinion of some the Nile formed the boundary of Asia, but he writes here as if Lybia or Northern Africa were part of Asia. 124 THE INVASION OF INDIA But, if we now turn back, many warlike nations extending beyond the Hyphasis to the Eastern Sea, and many others lying northwards between these and Hyrkania, to say nothing of their neighbours the Skythian tribes, will be left behind us unconquered, so that if we turn back there is cause to fear lest the conquered nations, as yet wavering in their fidelity, may be instigated to revolt by those who are still independent. Our many labours will in that case be all completely thrown away, or we must enter on a new round of toils and dangers. But persevere, O Macedonians and allies! glory crowns the deeds of those who expose themselves to toils and dangers. Life, signalised by deeds of valour, is delight- ful, and so is death, if we leave behind us an immortal name. Know ye not that it was not by staying at home in Tiryns ^ or Argos, or even in Peloponnesos or Thebes, that our ancestor was exalted to such glory, that from being a man he became, or was thought to be, a god. Nor were the labours few even of Dionysos, who ranks as a god far above Herakles. But we have advanced beyond Nysa, and the rock Aornos, which proved impreg- nable to Herakles, is in our possession. Add, then, the rest of Asia to our present acquisitions — the smaller part of it to the greater. Could we ourselves, think you, have achieved any great and memorable deeds if, sitting down at home in Macedonia, we had been content without exertion merely to preserve our own country, by repelling the attacks of the neighbouring Thracians, Illyrians, and Triballians, or those Greeks whose disposition to us is unfriendly ? " If, indeed, while leading you, I had myself shrunk from the toils and dangers to which you were exposed, you would not without good reason be dispirited in prospect of undertaking fresh enterprises, seeing that while you alone shared the toils, it was for others you procured ^ The Macedonian kings claimed to be descended from Herakles, who resided for some time at Tiryns, one of the most ancient cities in Greece, situated near Argos, and, like Argos, famous for its Cyclopean walls. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 125 the rewards. But our labours are in common ; I, equally with you, share in the dangers, and the rewards become the public property. For the land is yours, and you are its satraps ; and among you the greater part of its treasures has already been distributed. And when all Asia is subdued then, by heaven, I will not merely satisfy, but exceed every man's hopes and wishes. Such of you as wish to return home I shall send back to your own country, or even myself will lead you back. But those who remain here I will make objects of envy to those who go back." Chapter XX VI I. — Koinos, replying to Alexander, states the grievances of the arjny When Alexander had spoken to this and the like effect, a long silence followed, because those present neither dared to speak freely in opposition to the king, nor yet wished to assent to what he proposed. Alexander again and again requested that any one who wished should speak, even if his views differed from those which he had himself expressed. But the silence was unbroken for a long time, till at last Koinos, the son of Polemokrates, summoned up courage and spoke to this effect : "Forasmuch as you do not wish, O king! to rule Macedonians by constraint, but say that you will lead them by persuasion, or suffering yourself to be persuaded by them, will not have recourse to compulsion, I intend to speak, not on behalf of myself and fellow-officers who have been honoured above the other soldiers, and have most of us received splendid rewards of our labours, and from having been highly exalted above others are more zealous than others to serve you in all things, but in behalf of the great body of the army. Yet on behalf of this army I intend not to say what may be agreeable to the men, but what I think will be conducive to your present interests and safest for the future. I feel bound l/Y 126 THE IxWASION OF INDIA by my age not to conceal what appears to be the best course to follow ; bound by the high authority conferred on me by yourself, and bound also by the unhesitating boldness which I have hitherto exhibited in all enterprises of danger. The more I look to the number and magni- tude of the exploits performed under your command by us who set out with you from home, the more does it seem to me expedient to place some limit to our toils and dangers. For you see yourself how many Macedonians and Greeks started with you, and how few of us are left. From our ranks you sent away home from Baktra the Thessalians ^ as soon as you saw they had no stomach for further toils, and in this you acted wisely. Of the other Greeks, some have been settled in the cities founded by you, where all of them are not willing residents; others still share our toils and dangers. They and the Macedonian army have lost some of their numbers in the fields of battle ; others have been disabled by wounds ; others have been left behind in different parts of Asia,' but the majority have perished by disease. A few only out of many survive, and these few possessed no longer of the same bodily strength as before, while their spirits are still more depressed.^ All those, whose parents are still living, have a yearning to see them— a yearning to see their wives and children— a yearning to see were it but their native land itself— a desire pardonable in men who would return home in great splendour derived from your munificence, and raised from humble to high rank, and from indigence to wealth. Seek not, therefore, to lead them against their inclinations, for you will not find them the same men in the face of dangers, if they enter without heart into their contests with the enemy. * "Alexander," says Arrian (iii. 19), **on reaching Ekbatana, sent back to the sea the Thessalian cavalry and the other Grecian allies, paying them the full amount of the stipulated hire, and giving them besides a dona- tive of 2CXXD talents." Was Baktra a slip of memory on the part of Koinos ? * The drenching rains to which the Macedonian soldiers were con- tinually exposed during their march from Taxila to the Hyphasis must have had a considerable effect in ex- hausting their strength and depressing their spirits. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 127 But do you also, if it agree with your wishes, return home with us, see your mother once more, settle the affairs of the Greeks, and carry to the house of your fathers those your great and numerous victories. Then having so done, form, if you so wish, a fresh expedition against these same tribes of eastern Indians, or, if you prefer, against the shores of the Euxine Sea, or against Karchedon,^ and the parts of Lybia beyond the Karche- donians. It will then be your part to unfold your purpose, and then other Macedonians and other Greeks will follow you — young men full of vigour instead of old men worn out with toils — men for whom war, through their inexperience of it, has no immediate terrors, and eager to set out from the hope of future rewards. They will also naturally follow you with the greater alacrity, from seeing that the companions of your former toils and dangers have returned home wealthy instead of poor, and raised to high distinction from their original obscurity. Moderation, in the midst of success, is, O king ! the noblest of virtues, for though, at the head of so brave an army, you have nothing to dread from mortal foes, yet the visitations of the deity cannot be foreseen, and man cannot, therefore, guard against them." Chapter XX VIII. — Alexander mortified by the refusal of his army to advance, secludes himself in his tent, but in the end resolves to return When Koinos had concluded his address, those present are said to have signified their approval of what he said by loud applause, while many by their streaming tears showed still more expressively their aversion to encounter further dangers, and how welcome to them was the idea of returning. But Alexander, who resented the freedom ^ Karchedon is Carthage. The name is said to be a corruption of Kereth-Hadeshoth or Carth-hadtha, i.e. "new city," in contra-distinction to Utica, which either signifies in Phoenician "old city," or is derived, as Olshausen, thinks, from a root signifying "a colony." 128 THE INVASION OF INDIA with which Koinos had spoken, and the hesitation displayed by the other generals, broke up the conference ; but next day while his wrath was still hot he summoned the same men again, and told them that he was going forward him- self, but would not force any of the Macedonians to accompany him against their wishes, for he would find men ready to follow their king of their own free will. But those who wished to go away were free to go home, and might tell their friends there that they had returned' and left their king in the midst of his enemies. It is said that with these words he withdrew into his tent, and did not admit any of his companions to see him on that day, nor even till the third day after, waiting to see whether a change of mood, such as often takes place in an assemblage of soldiers, would manifest itself among the Macedonians and the allies, and make them readier to yield to his persuasions. But when a deep silence again reigned throughout the camp, and the soldiers were evidently offended by his wrath without their minds being changed by it, he began none the less, as Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, states, to offer there sacrifice for the passage of the river \ but when on sacrificing he found the omens were against him, he then assembled the oldest of the Companions, and especially his intimate friends among them, and as every- thing indicated that to return was his most expedient course he intimated to the army that he had resolved to march back. Chapter XXIX. — Alexander erects altars on the banks of the Hyphasis to mark the limits of his advance, recrosses the Hydraotes and Akesines and regains the Hydaspes Then they shouted, as a mixed multitude would shout when rejoicing, and many of them shed tears. Some of them even approached the royal pavilion, and invoked many blessings on Alexander, because by them and them only did he permit himself to be vanquished. He then BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 129 divided the army into brigades, which he ordered to ^ prepare twelve altars ^ to equal in height the highest military towers, and to exceed them in point of breadth, to serve as thankofferings to the gods who had led him' so far as a conqueror, and also as a memorial of his own labours. When the altars had been constructed, he offered sacrifice upon them with the customary rites, and cele- brated a gymnastic and equestrian contest. Having thereafter committed all the country west of the river Hyphasis to the government of Poros, he marched back to the Hydraotes. After crossing this river, he retraced his steps to the Akesines, and on arriving there found the city which he had ordered Hephaistion to fortify completely built.2 Herein he settled as many of the in- habitants of the neighbourhood as were willing to make it their domicile, and such also of the mercenary soldiers as were now unfit for further service. He then began to make preparations for the downward voyage to the Great Sea. At this time Arsakes,^ ruler of the country adjoining the^ dominions of Abisares, together with the brother of Abisares and his other relatives, came to him, bringing presents such as the Indians consider the most valuable, and some thirty elephants sent by Abisares. They re- presented that Abisares was prevented from coming in person by illness — a statement which the ambassadors sent by Alexander to Abisares corroborated. Alexander, readily believing that such was the case, made Abisares satrap of his own dominions, and moreover placed Arsakes under his jurisdiction. Having then fixed the amount which /^ was to be paid as tribute, he again offered sacrifice near ^ See Note N, Alexander's altars on the Hyphasis. ^ "This city," says Lassen, "lay probably where Wazirabad now stands. Here the great road to the Hydaspes parts into two, one leading to Jalalpur, and the other to Jhelam. It is the sixth of the Alexandreias mentioned in Stephanos Byz." v. hid. Alt. ii. 165, n. The Chenab here has a width of about a mile and a half. ^ Arsakes, to judge from his name and what is here said of him, was probably the king of Uras'a. This district, the Arsa of Ptolemy, the W-la-shi of Hwen Thsiang, and now Rash in Dantawar, included all the hill country between the Indus and Kas'mir as far south as Attak. &^f K I30 THE INVASION OF INDIA the river Akesines. He then recrossed that river, and reached the Hydaspcs where he employed his army in repairing the damage caused by the rains to the cities of Nikaia and Boukephala, and set the other affairs of the country in order. Sixth Book Chapter I. — Alexafider mistakes the Indus for the upper Nile — Prepares to sail down stream to the sea When Alexander had got ready upon the banks of the Hydaspes a large number of thirty-oared galleys, and others of one bank and a half of oars, besides numerous horse transports and every other requisite for the easy conveyance of an army by river, he resolved to sail down the Hydaspes ^ to the Great Sea. As he had before this seen crocodiles in the river Indus, and in no other river but the Nile only, and had besides seen beans of the same species as those which Egypt produces ^ growing near the banks of the Akesines, and as he had heard that this river falls into the Indus, he was led to think that he had dis- covered the sources of the Nile. His idea was that this river rose somewhere among the Indians and pursued its course through a vast tract of desert country, where it lost ^ V. Strabo (XV. i. 29). Between the Hydaspes and Akesines ... is the forest in the neighbourhood of the Emodoi mountains, in which Alex- ander cut down a large quantity of fir, pine, cedar, and a variety of other trees fit for shipbuilding, and brought the timber down the Hydaspes. With this he constructed a fleet on the Hydaspes near the cities which he built on each side of the river where he had crossed it and conquered Poros. "The timber," says Sir A. Burnes, " of which the boats of the Panjab are constructed is chiefly floated down by the Hydaspes from the Indian Caucasus, which most satisfactorily explains the selection of its banks by Alexander in preference to the other rivers." Bunbury, citing this passage, adds : " The navigation of the Indus itself for a considerable part of its course below Attock is so dangerous on account of rapids as to render it wholly unsuitable for the descent of a flotilla such as that of Alexander." - This is the nelumlmm speciostim^ or Cyathus Smithii, the sacred Egyptian or Pythagorean bean. The use of its fruit was forbidden to the Egyptian priests (e-. Herod, ii. 37). I3» THE INVASION OF INDIA the name of the Indus, and that from the time when it began to flow through the inhabited parts of the world it was called the Nile both by the Aithiopians, who lived there and by the Egyptians, just as Homer also changed its name, calh'ng it the river Egypt after Egypt, the country where at last it discharges itself into the Inner Sea.i Accordingly when he was writing to his mother Olympias about the country of the Indians, he mentioned, it is said, among other things that he thought he had dis- covered the sources of the Nile, actually basing on such \slight and comtemptible evidence his judgements respect- ing questions of so much importance. When, however, he investigated with special care the facts relating to the river Indus, he ascertained from the natives that the Hydaspes unites with the Akesines, and the Akesines with the Indus, to which the other two rivers lose both their waters and their names. He learned further that the Indus discharges itself into the Great Sea by two mouths, and that it has no connection with the Egyptian country! He is said to have then deleted what he had written about the Nile in the letter to his mother, and as he had set his mind on sailing down the rivers to the Great Sea he ordered a fleet for this purpose to be prepared for him. Adequate crews for the vessels were supplied by the Phoenicians, Cyprians, Karians, and Egyptians who ac- companied the army. ^ " It is remarkable to see how in this respect the geographical informa- tion of the Greeks seems to have retrograded since the time of Hero- dotus. No allusion is found to the voyage of Scylax related by that historian, while the just conclusions derived from it by Herodotus had fallen into the same oblivion. But absurd as was this identification (of the Indus with the Nile), the general resemblance between these rivers, which are constantly brought into comparison by the Greek geographers (Strabo, XV. p. 692, etc. ), is certainly such as to justify their observations. The resemblance of the lower valley of the Indus from the time it has received the waters of the Panjab with Egypt is dwelt upon l)y modern travellers. One description (says Mr. Elphinstone) might serve for both. A smooth and fertile plain is bounded on one side by mountains, and on the other by a desert. It is divided by a large river, which forms a Delta as it approaches the sea, and annually inundates and enriches the country near its banks. The climate of both is hot and dry, and rain is of rare occurrence in either country." V. Bunbury's Hts^. of Anc. Geo. p. 510. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT ^ZZ / Chapter 11. — Description of tJie voyage down the Hydaspes At this time Koinos, who was one of Alexander's most faithful companions, took ill and died, and his master buried him with all the magnificence circumstances allowed. He then assembled the Companions and all the ambassadors of the Indians who had come to him, and in their presence appointed Poros king of all the Indian territories already subjugated — seven nations in all, containing more than 2000 cities. He then made the following distribution of his army. He took in the ships along with himself all the hypaspists, and the archers, and the Agrianians, and the corps of horse-guards.