The Story of Alexander

by Robert Steele

CHAPTER VIII. TELLS HOW DARIUS THE EMPEROR SENT PRESENTS TO ALEXANDER, AND WHAT WAS THE PRESENT SENT BACK TO HIM.

But it fell that some of them of Tyre had fled into the court of Darius, and they complained to him of their city destroyed, and “all this,” said they, “we suffered because we obeyed the great king, the Emperor Darius.” Then began the Emperor to question them concerning this Alexander, what manner of man he was, what was his stature and his strength, whether he were brave or no. And they, willing to bring shame on the name of their enemy, shewed Darius a painting of him on parchment. But when Darius looked on it he burst into laughter, and all men smiled, and he said: “Well for ye, ye men of Tyre, if ye were beaten by such a man as this, for never saw I such a warrior,” for they had painted him a little shrivelled creature, more like an ape than a man, with long arms, and one leg longer than the other, blinking and stupid, the most miserable object that had ever been seen. And Darius drove the men of Tyre from his presence, and asked his wise men concerning Alexander, who and what manner of man he was; and they told him how he was the king’s son of Macedon, and how they had chosen him as fit to be the husband of Roxana, and how he had rejected him because of his small stature.

Then Darius bade search for his portrait and bring it before him that he might look on him; but when they sought it they found it not among the other likenesses, for it is to be said that Roxana the Queen had borne it with her and treasured it up with her chief treasures. So he thought within himself that he would prove the heart and wit of the Greek, and he commanded, and they brought him presents for Alexander, and first was a ball covered with gold; “for,” said he, “he must have something to play with;” then he added a hat, “and,” said he, “this is better than a crown;” and last they brought him a head-covering made of twigs and osiers; “this is better for such an one as thou, O Alexander, than a bright steel helm.” And Darius fell back upon his throne, laughing, and ordered messengers to take them to Alexander, bearing with them a letter under his broad seal.

So Darius called for his scribes, and they came before him, and he ordered them to write a letter to Alexander, and this was the form of the letter he wrote:

“DARIUS, the Emperor, king of kings, lord of lords, predecessor of princes, equal to the Sun, the lord of the earth, to Alexander, our subject and our servant.

“For it is reported to us that thou, through the vanity and vainglory of thy heart, hast got together warriors to lay waste parts of our kingdom, and hast now with thee a number of wretches, thieves and vagabonds, and by their means dost think to wield at thy will the power of Persia:

“Now, therefore, be warned in time, for thou art weak before me, even if thou hadst gathered against my empire all the men in the world outside it, for my people are so many that they are like to the stars of heaven in number. Submit in time; the Persians are famed to be unbeaten.

“It is told me that thou, a dwarf and weakling, dost covet the rule of all the lands under the wide heavens, and that, like a storm of wind-blown snow, driven hither and thither, thou passest over all lands with a train of ruffians behind thee. I have not yet armed my men against thee; beware, when my hand shall be raised, thy life is done. Turn again, boy, to thy mother’s care; take these toys I send thee. Know that the riches of Persia are so great, that a heap of its gold would shut out the light of the sun, and blame thyself for all the evils that shall fall on thee if thou disobey.

“Now, therefore, return at once to Macedon, or, not as the son of Philip, but as a leader of a band of petty thieves shalt thou be hung.”

And when the letter was written the bearer of the kind’s seal came forward, and the letter was closed, and cords of green silk run through the edges, and dipped in wax, and the great seal was stamped upon the wax, and it was given to the messengers of the king, with strait commandment that they should tarry neither night nor day until the king’s letter was given into the hands of Alexander.

When he saw the letter, his heart was filled with rage nevertheless he read it out in the hearing of his knights & nobles & they were moved with fear.

Now, Alexander was standing in the midst of his barons when the messengers of Darius arrived, and as their commandment was urgent, he bade them to be brought to him at once. And when he saw the letter his heart was filled with rage, nevertheless he read it out in the hearing of his knights and nobles; and when these heard it their hearts were moved with fear of the mighty words of Darius. So Alexander looked on them and he saw that they were afraid, and he spoke to them: “What now! my worthy warriors, my bold knights and barons, the best under heaven that ever king had, let it never be told against you that the proud boasting of a letter of Darius brought you to doubt yourselves, else were it shame indeed. Look you, now, every day we ride through a village you may hear as loud a yelping from any cur at a cottage door, but loud as they bark they never bite. But methinks his letter should rather make you rejoice, when he tells you what treasure of gold he has, for it needs but to be bold and that treasure shall be yours.” And then the anger in the king’s heart broke out, and turning to the messengers of Darius, he said: “But for ye, that dare to bring such threats to a Greek, ye shall learn the anger of Alexander. Take them by the throats,” said he to the attendants, “and for their master’s sake, hang them on the gallows.”

Then the messengers were amazed, and with a keen cry called to Alexander: “Alas, O king, what fault lies in us, if it please thee, that we should die thus suddenly.” “The sayings of your sovereign lord,” said he, “force me to such deeds as I would never have done else: lo, now, he calls me a thief in this letter.” But they fell on their knees before him and said: “O king, Darius himself dictated those words, for he knew not of your knighthood, nor of your strength, nor of your worthiness, and so he wrote boldly; but grant us our lives, and leave to go, and we will show him all your power and your might.” So Alexander forgave them and made them a great feast in his own tent, and made much of them, so that he won their hearts; and they said to him: “Sir Alexander, send with us, we pray thee, but one thousand of your knights, and we will deliver Darius into your hands.” But the king answered them with little love: “Rejoice in your feast, O messengers; verily no knight of mine shall be sent to aid in betraying your lord.”

