The Campaigns of Alexander (Classics) (24 page)

Four officers – Polysperchon, Attalus, Gorgias, and Meleager – were left in Bactria with instructions to destroy all natives who had refused submission and to keep a sharp look-out for any further trouble; and Alexander
himself, after crossing into Sogdiana, divided his remaining strength into five, one division to be commanded by Hephaestion, another by Ptolemy, son of Lagus, a third by Perdiccas, a fourth by Coenus and Artabazus. The fifth he took over himself and proceeded with it in the direction of Marakanda, while the other four commanders carried out offensive operations as opportunity offered, storming the forts where some of the native tribesmen were trying to hold out, or receiving the voluntary surrender of others.

The greater part of Sogdiana was covered by these operations, and when the whole force was reunited at Marakanda, Alexander sent Hephaestion to plant settlements in the various towns, and at the same time dispatched Coenus and Artabazus to Scythia, where Spitamenes, according to report, had taken refuge. Meanwhile Alexander with the remainder of his force marched against those parts of Sogdiana which were still in rebel hands, and had no difficulty in subduing them.

Spitamenes, while all this was going on, had made his way with a number of fugitives from Sogdiana to that branch of the Scythian people known as the Massagetae;
⁴⁴
there they got together 600 native horsemen and presented themselves at one of the forts in Bactria. Neither the garrison nor its commander had expected any hostile move; Spitamenes took them by surprise, killed the men, and captured their officer, whom he kept under guard. This success emboldened him a few days later to approach Zariaspa. They did not venture an assault upon the town, though they rounded up a lot of livestock and carried it off as booty.

A few men of the Companion cavalry had been left behind sick in Zariaspa, and among them were Sosicles’ son, Peitho, who had charge of all arrangements for the King’s personal comfort in that town, and the harp-player, Aristonicus. These two had sufficiently recovered to ride and bear arms when the Scythian raid occurred; so as soon as they knew of it, they got together about eighty mounted men – mercenaries, left to garrison the town – and with them and a few of the King’s boy squires rode out to the attack. The Scythians were taken by surprise, and the first charge was successful: they recovered all the stolen cattle and killed a number of the men who were driving them off; but as they were straggling back to the town, in a more or less go-as-you-please fashion, Spitamenes and his Scythians caught them in an ambush. Seven of the Companions were lost, and sixty mercenaries. Aristonicus, too, was killed – having fought, however, not like a harpist but like a man;
⁴⁵
and Peitho was wounded and taken prisoner.

As soon as he got the news of this action, Craterus lost no time in marching against the Massagetae, who withdrew hastily towards the desert when they observed his approach. Craterus followed them up, and not far from the edge of the desert made contact with them and another force of their mounted troops, over 1,000 strong. A sharp engagement ensued, in which the Macedonians were victorious. The Scythians lost 150 mounted men; the rest of them got safely away into the desert, Craterus finding it impracticable to continue his pursuit.

About this time Artabazus asked to be relieved of the governorship of Bactria on account of his age. Alexander
granted his request and appointed Amyntas, son of Nicolaus, in his place.
⁴⁶
He left Coenus in that part of the country with a force consisting of his own and Meleager’s battalions, about 400 Companions, all the javelin-men, and such troops from Bactria and Sogdiana as were attached to Amyntas. His instructions were that they should all take their orders from Coenus and winter in Sogdiana, partly as a precautionary measure, and partly on the chance that they might succeed in laying a trap for Spitamenes, should he be riding around in the neighbourhood in the course of the winter.

When Spitamenes found that the whole country was held by Macedonian garrisons and that there was little likelihood of escape for himself or his men, he determined to make a move against Coenus, in the hope of making a better fight of it in that part of the country. At Bagae, a stronghold of Sogdiana on the Massagetaean frontier, they had no difficulty in inducing a force of some 3,000 Scythian mounted troops to join them in a raid on Sogdiana. These Scythians are always ready at a word to take part in any fighting which may be going on: their extreme poverty might be reason enough; but, in addition to that, they have no towns, no settled homes, and consequently no cause to fear the loss of what is dearest to them.

