Chapter XCIII (1)

SECOND AND THIRD ASIATIC CAMPAIGNS OF ALEXANDER — BATTLE OF ISSUS — SIEGE OF TYRE.

It was about February or March 333 B. C., when Alexander reached Gordium; where he appears to have halted for some time, giving to the troops who had been with him in Pisidia a repose doubtless needful. While at Gordium, he performed the memorable exploit familiarly known as the cutting of the Gordian knot. There was preserved in the citadel an ancient waggon of rude structure, said by the legend to have once belonged to the peasant Gordius and his son Midas—the primitive rustic kings of Phrygia, designated as such by the gods, and chosen by the people. The cord (composed of fibres from the bark of the cornel tree), attaching the yoke of this waggon to the pole, was so twisted and entangled as to form a knot of singular complexity, which no one had ever been able to untie. An oracle had pronounced, that to the person who should untie it the empire of Asia was destined. When Alexander went up to see this ancient relic, the surrounding multitude, Phrygian as well as Macedonian, were full of expectation that the conqueror of the Granikus and of Halikarnassus would overcome the difficulties of the knot, and acquire the promised empire. But Alexander, on inspecting the knot, was as much perplexed as others had been before him, until at length, in a fit of impatience, he drew his sword and severed the cord in two. By every one this was accepted as a solution of the problem, thus making good his title to the empire of Asia; a belief which the gods ratified by a storm of thunder and lightning during the ensuing night.[237]

[237] Arrian, ii. 3; Curtius, iii. 2, 17; Plutarch, Alex. 18;
Justin, xi. 7.

At Gordium, Alexander was visited by envoys from Athens, entreating the liberation of the Athenian prisoners taken at the Granikus, who were now at work chained in the Macedonian mines. But he refused this prayer until a more convenient season. Aware that the Greeks were held attached to him only by their fears, and that, if opportunity occurred, a large fraction of them would take part with the Persians, he did not think it prudent to relax his hold upon their conduct.[238]

[238] Arrian, i. 29, 8.

Such opportunity seemed now not unlikely to occur. Memnon, excluded from efficacious action on the continent since the loss of Halikarnassus, was employed among the islands of the Ægean (during the first half of 333 B. C.), with the purpose of carrying war into Greece and Macedonia. Invested with the most ample command, he had a large Phenician fleet and a considerable body of Grecian mercenaries, together with his nephew Pharnabazus and the Persian Autophradates. Having acquired the important island of Chios, through the co-operation of a part of its inhabitants, he next landed on Lesbos, where four out of the five cities, either from fear or preference, declared in his favor; while Mitylênê, the greatest of the five, already occupied by a Macedonian garrison, stood out against him. Memnon accordingly disembarked his troops and commenced the blockade of the city both by sea and land, surrounding it with a double palisade wall from sea to sea. In the midst of this operation he died of sickness; but his nephew Pharnabazus, to whom he had consigned the command provisionally, until the pleasure of Darius could be known, prosecuted his measures vigorously, and brought the city to a capitulation. It was stipulated that the garrison introduced by Alexander should be dismissed; that the column, recording alliance with him, should be demolished; that the Mityleneans should become allies of Darius, upon the terms of the old convention called by the name of Antalkidas; and that the citizens in banishment should be recalled, with restitution of half their property. But Pharnabazus, as soon as admitted, violated the capitulation at once. He not only extorted contributions, but introduced a garrison under Lykomêdes, and established a returned exile named Diogenes as despot.[239] Such breach of faith was ill calculated to assist the farther extension of Persian influence in Greece.

[239] Arrian, ii. 1, 4-9.

Had the Persian fleet been equally active a year earlier, Alexander’s army could never have landed in Asia. Nevertheless, the acquisitions of Chios and Lesbos, late as they were in coming, were highly important as promising future progress. Several of the Cyclades islands sent to tender their adhesion to the Persian cause; the fleet was expected in Eubœa, and the Spartans began to count upon aid for an anti-Macedonian movement.[240] But all these hopes were destroyed by the unexpected decease of Memnon.

[240] Diodor. xvii. 29.

It was not merely the superior ability of Memnon, but also his established reputation both with Greeks and Persians, which rendered his death a fatal blow to the interests of Darius. The Persians had with them other Greek officers—brave and able—probably some not unfit to execute the full Memnonian schemes. But none of them had gone through the same experience in the art of exercising command among Orientals—none of them had acquired the confidence of Darius to the same extent, so as to be invested with the real guidance of operations, and upheld against court-calumnies. Though Alexander had now become master of Asia Minor, yet the Persians had ample means, if effectively used, of defending all that yet remained, and even of seriously disturbing him at home. But with Memnon vanished the last chance of employing these means with wisdom or energy. The full value of his loss was better appreciated by the intelligent enemy whom he opposed, than by the feeble master whom he served. The death of Memnon lessening the efficiency of the Persians at sea, allowed full leisure to reorganize the Macedonian fleet,[241] and to employ the undivided land-force for farther inland conquest.[242]

[241] Arrian, ii. 2, 6; Curtius, iii. 3, 19; iii. 4, 8. “Nondum
enim Memnonem vitâ excessisse cognoverat (Alexander)—satis
gnarus, cuncta in expedito fore, si nihil ab eo moveretur.”

[242] Diodor. xvi. 31.