^ Krateros commanding a division of the infantry and cavalry, conducted it along the right bank of the Hydaspes, while Hephaistion on the opposite bank advanced in command of the largest and best division of the army, to which the elephants, now about 200 in number, were attached. These generals were instructed to march with all possible speed to where the palace of Sopeithes 2 was situated. Philippos, the ^ Arrian in the 19th chapter of the Indika states that the number of men conveyed in the fleet was 8000, and that the whole strength of his army was 120,000 soldiers, including those whom he brought from the shores of the Mediterranean, as well as recruits drawn from various bar- barous tribes armed in their own fashion. In the preceding chapter he gives a list of the great officers whom Alexander appointed to be in temporary command of the triremes. Of these, thirty-three in number, twenty-four were Macedonians, eight were Greeks, and one a Persian. Seleukos is the only officer of note whose name does not appear in this list. 2 Diodoros and Curtius, as has been pointed out (in Note M), place the dominions of Sopeithes between the upper Hydraotesand the Hyphasis, but here we find them transferred to a more western position. Strabo was unable to decide where they lay. * ' Some writers (he says) place Kathaia and the country of Sopeithes, one of the rnonarchs, in the tract between the rivers (Hydaspes and Akesines) ; some on the other side of the Akes- ines and of the Hyarotis, on the con- fines of the territory of the other Poros, the nephew of Poros who was taken prisoner by Alexander, and call the country subject to him Gan- daris. ... It is said that in the territory of Sopeithes there is a moun- tain composed of fossil salt sufficient for the whole of India. Valuable mines, also, both of gold and silver, are situated, it is said, not far off among other mountains, according to the testimony of Gorgos the miner." Strabo then describes (as do also Diodoros and Curtius) the fight be- tween a lion and four dogs which Sopeithes exhibited to Alexander. To account for the discrepancy in these statements one is almost tempted 134 THE INVASION OF INDIA satrap of the province lying west of the Indus in the direction of the Baktrians, received orders to follow them with his troops after an interval of three days, but the cavalry of the Nysaians he now sent back to Nysa. The command of the whole naval squadron was entrusted to Nearchos, while the pilot of Alexander's own ship was Onesikritos, who, in the narrative which he composed about the wars of Alexander, among his other lies, described himself as the commander of the fleet, although he was in reality only a pilot. According to Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, whose authority I principally follow,' the ships numbered collectively eighty thirty-oared galleys, but the whole fleet, including the horse-transports and the small craft and other river boats consisting of those that formerly plied on the rivers and those recently built for the present service, did not fall much short of 2000.1 Chapter II L— Description of the voyage down the HydaspCs continued When all the preparations had been completed, the army at break of day began to embark. Alexander him- to believe that as there were two princes of the name of Poros, each ruling dominions of his own, so there were also two chiefs of the name of Sopeithes or (as Curtius more correctly transcribes it) Sophytes. General Cunningham would identify Gandaris with the present district of Gimdid- b&r or Gundnrbdr, and fixes the capital of Sophytes on the western bank of the Hydaspes at Old Bhira, a place near Ahmedabad, with a very extensive mound of ruins, and distant from Nikaia (now Mong) three days by water. His rule must have ex- tended westward to the Indus, since the mountain of rock-salt which Strabo mcludes in his territory can only refer to the salt range (the Mount Oromenus of Phny, xxxi. 39) which extends hom the Indus to the Hydaspes. The transcription of the name Sdphytes will be found discussed elsewhere. ^ Arrian in his Indika, where he apparently follows Nearchos instead of Ptolemy as here, gives the whole number of ships at only 8cxD, includ- ing both ships of war and transports. Schmieder and some other editors would correct this to 1800, but it seems more probable, Bunbury thinks, that the basis of the two calculations vyas different. Ptolemy, he says, dis- tinctly includes the ordinary river boats which would doubtless have l)een collected in large numbers to assist in transporting so great an army and its supplies ; while the terms of Nearchos would seem to imply only ships of war or regular transports. Kriiger would correct the 2000 of the text to 1000, which is the number of the vessels as given by Diodoros and Curtius. The fleet began the downward voyage at the end of October 326 B.C. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 135 self sacrificed according to custom both to the gods and to the river Akesines as the seers directed. After he had embarked he poured a libation into the river, from his station on the prow, out of a golden bowl, and invoked not only the Hydaspes, but also the Akesines, as he had learned that the Akesines was the greatest of all the confluents of the Hydaspes, and that their point of junction was not far off. He invoked likewise the Indus, into which the Akesines falls after receiving the Hydaspes. He further poured out libations to his ancestor Herakles, and to Ammon ^ and every other god to whom it was his custom to sacrifice, and then he ordered the signal for starting on the voyage to be given by sound of trumpet. The fleet as soon as the signal sounded began the voyage in due order, for directions had been given at what dis- tances the luggage-boats, the horse-transports, and the war-galleys should keep apart from each other to prevent collisions which would be inevitable if the ships sailed at random down the channel. Even the fast sailers were not allowed to break rank by out-distancing the others. The noise caused by the rowing was great beyond all precedent, proceeding as it did from a vast number of boats being rowed simultaneously, and swelled by the shouts of the officers directing the rowing to begin or to stop, commingled with the shouts of the rowers, which rung like the war-cry when they joined together in keeping time to the dashing of the oars. The banks, moreover, being in many places higher than the ships, and compres- sing the sound within a narrow compass, sent the echoes, greatly increased by the compression itself, flying to and fro between them. The ravines also which occasionally opened on the river on either of its shores served further to swell the din by reverberating amid their solitudes the ^ Alexander deduced his pedigree from Ammon, just as the legend traced the pedigree of Herakles and Perseus to Zeus. He accordingly made an expedition to the oasis in the Libyan desert where Ammon had his oracle for the purpose of more certainly learning his origin. His mother, Olympias, according to Plutarch, used to complain that Alexander was for ever embroiling her with Juno. 136 THE INVASION OF INDIA thuds of the oars. The appearance of the war-horses on the decks of the transports struck the barbarians, who saw them through the lattice work, with such wonder and astonishment, that the throng which lined the shores to witness the departure of the fleet accompanied it to a great distance, for in the country of the Indians horses had never before been seen on shipboard, nor was there any tradition to the effect that the Indian expedition of Dionysos was of a naval character. Those Indians also who had already submitted to Alexander, as soon as they heard the shouts of the rowers and the dashing of the oars, ran down to the edge of the river and followed the fleet, singing their wild native chaunts, for the Indians have been peculiarly distinguished among the nations as lovers of dance and song, ever since Dionysos and his attendant Bacchanals made their festive progress through the realms of India.^ Chapter IV. — Alexander accelerates his voyage to frustrate the plans of the Malloi and Oxydrakai, and reaches tlie turbulent confluence of the Hydaspcs and Akesincs Alexander sailing thus,^ halted on the third day at the place where he had ordered Hephaistion and Krateros to pitch their camps right opposite each other, each on his own side of the river.^ Having waited here for two days until Phihppos arrived with the rest of the army, he sent that general forward with the detachment he had brought with him to the river Akesines, with orders to continue his march along the banks of that river. He also sent Krateros and Hephaistion off again with instructions how they were to conduct the march. He himself continued The Indians (says Arrian in his Indika, c. 7) worship the other gods, and especially Dionysos, with cymbals and drums, which he had taught them to use. He taught them also the Satyric dance, called by the Greeks Kordax. See Note O, Voyage down the Hydaspes and Akesines to the Indus. ^ This halting-place was at Bhira or Bheda, if Cunningham is right in fixing the capital of Sophytes in its neighbourhood. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 137 his voyage down the river Hydaspes, which was found throughout the passage to be nowhere less than twenty stadia in breadth. Mooring his boats wherever he could on the banks, he subjected the Indians who lived near the Hydaspes to his authority, some having surrendered on terms of capitulation, and such as resorted to arms, having been subdued by force. He then sailed rapidly to the country of the Malloi and Oxydrakai, because he had ascertained that they were the most numerous and warlike of all the Indian tribes in those parts, and news had reached him that they had conveyed their children, and their wives for safety into their strongest cities,' and that they meant themselves to give him a hostile reception. He in consequence prosecuted the voyage with still greater speed, so that he might attack them before they had settled their plans, and while their pre- parations were still incomplete and they were in a state of confusion and alarm. On the fifth day after he had started from the place where he had halted, and been joined by Krateros and Hephaistion, he reached the junc- tion of the Hydaspes and Akesines. Where these rivers unite the one river formed from them is very narrow, and not only is the current swift from the narrowness of the channel, but the waters whirl round in monstrous eddies, curl up in great billows, and dash so violently that the roar of the surge is distinctly heard by those who are still a great distance off. All this had been previously reported by the natives to Alexander, and he had repeated the information to the soldiers ; but, notwithstanding, when the army in approaching the confluence caught the roar of the stream, the sailors simultaneously suspended the action of the oars, not at any order from the boatswains, who had become mute from astonishment, but because they were stunned with terror by the thundering noise.^ ^ Diodoros carelessly represents these rapids as occurring at the con- fluence of the two rivers with the Indus. The dangers of their naviga- tion seem to have been exaggerated by the ancient writers, though their accounts have some foundation in fact. Sir A. Burnes, the first Euro- pean known to have visited the spot, says there are no eddies and no rocks, 138 THE INVASION OF INDIA Chapter V.— Dangers encountered by the fleet at the con- fliience—Plan of the operations which followed— Voyage doivn tJie Akesifies When they were not far from the meeting of the rivers, the pilots enjoined the rowers to put all their strength to the oars to clear the rapids, so that the vessels might not be caught and capsized in the eddies, but by the exertions of the rowers might overcome the whirling of the waters. The merchant vessels accordingly, if they happened to be whirled round by the current, suffered no damage from the eddy, beyond the alarm caused to the men on board, for these vessels, being of a round form, were kept upright by the current itself, and settled into the proper course. But the ships of war did not escape so unscathed from the eddying stream, for, owing to their length, they were not upheaved in the same way as the others on the seething surges, and if they had two banks of oars, the lower oars were not raised much above the level of the water. When the broad sides, therefore, of these vessels were exposed to the eddying current, their oars, if not lifted in proper time, were caught by the water and the blades snapped asunder. Many of the ships were thus damaged, and two which fell foul of each other sunk with the greater part of their crews. But when the river began to widen out, the current was no longer so rapid and dangerous, and' the impetuosity of the eddies diminished. Alexander there- fore brought his fleet to moorings on the right bank where there was a protection from the strength of the current and a roadstead for the ships. Here was also a headland projecting into the river which afforded facilities for col- lecting the wrecks and whatever living freight they brought. nor IS the channel confined, while the ancient character is only sup- ported by the noise of the confluence, which is greater than that of any of the other rivers. The boatmen of the locality, however, still regard the passage as a perilous one during the season when the river is swollen (v. Travels, i. p. 109). Thirlwall thinks the principal obstructions have been worn away. According to Curtius, Alexander's own ship was here in imminent danger of being wrecked. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 139 He saved the survivors ; and when he had repaired the damaged craft, ordered Nearchos to sail downward till he reached the confines of the nation called the Malloi. He made himself an inroad into the territories of the bar- barians who refused their submission,^ and prevented them sending succours to the Malloi. He- then rejoined the fleet. Hcphaistion, Krateros, and Philippos had there already united their forces. He then transported to the other side of the river Hydaspes the elephants, the brigade of Poly- sperchon, the archers, and Philippos with the troops under his command, and appointed Krateros to conduct this expedition. Nearchos he despatched in command of the fleet, and instructed him to start on the voyage three days before the departure of the army. The rest of his forces he divided into three parts. Hephaistion was directed to set out five days in advance, so that if any of the enemy fled forward before the division commanded by the king in person they might be captured, when endeavouring to escape in that direction, by falling into Hephaistion's hands. He gave also a part of the army to Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, with orders to follow him three days later, so that such of the enemy as fled backward from his own troops might fall into the hands of those under Ptolemy.^ The detachment that marched in advance he ordered to wait until he himself should come up at the confluence of the Akesines and Hydraotes,^ where Krateros and Ptolemy had orders to join him with their divisions. ^ These barbarians were probably the Sibi {v. Diodoros, xvii. 96). ^ Hephaistion by this arrangement would beset the banks of the Hydra- 6tes, Ptolemy those of the Akesines. The former probably marched to the Hydraotes by way of Shorkote, which Cunningham thinks may be the Soriane of Stephanos Byz. •^ The Hydaspes loses its name as well as its waters to the Akesines. The junction of the latter with the Hydraotes (Ravi) occurs at present at a point more than thirty miles above Multan, but in Alexander's time it occurred some miles below that city. I40 THE INVASION OF INDIA Chapter VI.— Alexander invades the territories of the Malloi Alexander selected for his own division the hypaspists the archers the Agrianians, the corps of foot-guards under' i^eithon, all the horse-archers, and the half of the com- panion cavalry, and led them through a waterless tract of country against the Malloi.^ a race of independent Indians. On the first day he encamped near a small stream which was twenty stadia distant from the river Akesines. Havmg dmed there and allowed the army a short time tor repose, he ordered every man to fill whatever vessel he had with water. He then marched during the remainder of the day and all night a distance of about 400 stadia, fr r n f ^^^^"^ ""'''^^^ ^^^^'^ ^ ^^*^y t^ which many of the Malloi had fled for refuge. As they never imagined that Alexander would come to attack them through the waterless desert, most of them were abroad in the fields and without their arms ; and just as it was manifest that he led his forces by this route because of the difficulties It presented, so did it appear to the enemy past belief that he would conduct an army by a way so perilous. He thus fell upon them unexpectedly, and slew most of them without their even turning to offer resistance, since they were unarmed. The rest he shut up within the city and as the phalanx of infantry had not yet arrived, he posted the cavalry in a cordon round the wall, thus making it serve for a stockade. No sooner, however, did the infantry come up than he despatched Perdikkas with his own cavalry regiment and that of Kleitos, together with the Agrianians, to another city of the Malloi, into which many of the Indians of that district had fled tor refuge. He was enjoined to blockade the men in the city, but not to attempt to storm the place until his own arrival, so that no one might escape and carry the news of Alexanders approach to the other barbarians. He then ^ See Note P, The Malloi and Oxydrakai. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 141 made an assault upon the wall, which the barbarians abandoned on seeing it could no longer hold out, since many had been killed during the siege, and others dis- abled for fighting by reason of their wounds. They fled into the citadel, which, being seated on a commanding height and difficult of access, they continued to defend for some time. As the Macedonians, however, vigorously pressed the attack at all points, while Alexander himself was seen everywhere urging forward the work, the citadel was stormed, and all the men who had fled to it for refuge were put to the sword to the number of 2000.^ Perdikkas meanwhile reached the city whither he had been sent, but on learning that the inhabitants had not long before fled from it, he rode away at full gallop on the track of the fugitives, while the light troops followed him on foot as fast as they could. Some of the fugitives he overtook and killed, but such as had been too quick for him made their escape to the river marshes.^ ^ General Cunningham has identi- fied this place with Kot-Kamalia, a small but ancient town situated on an isolated mound on the right or northern bank of the Ravi, marking the extreme limit of the river's fluctua- tions on that side. The small rivulet on which Alexander encamped at the end of his first march he believes to be the lower course of the Ayek river which rises in the outer range of hills and flows past Syalkot towards Sakala, below which the bed is still traceable for some distance. It appears again, he says, eighteen miles to the east of Jhang, and is finally lost about two miles to the east of Shorkot. Now somewhere between these two points Alexander must have crossed the Ayek, as the desert country which he afterwards traversed lies immediately beyond it. If he had marched to the south he would have arrived at Shorkot, but he would not have encountered any desert, as his route would have been over the Khadar, or low-lying lands in the valley of the Chenab. A march of forty-six miles in a southerly direction would have carried him also right up to^ the bank of the Hydraotes or Ravi, a point which Alexander only reached after another night's march. As this march lasted from the first watch until daylight, it cannot have been less than eighteen or twenty miles, which agrees exactly with the distance of the Ravi opposite Tulamba from Kot-Kamalia. The direction of Alexander's march must therefore have been to the south-east ; first to the Ayek river, and thence across the hard, clayey, and waterless tract called Sandar-bar, that is the bar, a desert of the Sandar or Chandra river. Thus the position of the rivulet, the description of the desolate country, and the distance of the city from the confluence of the rivers, all agree in fixing the site of the fortress assaulted by Alexander with Kot-Kamalia.— Ahc. Geog. of India, pp. 208-210. - The city to which Perdikkas was sent in advance of Alexander, Cunningham has identified with Harapa. ** The mention of marshes (he says) shows that it must have been near the Ravi, and, as Perdikkas was sent in advance of Alexander, it must also have been beyond Kot- 143 THE INVASION OF INDIA Chapter VI L — Siege and capture of several Mallian strongholds Alexander having dined and allowed his troops to rest till the first watch of the night, began to march forward, and having travelled a great distance in the night, arrived at the river Hydraotes at daybreak. There he' learned that many of the Malloi had already crossed to the other bank, but he fell upon others who were in the act of crossing and slew many of them during the passage. He crossed the river along with them, just as he was, and by the same ford. He then closely pursued the fugitives who had outstripped him in their retreat. Many of these he slew and he captured others, but most of them escaped to a position of great natural strength which was also strongly fortified.! But when the infantry came up with him, Alexander sent Peithon with his own brigade and two squadrons of cavalry against the fugitives. This detach- ment attacked the stronghold, captured it at the first assault, and made slaves of all who had fled into it, except, of course, those who had fallen in the attack! Kamalia, that is to the east or south- east of it. Now this is exactly the position of Harapa, which is situated sixteen miles to the east-south-east of Kot - Kamalia, and on the opposite high bank of the Ravi. There are also several marshes in the low ground in its immediate vicinity." Cunning- ham then gives a description of Harapa as it now exists. He had encamped at the place on three different occasions. It had been visited previously and described both by Burnes and Masson. Its ruined mound forms an irregular square of half a mile on each side, or two miles in circuit [Anc. Gcog. of India, pp. 2IO, 2ii). It seems to me a serious objection to this identification that Kot-Kamalia and Harapa (Harup, in Ainsworth's large map) lie on opposite sides of the Ravi, while Arrian's narrative leads us to suppose that they both lay to the west of that river. No mention is made of Perdikkas crossing it, and had the fortress he attacked lain beyond it, he could easily have intercepted the inhabi- tants in their flight to the marshes of the river. ^ Cunningham identifies this well- fortified position with Tulamba. *♦ A whole night's march (he says) of eight or nine hours could not have been less than twenty- five miles, which is the exact distance of the Ravi oppo- site Tulamba from Kot-Kamalia." It was defended by brick walls and enormous mounds of earthen ram- parts. Tulamba lies on the high road to Multan, to which, as the capital of the Malloi, Alexander was marching. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 143 Then Peithon and his men, their task fulfilled, returned to the camp. Alexander himself next led his army against a certain city of the Brachmans,i because he had learned that many of the Malloi had fled thither for refuge. On reaching it he led the phalanx in compact ranks against all parts of the wall. The inhabitants, on finding the walls under- mined, and that they were themselves obliged to retire before the storm of missiles, left the walls and fled to the citadel, and began to defend themselves from thence. But as a few Macedonians had rushed in along with them, they rallied, and turning round in a body upon the pur- suers, drove some from the citadel and killed twenty-five of them in their retreat. Upon this Alexander ordered his men to apply the scaling ladders to the citadel on all its sides, and to undermine its walls ; and when an under- mined tower had fallen and a breach had been made in the wall between two towers, thus exposing the citadel to attack in that quarter, Alexander was seen to be the first man to scale and lay hold of the wall. Upon seeing this, the rest of the Macedonians for very shame ascended the wall at various points, and quickly had the citadel in their hands. Some of the Indians set fire to their houses, in which they were caught and killed, but most part fell ^ The Brachmans, as is well known, formed a religious caste, and were not a distinct race or tribe. Their city Cunningham has identified with the old ruined town and fort of Atari, which is situated twenty miles to the west-south-west of Tulamba and on the high road to Multan, from which it is thirty-four miles distant. The remains consist of a strong citadel 750 feet square and 35 feet high. On two of its sides are to be found the remains of the old town. Of its history there is not even a tradition, but the large size of its bricks shows that it must be a place of considerable antiquity. The name of the old city is quite unknown, Atari being merely that of the adja- cent village, which is of recent origin. Curtius states that Alexander went completely round the citadel in a boat, and Cunningham thinks this is probable enough, as its ditch could be filled at pleasure with water from the Ravi. Curtius must, however, be romancing when he says that the three greatest rivers in India except the Ganges (Indus, Hydaspes, and Akesines) joined their waters to form a ditch round the castle (v. Anc. Geog. of Jfidia, pp. 228-230). The mention of a special city of the Brachmans, Lassen observes, shows that but few priests lived in this part of the country, and that they had established themselves in particular cities to protect themselves against those people by whom they were held in but small esteem. 144 THE INVASION OF INDIA fighting. About 5000 in all were killed, and, as they were men of spirit, a few only were taken prisoners. Chapter VIII. — Alexander defeats the Malloi at the Hydraotes He remained there one day to give his army rest, and next day he moved forward to attack the rest of the Malloi. He found their cities abandoned, and ascer- tamed that the inhabitants had fled into the desert. There he again allowed the army a day's rest and next day sent Peithon and Demetrios, the cavalry commander back to the river with their own troops, and as many battalions of light-armed infantry as the nature of the work required. He directed them to march along the edge of the river, and if they came upon any of those who had fled for refuge to the jungle, of which there were numerous patches along the river-bank, to put them all to death unless they voluntarily surrendered. The troops under these two officers captured many of the fugitives in these jungles and killed them. He marched himself against the largest city of the Malloi, to which he was informed many men from their other cities had fled for safety. The Indians, however abandoned this place also when they heard that Alex- ander was approaching. They then crossed the Hydradtes and with a view to obstruct Alexander's passage, remained drawn up in order of battle upon the banks, because they were very steep. On learning this, he took all the cavalry which he had with him, and marched to that part of the Hydradtes where he had been told the Malloi were posted ; and the infantry were directed to follow after him. When he came to the river and descried the enemy drawn up on the opposite bank, he plunged at once, just as he was after the march, into the ford, with the cavalry only. When the enemy saw Alexander now in the middle of the stream they withdrew in haste, but yet in BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT j^, good order, from the bank, and Alexander pursued them Z\'^ ^^J^lry only. But when the Indians perceived he had nothing but a party of horse with him, they faced round and fought stoutly, being about 50,000 in number. Alexander perceiving that their phalanx was very com- pact, and his own infantry not on the ground, rode along all round them, and sometimes charged their ranks, but ^l K*; r '^""*^'''- M^^"^hile the Agrianians and other battalions of light-armed infantry, which consisted In"^^ "1"!' ^'"''"f °" '^' ^^^^ ^^°"g ^^ith the archers, while the phalanx of infantry was showing in sight at no great distance off". As they were threatened at once with so many dangers, the Indians wheeled round, and with headlong speed fled to the strongest of all the cities that lay near. Alexander killed many of them in the pursuit while those who escaped to the city were shut up within Its walls. At first, therefore, he surrounded the place with his horsemen as soon as they came up from the march. But when the infantry arrived he encamped around the wall on every side for the remainder of this day— a time too short for making an assault, to say nothing of the great fatigue his army had undergone, the infantry from their long march, and the cavalry by the continuous pur- suit, and especially by the passage of the river. Oiapter I X .—Alexander assails the chief stronghold of the Malloi scales the wall of the citadel, into which he leaps doivn though alone On the following day, dividing his army into two parts, he himself assaulted the wall at the head of one division, while Perdikkas led forward the other Upon this the Indians, without waiting to receive the attack of the Macedonians, abandoned the walls and fled for refuge to the citadel. Alexander and his troops therefore burst open a small gate, and entered the city long before the ' See Note Q, The capital of the Malloi. 146 THE INVASION OF INDIA others. But Perdikkas and the troops under his com- mand entered it much later, having found it no easy work to surmount the walls. The most of them, in fact, had neglected to bring scaling ladders, for when they saw the wall left without defenders they took it for granted that the city had actually been captured. But when it became clear that the enemy was still in possession of the citadel, and that many of them were drawn up in front of it to repel attack, the Macedonians endeavoured to force their way into it, some by sapping the walls, and others by applying the scaling ladders wherever that was practic- able. Alexander, thinking that the Macedonians who carried the ladders were loitering too much, snatched one from the man who carried it, placed it against the wall, and began to ascend, cowering the while under his shield! The next to follow was Peukestas, who carried the sacred shield which Alexander had taken from the temple of the Ilian Athena, and which he used to keep with him and have carried before him in all his battles.^ Next to him Leonnatos, an officer of the bodyguard, ascended by the same ladder ; and by a different ladder Abreas, one of those soldiers who for superior merit drew double pay " and allowances. The king was now near the coping of the wall, and resting his shield against it, was pushing some of the Indians within the fort, and had cleared the parapet by killing others with his sword. The hypaspists, now alarmed beyond measure for the king's safety, pushed each other in their haste up the same ladder and broke it, so that those who were already mounting it fell down and made the ascent impracticable for others. Alexander, while standing on the wall, was then assailed on every side from the adjacent towers, for none of the Indians had the courage to come near him. He ^ Arrian (i. ii) relates that Alex- ander, after crossing the Hellespont, proceeded to I lion, where, after sacri- ficing to the Trojan Athene, he placed his own armour in the temple of that goddess, and took away in exchange some of the consecrated arms which had been preserved from the time of the Trojan war. ^ Called in Greek a dimoiritis in Latin a duplicarius. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT ,47 was assailed also by men in the city, who threw darts at h.m from no great distance off, for it so happened that a mound of earth had been thrown up in thaf quarter cL: to the wall. Alexander was, moreover, a conspicuous object both by the splendour of his arms' and the aston jshmg audacity he displayed. He then perceived thltlf he remamed where he was, he would be exposed to danger wuhout being able to achieve anything noteworthy^ but .f he leaped down mto the citadel he might perhaps by th.s very act paralyse the Indians with terror and if he did not, but necessarily incurred danger, he would in that case not die ignobly, but after performing great deeds worth bemg remembered by the men of after times the SL"^ "tr^' ^' ''"P"^ ^°"" '■^°'" the wall into the citadel Then, supporting himself against the wall he slew with h.s sword some who assailed him at clo e quarters and in particular the governor of the Indians who had rushed upon him too boldly. Against another' Ind.an whom he saw approaching, he hurled a stone to check h>s advance, and another he similarly repelled If sword. The barbanans had then no further wish to approach h.m, but standing around assailed him from all quarters with whatever missiles they carried or could lay their hands on. -^ C/iapUr X. —Alexander is dangerously wounded zvithin the citadel At this crisis Peukestas, after them Leonnatos, the * Alexander's dress and arms on the day of Arbela are thus described by Plutarch : "He wore a short tunic of the Sicilian fashion, girt close round him, over a linen breastplate strongly quilted; his helmet, sur- mounted by the white plume, was of polished steel, the work of Theophilos- the gorget was of the same metal, and set with precious stones ; the sword his favourite weapon in battle, was a and Abreas the dimoirite, and only men who succeeded in present from a Cyprian king, and not to be excelled for lightness or temper ; but his belt, deeply embossed with massive figures, was the most superb Fi?''^T3u i^ ^'■"'''"^ ^ ^' ^^s a gift from the Khodians, on which old Helikon had exerted all his skill. If we add to these the shield, lance, and light greaves, we may form a fair idea of nis appearance in battle." t-- 148 THE INVASION OF INDIA reaching the top of the wall before the ladder broke, leaped down and began fighting in front of the king! But there Abreas fell, pierced in the forehead by an arrow. Alexander himself was also struck by one which pierced through his cuirass into his chest above the pap, so that, as Ptolemy says, air gurgled from the wound along with the blood. But sorely wounded as he was, he continued to defend himself as long as his blood was still warm. Since much blood, however, kept gushing out vv^th every breath he drew, a dizziness and faintness seized him, and he fell where he stood in a collapse upon his shield. Peukestas then bestrode him where he fell, hold- ing up in front of him the sacred shield which had been taken from Ilion, while Leonnatos protected him from side attacks. But both these men were severely wounded, V and Alexander was now on the point of swooning away from the loss of blood. As for the Macedonians, they were at a loss how to make their way into the citadel, because those who had seen Alexander shot at upon the wall and then leap down inside it had broken down the ladders up which they were rushing in all haste, dreading lest their king, in recklessly exposing himself to danger, should come by some hurt. In their perplexity they devised various plans for ascending the wall. It was made of earth, and so some drove pegs into it, and swing- ing themselves up by means of these, scrambled with difficulty to the top. Others ascended by mounting one upon the other. The man who first reached the top flung himself headlong from the wall into the city, and was followed by the others. There, when they saw the king fallen prostrate, they all raised loud lamentations and outcries of grief. And now around his fallen form a desperate struggle ensued, one Macedonian after another holding his shield in front of him. In the meantime, some of the soldiers having shattered the bar by which the gate in the wall between the towers was secured, made their way into the city a few at a time, and others,' when they saw that a rift was made in the gate, put their BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 149 shoulders under it, and having then pushed it into the space withm the wall, opened an entrance into the citadel m that quarter. Chapter XL—Dangerous nature of Alexander's wound— Arrian refutes some current fictions relating to this accident Upon this some began to kill the Indians, and in the massacre spared none, neither man, woman, nor child Others bore off the king upon his shield. His condition was very low, and they could not yet tell whether he was likely to survive. Some writers have asserted that Kritodemos, a physician of Kos, an Asklepiad by birth,^ extracted the weapon from the wound by making an mcision where the blow had struck. Other writers, how- ever, say that as no surgeon was present at this terrible crisis, Perdikkas, an officer of the bodyguard, at Alexander's own desire, made an incision into the wound with his sword and removed the weapon. Its removal was followed by such a copious effusion of blood that Alexander again swooned, and the swoon had the effect of staunching the flux. Many fictions also have been recorded by historians concerning this accident, and Fame, receiving them from the original inventors, has preserved them to our own day nor will she cease to transmit the falsehoods to one generation after another except they be finally suppressed by this history. The common account, for example, is that this accident befell Alexander among the Oxydrakai, but in fact it occurred among the Malloi an independent Indian nation The city belonged to the Malloi, and the men who wounded Alexander were Malloi. They had certainly 1 The descendants of Asklepios (Aesculapius) were called by the patronymic name AiWpiadai. They were regarded by some as the real descendants of Asklepios, but by others as a caste of priests who prac- tised the art of medicine, combined with religion. Their principal seats were Kos and Knidos. i/^ ISO THE INVASION OF INDIA f! agreed to combine with the Oxydrakai and give battle to the common enemy, but Alexander had thwarted this design by his sudden and rapid march through the water- less country, whereby these tribes were prevented from givmg each other mutual help. To take another instance accordmg to the common account, the last battle fought vyith Darius (that at which he fled, nor paused in his flight till he was seized by the soldiers of Bessos and murdered at Alexander's approach) took place at Arbela, just as the previous battle came off at Issos, and the first cavalry action at the Granikos. Now this cavalry action was really fought at the Granikos, and the next battle with Darius at Issos. But Arbela is distant from the field where Darius and Alexander had their last battle 600 stadia according to those authors who make the distance greatest, and 500 stadia according to those who make it least. But Ptolemy and Aristoboulos say that the battle took place at Gaugamela near the river Boumodos. Gauga- me a,however,was not a city,but merely a good-sized villa-^e a place of no distinction, and bearing a name which offends the ear. This seems to me the reason why Arbela, which was a city, has carried off the glory of the great battle.' But If vve must perforce consider that this battle took place near Arbela, though fought at so great a distance off, then we may as well say that the sea fight at Salamis came oft near the Isthmus of Corinth, and the sea-fight at Arte- mision in Euboia, near Aigina or Sunium. With regard again to those who protected Alexander with their shields in his peril, all agree that Peukestas was of the number, but with respect to Leonnatos and Abreas the dimoirite, they are no longer in harmony. Some say that Alexander received a blow on his helmet from a bludgeon and fell down in an access of dizziness, and that . . ^. ^'"'"'='' ""'^5 'o 'he same effect : The great battle with Darius was not fought at Arbela, as most historians will have it, but at Gaugamela, which, in the Persian tongue, is said to signify the house of the camel, so called because one of the ancient kings, haying escaped his enemies by the swiftness of his camel, placed her there, and appointed the revenues of certain villages for her maintenance." — Life of Alexander, c. 31. ■■isa^^ife BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 151 on regaining his feet he was hit by a dart which pierced through his breastplate into his chest. But Ptolemy the son of Lagos, says that this wound in his chest was the only one he received. I take, however, the following to be the greatest error into which the historians of Alexander have fallen. Some have written that Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, along with Peukestas mounted the ladder together with Alexander ; that Ptolemy held his shield over him when he was lying on the ground, and that he thence received the sur- name of Soter.i And yet Ptolemy himself has recorded that he was not present at this conflict, but was fight- ing elsewhere against other bar- barians, in command of a different division of the army. Let me mention these facts in digressing from my narrative that the men of after times may not regard it as a matter of indiff-erence how these great deeds and great suff-erings are reported. Chapter XIL— Distress and anxiety of the army at the prospect of Alexander's death While Alexander remained at this place to be cured of his wound, the first news which reached the camp whence he had started to attack the Malloi was that he had died of his wound. Then there arose at first a loud lamenta- tion from the whole army, as the mournful tidings spread from man to man. But when their lamentation was ended, they gave way to despondency and anxious doubts about the appointment of a commander to the army, for among y Fig. 10. — Ptolemy SOT^R. Kleitarchos, who accompanied Alexander to Asia, and wrote a history of the expedition, and Tima- genes, an historian in the reign of Augustus, gave currency to this fiction, which Curtius is at one with Arrian m rejecting. Ptolemy received his title of Soter (saviour) from the Rhodians, whom he had relieved from the attacks of Demetrios Polior- ketes {v. Pausanias, I. viii. 6). 