Learning of the approach of Spitamenes’ cavalry, Coenus went out to meet them. There was a vigorous engagement, in which the Macedonians were successful; over 800 enemy horsemen were killed, while Coenus’ losses amounted to about twenty-five mounted men and twelve
infantrymen. While Spitamenes was trying to make his escape, he was deserted by most of the Bactrians and such troops from Sogdiana as were still with him. All these surrendered to Coenus. The Massagetae marked their defeat by plundering the baggage-trains of their late companions in battle, and then made off with Spitamenes for the desert; but no sooner had they learned that Alexander, too, was on the move towards the desert than they cut off Spitamenes’ head and sent it to him, in the hope that by this friendly act they might keep him from molesting them.

Meanwhile Alexander was rejoined at Nautaka by Coenus and Stasanor, satrap of Aria, and also by the troops under the command of Craterus and Phrataphernes, satrap of Parthia. These officers had successfully carried out all Alexander’s instructions.
⁴⁷
As it was now mid-winter, Alexander rested his men at Nautaka, and dispatched Phrataphernes to fetch Autophradates, the satrap of Mardia and Tapuria, who on a number of previous occasions had ignored Alexander’s orders to come and report himself. He sent Stasanor to take over the governorship of the Drangae, and Atropates to replace Oxodates in Media, as the latter appeared to be unreliable. Mazaeus, the governor of Babylon, being reported dead, Stamenes was sent to succeed him. Sopolis, Epocillus, and Menidas were ordered home to Macedonia to fetch reinforcements.

News had come in that a large number of the natives had taken refuge on the Rock of Sogdiana, and among them the wife and daughters of Oxyartes the Bactrian, who had himself refused to submit to Alexander and had
chosen this refuge for his family in the belief that the Rock was impregnable. It was the last stronghold of Sogdiana: should it fall, there would be nothing left for those who still hoped to offer resistance. To the Rock, therefore, Alexander advanced, at the beginning of spring.
⁴⁸

He found, on a near approach, that it rose sheer on every side against attack. The natives had provisioned it for a long siege, and deep snow on its summit caused the double disadvantage of making the ascent more awkward for the Macedonians and of ensuring the defenders an unlimited supply of water. None the less, Alexander determined on assault.

In point of fact the reason for his determination was something the natives had said, an offensive bit of bragging which made him angry and put him on his mettle. He had called on them to discuss terms, and offered to allow them to return unmolested to their homes on condition of surrendering the stronghold; but their answer to the offer was a shout of laughter. Then in their barbaric lingo they told Alexander to find soldiers with wings to capture the Rock for him, as no other sort of person could cause them the least anxiety. As a result of this, Alexander proclaimed that he would give a prize of twelve talents to the first man up, and of eleven to the second, and ten to the third, and so on to the twelfth, who would receive 300 gold darks.
⁴⁹
The men were keen enough already, but this proclamation was an added spur.

There were some 300 men who in previous sieges had had experience in rock-climbing. These now assembled. They had provided themselves with small iron tent-pegs,
which they proposed to drive into the snow, where it was frozen hard, or into any bit of bare earth they might come across, and they had attached to the pegs strong flaxen lines. The party set off under cover of darkness to the steepest part of the rock-face, which they knew was least likely to be guarded; then, driving their pegs either into bare ground or into such patches of snow as seemed most likely to hold under the strain, they hauled themselves up, wherever each could find a way. About thirty lost their lives during the ascent – falling in various places in the snow, their bodies were never recovered for burial – but the rest reached the top as dawn was breaking, and the summit of the Rock was theirs. Then, in accordance with Alexander’s orders, they signalled their success to the troops below by waving bits of linen, and Alexander sent a crier to shout the news to the enemy’s advanced posts that they might now surrender without further delay, as the men with wings had been found and were already in possession of the summit. And, as the crier gave them this information, Alexander pointed to his men, where they stood on top of the Rock.

The unexpectedness of the sight was a severe shock to the natives; indeed, they were so much alarmed by the handful of Macedonian troops they could actually see, that, imagining a larger force, and fully armed at that, must be in possession, they surrendered. Many women and children were among the prisoners – notably the wife and daughters of Oxyartes.

One of these daughters was named Roxane. She was a girl of marriageable age, and men who took part in the campaign used to say she was the loveliest woman they had seen in Asia, with the one exception of Darius’ wife. Alexander fell in love with her at sight; but, captive though she was, he refused, for all his passion, to force her
to his will, and condescended to marry her.
⁵⁰
For this act I have, on the whole, more praise than blame.

