83. The Macedonian phalanx, which formed the center of Alexander’s army, was the most effective body of heavy-armed troops known to ancient tactics. The men were placed sixteen deep, armed with the sarissa, or long pike, twenty-four feet in length. When set for action, the spear-heads of the first six ranks projected from the front. In receiving a charge, the shield of each man, held over the head with the left arm, overlapped that of his neighbor; so that the entire body resembled a monster clothed in the shell of a tortoise and the bristles of a porcupine. So long as it held together, the phalanx was invincible. Whether it advanced its vast weight upon an enemy like a solid wall of steel bristling with spear-points, or, kneeling, with each pike planted in the ground, awaited the attack, few dared to encounter it.
84. Battle of Arbela. On the morning of the 1st of October, B. C. 331, the two great forces met upon the plain of Gaugame´la. Alexander fought at the head of his cavalry, on the right of his army. Darius, in the Persian center, animated his men both by word and example. Both sides fought with wonderful bravery, but the perfect discipline of the Macedonians gained at length a complete victory. The Persian war-chariots, which, with long scythes extending from their wheels, were intended to make great havoc among the Greek horse, were rendered useless by a detachment of light-armed troops trained for the purpose, who, first wounding horses and drivers with their javelins, ran beside the horses and cut the traces or seized the reins, while the few which reached the Macedonian front were allowed to pass between files which opened to receive them, and were easily captured in the rear. Five brigades of the phalanx bore down the Greek mercenaries who were opposed to them, and penetrated to the Persian center, where Darius commanded in person. The king’s charioteer was killed by a javelin; he himself mounted a fleet horse and galloped from the field.
Elsewhere the issue of the day was much more doubtful for Alexander; but the news of Darius’s flight disheartened his officers, and spurred the Macedonians, who were outnumbered and almost overpowered, to fresh exertions. A party of Persian and Indian horsemen, who were plundering the Macedonian camp, were put to flight by a reserve corps of the phalanx. The fugitive king, followed at length by his whole army, directed his course to the city of Arbe´la, twenty miles distant, where his military treasures were deposited. The river Ly´cus lay in their way, crossed only by a narrow bridge, and the number of Persians drowned in this rapid stream exceeded even those who had perished upon the battle-field.
85. The next day Alexander arrived at Arbela and took possession of its treasures. The Persian king, unhappily for himself, had escaped a generous conqueror only to fall into the hands of his treacherous satrap Bes´sus. This man had led a division of the Persian army in the battle of Arbela, but finding his master’s fortunes ruined, had plotted with some fellow-officers to seize his person, and either put him to death or deliver him to Alexander, hoping thus to gain for themselves important commands. Loaded with chains, the unhappy king was carried away by his servants in their flight toward Hyrca´nia; but Alexander’s troops pressed them closely, and finding escape impossible, they mortally wounded their captive and left him by the road-side to die.
The former lord of Asia was indebted to a Macedonian soldier, who brought him a cup of cold water, for the last act of attendance. He assured the man that his inability to reward this service added bitterness to his dying moments; but commended him to Alexander, whose generosity he himself had proved, and who would not fail to honor this his last request. The conqueror came up while the lifeless remains of Darius still lay by the road-side. Deeply moved, he threw his own royal mantle over the body of his foe, and ordered that a magnificent procession should convey the last of the Persian kings to the tomb of his fathers. In the battle of Arbela the Persian empire fell. The reduction of the provinces occupied the few remaining years of Alexander’s life; but their submission was certain from the moment when the forces of Asia were put to flight and their monarch was a captive.
RECAPITULATION.
