Chapter 15

239There are two passes by which the eastern countries are entered from Cilicia; one on the south, near the sea, leads into Syria. The other pass lies more to the north, and leads to the country near the Euphrates. The latter was called the Amanic, and the former the Syrian gate. Alexander had just passed through the Syrian gate in order to march against Darius, at the very time that Darius was descending into Cilicia by the Amanic gate, and occupying Issus with his advanced guard. Alexander, who had reached Myriandrus in Syria, made a countermarch to meet Darius. Plutarch (Alex., 20) says that they missed each other in the night, which is quite a mistake.

240Cf. Sallust (Catilina, 59); Cæsar (Bell. Gall., ii. 25).

241See Xenophon (Anab., iii. 3).

242At Cunaxa.Xenophon(ii. 2, 6) does not mention the name of the place where the battle was fought, but says that he was informed it was only 360 stadia (about 40 miles) from Babylon. We get the name Cunaxa from Plutarch (Life of Artaxerxes, c. 8), who says it was 500 stadia (about 58 miles) from Babylon.

243Callisthenes the historian, who accompanied Alexander into Asia, states that the breadth of the plain between the mountain and the sea was not more than fourteen stadia, or a little more than one English mile and a half. SeePolybius, xii. 17.

244These seem to have been foreign mercenaries. SeePolybius, v. 79, 82;Strabo, xv. 3. Hesychius says that they were not a nation, but foreigners serving for pay.

245Callisthenes—as quoted inPolybius, xii. 18—reckoned the Grecian mercenaries of Darius at 30,000, and the cavalry at 30,000. Arrian enumerates 90,000 heavy-armed, not including the cavalry. Yet Polybius tries to prove that there was not room even for the 60,000 troops mentioned by Callisthenes.

246“The depth of this single phalanx is not given, nor do we know the exact width of the ground which it occupied. Assuming a depth of sixteen, and one pace in breadth to each soldier, 4,000 men would stand in the breadth of a stadium of 250 paces; and therefore 80,000 men in a breadth of twenty stadia. Assuming a depth of twenty-six, 6,500 men would stand in the breadth of the stadium, and therefore 90,000 in a total breadth of 14 stadia, which is that given by Kallisthenes. Mr. Kinneir states that the breadth between Mount Amanus and the sea varies between one and a half mile and three miles.”—Grote.

247Diodorus(xvii. 31), and Plutarch (Alex., 18), give the same number; butJustin(xi. 9) says the Persians numbered 400,000 infantry and 100,000 cavalry. It took five days for them to cross the Euphrates, over bridges of boats (Curtius, iii. 17). The money alone of the king required 600 mules and 300 camels to convey it (Curtius, iii. 8).

248Cf.Arrian, iii. 11; and Xenophon (Anab., i. 8, 21, 22).

249See Donaldson’sNew Cratylus, sect. 178.

250Cf. Xenophon (Cyropaedia, vii. 1, 6).

251In describing the battle of Arbela, Arrian mentions eight distinct squadrons of Macedonian heavy cavalry, which was known by the name of the Companions. Among the squadrons several, if not all, were named after particular towns or districts of Macedonia, as here, Anthemus, and Leuge. We also find mention of the squadrons of Bottiaea, Amphipolis, and Apollonia. See alsoArrian, i. 2; i. 12; iii. 11.

252τῇ γνώμῃ δεδουλωμένος. An expression imitated fromThucydides, iv. 34; compareArrian, iii. 11; v. 19; vi. 16, where the same words are used of Porus and the Indians.

253κυμῆναν τῆς φάλαγγος. An expression imitated from Xenophon (Anab., i. 8,18). It is praised by Demetrius (De Elocutione, 84). Krüger reads ἐκκυμῆναν. Cf. Plutarch (Pompey, 69).

254Curtius(iii. 29) says that on Alexander’s side 504 were wounded, and 182 killed.Diodorus(xvii. 36) says, that 450 Macedonians were killed.Justin(xi. 9) states that 280 were slain.

