Plutarch's Lives, Volume 3 (of 4)

by Plutarch

XIX. Darius was also much encouraged by the long inaction of Alexander in Kilikia. This was caused by an illness, which some say arose from the hardships which he had undergone, and others tell us was the result of bathing in the icy waters of the Kydnus. No physician dared to attend him, for they all thought that he was past the reach of medicine, and dreaded the anger of the Macedonians if they proved unsuccessful. At last Philip, an Akarnanian, seeing that he was dangerously ill, determined to run the risk, as he was his true friend, and thought it his duty to share all his dangers. He compounded a draught for him, and persuaded him to drink it, by telling him that it would give him strength and enable him to take the field. At this time Parmenio sent him a letter from the camp, bidding him beware of Philip, who had been bribed to poison him by Darius with rich presents, and the offer of his own daughter in marriage. Alexander read the letter, and showed it to no one, but placed it under his pillow. At the appointed hour, Philip and his friends entered the room, bringing the medicine in a cup. Alexander took the cup from him, and gave him the letter to read, while he firmly and cheerfully drank it off. It was a strange and theatrical scene. When the one had read, and the other had drunk, they stared into each other's faces, Alexander with a cheerful expression of trust and kindly feeling towards Philip, while Philip, enraged at the calumny, first raised his hands to heaven, protesting his innocence, and then, casting himself upon his knees at the bed-side, besought Alexander to be of good cheer and follow his advice. The effect of the drug at first was to produce extreme weakness, for he became speechless and almost insensible. In a short time, however, by Philip's care, he recovered his strength, and showed himself publicly to the Macedonians, who were very anxious about him, and would not believe that he was better until they saw him.

XX. There was in the camp of Darius a Macedonian refugee, named Amyntas, who was well acquainted with Alexander's character. This man, when he found that Darius wished to enter the hilly country to fight Alexander amongst its narrow valleys, besought him to remain where he was, upon the flat open plains, where the enormous numbers of his troops could be advantageously used against the small Macedonian army. When Darius answered that he feared Alexander and his men would escape unless he attacked, Amyntas said, "O king, have no fears on that score; for he will come and fight you, and I warrant he is not far off now." However, Amyntas made no impression on Darius, who marched forward into Kilikia, while at the same time Alexander marched into Syria to meet him. During the night they missed one another, and each turned back, Alexander rejoicing at this incident, and hurrying to catch Darius in the narrow defile leading into Kilikia, while Darius was glad of the opportunity of recovering his former ground, and of disentangling his army from the narrow passes through the mountains. He already had perceived the mistake which he had committed in entering a country where the sea, the mountains, and the river Pyramus which ran between them, made it impossible for his army to act, while on the other hand it afforded great advantages to his enemies, who were mostly foot soldiers, and whose numbers were not so great as to encumber their movements.

Fortune, no doubt, greatly favoured Alexander, but yet he owed much of his success to his excellent generalship; for although enormously outnumbered by the enemy, he not only avoided being surrounded by them, but was able to outflank their left with his own right wing, and by this manœuvre completely defeated the Persians. He himself fought among the foremost, and, according to Chares, was wounded in the thigh by Darius himself. Alexander in the account of the battle which he despatched to Antipater, does not mention the name of the man who wounded him, but states that he received a stab in the thigh with a dagger, and that the wound was not a dangerous one.

He won a most decisive victory, and slew more than a hundred thousand of the enemy, but could not come up with Darius himself, as he gained a start of nearly a mile. He captured his chariot, however, and his bow and arrows, and on his return found the Macedonians revelling in the rich plunder which they had won, although the Persians had been in light marching order, and had left most of their heavy baggage at Damascus. The royal pavilion of Darius himself, full of beautiful slaves, and rich furniture of every description, had been left unplundered, and was reserved for Alexander himself, who as soon as he had taken off his armour, proceeded to the bath, saying "Let me wash off the sweat of the battle in the bath of Darius." " Nay," answered one of his companions, "in that of Alexander; for the goods of the vanquished become the property of the victor." When he entered the bath and saw that all the vessels for water, the bath itself, and the boxes of unguents were of pure gold, and smelt the delicious scent of the rich perfumes with which the whole pavilion was filled; and when he passed from the bath into a magnificent and lofty saloon where a splendid banquet was prepared, he looked at his friends and said "This, then, it is to be a king indeed."