As for Darius’ wife, said to be the most beautiful woman in Asia, either he felt for her no desire, or, if he did, he controlled it, in spite of the fact that he was both young and on top of the world – a combination of circumstances which leads most men to all sorts of excess. But he respected her and let her alone. In this he showed great restraint – and also, no doubt, a quite natural anxiety to be well spoken of.
⁵¹

There is a story about Darius
⁵²
that shortly after the battle of Issus the eunuch who had charge of his wife succeeded in making his way to him. Darius’ first question was whether his mother, wife, and children were still alive, and hearing that they not only were, but were also addressed by the title of princess and treated with as much ceremony as when he was on the throne, he proceeded to inquire if his wife still preserved her chastity.

‘She does,’ replied the eunuch.

‘And has Alexander offered her no violence – no insult?’

‘My lord,’ exclaimed the eunuch with an oath, ‘your wife is as you left her, and Alexander is the best of men and the least ready to yield to temptation.’

Darius raised his hands to heaven in prayer. ‘My lord Zeus,’
⁵³
he cried, ‘to whom it is given to order the affairs
of kings in this world, keep safe for me now the empire over the Medes and Persians, even as once you gave it me; but, if it is no longer your will that I be King of Asia, then entrust my throne, I pray, to no man but Alexander’. Thus even enemies are not indifferent to honourable deeds.

When Oxyartes learned that his daughters were prisoners, the further intelligence that Alexander was interested in Roxane emboldened him to present himself, and Alexander as was only proper in these happy circumstances, treated him with all respect.

With the capture of the Rock, the operations in Sogdiana were successfully concluded, and Alexander’s next move was to the territory of the Pareitacae, where a large force of natives were said to be holding another rock fortress, the Rock of Chorienes.
⁵⁴
Chorienes himself, with many others of eminence in the country, had taken refuge there. This rock, some 12,000 feet high and about seven miles in circumference, rose sheer on every side; there was only one way up, by a narrow and difficult track hewn out of the rock-face and consequently awkward to ascend even in single file and without opposition. The fortress was further defended all round by a deep ravine, so that any attempt to assault it would have to be preceded by the labour of filling this up, to enable the attack to be launched from level ground. However, the reckless courage engendered by success had by this time brought Alexander to believe that there was no place where he might not set his foot and no fortress which could hold out against him; so, despite the difficulties, he set to work. Felling some of the lofty pine-trees, which grew in large numbers round the base of the hill, he had ladders constructed to enable his men to descend into the ravine,
which would have been impracticable by other means. Alexander personally superintended the work during the day, half his men being on duty; at night the other half came on, divided into three shifts, under the respective command of his Guards, Perdiccas, Leonnatus, and Ptolemy, son of Lagus. It was such an awkward spot to work in, and the work itself so hard, that about thirty feet was all they could manage in a daylight shift, and rather less at night, though the entire army was employed. The method they used was to climb right down to the narrowest part of the ravine and drive in stakes properly spaced to carry the load to be laid on them, which consisted of wattles (as in bridge-building) bound firmly together, with a layer of soil on top. In this way the troops would be enabled to get to the base of the rock across level ground.

In its early stages the enemy contemptuously ignored the whole thing as a hopeless undertaking; but as the work proceeded arrows began to find their mark; all attempts to dislodge the Macedonians by missile attacks from above proved abortive, and the work continued in perfect security under the protection of screens. Faced by this unexpected situation, Chorienes lost his nerve, and sent a messenger to Alexander with a request that Oxyartes should be allowed to come to him. Alexander agreed, and Oxyartes urged Chorienes to give up the stronghold and surrender to Alexander. Against Alexander and his men no place in the world, he declared, was impregnable; on the other hand, should the question of a loyal and friendly agreement arise, he had nothing but praise for Alexander’s sense of honour and justice. Of this there were many examples, if proof were wanted, and not least the treatment he had himself received. Chorienes allowed himself to be persuaded; he came to Alexander together
with some of his kinsmen and friends, and received from him a kindly assurance of friendship. Alexander kept him at his side, and told him to send back to the fortress with a demand for its surrender certain of the men he had brought down with him. The troops holding out there duly surrendered it, and Alexander himself subsequently ascended the rock, out of curiosity to see it, with a party of some 500 Guards. Chorienes he treated with the utmost consideration, actually putting the control of the rock into his hands and letting him continue to administer the same territory as before.