152 THE INVASION OF INDIA the officers many could advance claims to that dignity which both to Alexander and the Macedonians seemfd of equal weight. They were also in fear and doubt how hey could be conducted home in safety, surrounded as they were on a 1 hands by warlike nations, some not yet reduced but hkely to fight resolutely for their freedom wh.e others would to a certainty revolfwhen relieved from the.r fear of Alexander. They seemed besides to be iu^ then among impassable rivers, while the whole outlook lTtT.U "°'t-"^ '"' ''"^^^"^^^'"^ '^'■'^-'ties when hej wanted the.r king. But on receiving word that he was till ahve, they could hardly think it true, or persuade hemselves that he was likely to recover. Even when a oon" e""! T ''; '■■ K^ '""^^'^ ■"*""^''"^ '^'' ^^ ^ouM Scess o^L T ? ''' '''"P' "'°'' °f ''''"^ fr^"^ the excess of fear which possessed them distrusted the news, S Lod'l r' H !; '"' '^"" "^^ ^ '"°'-^-y —ted by nis body-guards and generals. aaj>Ur XIIL-Joy of the army on seeing Alexander after Ins reeovery-His officers rebuke him for Ms rashness On coming to know this. Alexander, anxious to prevent any commotions arising in the army, as soon as he cou"d rire; hISIT' '^?'T'' ^^"^•^>'^ ^° *he banks ofte r ver Hydraotes and embarking there, he sailed down the nd theTk - '^"^l '' *'^ ^■""^*'°" °f ^^^ Hydrate and the Akesines where Hephaistion commanded the and forces and Nearchos the fleet. When the vessel which earned the king was now approaching the camp he ordered the awning to be removed from the poop thft' he n|.ght be visible to all. They were, however, Un yet in redulous, supposing that the freight of the vesTel was r^ sTht" '''?°'^' ""*'■' ^^ "^^-^ '^^ bank, wh n he S ZZ "' ■V'':' °"' ^''^ '^-^ '- the multitude. Ihen the men raised a loud cheer, and lifted up their hands, some towards heaven and some towards Alexande BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT ^53 himself. Tears even started involuntarily to the eyes of not a few at the unexpected sight. Some of the hypaspists brought him a litter where he was carried ashore from the vessel, but he called for his horse. When he was seen once more on horseback, the whole army greeted him with loud acclamations, which filled with their echoes the shores and all the surrounding hills and dales. On approaching his tent he dismounted that he might be seen walking! Then the soldiers crowded round him, touching some his hands, others his knees, and others nothing but his raiment. Some, satisfied with nothing more than a near view, went away with expressions of admiration. Others 'again covered him with garlands, and others with the flowers of the clime and the season. Nearchos says that he was offended with certain of his ' friends who reproached him for exposing himself to danger when leading the army, for this, they said, was not the duty of a commander, but of a common soldier, and it seems to me that Alexander resented these remarks because he felt their truth, and knew he had laid himself open to censure. Owing, however, to his prowess in " fighting and his love of glory, he, like other men who are swayed by some predominant pleasure, yielded to tempta- tion, lacking sufficient force of will to hold aloof from dangers. Nearchos also says that a certain elderly Boiotian (whose name he does not give) observing that Alexander resented the censures of his friends, and was giving them sour looks, approached him, and in the Boiotian tongue thus addressed him : " O Alexander, it is for heroes to do great deeds," and then he subjoined an Iambic verse, the purport of which was that he who did any great deed was bound also to suffer.' The man, it is said, not only found favour with Alexander, but was admitted afterwards to closer intimacy. ix ^ Thirlwall has noted that this line is found in Stobaeus. It is a fragment from one of the lost tragedies of Aeschylus, SpdaavrL yap tl Kal jradetv 6'^ ^-^-i the b ' flu nceofthe'Ar "■ ^'''^^"'^^ ^"^^^ '^^'^ ^^e con- satraov of Ph-I "r^^ ^"^"' ^' '^' b°""dary of the satrapy of Ph.hppos, and left with him all the Thracians T.L:: oT"h^ ^°°*-f°'^-- - -med sufficient for th delence of his province. Then he ordered a city to be ounded there at the very confluence of the riversThopin. yards X\ /''V f ° ''"' '^°"^*--*'- °f '^-k of ilexa^2^'"l ''' ''"''"^" °-^>'^''*^^' *he father .L A.T ^^^ ^°''^"^' ^^"^ed, and on him he be- stowed the satrapy of the Parapamisadai after dismissing The Xathroi are the Kshatri of banskrit mentioned in the Laws of Manu as an impure tribe, bein^ of mixed ongm. In Williams's Sa,^s^n^ Uictionary a Kshdtnh defined as "a man of the second {i.e. mihtary) caste (by a woman of another caste?) " in ^iC^'n^ Saint-Martin suggests that m the Ossadtot we have the Vasdti or Basati of the Ma/uU/idrata, a people whom Hematchandra in his Geo- graphual Dictionary places between the Hydas]>es and the Indus, on the plateau of which the Salt Mountains lorm the southern escarpment. If the Vasati were really so placed, it can scarcely be supposed that they would have sent offers of submission to Alexander, who had already passed through their part of the country, and was now marching homeward, leavinjr them far m his rear. Cunningham prefers to identify them with the Yaudheya or Ajudhiya, now the Johiyas who are settled as for- merly along the banks of the lower ^at ej. Assodioi or Ossadioi seems a pre«y close transcription o{ Ajudhiya. 1 he name of this city is not given by any of the historians, but in all probability it bore the name of its founder. Its site has generally been referred to the neighbourhood of Mithankot, a town situated on the western bank of the Indus a little below the junction of that river with the united streams of the Panjab. V de Saint -Martin identifies it more precisely with Chuchpur or Chuchur ZT'^1 fort standing on the eastenJ 5ni i^."" !^t?"'J"' "Sht opposite Mith- ankot. This fort bore formerly the names of Askalanda, Askelendf and Sikander, which are but variant forms of Alexandreia. The great confluence, ^IvZ' t> T '-^"^i^^tly take place at Mithankot, but at Uchh, an old city ymg forty miles to the north-east of the confluence at Mithank6t. The place IS called by Hashed -ud- din Askaland . usah, which, as Cunning- ham points out, would be an easy corruption of Alexandria Uchha or C/^ja as the Greeks must have written t. 1 he word uchha means **hieh" both m Sanskrit and in Hindi, and Uchh seems to owe its name to the Uchh is chiefly distinguished (says Masson) by the ruins of the former towns, which are very extensive, and attes the pristine prosperity of the locahty." V. V. de Saint -Martin! Etude pp. ,24, ,25 ; Cunningham'; -^nc. Geog. of India, pp. 242-245. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 157 the previous satrap Tyriaspes, who had been reported guilty of irregularities in the exercise of his authority. Then he transported Krateros, with the bulk of the army and the elephants, to the left side of the river Indus, because the route along that bank of the river seemed easier for an army heavily accoutred, and because the tribes inhabiting those parts were not quite friendly. He sailed himself down to the capital of the Sogdoi, where he fortified another city, constructed other dockyards, and repaired his damaged vessels. He then appointed Oxy- artes and Peithon satraps of the country which extended from the confluence of the Indus and Akesines to the sea. together with the whole sea-board of India.^ Krateros he again despatched with the army [through the country of the Arachotians and Drangians] ; while he sailed down himself to the realm of Mousikanos,^ which was reported to be the most opulent in India, because that sovereign had neither come to surrender himself and his country, nor sent envoys to seek his friendship. He had not even sent presents to show the respect due to a ^ V. Note R, Alexander in Sindh. ^ In Strabo (XV. i. ) we find several references to the country of Mousi- kanos. These were based on infor- mation supplied by Onesikritos, who expatiates in praise of its fertility, on the virtues of its people, and the good- ness of the laws and government under which they lived. It seems now generally agreed that Alor, which was anciently and for many ages the metropolis of the rich and powerful kingdom of Upper Sindh, was the capital of Mousikanos. Its ruins were visited by M 'Murdo and Lieutenant Wood, and afterwards by General Cunningham, who thus describes their site: "The ruins of Alor are situated to the south of a gap in the low range of sandstone hills which stretches from Bhakar towards the south for about twenty miles until it is lost in a broad belt of sandhills which bound the Nara, or old bed of the Indus, on the west. Through this gap a branch of the Indus once flowed, which protected the city on the north-west. To the north-east it was covered by a second branch of the river, which flowed nearly at right angles to the other at a distance of three miles. ... In a. d. 680 the latter was probably the main stream of the Indus, which had gradually been working to the westward from its original bed in the old Nara." With regard to the name of the king it appears to be a territorial title, since Curtius designates the people Musicani. Lassen {Ind. Alt. ii. 176) takes this to represent the Sanskrit Mushika (which means a mouse or a thief), and points out that a part of the Malabar coast was also called the Miishika kingdom. Saint - Martin thinks that the Mushika still exist in the great tribe of the Moghsis, which forms the most numerous part of the population of Kach Gandara, a region bordering on the territories of the ancient Musikani {Etude, p. 162). 158 THE INVASION OF INDIA mighty kmg, nor had he asked any favour from Alexander Sat tr t T'f ;'^ ^°>'^^^ ^°^" ^he river so rapTd^ before t at ot ''"' !'T'''' °' ^^^ -""'''y °f Mousikanos started to .n I' v 'T" '''"'' '^^' ^'^^-"der had s?dd.n I ^""- Mousikanos, dismayed by his ^ sudden a rival, hastened to meet him, faking the choices I presents India could offer and all his elephants vvithhTr^ He offered to surrender both his nation and himself and a knou edged his error, which was the most effecrive\"y riexaniefthf /' °''"" '"" '^'"^ ^^'^^^^-^ °- -ntel account o Jt r-^''"'"' M^"^''^^"^^ ^ f"" Pardon on admTa io ' it'cIZ, Tn'd T"^"?' ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ k- • , • capital and his rea m, and confirmpH nim in his soverpiVnH, i^ x. "-ounrmea f^ f-r .u ^°^^'^^'S"ty- Krateros was then ordered to fortify the citadel which protected the capita" and th ! work was executed while Alexander was sS o^ the spo suifabrr r ^^'^^^ ^ ^^^ ^°'-^--' -^.-ch he thought suitable for keeping the surrounding tribes in subjection Cfe/,^ ^f/._C„,/„i, ;^,,-^, o.}ka„o, and Sa.,i,. name was Oxykanos hpranc^ i.^ -^i. ^ wuu^jc "^ ' °^^^"se he neither came him«;i-1f couX'^^Zr f " ''^ ^""^"^^^ °f ^"--^' and hi country. At the first assault he took by storm the two 1 /"• i* ... Curtius calls the subjects of Oxy- kanos the Praesti, a name which would indicate that they inhabited a level country since the Sanskrit word of which their name is a transcript- prastha—denoies a tableland ox a level clause. The name, Saint - Martin ininks, IS in Justin altered to Pme- stdae ; but Justin, it appears to me IS called both by Strabo and Diodoros LnskHrP^'^r^'!r*^"S perhaps the Sanskrit Farl/ia, "a prince." It is not easy to determine where his dominions lay. They were not on the Indus, for Alexander left that nver to attack them. Cunningham places them to the west of the Indus whVK Z T"^'^^^'"^""^ Larkhana. which, though now close to the Indus was ,n Alexander's time about forty miles distant from it. Their capital he dentifies with Mahorta, a place about ten miles north-west from Larkhana where there are the remains of an ancient fortress on a huge mound. mddha "very high." Lassen, on the other hand, followed by Saint- Martin, places the country of Oxy- BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 159 largest cities under the rule of Oxykanos, in the second of which that chief himself was taken prisoner. The booty he gave to the army, but the elephants he led away and reserved for himself The other cities in the same country surrendered without attempting resistance wher- ever he advanced ; so much were the minds of all the Indians paralysed with abject terror by Alexander and the success of his arms. He then advanced against Sambos, whom he had appointed satrap of the Indian mountaineers, and who was reported to have fled on hearing that Mousikanos had been pardoned by Alexander, and was ruling his own land, for he and Mousikanos were on hostile terms. But when Alexander approached the city called Sindimana,i which formed the metropolis of the country of Sambos, the gates were thrown open on his arrival, and the mem- bers of the household of Sambos with his treasure (of which they had reckoned up the amount) and his elephants went forth to meet him. Sambos,' these men informed him, had fled, not from hostility to Alexander, but from fears to which the pardon of Mousikanos had given rise. He captured besides another city,^ which had at this time revolted, and he put to death all those Brachmans who had instigated the revolt. These Brachmans are the philosophers of the Indians, and of their philosophy, if so it may be called, I shall give an account in my work which describes India. Chapter XVI I. — Mousikanos is captured by Peithon and executed— Alexander reaches Patala at the apex of the Indus Delta Meantime he received word that Mousikanos had revolted. Thereupon he despatched the satrap Peithon, Martin, Etude, p. 165 ; Cunningham, Anc. Geog. of India, pp. 259-262). ^ See note S, Sindimana. 2 See Note T. City of the Brach- mans, Harmatelia; also Note H/5, Indian Philosophers. kanos to the east of the river, and therefore in the vast Mesopotamia (the Prasiane of Pliny) comprised between the old or eastern arm of the Indus and the present channel {v. Lassen, Ind. Alt. ii. 177; Saint- i6o THE INVASION OF INDIA ( the son of Agenor, against him with an adequate force wh,le he marched himself against the cities which had been placed under the rule of Mousikanos. Some of Ittft. !l ""'' '° '^' r""^ ^^'" ^^^"'^'■"S the inhabit. ?ortfilVr*'''''"!.°,°'^"'' ^" introduced garrisons and fort,fied the.r c.tadels. When these operations were finished he returned to the camp and the fleet-whithe^ Mousikanos was conducted, who had been taken prisoner by Peithon. Alexander ordered the rebel to be taken o his own country and hanged there, together with all those Brachmans who had instigated him to revolt. Then there came to him the ruler of the country of the Patalians which, as I have stated, consists of the Delta formed by the nver Indus, and is larger than the Egyptian Delta Th.s chief surrendered to him the whole of his land and entrusted both himself and all his possessions to Wm Alexander sent him back to his government with orders to make all due preparations for the reception of his expedition. He then sent away Krateros into Karmania by the route through the Arachotians and the Sarangians ' leading the brigades of Attalos, Meleager, and Antigene^ along with some of the archers and such of the com-' In the 15th chapter of this book Arrian states that Alexander had sent Krateros away by this route after he had left the Sogdian capital (near iihakar). From this we may infer that Krateros, soon after he set out on his homeward march, had been temporarily recalled by Alexander, who may have found the resistance to his arms more formidable than he had anticipated. Strabo states in one place (XV. ii. 5) that Krateros set out on his march from the Hydaspes and proceeded through the country of the Arachotoi and the Drangai into Kar- mania, and in another (XV. ii. u) that he traversed Choarene and en- tered Karmania simultaneously with Alexander. Now the former of these routes would have been so needlessly circuitous that it cannot be supposed It was that which Krateros selected. He no doubt marched through Choa- rene (the district of Ariana nearest India) to which there was access trom India through the Bolan Pass. Before rejoining Alexander he must have encountered formidable diffi- culties in traversing the great desert ot Karman, which occupies the northern part of Karmania. and ex- tends from thence to the confines of j ezd, Khorasan, and Seistan. * * This desert (says Bun bury) is a vast track ot the most unmitigated barrenness, and a considerable portion of this mterposed between the fertile districts of Murmansheer in Northern Car- mama and the Lake Zarrah in Seistan must of necessity have been traversed by Lraterus with his army. An Afghan army which invaded Persia in 1710 suffered the most dreadful hardships in this waste " {v. his ///s^. of Anc. Geog. p. 522, also Droysen's Geschichte Alexanders, p. 454, and Lassen, Ind. Alt. 11. 180). BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 161 panions and other Macedonians as he was sending home to Macedonia as unfit for further service. He also sent away the elephants with him. The rest of the army except that portion which with himself was sailing down to the sea, was placed under the command of Hephaistion reithon, who led the horse-lancers and the Agrianians he transported to the opposite bank so that he might not be on that side of the river by which Hephaistion was to advance. Peithon was instructed to put colonists into the cities which had just been fortified, to suppress any msurrection which the Indians might attempt, to introduce settled order among them, and then to join him at Patala On the third day after Alexander had started on the voyage, he was informed that the Prince of Patala was fleemg from that city, taking with him most of its in- habitants, and leaving the country deserted. He accord- ingly accelerated his voyage down the river, and on reaching Patala found that both the city itself and the cultivated lands which lay around it had been deserted by the inhabitants. But he despatched his lightest troops in pursuit of the fugitives, and when some of these had been captured sent them on to their countrymen to bid them take courage and return, for they were free to in- habit their city and cultivate their lands as formerly ; and so most of them did return.^ According to Aristoboulos, as cited by Strabo (XV. i. 17), the voyage down stream from Nikaia on the Hydaspes to Patala occupied ten months. "The Greeks (he says) remained at the Hydaspes while the ships were constructing, and began their voyage not many days before the setting of the Pleiades (late in the autumn of B.C. 326), and were occu- pied during the whole autunm, winter, and the ensuing spring and summer in sailing down the river, and arrived at Patalene about the rising of the dog-star (towards the end of summer B.C. 325). The passage down the river lasted ten months." According to Plutarch, Alexander spent seven months in falling down the rivers to the ocean. Sir A. Burnes ascended the Indus up to Lahore in sixty days, a distance of about 1000 miles. He estimated that a boat could drop down from Lahore to the sea in fifteen days» and from Multan in nine days. M 1 62 THE INVASION OF INDIA Chapter XVIII.— Alexander orders wells to be dug in the district round Patala, and sails down the western arm of the Indus After directing Hephaistion to construct a citadel in Patala, he sent out men into the adjacent country which was waterless, to dig wells " and make it habitable. Some of the barbarians in the neighbourhood attacked them and, as they fell upon them quite unexpectedly killed several of their number, but as the assailants lost many on their own side, they fled to the desert. The men were thus able to complete the work they were sent to execute especially as Alexander, on learning that they had been attacked by the barbarians, had sent additional troops to take part in the work. Near Patala the stream of the Indus is divided into two large rivers,'^ both of which retain the name of the Indus till they enter the sea. Here Alexander set about the construction of a roadstead and dock, and when some satisfactory progress had been made with these undertak- mgs, he resolved to sail down to the mouth of the nVht arm of the river.= To Leonnatos he gave the command of about 1000 cavalry and 8000 heavy and light infantry and despatched him to move down the island of Patala' holding along the shore in a line with the squadron of ships. He set out himself on a voyage down the right arm of the river, taking with him the fastest vessels w-ith one and a half bank of oars, all the thirty-oared galleys and several of the smaller craft. As the Indians of that region had fled, he had no pilot to direct his course and this made the navigation all the more difficult. Then on ' In the 41st chapter of the Peri- plus of the Erythraian Sea it is said that in the regions adjoining the Indus mouths "there are preserved even to this very day memorials of the ex- pedition of Alexander, old temples, foundations of camps, and large wells," ' V. Note U, Patala. This was the northern channel of the Ghara, the waters of which some centuries after Alexander, found another channel more to the south in the southern Ghara which joins the mam stream below \Ax\ Bandar. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT ,63 the second day after he had started a storm arose, and the gale blowing against the current made deep furrows in the river, and battered the hulls of the vessels so violently that most of his ships were damaged, while some of the thirty-oared galleys were completely wrecked, though the sailors managed to run them on shore before they went all to pieces in the water. Other vessels were there- fore constructed ; and Alexander, having despatched the quickest of the light-armed troops some distance into the interior, captured some Indians, whom he employed in piloting his fleet for the rest of the voyage. But when they found themselves where the river expands to the vast breadth of 200 stadia the wind blew strong from the outer sea, and the oars could scarcely be raised in the swell. They therefore again drew toward the shore for refuge, and the fleet was steered by the pilots into the mouth of a canal. Cliapter XIX.— The fleet is damaged by the tide, halts at an island in the Indus, and thence reaches the open sea While the fleet was at anchor here, a vicissitude to which the Great Sea is subject occurred, for the tide ebbed and their ships were left on dry ground. This pheno- menon, of which Alexander and his followers had no previous experience, caused them no little alarm and greater still was their dismay, when in due course of time the tide advanced, and the hulls of the vessels were floated aloft. Those vessels which it found settled in the soft mud were uplifted without damage, and floated again, nothing the worse for the strain ; but as for those vessels which had been left on a drier part of the beach and were not firmly embedded, some on the advance of a massive wave fell foul of each other, while others were dashed upon the strand and shattered in pieces.^ " Caesar's fleet, it is well known, Indus are not felt more than sivtv Shores of Britain. The tides in the ham concludes that Alexander muit 164 THE INVASION OF INDIA Alexander caused these vessels to be repaired as well as circumstances allowed, and despatched men in advance down the river in two boats to explore an island at which the natives informed him he must anchor on his way ^i^-ii '?• J^^^ '^'"^ ^^^^ ^^^ "^"^^ ^^ the island was Killouta. When he learned that the island had harbours was of great extent, and yielded water, he ordered the rest of the fleet to make its way thither, but he himself with the fastest sailing ships advanced beyond the island to see the mouth of the river, and ascertain whether it offered a safe and easy passage out into the open main When they had proceeded about 200 stadia beyond the island, they descried another which lay out in the sea Then they returned to the island in the river, and Alexander, having anchored his ships near its extremity offered sacrifice to those gods to whom, he said, Ammon had enjoined him to sacrifice. On the following day he sailed down to the other island which lay in the ocean and approaching close to it also, offered other sacrifices to other gods and in another manner. These sacrifices like the others, he offered under sanction of an oracle given by Ammon. He then advanced beyond the mouths of the river Indus, and sailed out into the great main to discover, as he declared, whether any land lay anywhere near in the sea, but, in my opinion, chiefly that it mi^ht be said that he had navigated the great outer sea of u u u . ^^^" sacrificed bulls to the god Poseidon, which he threw into the sea; and following up the sacrifice with a libation, he threw the goblet and bowls of gold into the bosom of the deep as thanks- offerings, beseeching the god to conduct in safety the then have reached as far as Bambhra on the Ghara, which is about fifty miles by water from the sea. The breaking up of the monsoon, which occurs in October, is attended with high winds, intervals of calm, and violent hurricanes. ^ Plutarch says that Alexander called this island Skilloustis, but others Psiltoukis. It was from this island Nearchos started on his memor- able voyage early in October, before the monsoon had subsided. On his reaching the port now called Karachi the great emporium of the trade of the Indus, he remained there for twenty- four days, and renewed the voyage as soon as the weather permitted. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 165 naval expedition which he intended to despatch under Nearchos to the Persian Gulf and the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris. Chapter XX. — Alexander after returning to Patala sails down the eastern an^i of the Indus On his return to Patala, he found the citadel fortified, and Peithon arrived with his troops after completing the objects of his expedition. Hephaistion was then ordered to prepare what was requisite for the fortification of the harbour, and the construction of a dockyard, for here at the city of Patala, which stands where the river Indus bifurcates, he meant to leave behind him a very consider- able naval squadron. He himself sailed down again to the Great Sea by the other mouth of the Indus,^ to ascertain by which of the mouths it was easier to reach the ocean. The mouths of the river Indus are about 1800 stadia distant from each other.2 When he was approaching the mouth, he came to a large lake formed by the river in widening out, unless, indeed, this watery expanse be due to rivers which discharge their streams into it from the surrounding districts, and give it the appearance of a gulf of the sea ; ^ ^ The eastern branch of the Indus is that now called the Phuleli. It separates from the main channel at Muttari, twelve miles above Haidara- bad, and enters the sea by the Kori estuary, named by Ptolemy the Loni- bari mouth. Its bed is now almost dry except at the time of the inunda- tions, when it assumes the appear- ance of a great river. At the lower part of its course it is known as the Guni. On its east side it receives the branch of the Indus, which in ancient times passed Aror, and is now called the Purana darya or Old river. - This exaggerated estimate Arrian has taken from the Journal of Near- chos. Aristoboulos said that the distance was 1000 stadia. The truth is here pretty accurately hit. 2 ;*This great lake (says Saint- Martin) might have been the western extremity of the Ran of Kachh, a vast depression which abuts on the point where the estuary begins, and which for some months of the year (from July to October) is inundated by the waters of several rivers. By a singular coincidence the terrible earthquake of 1 8 19 has formed a large hollow and created a spacious lake traversed by the Kori, and occupying probably the same site as the lake mentioned by Arrian. Brahmanic tradition, moreover, preserves the memory of a lake formerly existing i66 THE INVASION OF INDIA for salt-water fish were now seen in it of larger size than the fish in our sea. Having anchored in the ]aler- turbatis nostris novitate pignae {Bell. Gall. iv. 34). See also Livy, x. 28. - Arrian mentions gaps between the waggons, but does not state that they were fastened together. Vege- tius {De re Militari, iii. lo), how- ever, observes : "All barbarians fasten their chariots together in a ring in the fashion of a camp, and thus keep themselves safe from surprise during the night." ^ " It is impossible to compare the numbers given by Curtius and Arrian, as neither gives the total of killed, and the details of the numbers who fell in the separate operations of the siege are not so stated as to admit of comparison " {Alex, in India, p. 130). BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 219 ferring to submit to the last extremities rather than sur- render, others thinking that resistance on their part would be altogether futile. But as no consultation was held in common, those who were bent on surrendering threw open the gates and admitted the enemy. Alexander would have been justified in making the advocates of resistance feel his displeasure, but he nevertheless pardoned them all without exception, and after taking hostages marched forward to the next city. As the hostages were led in the van of the army, the defenders on the wall recognised them to be their own countrymen, and invited them to a conference. Here they were prevailed on to surrender, when they were informed of the king's clemency to the submissive, and his severity if opposed. In a similar way he gained over other towns, and placed them under his protection. They entered next the dominions of King Sopithes,^ whose nation in the opinion of the barbarians excels in wisdom, and lives under good laws and customs. Here they do not acknowledge and rear children according to the will of the parents, but as the officers entrusted with the medical inspection of infants may direct, for if they have remarked anything deformed or defective in the limbs of a child they order it to be killed.^ In contracting marriages they do not seek an alliance with high birth, but make their choice by the looks, for beauty in the children is a quality highly appreciated. Alexander had brought up his army before the capital of this nation where Sopithes was himself resident. The gates were shut, but as no men-at-arms showed themselves either on the walls or towers, the Macedonians were in doubt whether the inhabitants had deserted the city, or were hiding themselves to fall upon the enemy by surprise. ^ The better form of the name is Sdphytes, which properly transliter- ates the Sanskrit original Saubhutu^ but see Biographical Appendix, s.v. Sophytes. 2 According to Strabo the inspec- tion was made when the child was two months old. He notices that the prac- tice of widow-burning was known here. 220 THE INVASION OF INDIA The gate, however, was on a sudden thrown open, and the Indian king with two grown-up sons issued from it to meet Alexander. He was distinguished above all the other barbarians by his tall and handsome figure. His royal robe, which flowed down to his very feet, was all inwrought with gold and purple. His sandals were of gold and studded with precious stones, and even his arms and wrists were curiously adorned with pearls. At his ears he wore pendants of precious stones which from their lustre and magnitude were of an inestimable value. His sceptre too was made of gold and set with beryls,^ and this he delivered up to Alexander with an expression of his wish that it might bring him good luck, and be accepted as a token that he surrendered into his hands his children and his kingdom. His country possesses a noble breed of dogs, used for hunting, and said to refrain from barking when they sight their game which is chiefly the lion.^ Sopithes wishing to show Alexander the strength and mettle of these dogs, caused a very large lion to be placed within an enclosure where four dogs in all were let loose upon him. The dogs at once fastened upon the wild beast, when one of the huntsmen who was accustomed to work of this kind tried to pull away by the leg one of the dogs which with the others had seized the lion, and when the limb would not come away, cut it off with a knife. The dog could not even by this means be forced to let go his hold, and so the man proceeded to cut him in another place, and finding him still clutching the lion as tenaciously as before, he con- tinued cutting away with his knife one part of him after another. The brave dog, however, even in dying kept his fangs fixed in the lion's flesh ; so great is the eagerness for * "The Indians," says Solinus (c. S5)» "rub down the beryl into hexagonal forms in order to impart vigour to the dull tameness of the colour by the reflection from the angles. Of the beryl the varieties are manifold." Pliny, from whom Solinus no doubt drew this informa- tion, states (xxxvii. 5) that beryls were seldom found elsewhere than in India, and that the Indians had dis- covered how to make counterfeit gems and especially beryls by stain- ing crystal. - See Note B<^, Indian Dogs. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 221 hunting which nature has implanted in these animals, as testified by the accounts transmitted to us. I must observe, however, that I copy from preceding writers more than I myself believe, for I neither wish to guarantee statements of the truth of which I am doubtful, nor yet to suppress what I find recorded. Alexander therefore leaving Sopithes in possession of his kingdom, advanced to the river Hyphasis, where he was rejoined by Hephaestion who had subdued a district situated in a different direction. Phegeus,^ who was king of the nearest nation, having beforehand ordered his subjects to attend to the cultivation of their fields according to their wont, went forth to meet Alexander with presents and assurances that whatever he commanded he would not fail to perform.' Chapter II. — Alexander obtains information about the Ganges and the strength of the army kept by AgrammeSy king of the Prasians — His speech to the soldiers to induce them to advance to the Ganges The king made a halt of two days with this prince, designing on the third day to cross the river, the passage of which was difficult, not only from its great breadth, but also because its channel was obstructed with rocks. Having therefore requested Phegeus to tell him what he wanted to know, he learned the following particulars : Beyond the river lay extensive deserts which it would take eleven days to traverse.^ Next came the Ganges, the largest river in all India, the farther bank of which was inhabited by two nations, the Gangaridae and the Prasii,^ whose king Agrammes ^ kept in the field for 1 The ordinary and correct read- places it is altogether uninhabited ; ing is not Phegeus, as in the text from in others villages and patches of culti- which I translate, but riiegelas, which vation are found thinly scattered, transliterates the Sanskrit Bhagala. On the east it gradually gives way to See Biog. Appendix, s.v. Phegelas. the fertile parts of India. 2 A sandy desert stretches from ^ For Gangaridae see Note Cc, the southern borders of the Panjab and for Prasii, Note V>d. The almost to the Gulf of Kachh. The common reading of this name in the breadth of this desert from east to editions of Curtius is Pharasii. west is about 400 miles. In some ^ The name as given here seems 222 THE INVASION OF INDIA guarding the approaches to his country 20,000 cavalry and 200,000 infantry, besides 2000 four-horsed chariots, and, what was the most formidable force of all, a troop of elephants which he said ran up to the number of 3000. All this seemed to the king to be incredible, and he therefore asked Porus, who happened to be in attendance, whether the account was true. He assured Alexander in reply that, as far as the strength of the nation and kingdom was concerned, there was no exaggeration in the reports, but that the present king was not merely a man originally of no distinction, but even of the very meanest condition. His father was in fact a barber, scarcely staving off hunger by his daily earnings, but who, from his being not uncomely in person, had gained the affections of the queen, and was by her influence advanced to too near a place in the confidence of the reigning monarch. Afterwards, however, he treacherously murdered his sover- eign ; and then, under the pretence of acting as guardian to the royal children, usurped the supreme authority, and having put the young princes to death begot the present king, who was detested and held cheap by his subjects, as he rather took after his father than conducted himself as the occupant of a throne. The attestation of Porus to the truth of what he had heard made the king anxious on manifold grounds ; for while he thought contemptuously of the men and elephants that would oppose him, he dreaded the difficult nature of the country that lay before him, and in particular, the impetuous rapidity of the rivers. The task seemed hard indeed, to follow up and unearth men removed almost to the uttermost bounds of the world. On the other hand, his avidity of glory and his insatiable ambition forbade him to think that any place was so far distant or inaccessible as to be beyond his reach. He did indeed sometimes doubt whether the Macedonians who had less correct than the form in Diod. Xandrames^ which can be referred to the Indian word Chandramas, mean- ing moon-god. See Biog. Appendix, s.w. Xandrames and Sandrokottos. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 223 traversed all those broad lands and grown old in battle- fields and camps, would be willing to follow him through obstructing rivers and the many other difficulties which nature would oppose to their advance. Overflowing and laden with booty, they would rather, he judged, enjoy what they had won than wear themselves out in getting more. They could not of course be of the same mind as himself, for while he had grasped the conception of a world-wide empire, and stood as yet but on the threshold of his labours, they were now worn out with toil, and longed for the time when, all their dangers being at length ended, they might enjoy their latest winnings. In the end ambition carried the day against reason ; and, having summoned a meeting of the soldiers, he addressed them very much to this effect : " I am not ignorant, soldiers, that during these last days the natives of this country have been spreading all sorts of rumours designed expressly to work upon your fears ; but the falsehood of those who invent such lies is nothing new in your experience. The Persians in this sort of way sought to terrify you with the gates of Cilicia, with the plains of Mesopotamia, with the Tigris and Euphrates, and yet this river you crossed by a ford, and that by means of a bridge. Fame is never brought to a clearness in which facts can be seen as they are. They are all magnified when she transmits them. Even our own glory, though resting on a solid basis, is more in- debted for its greatness to rumour than to reality. Who but till the other day believed that it was possible for us to bear the shock of those monstrous beasts that looked like so many ramparts, or that we could have passed the Hydaspes, or conquered other difficulties which after all were more formidable to hear of than they proved to be in actual experience. By my troth we had long ago fled from Asia could fables have been able to scare us. "Can you suppose that the herds of elephants are greater than of other cattle when the animal is known to 224 THE INVASION OF INDIA be rare, hard to be caught, and harder still to tame?^ It is the same spirit of falsehood which magnifies the number of horse and foot possessed by the enemy; and with respect to the river, why, the wider it spreads the liker it becomes to a placid pool. Rivers, as you know, that are confined between narrow banks and choked by narrow channels flow with torrent speed, while on the other hand the current slackens as the channel widens out. Besides, all the danger is at the bank where the enemy waits to receive us as we disembark ; so that, be the breadth of the river what it may, the danger is all the same when we are in the act of landing. But let us suppose that these stories are all true, is it then, I ask, the monstrous size of the elephants or the number of the enemy that you dread ? As for the elephants, we had an example of them before our eyes in the late battle when they charged more furiously upon their own ranks than upon ours, and when their vast bodies were cut and mangled by our bills and axes. What matters it then whether they be the same number as Porus had, or be 3000, when we see that if one or two of them be wounded, the rest swerve aside and take to flight. Then again, if it be no easy task to manage but a few of them, surely when so many thousands of them are crowded together, they cannot but hamper each other when their huge unwieldy bodies want room either to stand or run. For myself, I have such a poor opinion of the animals that, though I had them, I did not bring them into the field, being fully con- vinced they occasion more danger to their own side than to the enemy. "But it is the number, perhaps, of the horse and foot that excites your fears ! for you have been wont, you know, to fight only against small numbers, and will now for the first time have to withstand undisciplined multi- ^ On the contrary, elephants are easy to tame. Arrian in his Indica (c. 13, 14) has described the manner both of trapping and taming them. The same methods are still employed, with only slight variations. See also Pliny, viii. 8-10; Diodoros, iii. 26; Ailianos, viii. 10 and 15, and x. 10; and Tzetzes, Chiliad^ iv. 122. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 225 tudes ! The river Granicus is a witness of the courage of the Macedonians unconquered in fighting against odds ;^ so too is Cilicia deluged with the blood of the Persians, and Arbela, where the plains are strewn with the bones of your vanquished foes. It is too late, now that you have depopulated Asia by your victories, to begin counting the enemy's legions. When we were crossing the Hellespont, it was then we should have thought about the smallness of our numbers, for now Scythians follow us, Bactrian troops are here to assist us, Dahans and Sogdians are serving in our ranks. But it is not in such a throng I put my trust. It is to your hands, Macedonians, I look. It is your valour I take as the gage and surety of the deeds I mean to perform. " As long as it is with you I shall stand in battle, I count not the number either of my own or the enemy's army. Do ye only, I entreat, keep your minds full of alacrity and confidence. We are not standing on the threshold of our enterprise and our labours, but at their very close. We have already reached the sunrise and the ocean, and unless your sloth and cowardice prevent, we shall thence return in triumph to our native land, having conquered the earth to its remotest bounds. Act not then like foolish husbandmen who, when their crops are ripe, loose them out of hand from sheer indolence to gather them. The prizes before you are greater than the risks, for the country to be invaded not only teems with wealth, but is at the same time feebly defended. So then I lead you not so much to glory as to plunder. You have earned the right to carry back to your own country the riches which that sea casts upon its shores ; and it would ill become you if through fear you should leave anything unattempted or unperformed. I conjure you then by that glory of yours whereby ye soar above the topmost pinnacle of human greatness — I beseech you ^ There was no great disparity of 35,000 on Alexander's side and 40,000 numbers in the battle of the Granikos on the other, between the Greeks and Persians, 226 THE INVASION OF INDIA by my services unto you, and yours unto me (a strife in which we still contend unconquered), that ye desert not your foster-son, your fellow-soldier, not to say your king, just at the moment when he is approaching the limits of the inhabited world. " All things else you have done at my orders — for this one thing I shall hold myself to be your debtor. I, who never ordered you upon any service in which I did not place myself in the fore-front of the danger, I who have often with mine own buckler covered you in battle, now entreat you not to shatter the palm which is already in my grasp, and by which, if I may so speak without incurring the ill-will of heaven, I shall become the equal of Hercules and Father Bacchus. Grant this to my entreaties, and break at last your obstinate silence Where is that familiar shout, the wonted token of your alacrity? Where are the cheerful looks of my Mace- donians ? I do not recognise you, soldiers, and, methinks, I seem not to be recognised by you. I have all along been knocking at deaf ears. I am trying to rouse hearts that are disloyal and crushed with craven fears." When the soldiers, with their heads bent earthwards, still suppressed what they felt, " I must," he said, " have inadvertently given you some offence that you will not even look at me. Methinks I am in a solitude. No one answers me ; no one so much as says me nay. Is it to strangers I am speaking? Am I claiming anything unreasonable ? Why, it is your glory and your greatness we are asserting. Where are those whom but the other day I saw eagerly striving which should have the pre- rogative of receiving the person of their wounded king? I am deserted, forsaken, surrendered into the hands of the enemy. But I shall still persist in going forward, even though I should march alone. Expose me then to the dangers of rivers, to the rage of elephants, and to those nations whose very names fill you with terror. I shall find men that will follow me though I be deserted by you. The Scythians and Bactrians, once our foemen, BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 227 but now our soldiers — these will still be with me.^ Let me tell you, I had die rather than be a commander on sufferance. Begone then to your homes, and go triumph- ing because ye have forsaken your king ! 2 For my part, I shall here find a place, either for the victory of which you despair, or for an honourable death." Chapter III. — Speech of Coenus on behalf of the army — Alexander's displeasm^e at the refusal of the soldiers to advance — He resolves to return — Raises altars as memorials of his presence — Reaches the Acesines, wJicre Coenus dies — Reconciles Taxiles and Poms, and then sails doivn stream But not even by this appeal could a single word be elicited from any of the soldiers. They waited for the generals and chief captains to report to the king that the men, exhausted with their wounds and incessant labours in the field, did not refuse the duties of war, but were simply unable to discharge them. The officers, however, paralysed with terror, kept their eyes steadfastly fixed on the ground, and remained silent. Then there arose, no one knew how, first a sighing and then a sobbing, until, little by little, their grief began to vent itself more freely in streaming tears, so that even the king, whose anger had been turned into pity, could not himself refrain from tears, anxious though he was to suppress them. At last, when the whole assembly had abandoned itself to an unrestrained passion of weeping, Coenus, on finding that the others were reluctant to open their lips, made bold to ^ So Caesar, when his soldiers, expedition with them alone, most terrified by the accounts they had likely misrepresents the tone which heard of the Germans, refused to he assumed. advance against them, said, that if 2 Cerealis addressed his men in nobody else would go with him he similar terms: "Go, tell Vespasian, would set out with the Tenth Legion or Civilis and Classicus who are alone {Bell. Gall. i. 40). Thirlwall nearer at hand, that you deserted is of opinion that Alexander's threat your leader on the field of battle " to throw himself on his Baktrian and (Tacitus, H. iv. 77). Skythian auxiliaries, and make the 228 THE INVASION OF INDIA step forward to the tribunal where the king stood, and signified that he had somewhat to say. When the soldiers saw him removing his helmet from his head — a custom observed in addressing the king — they earnestly besought him that he would plead the cause of the army. " May the gods," he then said, " defend us from all disloyal thoughts ; and assuredly they do thus defend us. Your soldiers are now of the same mind towards you as they ever were in times past, being re^dy to go wherever you order them, ready to fight your battles, to risk their lives, and to give your name in keeping to after ages. So then, if you still persist in your purpose, all unarmed, naked and bloodless though we be, we either follow you, or go on before you, according to your pleasure. But if you desire to hear the complaints of your soldiers, which are not feigned, but wrung from them by the sorest necessity, vouchsafe, I entreat you, a favourable hearing to men who have most devotedly followed your authority and your fortunes, and are ready to follow you wherever you may go. Oh, sir ! you have conquered, by the great- ness of your deeds, not your enemies alone, but your own soldiers as well. " Wc again have done and suffered up to the full measure of the capacity of mortal nature. We have traversed seas and lands, and know them better than do the inhabitants themselves. We are standing now almost on the earth's utmost verge, and yet you are preparing to go to a sphere altogether new — to go in quest of an India unknown even to the Indians themselves. You would fain root out from their hidden recesses and dens a race of men that herd with snakes and wild beasts, so that you may traverse as a conqueror more regions than the sun surveys. The thought is altogether worthy of a soul so lofty as thine, but it is above ours ; for while thy courage will be ever growing, our vigour is fast waning to its end. " See how bloodless be our bodies, pierced with how many wounds, and gashed with how many scars ! Our BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 229 weapons are now blunt, our armour quite worn out. We have been driven to assume the Persian garb since that of our own country cannot be brought up to supply us. We have degenerated so far as to adopt a foreign costume. Among how many of us is there to be found a single coat of mail ? Which of us has a horse ? Cause it to be inquired how many have servants to follow them, how much of his booty each one has now left. We have conquered all the world, but are ourselves destitute of all things. Can you think of exposing such a noble army as this, all naked and defenceless, to the mercy of savage beasts, whose numbers, though purposely exaggerated by the barbarians, must yet, as I can gather from the lying report itself, be very considerable. If, however, you are bent on penetrating still farther into India, that part of it which lies towards the south is not so vast, and were this subdued you could then quickly find your way to that sea which nature has ordained to be the boundary of the inhabited world. Why do you make a long circuit in pursuit of glory when it is placed immediately within your reach, for even here the ocean is to be found. Unless, then, you wish to go wandering about, we have already reached the goal unto which your fortune leads you. I have preferred to speak on these matters in your presence, O King ! rather than to discuss them with the soldiers in your absence, not that I have in view to gain thereby for myself the good graces of the army here assembled, but that you might learn their sentiments from my lips rather than be obliged to hear their murmurs and their groans." ^ ^ " This speech, put into the mouth compose to suit the situation. The of Coenus, has a peculiar literary remarkable parallels found in this interest beyond the ordinary run of collection to the present speech of orations written for their leading Curtius illustrates in a very striking characters by the rhetorical historians way the artificial nature of these of antiquit}'. In the remaining works harangues, and show what a vast of the elder Seneca. -we have a suasorm amount of labour this spirited and or hortatory oration (see Mayor on polished specimen probably took to Juvenal, i. 16) on this very subject, produce. The corresponding speech in which are arranged all the telhng in Arrian, v. 27, though less pointed sentences that some of the most than that in Curtius, is more natural famous Roman rhetoricians could and easy, and certainly far superior 230 THE INVASION OF INDIA When Coenus had made an end of speaking there arose from all parts of the audience assenting shouts, mingled with lamentations and confused voices, calling Alexander king, father, lord, and master. And now also the other officers, especially the seniors, who from their age possessed all the greater authority, and could with a better grace beg to be excused from any more service, united in making the same request. Alexander therefore found himself unable either to rebuke them for their stub- bornness or to appease their angry mood. Being thus quite at a loss what to do, he leaped down from the tribunal and shut himself up in the royal pavilion, into which he forbade any one to be admitted except his ordinary attendants. For two days he indulged his anger, but on the third day he emerged from his seclusion, and ordered twelve altars of square stone to be erected as a monument of his expedition. He ordered also the forti- fications around the camp to be drawn out wide, and couches of a larger size than was required for men of ordinary stature to be left, so that by making things appear in magnificent proportions he might astonish posterity by deceptive wonders.^ From this place he marched back the way he had come, and encamped near the river Acesines. There Coenus caught an illness, which carried him off." The king was doubtless deeply grieved by his death, but yet he could not forbear remarking that it was but for the sake of a few days he had opened a long-winded speech as though he alone were destined to see Macedonia again. The fleet which he had ordered to be built was now rid- ing in the stream ready for service. Memnon also had meanwhile brought from Thrace a reinforcement of 5000 cavalry, together with 7000 infantry sent by Harpalus. to that put into the mouth of Alex- ander" {Alexander in India^ p. 140, n. 5). ^ See Note N, Alexander's Altars on the Ilyphasis. - Curtius is here in error as to the place of his death, for he died at the Hydaspes, as will be seen by a refer- ence to Arrian, vi. 2. He is further in error, like Diodoros, in making the fleet start on its voyage from the Akesines instead of from the Hy- daspes. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 231 He also brought 25,000 suits of armour inlaid with silver and gold, and these Alexander distributed to the troops, commanding the old suits to be burned.^ Designing now to make for the ocean with a thousand ships, he left Porus and Taxiles, the Indian kings who had been disagreeing and raking up old feuds, in friendly relations with each other, strengthened by a marriage alliance ; and as they had done their utmost to help him forward with the build- ing of his fleet, he confirmed each in his sovereignty. He built also two towns, one of which he called Nicaea, and the other Bucephala, dedicating the latter to the memory of the horse which he had lost. Then leaving orders for the elephants and baggage to follow him by land, he sailed down the river, proceeding every day about 40 stadia, to allow the troops to land from time to time where they could conveniently be put ashore. ^ ^ " It is recorded," said Colonel Chesney in his Simla lecture on Alexander, * ' that he sent to Greece for 20,000 fresh suits of armour. A suit of armour and arms probably weighed three - fourths of a maund (60 lbs.), and we may assume that with the arms a good many other articles were indented for at the same time. Altogether we may take it that the requisition was for not less than from 20,000 to 30,000 mule loads — 30,000 laden mules to be despatched from Macedonia to the Satlej ! A large order. And this suggests another consideration. Alex- ander's army on the Satlej was 50,000 strong ; how about his lines of com- munication ? During the late Afghan war over 50,000 men crossed the frontier, yet I believe the general had never at any time more than 10,000 men in hand at the front ; the rest were swallowed up in holding obliga- tory posts and keeping up the line of communication. Now if 40,000 men are needed for this purpose to keep 10,000 effective in the front, when the distance to be covered was only 200 miles, what would be the force required to secure the line of com- munication between Macedonia and the army halted on the banks of the Satlej ? The answer is to be found in the system of war pursued by Alexander's Greek generals, and garrisons were left at certain points on the road ; and where complete * submission was made, the enemy was left in possession of his country and converted into an ally. But when the resistance was obstinate Alex- ander left no enemies behind." As Alexander led into India 120,000 men. Colonel Chesney 's estimate that he had only 50,000 at the Hyphasis (which he calls the Satlej) must surely be far below the mark. 2 Yet Pliny (vi. 17) says that though Alexander sailed on the Indus never less than 600 stadia per day, he took more than five months to complete the navigation of it ! This would give the Indus a length of 12,000 miles ! Aristoboulos said the navigation occupied ten months, but we may strike off a month from this estimate. The voyage began near the end of October 326 B.C. The distance from the starting-point to the sea by the course of the river is between eight and nine hundred British miles. 232 THE INVASION OF INDIA Chapter IV. — Alexander subdues various tribes on his waj/ to the Indus — Disasters to his fleet at the meeting of the rivers — His campaign against the Sudracae and Main — Assails their chief stronghold and is left standing alone on the wall Thus he came at length into the country where the river Hydaspes falls into the Acesines, and thence flows down to the territories of the Sibi.^ These people allege that their ancestors belonged to the army of Hercules, and that being left behind on account of sickness had possessed themselves of the seats which their posterity now occupied. They dressed themselves with the skins of wild beasts, and had clubs for their weapons. They showed besides many other traces of their origin, though in the course of time Greek manners and institutions had grown obsolete. He landed among them, and marching a distance of 250 stadia into the country beyond their borders, laid it waste, and took its capital town by an assault made against the walls all round. The nation, consisting of 40,000 foot-soldiers, had been drawn up along the bank of the river to oppose his landing, but he nevertheless crossed the stream, put the enemy to flight, and, having stormed the town, compelled all who were shut up within its walls to surrender. Those who were of military age were put to the sword, and the rest were sold as slaves. He then laid siege to another town, but the defenders made so gallant a resistance that he was repulsed with the loss of many of his Macedonians.^ He persevered, however, with the siege till the inhabitants, despairing of their safety, set fire to their houses, and cast themselves along with their wives and children into the flames. War then showed itself in a new form, for while the inhabitants were destroying their city by spreading the flames, the enemy were striving to save it by quenching 1 See Note £<-, The Sibi. ^ ggg Note F/, The Agalassians. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 233 them, so completely does war invert natural relations. The citadel of the town had escaped damage, and Alex- ander accordingly left a garrison behind in it. He was himself conveyed by means of boats around the fortress, for the three largest rivers in India (if we except the Ganges) washed the line of its fortifications. The Indus on the north flows close up to it, and on the south the Acesines unites with the Hydaspes.^ But the meeting of the rivers makes the waters swell in great billows like those of the ocean, and the navigable way is compressed into a narrow channel by extensive mud-banks kept continually shifting by the force of the confluent waters. When the waves, therefore, in thick succession dashed against the vessels, beating both on their prows and sides, the sailors were obliged to take in sail ; but partly from their own flurry, and partly from the force of the currents, they were unable to execute their orders in time, and before the eyes of all two of the large ships were engulphed in the stream. The smaller craft, however, though they also were unmanageable, were driven on shore without sustaining injury. The ship which had the king himself on board was caught in eddies of the greatest violence, and by their force was irresistibly driven athwart and whirled onward without answering the helm. He had already stripped ofl* his clothes preparatory to throwing himself into the river, while his friends were swimming about not far ofl* ready to pick him up, but as it was evident that the danger was about equal whether he threw himself into the water or remained on board, the boatmen vied with each other in stretching to their oars, and made every exertion possible for human beings to force their vessel through the raging surges. It then seemed as though the waves were being cloven asunder. ^ Curtius has here confounded the junction of the Hydaspes and Akesines with that of the Indus and the com- bined stream of the Panjab rivers. The geography of the passage is in- explicable. Arrian has given a vivid description of the confluence, but does not indicate that Alexander's life was in danger from its perilous navigation. 