The Campaigns of Alexander (Classics) (19 page)

Alexander’s advance was rapid and unhesitating; he seized the pass before the natives could reach it, and from this commanding position began, in battle order, to move down to the attack. So swiftly had he acted that the Uxians were taken hopelessly by surprise: robbed of the position in which their chief advantage lay, they made no attempt at resistance, but incontinently fled. Some were killed as they tried to get away, and many more on the rough and precipitous mountain track; most of them, however, managed to reach the hills, where they perished at the hands of Craterus and his men. Such were the ‘dues’ paid by Alexander to the Uxians; they had hard work, moreover, in persuading him to allow them to keep possession of their territory upon payment of an annual tribute. Ptolemy, son of Lagus, states that Darius’ mother begged Alexander on their behalf to let them remain in their old homes. The tribute was assessed at 100 horses a year, 500 mules, and 30,000 sheep – the Uxians possessed no money and no arable land, being for the most part herdsmen.

After this Parmenio was given orders to proceed by the main road into Persia with the Thessalian cavalry, the allied and mercenary contingents, all the other more heavily armed units, and the baggage-trains; Alexander himself, at the head of a force consisting of the Macedonian infantry, the Companion cavalry, the Agrianes, archers, and advanced scouts, set off with all speed
through the hills.
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At the Persian Gates he encountered Ariobarzanes, the satrap of the province, who had already built defences across the pass and with a force of about 40,000 foot and 700 horse had taken up a position there to prevent Alexander from getting through. Alexander checked his advance, but on the following day moved to the assault of the pass. It proved a hard task, as the enemy were in a commanding position and the ground was far from favourable to an attacker; they suffered severely from missiles hurled or catapulted from above, and Alexander was compelled to make a temporary withdrawal to his original position. His prisoners, however, undertook to show him another way round by which he could reach the further side of the pass; the track he was to follow was, he understood, a rough and narrow one, so he instructed Craterus to remain behind with his own and Meleager’s battalion, a few archers, and about 500 mounted troops, and to attack the defences of the pass as soon as he was sure that the advanced party were safely round to the further side and were actually approaching the Persian position. The timing of this movement would cause no difficulty, as he would get a signal from the trumpeters.

Alexander moved off under a cover of darkness and after a march of some twelve miles detached a force consisting of the Guards, Perdiccas’ battalion, the most lightly armed of the archers, the Agrianes, the Royal Squadron of the Companions, and one double squadron of cavalry; with these troops he then made a turning movement and, still guided by the prisoners, went straight for the pass. Amyntas, Philotas, and Coenus had orders meanwhile to take the remainder of the troops down the hills and to bridge the river which would have to be crossed before
entering the province of Persia. The track Alexander had to follow was still a rough and difficult one; however, he lost no time, taking most of it at the double. He was on top of the first enemy outpost before daylight, overwhelmed it and most of the second as well; nearly all the men in the third got away – not, however, back to the army, which they made no attempt to rejoin, but in panic flight to the hills – so that Alexander was enabled just before dawn to make a surprise attack on Ariobarzanes’ main position. As he fell upon the trench, the trumpets sounded, and Craterus, accordingly, immediately moved to the assault of the outer defences on the other side. The enemy were properly caught; making no attempt at resistance, they would have fled for their lives had it been possible, but the Macedonians were all round them, on one side Alexander pressing his attack, on the other Craterus and his men rapidly thrusting forward, so that most of them had no option but to turn back to the inner defences in the hope of saving themselves there. But these defences too were already in Macedonian hands, for Alexander, having foreseen how things would go, had left Ptolemy there with 3,000 infantrymen, who in some close fighting cut the greater part of the enemy to pieces. A few escaped, but in their desperate efforts to avoid destruction leapt to their death over the edge of the cliffs. Ariobarzanes and a few mounted men got clear away into the hills.