255Polybius, who lived nearly three centuries before Arrian, censures Callisthenes for asserting that the Persian cavalry crossed the river Pinarus and attacked the Thessalians. No doubt Arrian received this information from the lost works of Ptolemy and Aristobulus (Poly., xii. 18).

256ἀμβάτης is the poetical form of ἀναβάτης, the word used by Xenophon, Plato, and other Attic writers. The latter is found only once in Arrian (III. xiii. 5).

257ἢ τῶν πεζῶν is Martin’s emendation for ἢ ὡς πεζῶν.

258Curtius(iii. 27) andDiodorus(xvii. 34) give a graphic description of a direct charge made by Alexander upon Darius, and a sanguinary conflict between Alexander’s body-guard and the Persian nobles, in which the Great King’s horses were wounded and became unmanageable, whereupon Darius got out, mounted a horse, and fled. We learn from Plutarch (Alex., 20) that Chares affirmed Alexander came into hand-to-hand conflict with Darius, and that he received a wound in the thigh from that king’s sword. Plutarch says that Alexander wrote to Antipater that he had been wounded in the thigh with a dagger, but did not say by whom. He also wrote that nothing serious had resulted from the wound. The account of Arrian is far the most trustworthy. Callisthenes stated that Alexander made a direct attack upon Darius (Polybius, xii. 22). We know from Xenophon that the Persian kings were in the habit of occupying the centre, and that Cyrus directed Clearchus to make the attack against the person of his brother Artaxerxes at the battle of Cunaxa. Polybius seems to have been ignorant of this custom of the Persian kings when he wrote his criticism on the statement of Callisthenes.

259ἀφείλετο. On this word see Donaldson (New Cratylus, sect. 315). Cf. Aeschўlus (Persae, 428);Thucydides(iv. 134); Xenophon (Hellenics, i. 2, 16).

260The victories of the Greeks and Macedonians over the Persians were materially aided by the pusillanimity of Xerxes and Darius. Compare the conduct of Xerxes at Salamis (Herodotus, viii. 97; Aeschўlus,Persae, 465-470, with Mr. Paley’s note) and that of Darius at Arbela (Arrian, iii. 14).

261Diodorus(xvii. 36) andCurtius(iii. 29) agree with Arrian as to the number of slain in the army of Darius. Plutarch (Alex., 20) gives the number as 110,000.

262Justin(xi. 9) agrees with Arrian, that the wife of Darius was also his sister. Grote speaks of the mother, wife, and sister of Darius being captured, which is an error.Diodorus(xvii. 38) andCurtius(iii. 29) say that the son was about six years of age.

263Cf. Xenophon (Cyropaedia, ii. 1, 3; vii. 5, 85).

264Damascus,—the Hebrew name of which is Dammesek,—a very ancient city in Syria, at the foot of the Antilibanus, at an elevation of 220 feet above the sea, in a spacious and fertile plain about 30 miles in diameter, which is watered by three rivers, two of which are called in the Bible Abana and Pharpar. It has still a population of 150,000. The emperor Julian, in one of his letters, calls it “the Eye of all the East.”

265About £730,000.

266B.C.333; end of October or beginning of November.

267Alexander erected three altars on the bank of the Pinarus, to Zeus, Heracles, and Athena (Curtius, iii. 33). Cicero, who was proconsul of Cilicia, speaks of “the altars of Alexander at the foot of Amanus,” and says that he encamped there four days (Epistolae ad Diversos, xv. 4).

268About £12,000.

269This distinguished general saved Alexander’s life in India, in the assault on the city of the Mallians. After the king’s death, he received the rule of the lesser or Hellespontine Phrygia. He was defeated and slain by the Athenians under Antiphilus, against whom he was fighting in alliance with Antipater,B.C.323. SeeDiodorus, xviii. 14, 15; Plutarch (Phocion, 25).

270CompareDiodorus, xvii. 37, 38;Curtius, iii. 29-32.

271Named Sisygambis.