234 THE INVASION OF INDIA and as though the whirling eddies were retreating, and the ship was thus at length rescued from their grasp. It did not, however, gain the shore in safety, but was stranded on the nearest shallows. One would suppose that a war had been waged against the river. Alexander there erected as many altars as there were rivers, and having offered sacrifices upon them marched onward, accomplish- ing a distance of thirty stadia. Thence he came into the dominions of the Sudracae and the Malli, who hitherto had usually been at war with each other, but now drew together in presence of the common danger. Their army consisted of 90,000 foot- soldiers, all fit for active service, together with 10,000 cavalry and 900 war chariots. But when the Mace- donians, who believed that they had by this time got past all their dangers, found that they had still on hand a fresh war, in which the most warlike nations in all India would be their antagonists, they were struck with an unexpected terror, and began again to upbraid the king in the language of sedition. " Though he had been driven," they said, " to give up the river Ganges and regions beyond it, he had not ended the war, but only shifted it. They were now exposed to fierce nations that with their blood they might open for him a way to the ocean. They were dragged onward outside the range of the constellations and the sun of their own zone, and forced to go to places which nature meant to be hidden from mortal eyes.^ New enemies were for ever spring- ing up with arms ever new, and though they put them all to rout and flight, what reward awaited them ? What but mists and darkness and unbroken night hovering over the abyss of ocean ? What but a sea teeming with ^ This rhetorical passage will re- wrapped in her pall of gloom, sits mind the readers of Virgil of his brooding in unending silence." The description of the zones {Georg. i. passage was probably, however, 231-251): " Five zones comprise the suggested by the lines of the sixth heaven . . . of which two, the frozen book of the Aeneid, 794-796: "He homes of green ice and black storms, (Augustus Caesar) will stretch his stretch far away. . . . One pole is sway beyond Garamantian and Indian, thrust down beneath the feet of murky See, the land is lying outside the Styx . . . where eternal night, stars, outside the sun's yearly path." BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 235 multitudes of frightful monsters — stagnating waters in which expiring nature has given way in despair ? " ^ The king, troubled not by any fears for himself, but by the anxiety of the soldiers about their safety, called them together, and pointed out to them that those of whom they were afraid were weak and unwarlike ; that after the conquest of these tribes there was nothing in their way, once they had traversed the distance now between them and the ocean, to prevent their coming to the end of the world, which would be also the end of their labours ; that he had given way to their fears of the Ganges and of the numerous tribes beyond that river, and turned his arms to a quarter where the glory would be equal but the hazard less ; that they were already in sight of the ocean, and were already fanned by breezes from the sea.^ They should not then grudge him the glory to which he aspired. They would over- pass the limits reached by Hercules and Father Bacchus, and thus at a small cost bestow upon their king an immortality of fame. They should permit him to return from India with honour, and not to escape from it like a fugitive. Every assemblage, and especially one of soldiers, is readily carried away by any chance impulse, and hence the measures for quelling a mutiny are less important than the circumstances in which it originates. Never before did so eager and joyous a shout ring out as was now sent forth by the army asking him to lead them forward, and expressing the hope that the gods would prosper his arms and make him equal in glory to those whom he was emulating. Alexander, elated by these acclamations, at once broke up his camp and advanced against the enemy, which was the strongest in point of numbers of all the Indian tribes. They were making active preparations for war, and had selected as their 1 ''Racine (^/^jr. v. i.), imitating iiature scmble eUe-mhne expirer'' the present passage, says : des deserts {Alex, in Ind. p. 148). que le del refuse d'eclairer, oh la ^ From which they were yet some 600 miles distant ! 236 THE INVASION OF INDIA head a brave warrior of the nation of the Sudracae.^ This experienced general had encamped at the foot of a mountain, and had ordered fires to be kindled over a wide circuit to make his army appear so much the more numerous. He endeavoured also at times, but in vain, to alarm the Macedonians when at rest by making his men shout and howl in their own barbarous manner. As soon as day dawned, the king, full of hope and confidence, ordered his soldiers, who were eager for action, to take their arms and march to battle. The barbarians, however, fled all of a sudden, but whether through fear or dissensions that had arisen among them, there is no record to show. At any rate, they escaped timeously to their mountain recesses, which were difficult of approach. The king pursued the fugitives, but to no purpose ; how- ever, he took their baggage. Thence he came into the city of the Sudracae, into which most of the enemy had fled,^ trusting for safety as much to their arms as to the strength of the fortifications. The king was now advancing to attack the place, when a soothsayer warned him not to undertake the siege, or at all events to postpone it, since the omens indicated that his life would be in danger. The king fixing his eyes upon Demophon (for this was the name of the soothsayer), said : " If any one should in this manner interrupt thyself, while busied with thine art and inspect- ing entrails, wouldst thou not regard him as impertinent and troublesome ? " "I certainly would so regard him," said Demophon. Then rejoined Alexander, " Dost thou not think then that when I am occupied with such import- ant matters, and not with the inspection of the entrails of ^ Called the Oxydrakai by Arrian. See Note P. Curtius here differs from Diodoros, who says that the Syra- kousai (Oxydrakai) and Malloi could not agree as to the choice of a leader, and ceased in consequence to keep the field together. Both these his- torians are silent as to the operations conducted by Alexander during his march from the junction of the Hydaspes and the Akesines to the capital of the Malloi situated above the old junction of the united stream of these two rivers with the Hydra- otes. - But according to Arrian, Strabo, and Plutarch, the city where Alex- ander was nearly wounded to death belonged to the Malloi. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT '^n cattle, there can be any interruption more unseasonable to me than a soothsayer enslaved by superstition ? " ^ Without more loss of time than was required for return- in^ the an-swer, he ordered the scaling-ladders to be applied to the wall, and while the others were hesitating to mount them, he himself scaled the ramparts.- The parapet which ran round the rampart was narrow, and was not marked out along the coping with battle- ments and embrasures, but was built in an unbroken line of breastwork, which obstructed assailants in attempting to get over. The king then was clinging to the edge of the parapet, rather than standing upon it, warding off with his shield the darts that fell upon him from every side, for he was assailed by missiles from all the surround- ing towers. Nor were the soldiers able to mount the wall under the storm of arrows discharged against them from above.^ Still at last a sense of shame overcame their fear of the greatness of the danger, for they saw that by their hesitation the king would fall into the hands of his enemies. But their help was delayed by their hurry, for while every one strove to get soonest to the top of the wall, they were precipitated from the ladders which they overloaded till they broke, thus balking the king of^ his only hope. He was in consequence left standing in sight of his numerous army, like a man in a solitude, whom all the world has forsaken. 1 Thirlwall, with good reason, regards this incident as a mere eni- bellishment of the story. "It is certain," he says, "that even if Alexander believed in such things less than he appeals to have done, he was too prudent to disclose his in- credulity, and so throw away an instrument which a Greek general might so often find useful " {Hist, of Greece, vii. c. 54). The story is found in Diodoros also. If a fiction, it may have been suggested by the fact that Alexander on approaching Babylon, where he died, was warned by Chaldaean soothsayers not to enter that city. If true, Alexander had doubtless in his mind the words of Hector {Iliad, xii. 237-243), where he expresses his contempt for omens drawn from the flight of birds. Hanni- bal had a similar contempt, as appears from Cicero, de Div. ii. 2 Curtius, like Plutarch, represents Alexander to have been wounded after he had scaled the city wall, and thence leaped down into the city. But this is a mistake. It was the wall of the citadel he scaled, and it was within the citadel he was wounded, as we learn both from Arrian and Diodoros. ^ * ' Probably a piece of gratuitous padding put in by Curtius to heighten the effect of his picture. Nothing of the kind is found in Arrian or Dio- doros " {Alex, in India, p. 151). 238 THE INVASION OF INDIA Chapter V. — Alexander is severely zvoiinded by an arrow within the strongJiold of tJie Sndracac — TIic arrozu is extracted by Critobulus By this time his left hand, with which he was shifting his buckler about, became tired with parrying the blows directed against him from all round, and his friends cried out to him that he should leap down, and were standing ready to catch him when he fell. But instead of taking this course, he did an act of daring past all belief and unheard of — an act notable as adding far more to his reputation for rashness than to his true glory. For with a headlong spring he flung himself into the city filled with his enemies, even though he could scarcely expect to die fighting, since before he could rise from the ground he was likely to be overpowered and taken prisoner. But, as luck would have it, he had flung his body with such nice poise that he alighted on his feet, which gave him the advantage of an erect attitude when he began fighting. Fortune had also so provided that he could not possibly be surrounded, for an aged tree which grew not far from the wall, had thrown out branches thickly covered with leaves, as if for the very purpose of shelter- ing the king. Against the huge bole of this tree he so planted himself that he could not be surrounded, and as he was thus protected in rear, he received on his buckler the darts with which he was assailed in front ; for single- handed though he was, not one of the many who set upon him ventured to come to close-quarters with him, and their missiles lodged more frequently in the branches of the tree than in his buckler. What served him well at this juncture was the far- spread renown of his name, and next to that despair, which above everything nerves men to die gloriously. But as the numbers of the enemy were constantly increasing, his buckler was by this time loaded with darts, and his helmet shattered by stones, while his knees BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 239 sank under him from the fatigue of his protracted exertions. On seeing this, they who stood nearest incautiously rushed upon him in contempt of the danger. Two of these he smote with his sword, and laid them dead at his feet, and after that no one could muster up courage enough to go near him. They only plied him with darts and arrows from a distance off But though thus exposed as a mark for every shot, he had no great difficulty in protecting himself while crouch- ing on his knees, until an Indian let fly an arrow two cubits long (for the Indians, as remarked already, use arrows of this length), and pierced him through his armour a little above his right side. Struck down by this wound, from which the blood spirted in great jets, he let his weapon drop as if he were dying without strength enough left to let his right hand extract the arrow. The archer, accordingly, who had wounded him, exulting in his success, ran forward with eager haste to strip his body. But Alexander no sooner felt him lay hands on his person, than he became so exasperated by the supreme indignity, I imagine, of the outrage, that he recalled his. swooning spirit, and with an upward thrust of his sword pierced the exposed side of his antagonist. Thus there lay dead around the king three of his assail- ants, while the others stood off like men stupefied. Meanwhile he endeavoured to raise himself up with his buckler, that he might die sword in hand, before his last breath left him, but finding he had not strength enough for the effort, he grasped with his right hand some of the defending boughs, and tried to rise with their help. His strength was, however, inadequate even to support his body, and he fell down again upon his knees, waving his hand as a challenge to the enemy to meet him in close combat if any of them dared. At length Peucestas in a different quarter of the town beat off the men who were defending the wall, and following the king's traces came to where he was. Alexander on seeing him thought that he had come not to succour him in life, but to comfort him 240 THE INVASION OF INDIA in his death, and giving way through sheer exhaustion, fell over on his shield. Then came up Timaeus, and a little afterwards Leonnatus followed by Aristonus.^ The Indians, on discovering that the king was within their walls, abandoned all other places and ran in crowds to where he was, and pressed hard upon those who defended him. Timaeus, one of such, after receiving many wounds and making a gallant struggle, fell. Peucestas again, though pierced with three javelin wounds, held up his buckler not for his own, but the king's protection. Leonnatus, while endeavouring to drive back the barbarians who -were eagerly pressing forward, was severely wounded in the neck, and fell down in a swoon at the king's feet. Peucestas was also now quite exhausted with the loss of blood from his wounds and could no longer hold up his buckler. Thus all the hope now lay in Aristonus, but he also was desperately wounded, and could no longer sustain the onset of so many assailants. In the meantime the rumour that the king had fallen reached the Macedonians. What would have terrified others only served to stimulate their ardour, for, heedless of every danger, they broke down the wall with their pickaxes, and where they had made an entrance burst into the city and massacred great numbers of the Indians, chiefly in the pursuit, no resistance being offered except by a mere handful. They spared neither old men, women, nor children, but held whomsoever they met to have been the person by whom the king had been wounded, and in this way they at length satiated their righteous indignation. Clitarchus and Timagenes state that Ptolemy, who afterwards became a king, was present at this fighting, but Ptolemy himself, who would not of course gainsay his own glory, has recorded in his memoirs that he was away at the time, as the king had sent him on an expedition ^ Timaeus and Aristonus are men- tioned only by Curtius as among those who came first to Alexander's rescue. It is supposed that the Tim- aeus of Curtius is the same person as the Limnaios of Plutarch. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 241 elsewhere. This instance shows how great was the carelessness of the authors who composed these old books of history, or, it may be, their credulity, which is just as great a dereliction of their duty. The king was carried into a tent, where the surgeons cut off the w^ooden shaft of the arrow which had pierced him, taking care not to stir its point. When his armour was taken off they discovered that the weapon was barbed, and that it could not be extracted without danger except by making an incision to open the wound. But here again they were afraid lest in operating they should be unable to staunch the flow of blood, for the weapon was large and had been driven home with such force that it had evidently pierced to the inwards. Critobulus, who was famous for his surgical skill,^ was nevertheless swayed by fear in a case so precarious, and dreaded to put his hand to the work lest his failure to effect a cure should recoil on his own head. The king observing him to weep, and to be showing signs of fear, and looking ghastly pale, said to him : " For what and how long are you waiting that you do not set to work as quickly as possible ? If die I must, free me at least from the pain I suffer. Are you afraid lest you should be held to account because I have received an incurable wound ?" Then Crito- bulus, at last overcoming, or perhaps dissembling his fear, begged Alexander to suffer himself to be held while he was extracting the point, since even a slight motion of his body would be of dangerous consequence. To this the king replied that there was no need of men to hold him, and then, agreeably to what had been enjoined him, he did not wince the least during the operation.- When the wound had then been laid wide open and the point extracted, there followed such a copious discharge 1 Pliny (vii. 37) mentions a Crito- ander's case to Kritodemos, a physi- bulus who acquired great celebrity by cian of Kos, but others to Perdikkas. extracting an arrow from the eye of ^ go Marius in like circumstances Philip, Alexander's father. Arrian forbade himself to be bound (Cicero, again says that some authors assigned 71?/^^. Disput. ii. 22). the credit of the operation in Alex- R 242 THE INVASION OF INDIA of blood that the king began to swoon, while a dark mist came over his eyes, and he lay extended as if he were dying. Every remedy was applied to staunch the blood, but all to no purpose, so that the king's friends, believing him to be dead, broke out into cries and lamentations. The bleeding did, however, at last stop, and the patient gradually recovered consciousness and began to recognise those who stood around him. All that day and the night which followed the army lay under arms around the royal tent. All of them confessed that their life depended on his single breath, and they could not be prevailed on to withdraw until they had ascertained that he had /alien into a quiet sleep. Thereupon they returned to the camp entertaining more assured hopes of his recovery. Chapter VI. — Alexander recovers and shows himself to the army — His officers remotistrate with him for his recklessness in exposing his life to danger — His reply to their appeal The king, who had now been kept for the space of seven days under treatment for his wound without its being as yet cicatrised, on hearing that a report of his death had gained a wide currency among the barbarians, caused two ships to be lashed together and his tent to be set up in the centre where it would be conspicuous to every one, so that he might therefrom show himself to those who believed him to be dead. By thus exposing himself to the view of the inhabitants he crushed the hope with which the false report had inspired his enemies. He then sailed down the river,^ starting a good while before the rest of the fleet, lest the repose which his weak bodily condition still required should be disturbed by the noise of rowing. On the fourth day after he had embarked he reached a country deserted by its inhabitants, but fruitful The Hydraotes or Ravi, which in those days joined the Akesines below Multan. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 243 in corn and well stocked with cattle. Here along with his soldiers he enjoyed a welcome season of rest. Now it was a custom among the Macedonians that the king's especial friends and those who had the guard of his person watched before his tent during any occasional illness. This custom being now observed as usual, they all entered his chamber in a body. Alexander fearing they might be the bearers of some bad news, since they had all come together, enquired whether they had come to inform him that the enemy had that moment arrived. Then Craterus, who had been chosen by the others as their medium to let the king know the entreaties of his friends, addressed him in these terms : " Can you imagine," he began, " that we could be more alarmed by the enemy's approach, even if they were already within our lines, than we are concerned for your personal safety, by which, it seems, you set but little store ? Were the united powers of the whole world to conspire against us, were they to cover the land all over with arms and men, to cover the seas with fleets, and lead ferocious wild beasts against us, we shall prove invincible to every foe when we have you to lead us. But which of the gods can ensure that this the stay and star of Macedonia will be long preserved to us when you are so forward to expose your person to manifest dangers, forgetting that you draw into peril the lives of so many of your country- men ? For which of us wishes to survive you, or even has it within his power ? Under your conduct and command we have advanced so far that there is no one but yourself who can lead us back to our hearths and homes. " No doubt while you were still contending with Darius for the sovereignty of Persia, one could not even think it strange (though no one wished it) that you were ever ready and eager to rush boldly into danger, for where the risk and the reward are fairly balanced, the gain is not only more ample in case of success, but the solace is greater in case of defeat. But that your very life should be paid as the price of an obscure village, 244 THE INVASION OF INDIA which of your soldiers, nay, what inhabitant of any barbarous country that has heard of your greatness can tolerate such an idea? My soul is struck with horror when I think of the scene which was lately presented to our eyes. " I cannot but tremble to relate that the hands of the greatest dastards would have polluted the spoils stripped from the invincible Alexander, had not fortune, looking with pity on us, interfered for your deliverance. We are no better than traitors, no better than deserters, all of us who were unable to keep up with you when you ran into danger ; and should you therefore brand us all with dishonour, none of us will refuse to give satisfaction for that from the guilt of which he could not secure him- self. Show us, we beseech you then, in some other way, how cheap you hold us. We are ready to go wherever you order. We solicit that for us you reserve obscure dangers and inglorious battles, while you save yourself for those occasions which give scope for your greatness. Glory won in a contest with inferior opponents soon becomes stale, and nothing can be more absurd than to let your valour be wasted where it cannot be displayed to view." Ptolemy and others who were present addressed him in the same or similar terms, and all of them, as one man, besought him with tears that, sated as he was with glory, he would at last set some limits to that passion and have more regard for his own safety, on which that of the public depended. The affection and loyalty of his friends were so gratifying to the king that he embraced them one by one with more than his usual warmth, and requested them all to be seated.^ Then, in addressing them, he went far back in a review of his career and said : " I return you, most faithful and most dutiful subjects and friends, my most heartfelt thanks, not only because you at this time prefer my safety to ^ Arrian, on the contrary, states, Alexander was annoyed by the re- on the authority of Nearchos, that monstrances of his friends. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 245 your own, but also because from the very outset of the war you have lost no opportunity of showing by every pledge and token your kindly feelings towards myself, so that I must confess my life has never been so dear to me as it is at present, and chiefly so, that I may long enjoy your companionship. At the same time, I must point out that those who are willing to lay down their lives for me do not look at the matter from my point of view, inasmuch as I judge myself to have deserved by my bravery your favourable inclinations towards me, for you may possibly be coveting to reap the fruit of my favour for a great length of time, perhaps even in perpetuity, but I measure myself not by the span of age, but by that of glory. '* Had I been contented with my paternal heritage, I might have spent my days within the bounds of Macedonia, in slothful ease, to an obscure and inglorious old age ; although even those who remain indolently at home are not masters of their own destiny, for while they consider a long life to be the supreme good, an untimely death often takes them by surprise. I, however, who do not count my years but by my victories, have already had a long career of life, if I reckon aright the gifts of fortune. Having begun to reign in Macedonia, I now hold the supremacy of Greece. I have subdued Thrace and the people of Illyria ; I give laws to the Triballi and the Maedi,^ and am master of Asia from the shores of Helles- pont as far south as the shores of the Indian Ocean. And now I am not far from the very ends of the earth, which when I have passed I purpose to open up to myself a new realm of nature — a new world. In the turning-point of a single hour I crossed over from Asia into the borders of Europe.^ Having conquered both these continents in the ninth year of my reign, and in my twenty-eighth year, do you think I can pause in the task 1 A Thracian tribe whose country ^ That is when he crossed the is mentioned in Ptolemy's Geography Tanais (Jaxartes) to attack the Sky- as a strategia—\\\^\. is, a province thians. " Unus Pellaeo juveni non governed by a general of the army. sufficit orbis." H 246 THE INVASION OF INDIA BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 247 of completing my glory, to which, and to which only, I have entirely devoted myself? No, I shall not fail in my duty to her, and wheresoever I shall be fighting I shall imagine myself on the world's theatre, with all mankind for spectators. I shall give celebrity to places before unnoted. I shall open up for all nations a way to regions which nature has hitherto kept far distant. " If fortune shall so direct that in the midst of these enterprises my life be cut short, that would only add to my renown. I am sprung from such a stock that I am bound to prefer living much to living long.^ Reflect, I pray you, that we have come to lands in the eyes of which the name of a woman is the most famed for valour. What cities did Semiramis build ! What nations did she bring to subjection ! What mighty works did she plan ! We have not yet equalled the glorious achievements of a woman, and have we already had our fill of glory ? No, I say. Let the gods, however, but favour us, and things still greater remain for us yet to do. But the countries we have not yet reached shall only become ours on condi- tion that we consider nothing little in which there is room for great glory to be won. Do you but defend me against domestic treason and the plots of my own house- hold,^ and I will fearlessly face the dangers of battle and war. " Philip was safer in the field of fight than in the theatre. He often escaped the hands of his enemies — he could not elude those of his subjects.^ And if you examine how other kings also came by their end, you can count more that were slain by their own people than by their enemies. But now lastly, since an opportunity has presented itself to me of disclosing a matter which I have ^ Referring to his descent from Achilleus, whose career was short but glorious. - Alexander here refers to the plot of Hermolaos and the pages against his life. ^ Philip was assassinated by Pau- sanias while entering the door of a theatre. The Elzevir editor aptly quotes an epigram on Henry IV. of France, to whom a saying was attri- buted Duo protegit unus : " Gallorum Rex regna, inquis, duo protegit unus ; Protexere tuum nee duo regna caput." for a long time been turning over and over in my mind, I give you to understand that to me the greatest rewards of all my toils and achievements will be this, that my mother Olympias shall be deified as soon as she departs this life. If I be spared, I shall myself discharge that duty, but if death anticipate me, bear in memory that I have entrusted this office to you." With these words he dismissed his friends ; but for a good many days he remained in the same encampment. Chapter VII . — The affair of Bit on and Boxiis at Baktra — Embassy from the Sudracae and M alii proffering sub- mission — Alexander entertains his army and the embassy at a sumptuous baiiquet — Single combat between a Macedonian and an Athenian champion While these things were doing in India, the Greek soldiers who had been recently drafted by the king into settlements around Bactra disagreed among themselves and revolted, for the stronger faction, having killed some of their countrymen who remained loyal, had recourse to arms, and making themselves masters of the citadel of Bactra, which happened to be carelessly guarded, forced even the barbarians to join their party. Their leader was Athenodorus, who had also assumed the title of king, not so much from an ambition to reign as from a wish to return to his native country along with those who acknow- ledged his authority. Against his life one Biton, a citizen of the same Greek state as himself, but who hated him from envy, laid a plot, and having invited him to a banquet, had him assassinated during the festivities by the hands of a native of Margiana called Boxus. The day following Biton, in a general meeting which had been convoked, persuaded the majority that Athenodorus had without any provocation formed a plot to take away his life. Others, however, suspected there had been foul play on Biton's part, and by degrees this suspicion spread itself 248 THE INVASION OF INDIA about among the rest. The Greek soldiers, therefore, took up arms to put Biton to death should an opportunity- present itself. But the leading men appeased the anger of the multi- tude, and Biton being thus freed from his imminent danger, contrary to what he had anticipated, soon after- wards conspired against the very man to whom he owed his safety. But when his treachery came to their knowledge they seized both Biton himself and Boxus. The latter they ordered to be at once put to death, but Biton not till after he had undergone torture. The instruments for this purpose were already being applied to his limbs when the soldiers, it is not known why, ran to their arms like so many madmen. On hearing the uproar they made, the men who had orders to torture Biton desisted from their office, thinking that the object of the rioters, whom they had heard shouting, was to prevent them going on with their work. Biton, stripped as he was, ran for protection to the Greeks, and the sight of the wretched man sen- tenced to death caused such a revulsion of their feelings that they ordered him to be set at liberty. Having twice escaped punishment, he returned to his native country with the rest of those who left the colonies which the king had assigned to them.^ These things were done about Bactra and the borders of Scythia. In the meantime a hundred ambassadors came to the king from the two nations we have before mentioned.^ They all rode in chariots and were men of uncommon stature and of a very dignified bearing. Their robes were of linen and embroidered with inwrought gold and purple. They informed him that they surrendered into his hands themselves, their cities, and their territories, and that he was the first to whose authority and protection ^ The incident is mentioned briefly by Diodoros (xvii. 99). The 3000 Greeks who left their colonies to return home suffered great hardships on the way, and were slain by the Macedonians after Alexander's death. 2 The Sudracae and the Malli. They arrived while Alexander was still in camp near the confluence of the Hydraotes with the Akesines, where he had joined Hephaistion and Nearchos. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 249 they had intrusted their liberty which for so many ages they had preserved inviolate. The gods, they said, were the authors of their submission and not fear, seeing that they had submitted to his yoke while their strength was quite unbroken. The king at a meeting of his council accepted their proffer of submission and allegiance, and imposed on them the tribute which the two nations paid in instalments to the Arachosians.^ He further ordered them to furnish him with 2500 horsemen, all which com- mands were faithfully carried out by the barbarians. After this he gave orders for the preparation of a splendid banquet to which he invited the ambassadors and the petty kings of the neighbouring tribes. Here a hundred couches of gold had been placed at a small distance from each other, and these were hung round with tapestry curtains which glittered with gold and purple. In a word he displayed at this entertainment all that was corrupt in the ancient luxury of the Persians as well as in the new-fangled fashions which had been adopted by the Macedonians, thus inter- mixing the vices of both nations. At this banquet there was present Dioxippus the Athenian, a famous boxer,- who on account of his surprising strength was already well known to the king, and one even of his favourites. Some there were who from envy and malice used to carp at him between jest and earnest, remarking they had a full-fed good-for-nothing beast in their company, who when others went forth to fight would rub himself with oil and take exercise to get up his appetite. Now at the banquet a Macedonian called Horrcxtus, who was by this time " flown with wine," began to taunt him in the usual style, and challenged him, if he 1 A statement, as Thirlwall ob- serves, hardly consistent either with the boasts of independence made by the two nations, or with their recorded actions. 2 Athenaios (vi. 13) relates, on the authority of Aristoboulos, that this Dioxippos, the Athenian, whom he calls a pankratiast, when Alexander on a certain occasion was wounded, and the blood flowing, exclaimed : "This is ichor such as flows in the veins of the blessed gods. " Ailianos in his Hist. Var. (x. 22) describes his combat with the Macedonian. Pliny (xxxv. II) informs us that Dioxippos was painted as a victor in the Olympic pancratium by Aleimachus. 2;o THE INVASION OF INDIA were a man, to fight him next day with his sword, after which the king would judge of his temerity or of the cowardice of Dioxippus. The terms of the challenge were accepted by Dioxippus, who treated with contempt the bravado of the insolent soldier. The king finding next day that the two men were more than ever bent on fighting, and that he could not dissuade them, allowed them to do as they pleased. The soldiers came in crowds to witness the affair, and among others Greeks who backed up Dioxippus.^ The Macedonian came with the proper arms, carrying in his left hand a brazen shield and the long spear called the sarissa, and in his right a javelin. He wore also a sword by his side as if he meant to fight with several opponents at once. Dioxippus again entered the ring shining with oil, wearing a garland about his brows, having a scarlet cloak wrapped about his left arm, and carrying in his right hand a stout knotty club. This singular mode of equipment kept all the spectators for a time in suspense, because it seemed not temerity but downright madness for a naked man to engage with one armed to the teeth. The Macedonian accordingly, not doubting for a moment but that he could kill his adversary from a distance, cast his javelin at him, but this Dioxippus avoided by a slight bending of his body, and before the other could shift the long pike to his right hand, sprang upon him and broke the weapon in two by a stroke of his club. The Macedonian, having thus lost two of his weapons, prepared to draw his sword, but Dioxippus closed with him before he was ready to wield it, and suddenly tripping up his heels, knocked him down as with a blow from a battering-ram. He then wrested his sword from his grasp, planted his foot on his neck as he lay prostrate. ^ It is uncertain whether the Mace- donians were of the same blood as the Greeks. Their kings undoubtedly were, but Grote, influenced by his antipathy to Alexander, who had crushed the liberties ot Greece, con- sidered him little better than a bar- barian, "who had at most put on some superficial varnish of Hellenic culture. " See on this point Freeman's Historical Essays y vol. ii. pp. 192-201, 3rd ed. BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT 251 and brandishing his club would have brained him with it, had he not been prevented by the king. The result of the match was mortifying not only to the Macedonians, but even to Alexander himself, for he saw with vexation that the vaunted bravery of the Mace- donians had fallen into contempt with the barbarians who attended the spectacle. This made the king lend his ear all too readily to the accusations of those who owed Dioxippus a grudge. So at a feast which he attended a few days afterwards a golden bowl was by a private arrange- ment secretly taken off the table, and the attendants went to the king to complain of the loss of the article which they themselves had hidden. It often enough happens that one who blushes at a false insinuation has less con- trol of his countenance than one who is really guilty. Dioxippus could not bear the glances which were turned upon him as if he were the thief, and so when he had left the banquet he wrote a letter which he addressed to the king, and then killed himself with his sword. The king took his death much to heart, judging that the man had killed himself from sheer indignation, and not from remorse of conscience, especially since the intemperate joy of his enemies made it clear that he had been falsely accused. Chapter VIII. — Alexander receives the submission of the Main — Invades the Music ani and the Praesti, wJiose kingPorticanusis slain — Hciicxt attacks King Savibus^ many of whose cities surrendered — Musicanus having revolted is captured and executed — Ptolemy is ivoujided by a poisoned arrow in the kingdom of Sambus, but recovers — Alexander readies Patala and sails down the Indus The Indian ambassadors were dismissed to their several homes, but in a few days they returned with presents for Alexander which consisted of 300 horsemen, 1030 chariots each drawn by four horses, 1000 Indian bucklers, a great 252 THE INVASION OF INDIA quantity of linen-cloth, 100 talents of steel/ some tame lions and tigers of extraordinary size, the skins also of very large lizards, and a quantity of tortoise shells.^ The king commanding Craterus to move forward in advance with his troops and to keep always near the river, down which he intended himself to sail, took ship along with his usual retinue, and dropping down stream came to the territories of the Malli.^ Thence he marched towards the Sabarcae,^ a powerful Indian tribe where the form of government was democratic and not regal. Their army consisted of 60,000 foot and 6000 cavalry attended by 500 chariots. They had elected three generals ren'b^ned for their valour and military skill ; but when those who lived near the river, the banks of which were most thickly studded with their villages,^ saw the whole river as far as the eye could reach covered with ships, and saw besides the many thousands of men and their gleaming arms, they took fright at the strange spectacle and imagined that an army of the gods and a second Father Bacchus, a name famous in that country, were coming into their midst. The shouts of the soldiers and the noise of the oars, together with the confused voices of the sailors encouraging each ^ *' The sword blades of India had a great fame over the East, and Indian steel, according to esteemed authori- ties, continued to be imported into Persia till days quite recent. Its fame goes back to very old times. Ktesias mentions two wonderful swords of such material that he got from the King of Persia and his mother. It is perhaps iheferntm candidum of which the Malli and Oxydracae sent 100 talents' weight as a present to Alex- ander. Indian iron and steel are mentioned in the Peripliis as im- ports into the Abyssinian ports." See Yule's Marco Polo, i. p. 94. - We learn from the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea that tortoise and other shells formed an important element in the ancient commerce of the East with the West. For an account of Indian shells see British India of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, III. c. v. pp. 136-144. ^ Alexander had, however, by this time taken their capital. We learn from Arrian {Indika, c. 4) that their dominions extended to the junction of the Akesines with the Indus. * Lassen identifies this people with the Sambastai of Diodoros. Orosius calls them the Sabagrae. In Arrian the 6Vz/«3aj'/