XXXIV. The result of this battle was the complete destruction of the Persian empire. Alexander was at once saluted King of Asia, and after a splendid sacrifice to the gods, distributed the treasures and provinces of that country among his friends. In the pride of his heart he now wrote to Greece, saying that all the despots must be driven out, and each city left independent with a constitutional government, and gave orders for the rebuilding of the city of Platæa, because the ancestors of the citizens of Platæa gave their territory to be consecrated to the gods on behalf of the liberties of Greece. He also sent some part of the spoils to the citizens of Kroton, in Italy, to show his respect for the memory of Phaÿllus the athlete, who, during the Persian invasion, when all the other Greek cities in Italy deserted the cause of their countrymen in Greece, fitted out a ship of war at his own expense, and sailed to Salamis to take part in the battle there, and share in the dangers of the Greeks. Such honour did Alexander pay to personal prowess, for he loved to reward and to commemorate noble deeds.
XXXV. Alexander now marched into the country of Babylonia, which at once yielded to him. As he drew near to Ekbatana he marvelled much at an opening in the earth, out of which poured fire, as if from a well. Close by, the naphtha which was poured out formed a large lake. This substance is like bitumen, and is so easy to set on fire, that without touching it with any flame, it will catch light from the rays which are sent forth from a fire, burning the air which is between both. The natives, in order to show Alexander the qualities of naphtha, lightly sprinkled with it the street which led to his quarters, and when it became dark applied a match to one end of the track which had been sprinkled with it. As soon as it was alight in one place, the fire ran all along, and as quick as thought the whole street was in flames. At this time Alexander was in his bath, and was waited upon by Stephanus, a hard-favoured page-boy, who had, however, a fine voice. Athenophanes, an Athenian, who always anointed and bathed King Alexander, now asked him if he would like to see the power of the naphtha tried upon Stephanus, saying that if it burned upon his body and did not go out, the force of it must indeed be marvellous. The boy himself was eager to make the trial, and was anointed with it and set on fire. He was at once enveloped in flame, and Alexander was terrified for him, fearing that he would be burned to death. Indeed, had it not chanced that several attendants with pitchers of water in their hands had just arrived, all help would have been too late. They poured water over the boy and extinguished the flames, but not before he had been badly burned, so that he was ill for some time after. Some writers, who are eager to prove the truth of ancient legends, say that this naphtha was truly the deadly drug used by Medea, with which she anointed the crown and robe spoken of in the tragedies: for flame could not be produced by them, nor of its own accord, but if fire were brought near to clothes steeped in naphtha they would at once burst into flame. The reason of this is that the rays which fire sends forth fall harmlessly upon all other bodies, merely imparting to them light and heat; but when they meet with such as have an oily, dry humour, and thereby have a sympathy with the nature of fire, they easily cause them to catch fire. It is a disputed question, however, how the naphtha is produced, though most writers conceive its combustible principle to be supplied by the greasy and fiery nature of the soil; for all the district of Babylonia is fiery hot, so that often barley is cast up out of the ground in which it is sown, as if the earth throbbed and vibrated with the heat, and during the hottest part of summer the inhabitants are wont to sleep upon leathern bags filled with water for the sake of coolness. Harpalus, who was appointed governor of the district, took an especial delight in adorning the palace and the public walks with Greek flowers and shrubs; but although he found no difficulty with most of them, he was unable to induce ivy to grow, because ivy loves a cold soil, and the earth there is too hot for it. These digressions, provided they be not too lengthy, we hope will not be thought tedious by our readers.
XXXVI. When Alexander made himself master of Susa, he found in the palace forty thousand talents worth of coined money, besides an immense mass of other valuable treasure. Here we are told was found five thousand talents weight of cloth dyed with Hermionic[411] purple cloth, which had been stored up there for a space of two hundred years save ten, and which nevertheless still kept its colour as brilliantly as ever. The reason of this is said to be that honey was originally used in dyeing the cloth purple, and white olive oil for such of it as was dyed-white: for cloth of these two colours will preserve its lustre without fading for an equal period of time. Demon also informs us that amongst other things the Kings of Persia had water brought from the Nile and the Danube, and laid up in their treasury, as a confirmation of the greatness of their empire, and to prove that they were lords of all the world.
XXXVII. As the district of Persis[412] was very hard to invade, both because of its being mountainous, and because it was defended by the noblest of the Persians (for Darius had fled thither for refuge), Alexander forced his way into it by a circuitous path, which was shown him by a native of the country, the son of a Lykian captive, by a Persian mother, who was able to speak both the Greek and the Persian language. It is said that while Alexander was yet a child, the prophetess at the temple of Apollo at Delphi foretold that a wolf[413] should some day serve him for a guide when he went to attack the Persians. When Persis was taken, a terrible slaughter was made of all the prisoners. A letter written by Alexander himself is still extant, in which he orders that they should all be put to the sword, thinking this to be the safest course. He is said to have found as much coined money here[414] as in Susa, and so much other treasure that it required ten thousand carts, each drawn by a pair of mules, and five thousand camels, to carry it away.
Alexander, observing a large statue of Xerxes which had been thrown down and was being carelessly trampled upon by the soldiers as they pressed into the royal palace, stopped, and addressed it as though it were alive. "Shall we," said he, "leave thee lying there, because of thy invasion of Greece, or shall we set thee up again because of thy magnificence and greatness of soul?" He then stood musing for a long time, till at length he roused himself from his reverie and went his way. Being desirous of giving his soldiers some rest, as it was now winter, he remained in that country for four months. It is related that when he first took his seat upon the royal throne of Persia, under the golden canopy, Demaratus, an old friend and companion of Alexander, burst into tears, and exclaimed that the Greeks who had died before that day had lost the greatest of pleasures, because they had not seen Alexander seated on the throne of Darius.
