[351] Plutarch, Alexand. 28. Arrian, hints at the same explanation (vii. 29, 6).
[352] Curtius, iv. 10, 3—“fastidio esse patriam, abdicari Philippum patrem cœlum vanis cogitationibus petere.” Arrian, iii. 26, 1; Curtius, vi. 9, 18; vi. 11, 23.
[353] Curtius, iv. 8, 11.
[354] Arrian, iii. 2, 8, 9.
[355] Curtius, iv. 8, 10.
[356] Plutarch, Alexand. 29; Arrian, l. c.
[357] Arrian, iii. 6, 12.
[358] Arrian, iii. 7, 1-6; Curtius, iv. 9, 12—“undecimis castris pervenit ad Euphraten.”
[359] So Alexander considers Babylon (Arrian, ii. 17, 3-10)—προχωρησάντων ξὺν τῇ δυνάμει ἐπὶ Βαβυλῶνά τε καὶ Δαρεῖον ... τόν τε ἐπὶ Βαβυλῶνος στόλον ποιησόμεθα, etc. This is the explanation of Arrian’s remark, iii. 7, 6—where he assigns the reason why Alexander, after passing the Euphrates at Thapsakus, did not take the straight road towards Babylon. Cyrus the younger marched directly to Babylon to attack Artaxerxes. Susa, Ekbatana, and Persepolis were more distant, and less exposed to an enemy from the west.
[360] Arrian, iii. 7, 8; Diodor. xvii. 55; Curtius. iv. 9, 17-24. “Magna munimenta regni Tigris atque Euphrates erant”, is a part of the speech put into the mouth of Darius before the battle of Arbela, by Curtius, (iv. 14, 10). Both these great defences were abandoned.