XXI. While he was dining it was told him that the mother and wife of Darius, and his two daughters, who were among the captives, had seen the chariot and bow of Darius, and were mourning for him, imagining him to be dead. Alexander when he heard this paused for a long time, being more affected by the grief of these ladies, than by the victory which he had won. Hie sent Leonnatus to inform them, that they need neither mourn for Darius, nor fear Alexander; for he was fighting for the empire of Asia, not as a personal enemy of Darius, and would take care that they were treated with the same honour and respect as before. This generous message to the captive princesses was followed by acts of still greater kindness; for he permitted then to bury whomsoever of the slain Persians they wished, and to use all their own apparel and furniture, which had been seized by the soldiers as plunder. He also allowed them to retain the regal title and state, and even increased their revenues. But the noblest and most truly royal part of his treatment of these captive ladies was that he never permitted them to hear any coarse language, or imagine for a moment that they were likely to suffer violence or outrage; so that they lived unseen and unmolested, more as though they were in some sacred retreat of holy virgins than in a camp. Yet the wife of Darius is said to have been the most beautiful princess of her age, just as Darius himself was the tallest and handsomest man in Asia, and their daughters are said to have resembled their parents in beauty. Alexander, it seems, thought it more kingly to restrain himself than to conquer the enemy, and never touched any of them, nor did he know any other before his marriage, except Barsine. This lady, after the death of her husband Memnon, remained at Damascus. She had received a Greek education, was naturally attractive, and was of royal descent, as her father was Artabazus, who married one of the king's daughters; which, added to the solicitations of Parmenio, as we are told by Aristobulus, made Alexander the more willing to attach himself to so beautiful and well-born a lady. When Alexander saw the beauty of the other captives, he said in jest, that the Persian ladies make men's eyes sore to behold them. Yet, in spite of their attractions, he was determined that his self-restraint should be as much admired as their beauty, and passed by them as if they had been images cut out of stone.

XXII. Indeed, when Philoxenus, the commander of his fleet, wrote to inform him that a slave merchant of Tarentum, named Theodorus, had two beautiful slaves for sale, and desired to know whether he would buy them, Alexander was greatly incensed, and angrily demanded of his friends what signs of baseness Philoxenus could have observed in him that he should venture to make such disgraceful proposals to him. He sent a severe reprimand to Philoxenus, and ordered him to send Theodorus and his merchandise to the devil. He also severely rebuked a young man named Hagnon for a similar offence.

On another occasion, when he heard that two Macedonians of Parmenio's regiment, named Damon and Timotheus, had violently outraged the wives of some of the mercenary soldiers, he wrote to Parmenio, ordering him, if the charge were proved, to put them to death like mere brute beasts that prey upon mankind. And in that letter he wrote thus of himself. "I have never seen, or desired to see the wife of Darius, and have not even allowed her beauty to be spoken of in my presence."

He was wont to say that he was chiefly reminded that he was mortal by these two weaknesses, sleep and lust; thinking weariness and sensuality alike to be bodily weaknesses. He was also most temperate in eating, as was signally proved by his answer to the princess Ada, whom he adopted as his mother, and made Queen of Karia. She, in order to show her fondness for him, sent him every day many dainty dishes and sweetmeats, and at last presented him with her best cooks. He answered her that he needed them not, since he had been provided with much better relishes for his food by his tutor Leonidas, who had taught him to earn his breakfast by a night-march, and to obtain an appetite for his dinner by eating sparingly at breakfast. "My tutor," he said, "would often look into my chests of clothes, and of bedding, to make sure that my mother had not hidden any delicacies for me in them."

XXIII. He was less given to wine than he was commonly supposed to be. He was thought to be a great drinker because of the length of time which he would pass over each cup, in talking more than in drinking it, for he always held a long conversation while drinking, provided he was at leisure to do so. If anything had to be done, no wine, or desire of rest, no amusement, marriage, or spectacle could restrain him, as they did other generals. This is clearly shown by the shortness of his life, and the wonderful number of great deeds which he performed during the little time that he lived. When he was at leisure, he used to sacrifice to the gods immediately after rising in the morning, and then sit down to his breakfast. After breakfast, he would pass the day in hunting, deciding disputes between his subjects, devising military manœuvres, or reading. When on a journey, if he was not in any great hurry, he used, while on the road, to practice archery, or to dismount from a chariot which was being driven at full speed, and then again mount it. Frequently also he hunted foxes and shot birds for amusement, as we learn from his diaries. On arriving at the place where he intended to pass the night, he always bathed and anointed himself, and then asked his cooks what was being prepared for his dinner.

He always dined late, just as it began to grow dark, and was very careful to have his table well provided, and to give each of his guests an equal share. He sat long over his wine, as we have said, because of his love of conversation. And although at all other times his society was most charming, and his manners gracious and pleasant beyond any other prince of his age, yet when he was drinking, his talk ran entirely upon military topics, and became offensively boastful, partly from his own natural disposition, and partly from the encouragement which he received from his flatterers. This often greatly embarrassed honest men, as they neither wished to vie with the flatterers in praising him to his face, nor yet to appear to grudge him his due share of admiration. To bestow such excessive praise seemed shameful, while to withhold it was dangerous. After a drinking bout, he would take a bath, and often slept until late in the following day; and sometimes he passed the whole day asleep. He cared but little for delicate food, and often when the rarest fruits and fish were sent to him from the sea-coast, he would distribute them so lavishly amongst his friends as to leave none for himself; yet his table was always magnificently served, and as his revenues became increased by his conquests, its expense rose to ten thousand drachmas a day. To this it was finally limited, and those who entertained Alexander were told that they must not expend more than that sum.