272In a letter written by Alexander to Parmenio, an extract from which is preserved by Plutarch (Alex., 22), he says that he never saw nor entertained the desire of seeing the wife of Darius, who was said to be the most beautiful woman in Asia; and that he would not allow himself to listen to those who spoke about her beauty. Cf.Ammianus(xxiv. 4, 27), speaking of Julian: “Ex virginibus autem, quae speciosae sunt captae, ut in Perside, ubi feminarum pulchritudo excellit, nec contrectare aliquam voluit, nec videre: Alexandrum imitatus et Africanum, qui haec declinabant, ne frangeretur cupiditate, qui se invictos a laboribus ubique praestiterunt.”

273Thapsacus is understood to be identical with the city called Tiphsach (passage) in 1 Kings iv. 24; which is there said to have been the eastern boundary of Solomon’s empire. It is generally supposed that the modern Deir occupies the site of the ancient Thapsacus; but it has been discovered that the only ford in this part of the river is at Suriyeh, 165 miles above Deir. This was probably the site of Thapsacus. From the time of Seleucus Nicator the city was called Amphipolis (Pliny, v. 21). SeeStephanusof Byzantium,sub voceAmphipolis. Cf. Xenophon (Anabasis, i. 4, 11).

274The Euphrates is the largest river of western Asia, and rises in the mountains of Armenia. It unites with the Tigris, and after a course of 1,780 miles flows into the Persian Gulf. It is navigable by boats for 1,200 miles. The annual inundation, caused by the melting of the snow in the mountains of Armenia, takes place in the month of May. The Euphrates, Tigris, and Eulaeus had formerly three separate outlets into the Persian Gulf; but the three now unite in a single stream, which is called Shat-el-Arab. The Hebrew name for the river which the Greeks called Euphrates, was Pĕrath (rapid stream). It is called in the Bible, theGreat River, andthe River(Gen. xv. 18; Exod. xxiii. 31;et passim). In Jeremiah xiii. 4-7, the wordPĕrathstands for Ephrath, another name for Bethlehem; in our Bible it is mis-translated. See Fürst’sHebrew Lexicon.

275The termCĕnaanwas applied to the lowland plain from Aradus to Gaza. The northern portion, from Aradus to Carmel, is known to us under its Grecian name of Phoenicia, which is probably derived from the Greekphoinix(a palm-tree), which grew abundantly in the country, and was the emblem of some of its towns. Others derive it from another Greek wordphoinix(red dye), which formed one of its most important manufactures. The Phoenicians applied the term Cenaan to their land in contrast to the highlands to the west, which they calledAram(highland), the Hebrew name for Syria. The country of Phoenicia was 120 miles long and with an average breadth of 12 miles, never exceeding 20 miles. The chief cities of Phoenicia were Tyre, Sidon, Aradus, Byblus, Berytus, Tripolis, and Accho or Ptolemais. Its central position between the eastern and western countries, early developed its commercial power, and its intercourse with foreign nations at an early period produced an advanced state of civilization and refinement. The Phoenicians were a Semitic nation like the Israelites; and their language bears a remarkable affinity with the Hebrew, as is seen by fragments of the Carthaginian language preserved in Plautus. In an inscription discovered at Marseilles in 1845, out of 94 words 74 were found in the Hebrew Bible. The Phoenicians were asserted by the Greeks to have communicated to them the knowledge of letters; and this statement is corroborated by the similarity of the Hebrew and ancient Greek letters. Their colonies spread from Cyprus to Crete and the Cyclades, thence to Euboea, Greece, and Thrace. The coasts of Asia Minor and Bithynia were dotted with their settlements, and they carried their commerce into the Black Sea. They also had colonies in Sicily, Sardinia, Ivica, and Spain, where they founded Cadiz. The northern coast of Africa was lined with their colonies, the most flourishing of which was Carthage, which rose to be one of the great powers of the world. Strabo says that they had 300 colonies on the western coast of Africa. They visited the coasts of England for tin; and thus, to quote the words of Humboldt, “the Tyrian flag waved at the same time in Britain and the Indian Ocean.”Herodotus(iv. 42, 43) says that under the patronage of Necho, king of Egypt, they circumnavigated Africa; but he states that he does not believe it was a fact. The reason which he assigns for his disbelief is, that the navigators alleged that the sun was on their right hand, which is the strongest argument in favour of the truth of their statement. In Isaiah xxiii. 11, Phoenicia is called Cĕnaan, where the English Bible has erroneously,the merchant city. In the Bible the wordCĕnaanimis frequently used formerchants, because the Phoenicians were the principal commercial people of antiquity (Job xli. 6; Prov. xxxi. 24; Isaiah xxiii. 8; Hos. xii. 7; Zeph. i. 2; Zech. xiv. 21). Tripolis consisted of three distinct cities, 600 feet apart, each having its own walls, but all united in a common constitution with one place of assembly. These cities were colonies respectively of Sidon, Tyre, and Aradus. Tripolis was a flourishing port on a headland which is a spur of Lebanon. It is now called Tripoli, and is still a large town. See Dr. Smith’sDictionary of Classical Geography.