If Alexander was a gainer in respect to his own operations by the death of this eminent Rhodian, he was yet more a gainer by the change of policy which that event induced Darius to adopt. The Persian king resolved to renounce the defensive schemes of Memnon, and to take the offensive against the Macedonians on land. His troops, already summoned from the various parts of the empire, had partially arrived, and were still coming in.[243] Their numbers became greater and greater, amounting at length to a vast and multitudinous host, the total of which is given by some as 600,000 men; by others, as 400,000 infantry and 100,000 cavalry. The spectacle of this showy and imposing mass, in every variety of arms, costume, and language, filled the mind of Darius with confidence; especially as there were among them between 20,000 and 30,000 Grecian mercenaries. The Persian courtiers, themselves elate and sanguine, stimulated and exaggerated the same feeling in the king himself, who became confirmed in his persuasion that his enemies could never resist him. From Sogdiana, Baktria, and India, the contingents had not yet had time to arrive; but most of those between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian sea had come in—Persians, Medes, Armenians, Derbikes, Barkanians, Hyrkanians, Katdakes, etc.; all of whom, mustered in the plains of Mesopotamia, are said to have been counted, like the troops of Xerxes in the plain of Doriskus, by paling off a space capable of containing exactly 10,000 men, and passing all the soldiers through it in succession.[244] Neither Darius himself, nor any of those around him, had ever before seen so overwhelming a manifestation of the Persian imperial force. To an Oriental eye, incapable of appreciating the real conditions of military preponderance,—accustomed only to the gross and visible computation of numbers and physical strength,—the king who marched forth at the head of such an army appeared like a god on earth, certain to trample down all before him—just as most Greeks had conceived respecting Xerxes,[245] and by stronger reason Xerxes respecting himself, a century and a half before. Because all this turned out a ruinous mistake, the description of the feeling, given in Curtius and Diodorus, is often mistrusted as baseless rhetoric. Yet it is in reality the self-suggested illusion of untaught men, as opposed to trained and scientific judgment.

[243] Diodor. xvii. 30, 31. Diodorus represents the Persian king
as having begun to issue letters of convocation for the troops,
_after_ he heard the death of Memnon; which cannot be true. The
letters must have been sent out before.

[244] Curtius, iii. 2.

[245] Herodot. vii. 56—and the colloquy between Xerxes and
Demaratus, vii. 103, 104—where the language put by Herodotus into
the mouth of Xerxes is natural and instructive. On the other
hand, the superior penetration of Cyrus the younger expresses
supreme contempt for the military inefficiency of an Asiatic
multitude—Xenophon, Anabas. i. 7, 4. Compare the blunt language
of the Arcadian Antiochus—Xen. Hellen. vii. i. 38; and Cyropæd.
viii. 8, 20.

But though such was the persuasion of Orientals, it found no response in the bosom of an intelligent Athenian. Among the Greeks now near Darius, was the Athenian exile Charidemus, who having incurred the implacable enmity of Alexander, had been forced to quit Athens after the Macedonian capture of Thebes, and had fled together with Ephialtes to the Persians. Darius, elate with the apparent omnipotence of his army under review, and hearing but one voice of devoted concurrence from the courtiers around him, asked the opinion of Charidemus, in full expectation of receiving an affirmative reply. So completely were the hopes of Charidemus bound up with the success of Darius, that he would not suppress his convictions, however unpalatable, at a moment when there was yet a possibility that they might prove useful. He replied (with the same frankness as Demaratus had once employed towards Xerxes), that the vast multitude now before him were unfit to cope with the comparatively small number of the invaders. He advised Darius to place no reliance on Asiatics, but to employ his immense treasures in subsidizing an increased army of Grecian mercenaries. He tendered his own hearty services either to assist or to command. To Darius, what he said was alike surprising and offensive; in the Persian courtiers, it provoked intolerable wrath. Intoxicated as they all were with the spectacle of their present muster, it seemed to them a combination of insult with absurdity, to pronounce Asiatics worthless as compared with Macedonians, and to teach the king that his empire could be defended by none but Greeks. They denounced Charidemus as a traitor who wished to acquire the king’s confidence in order to betray him to Alexander. Darius, himself stung with the reply, and still farther exasperated by the clamors of his courtiers, seized with his own hands the girdle of Charidemus, and consigned him to the guards for execution. “You will discover too late (exclaimed the Athenian), the truth of what I have said. My avenger will soon be upon you.”[246]

[246] Curtius, iii. 2, 10-20; Diodor. xvii. 30.

Filled as he now was with certain anticipations of success and glory, Darius resolved to assume in person the command of his army, and march down to overwhelm Alexander. From this moment, his land-army became the really important and aggressive force, with which he himself was to act. Herein we note his distinct abandonment of the plans of Memnon—the turning-point of his future fortune. He abandoned them, too, at the precise moment when they might have been most safely and completely executed. For at the time of the battle of the Granikus, when Memnon’s counsel was originally given, the defensive part of it was not easy to act upon; since the Persians had no very strong or commanding position. But now, in the spring of 333 B. C., they had a line of defence as good as they could possibly desire; advantages, indeed, scarcely to be paralleled elsewhere. In the first place, there was the line of Mount Taurus, barring the entrance of Alexander into Kilikia; a line of defence (as will presently appear) nearly inexpugnable. Next, even if Alexander had succeeded in forcing this line and mastering Kilikia, there would yet remain the narrow road between Mount Amanus and the sea, called the Amanian Gates, and the Gates of Kilikia and Assyria—and after that, the passes over Mount Amanus itself— all indispensable for Alexander to pass through, and capable of being held, with proper precautions, against the strongest force of attack. A better opportunity, for executing the defensive part of Memnon’s scheme, could not present itself; and he himself must doubtless have reckoned that such advantages would not be thrown away.

The momentous change of policy, on the part of the Persian king, was manifested by the order which he sent to the fleet after receiving intelligence of the death of Memnon. Confirming the appointment of Pharnabazus (made provisionally by the dying Memnon) as admiral, he at the same time despatched Thymôdes (son of Mentor and nephew of Memnon) to bring away from the fleet the Grecian mercenaries who served aboard, to be incorporated with the main Persian army.[247] Here was a clear proof that the main stress of offensive operations was henceforward to be transferred from the sea to the land.

