The Story of Alexander

by Robert Steele

Now by good fortune his horse was fed, so he loosed him and sprang on his back, and out of the court like a spark from a fire, and no man could stop him. But when the alarm was given, Darius ordered all men to follow, and men rushed in all directions; they searched the rooms of the palace, they searched the stables, some clad them in armour and rode out into the night, and some to the city gates. But little avail they made, for there was no moon, and the clearness of the night served but to mislead them, and their shouts served to warn Alexander of where they were, and if they kept silence one rode against another, and many rode into the deep ditches of the fields or stumbled in the miry ways, and at last, one by one, they came in, and no man among them all had heard or seen aught of Alexander, and well was it for them that they had to face the wrath of Darius, rather than the sword of the Greek.

In that same hour that Alexander fled out of the palace of Darius a golden image of the emperor of Persia fell to the ground, and when men came to raise it they found it broken into fragments, and they feared greatly; and when Darius heard of it he fell aweeping, and he said: “Surely this tokens trouble to the empire, and death to me;” and he sat in sore grief thinking of the boldness of Alexander, and his courage left him, so that he became weak as a woman.

Of Roxana it is to be told how her heart was glad that she had seen the lord of Macedon, and great thanks she gave to the gods because he had seen her face, and noted how fair she was, for she had watched without looking at him the turning of his eyes toward her, and the joy of his heart in her beauty. That night she sat with her maidens, and ever she sent one or another for tidings of the herald, and none brought answer, and at the end one came and told how all the knights had come back from the pursuit. Then her maidens came round about her and praised her beauty above all other times, and she gave a great gift to that one who had brought the news of the safety of the Greek, howbeit the maiden knew not that it was the meed of her tidings, and thought it was the pay of her flattering words.

CHAPTER XI. TELLS OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN ALEXANDER AND DARIUS, AND OF THE SLAYING OF DARIUS.

But Alexander had ridden out into the night, and knew not at first in what direction he was riding, but soon, when the lights borne by the mounted men began to scatter over the fields, he reined in his bonny steed and looked up to the sky, and there low down he saw the seven stars rising from the plain, and he turned his horse’s head and rode slowly towards them, and ever he waited for some sign, for he knew that he was coming near the river Granton. But while he was waiting he saw a great flame rise in the air far on his left hand, and its rays lay along a stretch of smooth ice, and beside it was a man on horseback, and he knew him for his companion that he had left at the river, and he shouted to him in the Greek tongue, and when he heard the answer he spurred his horse and rode on to the ice. But it was well for him that the fire was before him, for far on the right the river ice began to crack and grind, since it was not yet firm, and suddenly his horse slipped and both sank into the river; and the man struggled out by the help of the thin ice which broke off piece by piece before him till he touched bottom, but the good steed was belike struck by the ice, for it sank and was drowned. Now when he came to the shore he was amazed, for there was neither fire nor light, so he called to the Greek knight, and when he came up he questioned him, and he found him sore afraid, “for,” said he, “a great dragon has circled me about for hours, so that I feared to raise my head.” Then Alexander straitly charged him that he should not speak of this thing, and they returned to the camp, and all men rejoiced to see him.

On the next day King Alexander called to him his dukes and his captains, and they brought up their men in fifties and in hundreds and in thousands, till they were assembled on the plain; and Alexander rose on high and told them how that he had seen the might of the Persians, and he encouraged them and told them that never should the crowds of the Persians equal the Greeks, for, said he, “It takes many flies to make war on wasps, be they but few;” and all the army laughed and rejoiced in his bravery and knowledge. Now by this time Darius had assembled his host and led them forth on the plain to the shores of Granton, and there he set up the tents, and prepared him a royal seat and passed his army before him in review. First the war-chariots drove by, drawn by swift coursers, and on either side the chariots were set with scythe blades, keen and sharp as knives, then the knights passed him in full armour, and every man followed by his squire and his footmen, and then passed a host of archers and crossbowmen: and as each host passed, they went on into the field and set themselves in array, and the knights mounted their huge war-horses. And on their side the Greeks were drawn up in array, and Alexander was at their head, mounted on his steed Bucephalus, the best horse under heaven. Now Alexander spurred out into the open space and rode before the army of the Persians, and dared any of their champions to come out and fight with him, but not one of them durst meet him, for their hearts were stricken with fear.

So with the sound of trumpets both sides advanced to the attack, and in few minutes they were at the sword’s point. The tale tells that for two miles there was a fight all along the line between the Persian and the Greek knights. From sunrise to sunset the slaughter lasted and both sides fought bravely, the air was thick with arrows, a hail-storm of winged darts; and now the Persians began to give way, their noblest captains were dead, and nowhere had they driven back the Greeks. King Darius had set himself on his golden car at the early dawn, and all day he had watched the fiercest of the fight, and messengers had told him of what befell, but in the end he lost hope, and took to flight; and suddenly darkness came upon the land, so that men feared to move, for the great war-chariots were thundering over the plain, and whoso got in their way was cut to pieces by the blades on their wheels, and the hosts of Persians were mowed down like corn before them. So Darius reached the Granton which his men had crossed so proudly the day before, and he rejoiced that he found it frozen over, and he rode over the stream in the dead of night, and many of his great nobles were with him. Then after him came the flying host of the Persians, and on they came, till the broad stream was covered with men and horses. But their weight was too much for the ice, and it bent down and broke away from the banks, and then of a sudden it broke into thousands of pieces, and the night was filled with the screams of horses and men and their shouts and cries, and the dark water was filled with struggling crowds striving to pull themselves up on to little pieces of ice that would not bear their weight; until one by one their struggles ceased, and the rush of the river bore them away, so that of that mighty host scarce a tenth reached the shore in safety.