276The oldest towns in Cyprus,—Citium, Amathus, and Paphus,—were Phoenician colonies. These were afterwards eclipsed by the Greek colonies, Salamis, Soli, and New Paphus. In Hebrew the island is calledCeth, and the inhabitantsCittim. Gesenius says, that upon a Sidonian coinCethin Cyprus, which the Greeks called Citium, is described as a Sidonian colony.Diodorus(xvi. 42) says there were nine kings in Cyprus. It is probable that the kings of the Hittites mentioned in 1 Kings x. 29, were from Cyprus. Also the Hittite women whom Solomon married were probably Cyprians (1 Kings xi. 1). The kings of the Hittites of whom the Syrians were afraid were also Cypriotes (2 Kings vii. 6); and theland of the Hittitesmentioned in Judges i. 26, probably means Cyprus. Josephus, Eusebius, and Jerome understand these passages to refer to Cyprus. In Isaiah xxiii. 1, theland of Cittimrefers to Cyprus, which belonged to Tyre, the revolt of which the prophet announced. This revolt is confirmed by Menander (Josephus, ix. 14, 9).

277Agis III. was ultimately defeated and slain by Antipater,B.C.330. SeeCurtius, vi. 1 and 2; Grote’sGreece, vol. xii. pp. 102-106.

278About £7,300.

279Now Cape Matapan. Cf.Propertius, iii. 2, 11;Tibullus, iii. 3, 13; Homer (Hymn to Apollo, 411).

280The Cretans were very early civilized and powerful, for we read in Homer of their 100 cities. Before the Trojan war lived the famous king Minos, who is said to have given laws to Crete, and to have been the first potentate who possessed a navy, with which he suppressed piracy in the Aegean Sea. The Cretans gradually degenerated, so that we find in the New Testament St. Paul quoting from their own poet, Epimenides: “Always liars and beasts are the Cretans, and inwardly sluggish” (Titus i. 12). The lying propensity of the Cretans is proved from the fact that the verbto Cretize, was used in Greek with the meaning “to speak falsely.” In Hebrew, Crete is calledCaphtor(cypress). It is mentioned in Jer. xlvii. 4. It was the native land of a tribe of Philistines called Caphtorim (Gen. x. 14; Deut. ii. 23; 1 Chron. i. 12). The fact that the Philistines came partly from Crete is also affirmed in Amos ix. 7. Another branch of the Philistines came from Casloach in Egypt. The Caphtorim emigrated originally from Egypt to Crete, from which island they were probably driven by the Greeks. Tacitus asserts that the inhabitants of Palestine came from Crete (Historiae, v. 2); and the early name of Gaza was Minoa, after the famous king of Crete. Another Hebrew name for Crete is Cĕrēth, whence the inhabitants were calledCĕrēthim. They are mentioned in Ezek. xxv. 16, and Zeph. ii. 5; where the Septuagint and the Syriac haveCretans. We find the Philistines, who were partly emigrants from Crete, called Cerethim in 1 Sam. xxx. 14. From among these Cerethim and Philistines David chose his body-guard, which was composed of men skilled in shooting and slinging (2 Sam. viii. 18, xv. 18, xx. 7, 23; 1 Kings i. 38, 44; 1 Chron. xviii. 17).