[247] Arrian, ii. 2, 1; ii. 13, 3. Curtius, iii. 3, 1.

It is the more important to note such desertion of policy, on the part of Darius, as the critical turning-point in the Greco-Persian drama—because Arrian and the other historians leave it out of sight, and set before us little except the secondary points in the case. Thus, for example, they condemn the imprudence of Darius, for coming to fight Alexander within the narrow space near Issus, instead of waiting for him on the spacious plains beyond Mount Amanus. Now, unquestionably, granting that a general battle was inevitable, this step augmented the chances in favor of the Macedonians. But it was a step upon which no material consequences turned; for the Persian army under Darius was hardly less unfit for a pitched battle in the open plain; as was afterwards proved at Arbela. The real imprudence—the neglect of the Memnonian warning—consisted in fighting the battle at all. Mountains and defiles were the real strength of the Persians, to be held as posts of defence against the invader. If Darius erred, it was not so much in relinquishing the open plain of Sochi, as in originally preferring that plain with a pitched battle, to the strong lines of defence offered by Taurus and Amanus.

The narrative of Arrian, exact perhaps in what it affirms, is not only brief and incomplete, but even omits on various occasions to put in relief the really important and determining points.

While halting at Gordium, Alexander was joined by those newly-married Macedonians whom he had sent home to winter, and who now came back with reinforcements to the number of 3000 infantry and 300 cavalry, together with 200 Thessalian cavalry, and 150 Eleians.[248] As soon as his troops had been sufficiently rested, he marched (probably about the latter half of May) towards Paphlagonia and Kappadokia. At Ankyra he was met by a deputation from the Paphlagonians, who submitted themselves to his discretion, only entreating that he would not conduct his army into their country. Accepting these terms, he placed them under the government of Kallas, his satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia. Advancing farther, he subdued the whole of Kappadokia, even to a considerable extent beyond the Halys, leaving therein Sabiktas as satrap.[249]

[248] Arrian, i. 29. 6.

[249] Arrian, ii. 4, 2; Curtius, iii. 1, 22; Plutarch, Alex. 18.

Having established security in his rear, Alexander marched southward towards Mount Taurus. He reached a post called the Camp of Cyrus, at the northern foot of that mountain, near the pass Tauri-pylæ, or Kilikian Gates, which forms the regular communication, between Kappadokia on the north side, and Kilikia on the south, of this great chain. The long road ascending and descending was generally narrow, winding, and rugged, sometimes between two steep and high banks; and it included, near its southern termination, one spot particularly obstructed and difficult. From ancient times, down to the present, the main road from Asia Minor into Kilikia and Syria has run through this pass. During the Roman empire, it must doubtless have received many improvements, so as to render the traffic comparatively easier. Yet the description given of it by modern travellers represents it to be as difficult as any road ever traversed by an army.[250] Seventy years before Alexander, it had been traversed by the younger Cyrus with the 10,000 Greeks, in his march up to attack his brother Artaxerxes; and Xenophon,[251] who then went through it, pronounces it absolutely impracticable for an army, if opposed by any occupying force. So thoroughly persuaded was Cyrus himself of this fact, that he had prepared a fleet, in case he found the pass occupied, to land troops by sea in Kilikia in the rear of the defenders; and great indeed was his astonishment, to discover that the habitual recklessness of Persian management had left the defile unguarded. The narrowest part, while hardly sufficient to contain four armed men abreast, was shut in by precipitous rock on each side.[252] Here, if anywhere, was the spot in which the defensive policy of Memnon might have been made sure. To Alexander, inferior as he was by sea, the resource employed by the younger Cyrus was not open.

[250] Respecting this pass, see Vol. IX. Ch. lxix. p. 20 of the
present History. There are now two passes over Taurus, from
Erekli on the north side of the mountain—one, the easternmost
descending upon Adana in Kilikia—the other, the westernmost, upon
Tarsus. In the war (1832) between the Turks and Ibrahim Pacha,
the Turkish commander left the westernmost pass undefended,
so that Ibrahim Pacha passed from Tarsus along it without
opposition. The Turkish troops occupied the easternmost pass, but
defended themselves badly, so that the passage was forced by the
Egyptians (Histoire de la Guerre de Mehemed Ali, par Cadalvène et
Barrault, p. 243).

Alexander crossed Taurus by the easternmost of the two passes.

[251] Xenoph. Anabas. i. 2. 21; Diodor. xiv. 20.

[252] Curtius, iii. 4, 11.

Yet Arsames, the Persian satrap commanding at Tarsus in Kilikia, having received seemingly from his master no instructions, or worse than none, acted as if ignorant of the existence of his enterprising enemy north of Mount Taurus. On the first approach of Alexander, the few Persian soldiers occupying the pass fled without striking a blow, being seemingly unprepared for any enemy more formidable than mountain-robbers. Alexander thus became master of this almost insuperable barrier, without the loss of a man.[253] On the ensuing day, he marched his whole army over it into Kilikia, and arriving in a few hours at Tarsus, found the town already evacuated by Arsames.[254]

[253] Curtius, iii. 4, 11. “Contemplatus locorum situm
(Alexander), non alias dicitur magis admiratus esse felicitatem
suam”, etc.

See Plutarch, Demetrius, 47, where Agathokles (son of Lysimachus)
holds the line of Taurus against Demetrius Poliorkêtes.

[254] Arrian, ii. 4, 3-8; Curtius, iii. 4. Curtius ascribes to
Arsames the intention of executing what had been recommended by
Memnon before the battle of Granikus—to desolate the country in
order to check Alexander’s advance. But this can hardly be the
right interpretation of the proceeding. Arrian’s account seems
more reasonable.