XXXVIII. After this, while he was engaged in preparing to march in pursuit of Darius, he chanced to be present at a banquet where his friends had brought their mistresses. Of these ladies the chief was the celebrated Thais, who afterwards became the mistress of King Ptolemy of Egypt, and who was of Attic parentage.
She at first amused Alexander by her conversation, then adroitly flattered him, and at last, after he had been drinking for some time, began to speak in a lofty strain of patriotism which scarcely became such a person. She declared, that she was fully repaid for all the hardships which she had undergone while travelling through Asia with the army, now that she was able to revel in the palace of the haughty Kings of Persia; but that it would be yet sweeter to her to burn the house of Xerxes, who burned her native Athens, and to apply the torch with her own hand in the presence of Alexander, that it might be told among men that a woman who followed Alexander's camp had taken a more noble revenge upon the Persians for the wrongs of Greece, than all the admirals and generals of former times had been able to do. This speech of hers was enthusiastically applauded, and all Alexander's friends pressed him to execute the design. Alexander leaped from his seat, and led the way, with a garland upon his head and a torch in his hand. The rest of the revellers followed, and surrounded the palace, while the remainder of the Macedonians, hearing what was going on, brought them torches. They did so the more readily because they thought that the destruction of the palace indicated an intention on Alexander's part to return home, and not to remain in Persia. Some historians say that this was how he came to burn the palace, while others say that he did it after mature deliberation: but all agree that he repented of what he had done, and gave orders to have the fire extinguished.
XXXIX. His liberality and love of making presents increased with his conquests: and his gifts were always bestowed in so gracious a manner as to double their value. I will now mention a few instances of this. Ariston, the leader of the Pæonians, having slain an enemy, brought his head and showed it to Alexander, saying, "O king, in my country such a present as this is always rewarded with a gold cup." Alexander smiled, and said, "Yes, with an empty cup: but I pledge you in this gold cup, full of good wine, and give you the cup besides." One of the common Macedonian soldiers was driving a mule laden with gold belonging to Alexander; but as the animal became too weary to carry it, he unloaded it, and carried the gold himself. When Alexander saw him toiling under his burden, and learned his story, he said, "Be not weary yet, but carry it a little way farther, as far as your own tent; for I give it to you." He seemed to be more vexed with those who did not ask him for presents than with those who did so. He wrote a letter to Phokion, in which he declared that he would not any longer remain his friend, if Phokion refused all his presents. Serapion, a boy who served the ball to the players at tennis, had been given nothing by Alexander because he had never asked for anything. One day when Serapion was throwing the ball to the players as usual, he omitted to do so to the king, and when Alexander asked why he did not give him the ball, answered "You do not ask me for it." At this, Alexander laughed and gave him many presents. Once he appeared to be seriously angry with one Proteus, a professed jester. The man's friends interceded for him, and he himself begged for pardon with tears in his eyes, until Alexander said that he forgave him. "My king," said he "will you not give me something by way of earnest, to assure me that I am in your favour." Upon this the king at once ordered him to be given five talents. The amount of money which he bestowed upon his friends and his body guard appears from a letter which his mother Olympias wrote to him, in which she said, "It is right to benefit your friends and to show your esteem for them; but you are making them all as great as kings, so that they get many friends, and leave you alone without any." Olympias often wrote to him to this effect, but he kept all her letters secret, except one which Hephæstion, who was accustomed to read Alexander's letters, opened and read. Alexander did not prevent him, but took his own ring from his finger, and pressed the seal upon Hephæstion's mouth. The son of Mazæus, who had been the chief man in the kingdom under Darius, was governor of a province, and Alexander added another larger one to it. The young nobleman refused to accept the gift, and said, "My king, formerly there was only one Darius, but you now have made many Alexanders."
He presented Parmenio with the house of Bagoas, in which it is said that property worth a thousand talents was found which had belonged to the people of Susa. He also sent word to Antipater, warning him to keep a guard always about his person, as a plot had been formed against his life. He sent many presents to his mother, but forbade her to interfere with the management of the kingdom. When she stormed at this decision of his, he patiently endured her anger; and once when Antipater wrote a long letter to him full of abuse of Olympias, he observed, after reading it, that Antipater did not know that one tear of his mother's eye would outweigh ten thousand such letters.
XL. Alexander now observed that his friends were living in great luxury and extravagance; as for instance, Hagnon of Teos had his shoes fastened with silver nails; Leonnatus took about with him many camels, laden with dust,[415] from Egypt, to sprinkle his body with when he wrestled; Philotas had more than twelve miles of nets for hunting; and that all of them used richly perfumed unguents to anoint themselves with instead of plain oil, and were attended by a host of bathmen and chamberlains. He gently reproved them for this, saying that he was surprised that men who had fought so often and in such great battles, did not remember that the victors always sleep more sweetly than the vanquished, and that they did not perceive, when they imitated the luxury of the Persians, that indulgence is for slaves, but labour for princes. "How," he asked, "can a man attend to his horse, or clean his own lance and helmet, if he disdains to rub his own precious body with his hands? And do you not know, that our career of conquest will come to an end on the day when we learn to live like those whom we have vanquished?" He himself, by way of setting an example, now exposed himself to greater fatigues and hardships than ever in his campaigns and hunting expeditions, so that old Lakon, who was with him when he slew a great lion, said, "Alexander, you fought well with the lion for his kingdom." This hunting scene was afterwards represented by Kraterus at Delphi. He had figures made in bronze of Alexander and the hounds fighting with the lion, and of himself running to help him. Some of the figures were executed by the sculptor Lysippus, and some by Leochares.