281FromDiodorus(xvii. 48) it appears that Agis went personally to Crete, and compelled most of the cities to join the Persian side. We also learn that the deputies of the Greeks assembled at the Isthmian games at Corinth sent an embassy to Alexander to congratulate him on his victory at Issus, and to present him with a golden wreath. (See alsoCurtius, iv. 22.)

282Coele-Syria, or Hollow Syria, is, in its more limited sense, the country between the ranges of Libanus and Anti-Libănus, in which Damascus and Baalbek are situated; in its wider meaning, it comprises the whole of Northern Syria, in opposition to the countries of Phoenicia and Palestine.

283Aradus is an island lying two or three miles from the mainland of Phoenicia. According to Strabo, a State was founded in it by refugees from Sidon. For a long time the island was independent, under its own kings; and even after it fell under the sway of the Macedonian kings of Syria, and subsequently under that of the Romans, it retained a great deal of its commercial prosperity. Aradus appears in Hebrew under the formArvad. It is evident from Ezek. xxvii. 8, 11, that its inhabitants were skilful sailors and brave warriors. They sent out colonies to Aradus south of Carmel, the island of Aradus near Crete, and the islands in the Persian gulf. The present name of this island is Ruad. The Aradians inhabited the mainland opposite the island, as well as the island itself.

284Artaxerxes Ochus reignedB.C.359-338.

285Perinthus was a Samian colony on the Propontis. For the siege by Philip, seeDiodorus, xvi. 74-76.

286Impartial historians deny that Philip’s murderers were bribed; they committed the murder from private resentment.

287Ochus was poisoned aboutB.C.338, by the eunuch Bagoas, who placed upon the throne Arses, one of the king’s sons, killing all the rest. Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, vi. 8). Two years afterwards, Bagoas put Arses and all his children to death; thus leaving no direct heir of the regal family alive. He then placed upon the throne one of his adherents, named Darius Codomannus, a descendant of one of the brothers of Artaxerxes Mnemon. Bagoas soon afterwards tried to poison this Darius; but the latter, discovering his treachery, forced him to drink the deadly draught himself (Diod., xvii. 5;Justin, x. 3). FromArrian, iii. 19, we learn that Bistanes, a son of Ochus, was alive after the battle of Arbela.

288Aeschines, in his speech against Ctesiphon (p. 634), asserts that Darius sent 300 talents to Athens, that the Athenians refused them, and that Demosthenes took them, reserving 70 talents for his own private use. Deinarchus repeats this statement in his speech against Demosthenes. (pp. 9-14). If Demosthenes had really acted thus, it is strange Alexander knew nothing about it.

289This statement of Arrian is confirmed byCurtius(iii. 34), who says that Parmenio captured the treasure, not in the city, but from fugitives who were conveying it away.

290In giving the names of the captured Grecian envoys,Curtius(iii. 35) seems to have confounded this with a future occasion, mentioned inArrian(iii. 24).

291The great Iphicrates had been adopted by Alexander’s grandfather, as is stated in a note on Book I. chap.23.

292Byblus is said byStrabo(xvi. 2) to have been situated on a height not far from the sea. It was reported to be the oldest city in the world. It possessed a considerable extent of territory, including Berytus, and was an independent State for a long period, the last king being deposed by Pompey. On a Byblus coin of Alexander’s time appears the nameEinel, which is the king Enylus mentioned byArrian(ii. 20). Byblus was the chief seat of the worship of Adonis, or Thammuz, who was supposed to have been born there. In the Bible it appears under its Hebrew nameGebal(mountain-district). The inhabitants of Gebal are said in Ezek. xxvii. 9 to have been skilled in building ships. In Josh. xiii. 5 the northern boundary of the Holy Land is said to reach as far as the land of the Giblite, or inhabitant of Gebal. In 1 Kings v. 18 the word translated in our Biblestone-squarersought to be renderedGiblites. The Arabs still call the place Jebail. Cf. Milton (Paradise Lost, viii. 18).