At Tarsus Alexander made a long halt; much longer than he intended. Either from excessive fatigue—or from bathing while hot in the chilly water of the river Kydnus—he was seized with a violent fever, which presently increased to so dangerous a pitch that his life was despaired of. Amidst the grief and alarm with which this misfortune filled the army, none of the physicians would venture to administer remedies, for fear of being held responsible for what threatened to be a fatal result.[255] One alone among them, an Akarnanian named Philippus, long known and trusted by Alexander, engaged to cure him by a violent purgative draught. Alexander directed him to prepare it; but before the time for taking it arrived, he received a confidential letter from Parmenio, entreating him to beware of Philippus, who had been bribed by Darius to poison him. After reading the letter, he put it under his pillow. Presently came Philippus with the medicine, which Alexander accepted and swallowed without remark, at the same time giving Philippus the letter to read, and watching the expression of his countenance. The look, words, and gestures of the physician were such as completely to reassure him. Philippus, indignantly repudiating the calumny, repeated his full confidence in the medicine, and pledged himself to abide the result. At first it operated so violently as to make Alexander seemingly worse, and even to bring him to death’s door; but after a certain interval, its healing effects became manifest. The fever was subdued, and Alexander was pronounced out of danger, to the delight of the whole army.[256] A reasonable time sufficed, to restore him to his former health and vigor.

[255] When Hephæstion died of fever at Ekbatana, nine years
afterwards, Alexander caused the physician who had attended him
to be crucified (Plutarch, Alexand. 72; Arrian, vii. 14).

[256] This interesting anecdote is recounted, with more or less
of rhetoric and amplification, in all the historians—Arrian, ii.
4; Diodor. xvii. 31; Plutarch, Alexand. 19; Curtius, iii. 5;
Justin, xi. 8.

It is one mark of the difference produced in the character of
Alexander, by superhuman successes continued for four years—to
contrast the generous confidence which he displayed towards
Philippus, with his cruel prejudgment and torture of Philôtas
four years afterwards.

It was his first operation, after recovery, to send forward Parmenio, at the head of the Greeks, Thessalians, and Thracians, in his army, for the purpose of clearing the forward route and of securing the pass called the Gates of Kilikia and Syria.[257] This narrow road, bounded by the range of Mount Amanus on the east and by the sea on the west, had been once barred by a double cross-wall with gates for passage, marking the original boundaries of Kilikia and Syria. The Gates, about six days’ march beyond Tarsus,[258] were found guarded, but the guard fled with little resistance. At the same time Alexander himself, conducting the Macedonian troops in a south-westerly direction from Tarsus, employed some time in mastering and regulating the towns of Anchialus and Soli, as well as the Kilikian mountaineers. Then, returning to Tarsus, and recommencing his forward march, he advanced with the infantry and with his chosen squadron of cavalry, first to Magarsus near the mouth of the river Pyramus, next to Mallus; the general body of cavalry, under Philôtus, being sent by a more direct route across the Alëian plain. Mallus, sacred to the prophet Amphilocus as a patron-hero, was said to be a colony from Argos; on both these grounds Alexander was disposed to treat it with peculiar respect. He offered solemn sacrifice to Amphilocus, exempted Mallus from tribute, and appeased some troublesome discord among the citizens.[259]

[257] Arrian, ii. 5, 1; Diodor. xvii. 32; Curtius, iii. 7, 6.

[258] Cyrus the younger was five days in marching from Tarsus to
Issus, and one day more from Issus to the gates of Kilikia and
Syria.—Xenoph. Anab. i. 4, 1; Vol. IX. Chap. lxix. p. 27 of this
history.

[259] Arrian, ii, 5, 11.

It was at Mallus that he received his first distinct communication respecting Darius and the main Persian army; which was said to be encamped at Sochi in Syria, on the eastern side of Mount Amanus, about two days’ march from the mountain pass now called Beylan. That pass, traversing the Amanian range, forms the continuance of the main road from Asia Minor into Syria, after having passed first over Taurus, and next through the difficult point of ground above specified (called the Gates of Kilikia and Syria), between Mount Amanus and the sea. Assembling his principal officers, Alexander communicated to them the position of Darius, now encamped in a spacious plain with prodigious superiority of numbers, especially of cavalry. Though the locality was thus rather favorable to the enemy, yet the Macedonians, full of hopes and courage, called upon Alexander to lead them forthwith against him. Accordingly Alexander, well pleased with their alacrity, began his forward march on the following morning. He passed through Issus, where he left some sick and wounded under a moderate guard—then through the Gates of Kilikia and Syria. At the second day’s march from those Gates, he reached the seaport of Myriandrus, the first town of Syria or Phenicia.[260]

[260] Arrian, ii. 6.

Here, having been detained in his camp one day by a dreadful storm, he received intelligence which altogether changed his plans. The Persian army had been marched away from Sochi, and was now in Kilikia, following in his rear. It had already got possession of Issus.

Darius had marched out of the interior his vast and miscellaneous host, stated at 600,000 men. His mother, his wife, his harem, his children, his personal attendants of every description, accompanied him, to witness what was anticipated as a certain triumph. All the apparatus of ostentation and luxury was provided in abundance, for the king and for his Persian grandees. The baggage was enormous: of gold and silver alone, we are told, that there was enough to furnish load for 600 mules and 300 camels.[261] A temporary bridge being thrown over the Euphrates, five days were required to enable the whole army to cross.[262] Much of the treasure and baggage, however, was not allowed to follow the army to the vicinity of Mount Amanus, but was sent under a guard to Damascus in Syria.

[261] Curtius, iii. 3, 24.

[262] Curtius, iii. 7, 1.

