The Story of Alexander

by Robert Steele

The tale tells that one of the knights of Thebes who followed Alexander’s host, a valiant and a mighty man, asked at the temple of his god when Thebes should be rebuilt and who should build it, and the god answered: “He who shall build the town shall conquer thrice in strife; when that shall be, then shall he raise the walls.” Now as the knight returned to the army of Alexander he heard the herald proclaiming with the sound of a trumpet that the king would hold a tournament at Corinth, and that great games should there be played. So when the day came the Theban knight came into the ring, and asked of Alexander permission to wrestle, and the king appointed a champion to wrestle with him, and soon the champion was thrown. Then another wrestler came forth, and he too was cast to the earth. And Alexander said: “Now, in faith, if thou conquer but once again, thou shalt be crowned for the noblest wrestler in Greece.” Then came forth a mighty man, the tallest of the Macedonians, and the Theban knight deemed that he should indeed be beaten, but he thought on the words of the god, and the love of his city filled him, and they scarce grappled before he threw the giant on the ground, and a great shout went up from all men.

Then he was brought to the king and knelt before him, and Alexander took a fair gold crown filled with precious stones, and set it on his head; and the heralds came to him and said: “Tell us thy name, O noble knight, that we may write it in our books,” And he said: “Truly, sirs, my name is Cityless.” “How so,” said the king; “what name is that, and how got you it?” “My lovely lord,” said the knight, “before you came I had a people and a town, now have I none, and Cityless am I, and Cityless must be my name.” Then the king knew that he was a knight of Thebes, and his heart relented for the city, and he gave orders to cry aloud that all men might return with the knight to rebuild the town in its first state. So was the saying of the god fulfilled.

So Alexander went on his way through the land of Greece, and from each town he received help and tokens of his lordship. But two great cities refused at first, the cities of Athens and Sparta, though afterwards they obeyed him. Then he came to the ocean and sailed over into Asia, and with him were two hundred thousand men, and tidings came to Darius, and he called his council and said unto them: “Lo, how this Greek grows in might, the more I despise him the greater his power. I sent him playthings, but now he will master us if we take not heed.” Then said the king’s brother to him: “If your majesty do not as this man does, we may leave our land to him, for in strife he helps his men in all their needs, and so his name increases.” And another lord spoke: “This Macedonian is like a lion who leaps on his prey with joy.” “How so?” said Darius, and the knight answered: “Years agone, I was sent with your heralds to Philip his father to claim our tribute, and then I saw and heard him. For your herald told how all men would gather at your orders against the foe of the empire—Medes, Parthians, Italians—and the youth said: ‘Yes, but one wolf will worry many sheep, and a Greek army will rout many barbarians,’ for so he called the army of the great king.” So Darius got together his army.

The tale tells that Alexander on a day went to bathe in a river, and the king was heated and the river cold, so that he fell sick of a fever and was like to have died. And all the men of his army mourned, and said: “Did Darius but know this he would fall on us with his might;” and truly they did well to grieve, for the health of the head keeps all the body well. Then one Philip the Leech, a young man, but well skilled in all manner of medicine, came to the tent of Alexander, and said: “My lord, I can cure you in few hours with a syrup of herbs.” When the duke Parmenides heard this he was jealous of Philip, for he feared that Alexander would promote him to great power, so he came privily to the king, and said: “O king Alexander, take not the drink of Philip, and trust him not, for verily it has been told me that Darius has offered his fair daughter and great wealth to the man that shall slay thee,” and with that he showed the king a letter in which these things were written. Now Philip had brought the cup to Alexander, and the king stretched out his hand, and looked him in the face, and took the cup, and drank it, and gave the letter to Philip, and the physician looked on it, and said: “My life for thine, O king, as I am guiltless of evil towards thee.” So Alexander fell into a sleep, and all men kept such watch that no noise was heard in the camp, and when he awoke he was whole and healthy. So he called Philip the Leech to him, and gave him great rewards, but Parmenides the traitor he beheaded.

Then marched he through the land of Media and Armenia till he came to the great river, the river Euphrates; and there was no ford over which the army could pass, so needs must they make a bridge, and men brought boats and bound them together with chains, and then they passed over, first the horses and the baggage, and then the army. And when they were all over the king took his axe and smote the chains in sunder so that the swift stream drove down the boats, and the bridge was broken; then turning to his men, he said: “If we flee, here shall we be overtaken and slain; better is it that never we turn our back to the foe, for he that follows has the flower of victory, and in no wise he that flees. Be happy and rejoice, for never shall we see Macedon till the barbarians bow before us—then shall we blithe return.”

CHAPTER X. HOW ALEXANDER DEFEATED THE PERSIANS, AND HOW HE WENT TO THE FEAST OF DARIUS.

Now for the first time the armies of the Macedonians and the Persians came in face of each other, and hopes of victory were on either side, for the Persians were many, and their battle-leaders were five hundred noble knights. The sun shone brightly, the trumpets rang out against each other, and the long streamers of the lances danced in the wind; the horses pranced, and the young knights clashed their arms. Soon Darius ordered the battle to begin, the knights laid their spears in rest, and each, with his shield hung before him, spurred his horse; the Greeks came on to meet them, and they crashed into each other with a thundering noise and a shout, and all the fair field was covered with stumbling steeds and knights dismounted and wounded and dead; and the clash of sword-strokes cutting through coats of mail sounded like the noise of a giant’s smithy. For few minutes the field was covered with clouds of dust, and Alexander could see nothing of the result, but soon it appeared that the Greeks had driven back the foe, and that the first attack of the Persians had failed. So he called the Greek knights around him, and after a breathing space he gave orders that in their turn they should ride on the enemy.