But in the night, one of the Persian messengers, a little man and a crooked, having one arm longer than the other, came to the tent of the king, and when he was admitted he asked that all men might be put forth. So they were left alone, and the messenger drew from his breast a leathern roll, and in it was a blue embroidered silk bag of fair work, the lion on one side and the rising sun on the other, and he laid it in the hand of the king. Then Alexander opened it, and found within a scarf of green covered with fair half-open flowers, and he looked on the messenger, and he answered: “O king, the fairest dame in Persia sends thee this to the end that thou mayest wear it in thy helm. One day, if the gods will, thou shalt see her and know her name.” Then the messenger bowed low, and went his way to his fellows, and all men slept.

The next day the messengers were called before Alexander and his council, and a letter was given them, closely sealed up, to bear to Darius. Now this was the form of the letter:

“I, ALEXANDER OF MACEDON, son and heir of Philip the defender of Greece, and of Olympias the fair, to thee Darius, prince of the Persians, the conqueror of every land—as you say yourself—thus write under my seal.

“Let no man despise any neighbour who seems to be smaller and poorer than himself, since the lowest is often raised to the heavens, and the proudest ground to dust. And thou, Emperor of the World as thou callest thyself, dost dishonour to thy name when thou sendest such gifts out of Persia. Thou speakest as if thou wert one of the gods that cannot die. I am but a mortal man, and will attack thee.

“Thou hast destroyed thine own renown. If I am beaten, thou thyself hast called me but a petty thief, and no honour shalt thou have: if I overcome thee, the greater glory is mine, and men shall ever tell how I have conquered a king, the greatest in the world. Nevertheless I hope that one of thy tales is true, that of the greatness of thy riches, for it has raised our hopes, and sharpened our wits, and made us eager for battle, that we may the sooner exchange our poverty for thy riches.

“But as for thy presents, know, O Darius, that the ball thou hast sent represents the world, and thou hast handed over the mastery of the world to me: the hollow hat held before the head when it is bowed, shows that all kings shall bow before me: and this headpiece of twigs is to say that ever shall I overcome, and be overcome never. In the day of thy defeat, O Darius, remember my interpretation of thy gifts.”

Then great gifts were given to the messengers, and they were sent out of the camp to Darius, and Alexander made all his preparations for the war against the Persians. But when Darius had read the letter of Alexander, and heard the words of the messengers, he was sore angered, and he made up his mind to fall on the Greeks and to destroy the power of Alexander. So he wrote to two of his greatest satraps, the duke Priam and the duke Antigonus, ordering them to get their forces together and to go out and seize this insolent lad who was so bold as to defy the army of the Persians, and who had entered the borders of Asia with such a large number of followers. “Then,” said Darius, “bring him bound to me, that he may be well beaten with scourges and then I will sew him up in a mantle of bright purple and send him to his mother. Since he is so proud, the punishment of a child will be best for him, and when all is over he may play at home at bowls or handball with his mother’s servants.”

Now this letter reached the dukes soon after they had fought a great battle with Alexander’s men and had been defeated; so when they had broken the king’s broad seal and turned the leaf to read the letter, they looked on one another, and they thought that Darius could not know what manner of man Alexander was, or how hard it was to stand before him in battle. So Sir Priam the duke wrote to Darius by a special messenger that this child, whom they had been ordered to seize, had wasted all their lands, and had passed through the province, and that when they had raised an army to meet him, neither prince nor soldier could face him sword in hand: and the letter ended by begging the king to come at once to their aid with as many men as he could, that the honour of Persia might not be put to shame.

So Darius called a council to advise him as to the best means of meeting Alexander, but before they were met another messenger came with tidings that the Greeks had crossed the river that was called the boundary of Persia, and that they were now in the Emperor’s own land. And when this was told the council all men wondered how that Alexander should be so bold as to enter Persia, or to disobey the letter of Darius, and they advised the king to write once again to him, reproving him, and that if he still disobeyed, that he should be crushed to the earth, and the king did so, for he knew not how a man could disobey his order.

The tale tells that when this letter reached Alexander it found him in great grief, for messengers had come from Macedon telling that his mother was like to die, and Alexander had bidden his men strike their tents and return home to Macedon. So the messengers drew near trembling, and gave the letter of Darius to Alexander, and with it was a glove full of poppy seeds, which are almost the smallest of all seeds. So Alexander read the letter and he laughed out, for Darius had told him that even the gods obeyed him on earth, and now bade him return to Macedonia ere his wrath should arise. “And as a token,” added Darius, “I send thee this glove full of seeds, count them if thou canst, and thou hast the number of knights in my army. But the seeds are numberless, and so are the soldiers I rule.”

Then Alexander called to him the messengers, and said: “Hearken, and tell the king that which you see and hear.” Then he took the glove and poured out some of the seeds into his hand, and biting them he said: “Here I see that the soldiers of Darius are passing many, but they seem to be soft and feeble, as these seeds prove. But be they soft or hard, it matters but little.” And he wrote a letter to Darius telling him that though he was returning to Macedon it was not on account of the threats of the Persians, but because his mother was at point of death, and that he would return with an army larger than before. “And in answer to thy glove full of seeds, I send thee a purse full of black pepper, that thou mayst see the comparison between the Persian and the Macedonian.”