At the head of such an overwhelming host, Darius was eager to bring on at once a general battle. It was not sufficient for him simply to keep back an enemy, whom, when once in presence, he calculated on crushing altogether. Accordingly, he had given no orders (as we have just seen) to defend the line of the Taurus; he had admitted Alexander unopposed into Kilikia, and he intended to let him enter in like manner through the remaining strong passes—first, the Gates of Kilikia and Syria, between Mount Amanus and the sea—next, the pass, now called Beylan, across Amanus itself. He both expected and wished that his enemy should come into the plain to fight, there to be trodden down by the countless horsemen of Persia.

But such anticipation was not at once realized. The movements of Alexander, hitherto so rapid and unremitting, seemed suspended. We have already noticed the dangerous fever which threatened his life, occasioning not only a long halt, but much uneasiness among the Macedonian army. All was doubtless reported to the Persians, with abundant exaggerations: and when Alexander, immediately after recovery, instead of marching forward towards them, turned away from them to subdue the western portion of Kilikia, this again was construed by Darius as an evidence of hesitation and fear. It is even asserted that Parmenio wished to await the attack of the Persians in Kilikia, and that Alexander at first consented to do so.[263] At any rate, Darius, after a certain interval, contracted the persuasion, and was assured by his Asiatic councillors and courtiers, that the Macedonians, though audacious and triumphant against frontier satraps, now hung back intimidated by the approaching majesty and full muster of the empire, and that they would not stand to resist his attack. Under this impression Darius resolved upon an advance into Kilikia with all his army. Thymôdes indeed, and other intelligent Grecian advisers—together with the Macedonian exile Amyntas—deprecated his new resolution, entreating him to persevere in his original purpose. They pledged themselves that Alexander would come forth to attack him wherever he was, and that too, speedily. They dwelt on the imprudence of fighting in the narrow defiles of Kilikia, where his numbers, and especially his vast cavalry, would be useless. Their advice, however, was not only disregarded by Darius, but denounced by the Persian councillors as traitorous.[264] Even some of the Greeks in the camp shared, and transmitted in their letters to Athens, the blind confidence of the monarch. The order was forthwith given for the whole army to quit the plains of Syria and march across Mount Amanus into Kilikia.[265] To cross, by any pass, over such a range as that of Mount Amanus, with a numerous army, heavy baggage, and ostentatious train (including all the suite necessary for the regal family), must have been a work of no inconsiderable time; and the only two passes over this mountain were, both of them, narrow and easily defensible.[266] Darius followed the northernmost of the two, which brought him into the rear of his enemy.

[263] Curtius, iii. 7, 8.

[264] From Æschines (cont. Ktesiphont. p. 552) it seems that
Demosthenes, and the anti-Macedonian statesmen at Athens,
received letters at this moment written in high spirits,
intimating that Alexander was “caught and pinned up” in Kilikia.
Demosthenes (if we may believe Æschines) went about showing
these letters, and boasting of the good news which was at
hand. Josephus (Ant. Jud. xi. 8, 3) also reports the confident
anticipations of Persian success, entertained by Sanballat at
Samaria, as well as by all the Asiatics around.

[265] Arrian, ii. 6; Curtius, iii. 8, 2; Diodor. xvii. 32.

[266] Cicero, Epist. ad Famil. xv. 4. See the instructive
commentary of Mützel ad Curtium, iii. 8, p. 103, 104. I have
given in an Appendix to this Volume, some explanatory comments on
the ground near Issus.

Thus at the same time that the Macedonians were marching southward to cross Mount Amanus by the southern pass, and attack Darius in the plain—Darius was coming over into Kilikia by the northern pass to drive them before him back into Macedonia.[267] Reaching Issus, seemingly about two days after they had left it, he became master of their sick and wounded left in the town. With odious brutality, his grandees impelled him to inflict upon these poor men either death or amputation of hands and arms.[268] He then marched forward—along the same road by the shore of the Gulf which had already been followed by Alexander—and encamped on the banks of the river Pinarus.

[267] Plutarch (Alexand. 20) states this general fact correctly;
but he is mistaken in saying that the two armies missed one
another in the night, etc.

[268] Arrian, ii. 7, 2; Curtius, iii. 8, 14. I have mentioned,
a few pages back, that about a fortnight before, Alexander
had sent Parmenio forward from Tarsus to secure the Gates of
Kilikia and Syria, while he himself marched backward to Soli
and Anchilaus. He and Parmenio must have been separated at this
time by a distance, not less than eight days of ordinary march.
If during this interval, Darius had arrived at Issus, he would
have been just between them, and would have cut them off one
from the other. It was Alexander’s good luck that so grave an
embarrassment did not occur.

The fugitives from Issus hastened to inform Alexander, whom they overtook at Myriandrus. So astonished was he, that he refused to believe the news, until it had been confirmed by some officers whom he sent northward along the coast of the Gulf in a small galley, and to whom the vast Persian multitude on the shore was distinctly visible. Then, assembling the chief officers, he communicated to them the near approach of the enemy, expatiating on the favorable auspices under which a battle would now take place.[269] His address was hailed with acclamation by his hearers, who demanded only to be led against the enemy.[270]

[269] Arrian, ii. 7, 8.

[270] Arrian, ii. 7; Curtius, iii. 10; Diodor. xvii. 33.

