‘That,’ said Porus, ‘containeth all.’
As was his way, Alexander treated the fallen king right royally, giving back to him his kingdom and adding to it new territories.
Two cities were built close to the battlefield. One was named Bucephala, after Alexander’s famous horse which, some say, was wounded and died after the battle. But others tell that Bucephalus had died shortly before the battle of old age, for he had lived for thirty years. The king grieved for the loss of his noble steed as for the loss of a friend.
This terrible battle made the Macedonians still more unwilling to advance farther into India.
Before them lay a desert which would take eleven days to cross. The soldiers could not face a long march in a strange land, without water and without guides.
When Alexander ordered the army to advance, the Macedonians who had followed him loyally through every difficulty, refused to obey.
Nothing he could say would make them advance a step farther.
‘There they stood, looking hard at the ground with tears trickling down their cheeks, yet resolute still not to go forward.’
Then Alexander dismissed them in anger. But the next day he sent for them again and told them that he was going to advance. They, if they chose to forsake him in a hostile land, could go back to Macedon.
Still in anger the king left them and went to his tent, and shut himself up for two days, refusing to see any of his companions.