Alexander now pressed on with all speed to the river. It was already bridged and the army crossed without difficulty. Thence he marched to Persepolis with such rapidity that the garrison had no time to plunder the city’s treasure before his arrival.
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He also captured the treasure
of Cyrus the First at Pasargadae.
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He appointed Phrasaortes son of Rheomithras, to the governorship of Persepolis. He burnt the palace of the Persian kings, though this act was against the advice of Parmenio, who urged him to spare it for various reasons, chiefly because it was hardly wise to destroy what was now his own property, and because the Asians would, in his opinion, be less willing to support him if he seemed bent merely upon passing through their country as a conqueror rather than upon ruling it securely as a king. Alexander’s answer was that he wished to punish the Persians for their invasion of Greece; his present act was retribution for the destruction of Athens, the burning of the temples, and all the other crimes they had committed against the Greeks. My own view is that this was bad policy; moreover it could hardly be considered as punishment for Persians long since dead and gone.
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Having learned that Darius was in Media, Alexander made that country his next objective. Darius had decided, in the event of Alexander’s stopping in the neighbourhood of Susa and Babylon, to remain in Media and to watch for any new move which he might make; if, on the other hand, Alexander advanced directly to attack him, he proposed to withdraw up-country to Parthia and Hyrcania
and on to Bactria, scorching the earth as he went in order to impede any further advance by his enemy. His women and covered waggons and such other gear as he still had with him he sent to the pass known as the Caspian Gates, while he himself held on in Ecbatana with such troops as he had managed, in the circumstances, to get together.
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It was the report of this which induced Alexander to start for Media without delay. On the way he invaded and subdued the Paraetacae and left as governor there Oxathres son of Abulites, the governor of Susa; then, a report reaching him that Darius who had been reinforced by troops from Scythia and Cadusia had determined upon risking another encounter, he proceeded in full battle order with the main body of his army, leaving the baggage-trains to follow on with their guards and all the rest of the stores.

Within twelve days he was in Media, where he learned that no Scythian or Cadusian reinforcements had reached Darius; his army was too weak to risk a battle, and he had determined upon a further withdrawal. Alexander, accordingly, increased the speed of his advance. About three days’ march from Ecbatana he was met by Bisthanes son of Ochus, Darius’ predecessor oh the throne, and was informed by him that Darius had already been in retreat for five days; he was taking with him his treasure from Media amounting to 7,000 talents, and had a force of 3,000 cavalry and about 6,000 infantry.

At Ecbatana Alexander dismissed his Thessalian cavalry and the other allied contingents and ordered them back to the Aegean.
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The agreed amount of pay was settled in
full, with a sum of 2,000 talents added by Alexander as gratuity. Any man who wished on his own account to continue his service as a paid soldier was to have his name entered on the pay-roll, and a considerable number thus voluntarily enlisted; the remainder were put under the command of Epocillus son of Polyeides with orders to march back to the Aegean. They were given a mounted guard, as the Thessalians had sold their horses. Instructions were added that when they reached the coast, Menes should attend to their transport by sea to Euboea. Parmenio was ordered to transfer the captured Persian treasure to the citadel in Ecbatana and hand it over for safe keeping to Harpalus, who had been left in charge of it with a guard of 6,000 Macedonians, a few light troops, and some cavalry.
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Parmenio was then to proceed through Cadusia to Hyrcania with the mercenaries, the Thracians, and all cavalry units except those of the Companions; Cleitus, the commander of the Royal Squadron, who had been left behind on the sick-list in Susa, was ordered, as soon as he should arrive in Ecbatana, to start for Parthia with the Macedonian troops which had been left to guard the treasure. Alexander himself also proposed to make for Parthia.
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Without delay Alexander’s march began, its objective Darius. His force consisted of the Companion cavalry, the advanced scouts, the mercenary cavalry under Erigyius’ command, the Macedonian heavy infantry (all of it except those sections detailed to guard the treasure), the archers, and the Agrianes. So rapid was the march that many of
the men, unable to stand the pace, dropped out, and a number of horses were worked to death; but Alexander pressed on regardless of loss, and in eleven days reached Rhagae, a day’s march – at this speed – from the Caspian Gates.
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Darius, however, had already passed through.