His distance from the Persian position may have been about eighteen miles.[271] By an evening march, after supper, he reached at midnight the narrow defile (between Mount Amanus and the sea) called the Gates of Kilikia and Syria, through which he had marched two days before. Again master of that important position, he rested there the last portion of the night, and advanced forward at daybreak northward towards Darius. At first the breadth of practicable road was so confined, as to admit only a narrow column of march, with the cavalry following the infantry; presently it widened, enabling Alexander to enlarge his front by bringing up successively the divisions of the phalanx. On approaching near to the river Pinarus (which flowed across the pass), he adopted his order of battle. on the extreme right he placed the hypaspists, or light division of hoplites; next (reckoning from right to left), five Taxeis or divisions of the phalanx, under Kœnus, Perdikkas, Meleager, Ptolemy, and Amyntas. Of these three last or left divisions, Kraterus had the general command; himself subject to the orders of Parmenio, who commanded the entire left half of the army. The breadth of plain between the mountains on the right, and the sea on the left, is said to have been not more than fourteen stadia, or about one English mile and a half.[272] From fear of being outflanked by the superior numbers of the Persians, he gave strict orders to Parmenio to keep close to the sea. His Macedonian cavalry, the Companions, together with the Thessalians, were placed on his right flank; as were also the Agrianes, and the principal portion of the light infantry. The Peloponnesian and allied cavalry, with the Thracian and Kretan light infantry, were sent on the left flank to Parmenio.[273]

[271] Kallisthenes called the distance 100 stadia (ap. Polyb.
xii. 19). This seems likely to be under the truth.

Polybius criticises severely the description given by
Kallisthenes of the march of Alexander. Not having before us the
words of Kallisthenes himself, we are hardly in a condition to
appreciate the goodness of the criticism; which in some points is
certainly overstrained.

[272] Kallisthenes ap. Polybium, xii. 17.

[273] Arrian, ii. 8, 4-13.

Darius, informed that Alexander was approaching, resolved to fight where he was encamped, behind the river Pinarus. He, however, threw across the river a force of 30,000 cavalry, and 20,000 infantry, to ensure the undisturbed formation of his main force behind the river.[274] He composed his phalanx or main line of battle, of 90,000 hoplites; 30,000 Greek hoplites in the centre, and 30,000 Asiatics armed as hoplites (called Kardakes), on each side of these Greeks. These men—not distributed into separate divisions, but grouped in one body or multitude[275]—filled the breadth between the mountains and the sea. On the mountains to his left, he placed a body of 20,000 men, intended to act against the right flank and rear of Alexander. But for the great numerical mass of his vast host, he could find no room to act; accordingly they remained useless in the rear of his Greek and Asiatic hoplites, yet not formed into any body of reserve, or kept disposable for assisting in case of need. When his line was thoroughly formed, he recalled to the left bank of the Pinarus the 30,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry which he had sent across as a protecting force. A part of this cavalry were sent to his extreme left wing, but the mountain ground was found unsuitable for them to act, so that they were forced to cross the right wing, where accordingly the great mass of the Persian cavalry became assembled. Darius himself in his chariot was in the centre of the line, behind the Grecian hoplites. In the front of his whole line ran the river or rivulet Pinarus; the banks of which, in many parts naturally steep, he obstructed in some places by embankments.[276]

[274] Compare Kallisthenes ap. Polyb. xii. 17.; and Arrian, ii.
8, 8. Considering how narrow the space was, such numerous bodies
as these 30,000 horse and 20,000 foot must have found little
facility in moving. Kallisthenes did not notice them, as far as
we can collect from Polybius.

[275] Arrian, ii. 8, 9. Τοσούτους γὰρ ~ἐπὶ φάλαγγος ἁπλῆς~
ἐδέχετο τὸ χωρίον, ἵνα ἐτάσσοντο.

The depth of this single phalanx is not given, nor do we know the
exact width of the ground which it occupied. Assuming a depth of
sixteen, and one pace in breadth to each soldier, 4000 men would
stand in the breadth of a stadium of 250 paces; and therefore
80,000 men in a breadth of twenty stadia (see the calculation of
Rüstow and Köchly, p. 280, about the Macedonian line). Assuming
a depth of twenty-six, 6500 men would stand in the stadium, and
therefore 90,000 in a total breadth of 14 stadia, which is that
given by Kallisthenes. But there must have been intervals left,
greater or less, we know not how many; the covering detachments,
which had been thrown out before the river Pinarus, must have
found some means of passing through to the rear, when recalled.

Mr. Kinneir states that the breadth between Mount Amanus and the
sea varies between one mile and a half (English) and three miles.
The fourteen stadia of Kallisthenes are equivalent to nearly one
English mile and three-quarters.

Neither in ancient nor in modern times have Oriental armies ever
been trained, by native officers, to regularity of march or
array—see Malcolm, Hist. of Persia, ch. xxiii. vol. ii. p. 498;
Volney, Travels in Egypt and Syria, vol. i. p. 124.

[276] Arrian, ii. 10, 2. Kallisthenes appears to have reckoned
the mercenaries composing the Persian phalanx at 30,000—and the
cavalry at 30,000. He does not seem to have taken account of the
Kardakes. Yet Polybius in his criticism tries to make out that
there was not room for an array of even 60,000; while Arrian
enumerates 90,000 hoplites, not including cavalry (Polyb. xii.
18).

As soon as Alexander, by the retirement of the Persian covering detachment, was enabled to perceive the final dispositions of Darius, he made some alteration in his own, transferring his Thessalian cavalry by a rear movement from his right to his left wing, and bringing forward the lancer-cavalry or sarissophori, as well as the light infantry, Pæonians, and archers, to the front of his right. The Agrianians, together with some cavalry and another body of archers, were detached from the general line to form an oblique front against the 20,000 Persians posted on the hill to outflank him. As these 20,000 men came near enough to threaten his flank, Alexander directed the Agrianians to attack them, and to drive them farther away on the hills. They manifested so little firmness, and gave way so easily, that he felt no dread of any serious aggressive movement from them. He therefore contented himself with holding back in reserve against them a body of 300 heavy cavalry; while he placed the Agrianians and the rest on the right of his main line, in order to make his front equal to that of his enemies.[277]

[277] Arrian, ii. 9; Kallisthenes ap. Polyb. xii. 17. The
slackness of this Persian corps on the flank, and the ease with
which Alexander drove them back—a material point in reference to
the battle—are noticed by Curtius, iii. 9, 11.