293Sidon, or in HebrewTsidon(fortress), is called in Gen. x. 15, 19 the firstborn son of Canaan,i.e.it was the first city founded by the Canaanites or Phoenicians. It lay about twenty miles south of Tyre, on a small promontory two miles south of the river Bostremus. We read inHomerthat it was famous for its embroidered robes and metal utensils, and from other ancient writers we find that it manufactured glass and linen and also prepared dyes. Before the time of David it fell under the rule of Tyre; but when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, invaded Phoenicia, it revolted from Tyre and submitted to the invader. It was governed by its own kings under the Babylonian and Persian empires; and under the latter power it reached its highest prosperity, surpassing Tyre in wealth and importance. In the expedition of Xerxes against Greece, the Sidonians furnished the best ships in the whole fleet, and their king obtained the highest place under Xerxes in the council. But they revolted against Ochus, king of Persia, and being betrayed to him by their own king Tennes, they burnt their city and ships. It is said that 40,000 persons perished in the fire and by the sword,B.C.351. (Diodorus, xvi. 43-45). No doubt this barbarous treatment of Ochus induced the Sidonians to take the side of Alexander. The city was already built and again flourishing when that king appeared on the scene. Near the site of the ancient city is the present town of Saida, with a population of about 5,000. Cf. Homer (Iliad, vi. 289; xxiii. 741);Lucan, iii. 217.

294At Sidon, Alexander deposed the reigning king Strato, a friend of the Persians; and a poor man, named Abdalonymus, distantly related to the regal family, was put into his place (Curtius, iv. 3, 4).Diodorus(xvii. 47) tells the same story, but applies it to Tyre, probably by mistake.

295The Hebrew name for Tyre isTsor(rock). In Isa. xxiii. 4 it is called the fortress of the sea; and in ver. 8, “Tsor, the crowning one,” because Tyre gave rulers to the Phoenician cities and colonies. Valuable information about the power, trade, and customs of Tyre is derived from Ezek. xxvi-xxviii.; and we learn the fact that she employed mercenaries like her colony Carthage (Ezek. xxvii. 10, 11). In the classical writers the name is corrupted intoTyrus, and sometimes intoSarra. Tyre was unsuccessfully besieged for five years by Shalmaneser. It was also besieged for thirteen years by Nebuchadnezzar, and in the end an alliance was formed, by which the Tyrians retained their own king as a vassal of the king of Babylon. This arrangement was continued under the kings of Persia.

296Curtius(iv. 7) tells us that the envoys also brought to Alexander a golden wreath, together with abundant supplies for his army.

297This king must have brought home his ships for the defence of Tyre, for he was in the city when it was captured. See chap. 24.

298The Phoenician godMelkarth(lord of the city), whom the Syrians calledBaal(lord), was supposed to be identical with the Grecian Heracles, or Hercules, who was the mythical ancestor of the Macedonian kings.Curtius(iv. 7) tells us that Alexander affirmed he had been ordered by an oracle to sacrifice in Tyre to Heracles. Gesenius informs us that a Maltese inscription identifies the Tyrian Melkarth with Heracles.

299Who was the son of Labdacus.

300SeeHerodotus, ii. 43, 44.

301The district comprising all the south-west of Spain outside the pillars of Heracles, or Straits of Gibraltar, was called Tartessis, of which the chief city was Tartessus. Here the Phoenicians planted colonies, one of which still remains under the name of Cadiz. The Romans called the district Baetica, from the principal river, the Baetis or Guadalquivir. The Hebrew name for this region isTarshish, of which Tartessus is the Greek form. Tarshish was the station for the Phoenician trade with the West, which extended as far as Cornwall. The Tyrians fetched from this locality silver, iron, lead, tin, and gold (Isa. xxiii. 1, 6, 10, lxvi. 19; Jer. x. 9; Ezek. xxvii. 12, xxxviii. 13). Martial, Seneca, and Avienus, the first two of whom were Spaniards, understood Tartessus to stand for the south-west of Spain and Portugal. The word Tarshish probably meanssea-coast, from the Sanscrittarischa, the sea. Ovid (Met., xiv. 416);Martial, viii. 28;Silius, xiii. 673.