Many of Darius’ men had deserted during the course of his retreat and dispersed to their homes, and a considerable number had surrendered to Alexander, who now, abandoning hope of overtaking Darius, halted for a five days’ rest. He appointed to the governorship of Media a Persian named Oxodates, a man who had been arrested by Darius and confined in Susa – a circumstance which induced Alexander to trust him. Then he moved on towards Parthia. At the end of the first day’s march he halted close to the Caspian Gates; on the second day he passed through, and advanced to the limit of cultivated land; then, on a report that the country beyond was uninhabited, he dispatched Coenus with a party of mounted troops and a few infantrymen to forage for supplies.

At this juncture two important persons in Darius’ army, Bagistanes, a Babylonian nobleman, and Antibelus, one of Mazaeus’ sons, sought an interview with Alexander. Admitted to his presence, they reported that Darius had been forcibly seized and put under arrest by Nabarzanes, commander of the cavalry which had accompanied his retreat, Bessus, satrap of Bactria, and Barsaentes, satrap of Arachotia and Drangiana. Instantly Alexander was on the march again, with greater rapidity than ever; he did not even wait for Coenus’ foraging party, and the only troops he took with him were the Companions, the advanced scouts, and a picked body of the toughest of his light infantry. His other men he put under Craterus’ command,
with orders to follow on at their own pace. His own force carried nothing but their weapons and two days’ rations. Marching all night and half the following day, he stopped at noon for a brief rest; then he was off again and, after a second all-night march, reached at daybreak the camp where Bagistanes had been before his visit. It was empty – the enemy had gone. He learned, however, that the story of Darius’ arrest was true; he was being taken off in a covered wagon and Bessus had assumed power in his place. Bessus had received the royal salute from the Bactrian cavalry and all the Persians who had been with Darius on his retreat, except Artabazus and his sons – and the Greek mercenaries – who remained loyal. These, unable to prevent what had taken place, had left the main road and made for the hills on their own, refusing to take any part in the action of Bessus and his supporters. Darius’ captors had determined to hand him over if they heard that Alexander was after them, and thus get favourable terms for themselves; if, on the other hand, there should be no pursuit, they proposed to muster as large a force as they could and unite in preserving their power. For the time being Bessus was in command, as he was related to Darius, and also because it was in his province that this daring act had taken place.

The news made it plain to Alexander that he must continue to press his pursuit without a moment’s delay. His men and horses were both pretty well exhausted already by their unremitting exertions, but Alexander drove them forward none the less, and after covering a great deal of ground during the night and the following morning reached about noon a village where Darius and his captors had stopped the previous day. Learning that they had resolved to continue their journey by night, he asked the natives of the place if they knew a short cut by which he
could catch up with them. They said they did – but the way was through uninhabited country and there was no water – but no matter: Alexander at once ordered them to act as guides.

He knew that the pace would be too much for his infantry, so he dismounted about 500 cavalrymen and mounted in their place the toughest and fittest officers of his infantry and other units, ordering them to keep their own arms and equipment; Nicanor and Attalus, who commanded, respectively, the Guards and Agrianes, were instructed to take the remainder of the force by the way already followed by Bessus and his party; they were to proceed as lightly equipped as was possible, and the rest of the infantry were to follow in their regular formation. Alexander himself then started off again at dusk with all the speed he could make, and covering some fifty miles in the course of the night, came up with the Persians just as dawn was breaking. They were straggling along unarmed; only a few made any offer of resistance; most of them incontinently fled the moment they saw it was Alexander himself who was upon them. Those who attempted to fight also made off after losing a few men. Bessus and his friends did not at once abandon the attempt to get Darius away in the wagon, but when Alexander was close upon them, Nabarzanes and Barsaentes struck him down and left him and made their escape with 600 horsemen. The wound proved fatal, and Darius died shortly afterwards, before Alexander could see him.
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