Having thus formed his array, after giving the troops a certain halt after their march, he advanced at a very slow pace, anxious to maintain his own front even, and anticipating that the enemy might cross the Pinarus to meet him. But as they did not move, he continued his advance, preserving the uniformity of the front, until he arrived within bowshot, when he himself, at the head of his cavalry, hypaspists, and divisions of the phalanx on the right, accelerated his pace, crossed the river at a quick step, and fell upon the Kardakes or Asiatic hoplites on the Persian left. Unprepared for the suddenness and vehemence of this attack, these Kardakes scarcely resisted a moment, but gave way as soon as they came to close quarters, and fled, vigorously pressed by the Macedonian right. Darius, who was in his chariot in the centre, perceived that this untoward desertion exposed his person from the left flank. Seized with panic, he caused his chariot to be turned round, and fled with all speed among the foremost fugitives.[278] He kept to his chariot as long as the ground permitted, but quitted it on reaching some rugged ravines, and mounted on horseback to make sure of escape; in such terror, that he cast away his bow, his shield, and his regal mantle. He does not seem to have given a single order, nor to have made the smallest effort to repair a first misfortune. The flight of the king was the signal for all who observed it to flee also; so that the vast host in the rear were quickly to be seen trampling one another down, in their efforts to get through the difficult ground out of the reach of the enemy. Darius was himself not merely the centre of union for all the miscellaneous contingents composing the army, but also the sole commander; so that after his flight there was no one left to give any general order.

[278] Arrian, ii. 11, 6. εὐθὺς, ὡς εἶχεν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἅρματος, ξὺν
τοῖς πρώτοις ἔφευγε, etc.

This simple statement of Arrian is far more credible than the
highly wrought details given by Diodorus (xvii. 34) and Curtius
(iii. 11, 9) about a direct charge of Alexander upon the chariot
of Darius, and a murderous combat immediately round that chariot,
in which the horses became wounded and unmanageable, so as to
be on the point of overturning it. Chares even went so far
as to affirm that Alexander had come into personal conflict
with Darius, from whom he had received his wound in the thigh
(Plutarch, Alex. 20). Plutarch had seen the letter addressed by
Alexander to Antipater, simply intimating that he had received a
slight wound in the thigh.

In respect to this point, as to so many others, Diodorus and
Curtius have copied the same authority.

Kallisthenes (ap. Polyb. xii. 22) stated that Alexander had
laid his plan of attack with a view to bear upon the person of
Darius, which is not improbable (compare Xenoph. Anab. i. 8, 22),
and was in fact realized, since the first successful charge of
the Macedonians came so near to Darius as to alarm him for the
safety of his own person. To the question put by Polybius—How
did Alexander know in what part of the army Darius was?—we may
reply, that the chariot and person of Darius would doubtless be
conspicuous: moreover the Persian kings were habitually in the
centre—and Cyrus the younger, at the battle of Kunaxa, directed
the attack to be made exactly against the person of his brother
Artaxerxes.

After the battle of Kunaxa, Artaxerxes assumed to himself the
honor of having slain Cyrus with his own hand, and put to death
those who had really done the deed, because they boasted of it
(Plutarch, Artax. 16).

This great battle—we ought rather to say, that which ought to have been a great battle—was thus lost,—through the giving way of the Asiatic hoplites on the Persian left, and the immediate flight of Darius,—within a few minutes after its commencement. But the centre and right of the Persians, not yet apprised of these misfortunes, behaved with gallantry. When Alexander made his rapid dash forward with the right, under his own immediate command, the phalanx in his left centre (which was under Kraterus and Parmenio) either did not receive the same accelerating order, or found itself both retarded and disordered by greater steepness in the banks of the Pinarus. Here it was charged by the Grecian mercenaries, the best troops in the Persian service. The combat which took place was obstinate, and the Macedonian loss not inconsiderable; the general of division, Ptolemy son of Seleukus, with 120 of the front rank men or choice phalangites, being slain. But presently Alexander, having completed the rout on the enemies’ left, brought back his victorious troops from the pursuit, attacked the Grecian mercenaries in flank, and gave decisive superiority to their enemies. These Grecian mercenaries were beaten and forced to retire. On finding that Darius himself had fled, they got away from the field as well as they could, yet seemingly in good order. There is even reason to suppose that a part of them forced their way up the mountains or through the Macedonian line, and made their escape southward.[279]

[279] This is the supposition of Mr. Williams, and it appears
to me probable though Mr. Ainsworth calls it in question, in
consequence of the difficulties of the ground southward of
Myriandrus towards the sea. [See Mr. Ainsworth’s Essay on the
Cilician and Syrian Gates, Journal of the Geograph. Society,
1838, p. 194]. These Greeks, being merely fugitives with arms in
their hands—with neither cavalry nor baggage—could make their way
over very difficult ground.

Meanwhile on the Persian right, towards the sea, the heavy-armed Persian cavalry had shown much bravery. They were bold enough to cross the Pinarus[280] and vigorously to charge the Thessalians; with whom they maintained a close contest, until the news spread that Darius had disappeared, and that the left of the army was routed. They then turned their backs and fled, sustaining terrible damage from their enemies in the retreat. Of the Kardakes on the _right_ flank of the Grecian hoplites in the Persian line, we hear nothing, nor of the Macedonian infantry opposed to them. Perhaps these Kardakes came little into action, since the cavalry on their part of the field were so severely engaged. At any rate they took part in the general flight of the Persians, as soon as Darius was known to have left the field.[281]

[280] Arrian, ii. 11, 3; Curtius, iii. 11, 13. Kallisthenes
stated the same thing as Arrian—that this Persian cavalry had
crossed the Pinarus, and charged the Thessalians with bravery.
Polybius censures him for it, as if he had affirmed something
false and absurd (xii. 18). This shows that the criticisms of
Polybius are not to be accepted without reserve. He reasons as if
the Macedonian phalanx _could_ not cross the Pinarus—converting a
difficulty into an impossibility (xii. 22).