302Of Miletus. Herodotus knew his writings well, but they have not come down to us. SeeHerod.(ii. 143; v. 36 and 125).

303The Iberians were originally called Tibarenes, or Tibari. They dwelt on the east of the Black Sea, and west of Colchis, whence they emigrated to Spain. This nation is calledTubalin the Hebrew Bible; in Isa. lxvi. 19 the Iberians of western Europe are referred to.

304An island near Cadiz, now called Leon. Cf. Hesiod (Theogonia, 287-294);Herodotus, iv. 8.

305Now called Arta.

306Arrian omits to mention that the Tyrians pointed out to him that his wish to sacrifice to Hercules might be gratified without entering their city, since at Palaetyrus, on the mainland, separated from Tyre only by a narrow strait, was a temple of that deity more ancient than that in Tyre. SeeCurtius, iv. 7;Justin, xi. 10. We learn fromArrian, i. 18, that when Alexander offered sacrifice to the Ephesian Diana he marched to the temple with his whole army in battle array. No doubt it was this kind of thing the Tyrians objected to. Alexander actually did the same at Tyre after its capture. (See chapter 24.)

307For this use of ἐνύπνιον, cf. Homer (Iliad, ii. 56); Aristophanes (Wasps, 1218).

308Cf.Arrian, i. 11 and 25 supra.

309The island was about half a mile from the mainland, and about a mile in length.

310We learn fromDiodorus(xvii. 40) that the breadth of this mole was about 200 feet.

311Curtius(iv. 10) says that the timber was procured from Lebanon, and the stones from Old Tyre on the mainland.

312Cf.Polyaenus(iv. 3).

313Cf. Cæsar (Bell. Gall., vii. 24)—reliquasque res, quibus ignis excitari potest, fundebant. Krüger has unnecessarily altered ἐπὶ ταύτῃ into ἐπ’ αὐτήν (i.e.πρῷραν).

314Curtius(iv. 12) says that the stern was loaded with stones and sand.

315Diodorus(xvii. 42) andCurtius(iv. 12) say that a great tempest helped to demolish the palisade.

316We learn from Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, ix. 14), on the authority of Menander, that when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, four centuries before Alexander’s time, besieged Tyre, the other Phoenicians supplied him with ships in like manner.

317This was a state vessel, or guardship, similar to theParalusandSalaminiaat Athens. SeeAlciphron, Bk. I. Epistle 11, with Bergler’s note.

318SeeArrian, ii. 2 supra.

319Curtius(iv. 11) says that about thirty of the Macedonians collecting timber in Lebanon were killed by a party of wild Arabs, and that a few were also captured by them.Lebanonis a Hebrew word meaningwhite, likeAlpes. It was so called on account of its white cliffs, just as Britain is called by Aristotle,Albion, the Celtic for white.

320Plutarch (Life of Alexander, 24) gives us, on the authority of Chares, some details of daring valour on the part of Alexander in this expedition.

321Cleander was put to death by Alexander for oppression in exercising his duties as governor of Media. SeeArrian, vi. 27 infra.

322In regard to this manœuvre, seeHerodotus, vi. 12;Thucydides, i. 49, with Arnold’s note.

323συμπεπηγμέναι:—“In the best authors πέπηγα is used as the perf. pass. of πήγνυμι” (Liddell & Scott). Cf. v. 12, 4; 24, 4, infra.

324Cf. Plautus (Mercator, iv. 2, 5),hortator remigum.

325Amathus was a town on the south coast of Cyprus. It is now called Limasol. Cf.Herodotus, v. 104-115; Tacitus (Ann., iii. 62); Vergil (Aeneid, x. 51).

326Curium was also a town on the south coast of Cyprus.

327Diodorus(xvii. 45) says, that after Admetus was killed, Alexander recalled his men from the assault that night, but renewed it next day.

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