Xerxes, having re-conquered Egypt, and laid all his empire under contribution, led into Europe the largest army which the world has seen. He gained the pass of Thermopylæ by treachery, but his fleet was shattered by storms and utterly defeated at Salamis. The war ended, the following year, in the overthrow of Mardonius at Platæa, and the destruction of a Persian fleet and army at Mycale. The forty years’ reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus began the decline of the empire. A fresh immigration of liberated Jews re-fortified Jerusalem, and the books of the Old Testament were for the first time collected and arranged. The feud with the Samaritans was perpetuated by their building a rival temple on Mount Gerizim. In the reign of Darius II many provinces revolted, and Egypt remained independent sixty years. Upon the death of Darius, his younger son Cyrus, with the aid of 10,000 Spartan mercenaries, made war upon his brother Artaxerxes Mnemon, but he was defeated and slain at Cunaxa. A general war followed, in which Sparta was humbled by the combined forces of Persia and the minor states of Greece, and the treaty of Antalcidas made the great king arbiter in Grecian affairs. Artaxerxes III, having murdered all his kindred, re-conquered Syria, Phœnicia, and Egypt. He was destroyed, with all his children, by Bagoas, his minister, who conferred the sovereignty on Darius Codomannus. This last of the Achaemenidæ was defeated by Alexander the Great at Issus, and finally at Arbela; and all the dominions of Persia became parts of the Macedonian Empire.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW.
Book II.
| 1. | Who and what were the Persians? | [§ 1.] |
| 2. | What were their relations with the Medes? | [Book I, 39]; [Book II, 2]. |
| 3. | What led to the revolution in the Medo-Persian dominion? | [3], [4]. |
| 4. | Describe the wars of Cyrus. | [5], [7], [9]. |
| 5. | His treatment of the Lydians. | [6.] |
| 6. | What led to the return of the Jews? | [8.] |
| 7. | What was the character of Cambyses? | [12.] |
| 8. | Describe his Egyptian campaign. | [13.] |
| 9. | His operations beyond Egypt. | [14], [15]. |
| 10. | His behavior at Memphis. | [17.] |
| 12. | The last days of Cambyses. | [18.] |
| 13. | The reign and dethronement of the false Smerdis. | [19.] |
| 14. | The revolts against Darius Hystaspes. | [20.] |
| 15. | His system of government. | [21], [22]. |
| 16. | His court and retinue. | [23], [24]. |
| 17. | Compare the religious systems of the Persians, Hindus, and Medes. | [25-28.] |
| 18. | What causes of corruption in the Persian court? | [29.] |
| 19. | Describe the wars of Darius I. | [30-32.] |
| 20. | The causes and incidents of the Ionian revolt. | [33], [34]. |
| 21. | The Persian measures of revenge against the Athenians. | [35-40.] |
| 22. | The memorials of Darius Hystaspes. | [41 and Note.] |
| 23. | Describe the beginning of Xerxes’ reign. | [42], [43]. |
| 24. | His preparations against Greece. | [44-46.] |
| 25. | The passage of the Hellespont. | [47.] |
| 26. | The magnitude of the army. | [48], [49]. |
| 27. | The first battle with the Greeks. | [51.] |
| 28. | The disasters by sea. | [52.] |
| 29. | What occurred at Delphi? At Athens? At Salamis? | [53-55.] |
| 30. | Describe the retreat of Xerxes, and his subsequent career. | [56], [58]. |
| 31. | The operations of Mardonius in Greece. | [57.] |
| 32. | The accession of Artaxerxes Longimanus. | [59.] |
| 33. | The revolts during his reign. | [60], [61]. |
| 34. | The affairs of the Jews under Artaxerxes. | [62-64.] |
| 35. | Who were the next three kings? | [65-67.] |
| 36. | What was the condition of the kingdom under Darius II? | [67], [68]. |
| 37. | Describe the enterprise of Cyrus the younger. | [69-71.] |
| 38. | Its results to the Greeks. | [72], [73]. |
| 39. | The reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon. | [74.] |
| 40. | The reign of Artaxerxes III. | [75-77.] |
| 41. | Who succeeded him? | [78.] |
| 42. | What was the character of Darius III? | [79.] |
| 43. | Compare the armies of Alexander and Darius. | [80], [82], [83]. |
| 44. | Describe the battles of Issus and Arbela. | [81], [84]. |
| 45. | The fate of Darius. | [85.] |
| 46. | How long had the Persian Empire continued? | |
| 47. | How many kings, commencing with Cyrus? | |
| 48. | What was its greatest extent, described by boundaries? | |
| 49. | What is meant by a satrapy? |