[281] Arrian, ii. 11; Curtius, iii. 11.

The rout of the Persians being completed, Alexander began a vigorous pursuit. The destruction and slaughter of the fugitives was prodigious. Amidst so small a breadth of practicable ground, narrowed sometimes into a defile and broken by frequent watercourses, their vast numbers found no room, and trod one another down. As many perished in this way as by the sword of the conquerors; insomuch that Ptolemy (afterwards king of Egypt, the companion and historian of Alexander) recounts that he himself in the pursuit came to a ravine choked up with dead bodies, of which he made a bridge to pass over it.[282] The pursuit was continued as long as the light of a November day allowed; but the battle had not begun till a late hour. The camp of Darius was taken together with his mother, his wife, his sister, his infant son, and two daughters. His chariot, his shield, and his bow also fell into the power of the conquerors; and a sum of 3000 talents in money was found, though much of the treasure had been sent to Damascus. The total loss of the Persians is said to have amounted to 10,000 horse and 100,000 foot; among the slain moreover were several eminent Persian grandees,—Arsames, Rheomithres, and Atizyes, who had commanded at the Granikus—Sabakes, satrap of Egypt. Of the Macedonians we are told that 300 foot and 150 horse were killed. Alexander himself was slightly wounded in the thigh by a sword.[283]

[282] Arrian, i. 11, 11; Kallisthenes ap. Polyb. xii 20.

[283] Arrian, ii. 11; Diodor. xvii. Curtius (ii. 11, 27) says
that the Macedonians lost thirty-two foot and one hundred and
fifty horse, killed; with 504 men wounded;—Justin states, 130
foot, and 150 horse (xi. 9).

The mother, wife, and family of Darius, who became captives, were treated by Alexander’s order with the utmost consideration and respect. When Alexander returned at night from the pursuit, he found the regal tent reserved and prepared for him. In an inner compartment of it he heard the tears and wailings of women. He was informed that the mourners were the mother and wife of Darius, who had learnt that the bow and shield of Darius had been taken, and were giving loose to their grief under the belief that Darius himself was killed. Alexander immediately sent Leonnatus to assure them that Darius was still living, and to promise further that they should be allowed to preserve the regal title and state—his war against Darius being undertaken not from any feelings of hatred, but as a fair contest for the empire of Asia.[284] Besides this anecdote, which depends on good authority, many others, uncertified or untrue, were recounted about his kind behavior to these princesses; and Alexander himself, shortly after the battle, seems to have heard fictions about it, which he thought himself obliged to contradict in a letter. It is certain, (from the extract now remaining of this letter) that he never saw, nor ever entertained the idea of seeing, the captive wife of Darius, said to be the most beautiful woman in Asia; moreover he even declined to hear encomiums upon her beauty.[285]

[284] Arrian, ii. 12, 8—from Ptolemy and Aristobulus. Compare
Diodor. xvii. 36; Curtius, iii. 11, 24; iii. 12, 17.

[285] Plutarch, Alex. 22. ἐγὼ γὰρ (Alexander) οὐχ ὅτι ἑωρακὼς ἂν
εὑρεθείην τὴν Δαρείου γυναῖκα ἢ βεβουλευμένος ἰδεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ
τῶν λεγόντων περὶ τῆς εὐμορφίας αὐτῆς προσδεδεγμένος τὸν λόγον.

How this vast host of fugitives got out of the narrow limits of Kilikia, or how many of them quitted that country by the same pass over Mount Amanus as that by which they had entered it—we cannot make out. It is probable that many, and Darius himself among the number, made their escape across the mountain by various subordinate roads and by-paths; which, though unfit for a regular army with baggage, would be found a welcome resource by scattered companies. Darius managed to get together 4000 of the fugitives, with whom he hastened to Thapsakus, and there recrossed the Euphrates. The only remnant of force, still in a position of defence after the battle, consisted of 8000 of the Grecian mercenaries under Amyntas and Thymôdes. These men, fighting their way out of Kilikia (seemingly towards the south, by or near Myriandrus), marched to Tripolis on the coast of Phenicia, where they still found the same vessels in which they had themselves been brought from the armament of Lesbos. Seizing sufficient means of transport, and destroying the rest to prevent pursuit, they immediately crossed over to Cyprus, and from thence to Egypt.[286] With this single exception, the enormous Persian host disappears with the battle of Issus. We hear of no attempt to rally or reform, nor of any fresh Persian force afoot until two years afterwards. The booty acquired by the victors was immense, not merely in gold and silver, but also in captives for the slave-merchant. On the morrow of the battle, Alexander offered a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving, with three altars erected on the banks of the Pinarus; while he at the same time buried the dead, consoled the wounded, and rewarded or complimented all who had distinguished themselves.[287]

[286] Arrian, ii. 13, 2, 3; Diodor. xvii. 48. Curtius says
that these Greeks got away by by-paths across the mountains
(Amanus)—which may be true (Curtius, iii. 11, 19).

[287] Arrian, ii. 12, 1; Curtius, iii. 12, 27; Diodor. xvii. 40.
The “Aræ Alexandri, in radicibus Amani”, are mentioned by Cicero
(ad Famil. xv. 4) When commanding in Kilikia he encamped there
with his army four days.