Chapter 20

822According toCurtius(x. 4, 5) Orxines was not only innocent, but was very devoted and attached to Alexander. The favourite eunuch, Bagoas, poisoned the king’s mind against him, and suborned other accusers against him. He was condemned unheard.

823Purpura et nitor corporis, ornatusque Persicus multo auro multisque gemmis.—Cicero (de Senectute, 17).

824Pasargadae was the ancient capital of Cyrus, but Persepolis was that of the later kings of Persia. The tomb of Cyrus has been discovered at Murghab; consequently Parsagadae was on the banks of the river Cyrus, N.E. of Persepolis. The latter city was at the junction of the Araxes and Medus. Its extensive ruins are called Chel-Minar, “the forty columns.”

825The Tigris rises in Armenia, and joins the Euphrates ninety miles from the sea, the united stream being then called Shat-el-Arab. In ancient times the two rivers had distinct outlets. In the Hebrew the Tigris is called Chiddekel,i.e.arrow. The Greek name Tigres is derived from the ZendTighra, which comes from the SanscritTig, to sharpen. Its present name is Dijleh. The respective lengths of the Euphrates and Tigris are 1,780 and 1,146 miles.

826Among these wereCurtius(x. 3);Diodorus(xviii. 4); and Plutarch (Alex., 68).

827Gadeira or Gades was a Phoenician colony. The name is from the Hebrew גָּדֵר,a fence. Cf.Pliny(iv. 36); appellant PoeniGadirita Punica linguaseptumsignificante. Also Avienus (Ora Maritima, 268): Punicorum lingua conseptum locumGaddirvocabat. According toPliny(v. 1), Suetonius Paulinus was the first Roman general who crossed the Atlas Mountains.

828See note714, page 309.

829Now called Capo di Leuca, the south-eastern point of Italy.

830Cf. Arrian (Indica, 11).

831Cf. Alciphron (Epistolae, i. 30, 1), with Bergler and Wagner’s notes.

832This must have occurredB.C.336. See Plutarch (Alex.14); Cicero (Tusculanae Disputationes, v. 32). Alexander said: “If I were not Alexander, I should like to be Diogenes.” Cf.Arrian, i. 1; Plutarch (de Fortit. Alex., p. 331).

833Cf.Strabo, xv. 1.

834Strabo calls this sage Mandanis.

835Strabo says, Alexander’s messengers summoned Mandanis to the son of Zeus.

836Plutarch (Alex., 65) says this philosopher’s name was Sphines; but the Greeks called him Calanus, because when he met them, instead of using the word χαῖρε greeting them, he said καλέ. The same author says that he was persuaded to come to Alexander by Taxiles. See alsoStrabo(xv. 1).

837Strabo(xv. 1) says that the voluntary death of Calanus occurred at Pasargadae; Aelian (Varia Historia, v. 6) says it was at Babylon; butDiodorus(xvii. 107) says it happened at Susa, which statement is confirmed by the fact of Nearchus being seemingly present.

838Cf. Arrian (Indica, 10).

839Cf.Arrian, vii. 13 infra; andHerodotus, vii. 40.

840Cf. Cicero (Tusc. Disput.v. 27).

841Media. See vi. 29 supra.

842Oxathres was killed by Alexander himself with a sarissa, or long Macedonian pike. See Plutarch (Alex.68), who calls him Oxyartes.

843For this use of φθείρομαι, cf. Aristophanes (Plutus, 610);Alciphron, i. 13, 3; with Bergler’s note.

844Cf.Curtius, x. 5.

845She was also called Statira. SeeDiodorus, xvii. 107; Plutarch (Alex., 70). She is called Arsinoe by Photius.

846“By these two marriages, Alexander thus engrafted himself upon the two lines of antecedent Persian kings. Ochus was of the Achaemenid family, but Darius Codomannus, father of Statira, was not of that family; he began a new lineage. About the overweening regal state of Alexander, outdoing even the previous Persian kings, seePylarchus apud Athenaeum, xii. p. 539.”—Grote.

847See p.242.

848Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, viii. 7). A copious account of this celebrated marriage feast is given inAthenæus, xii. p. 538.

849Cf.Curtius, x. 8.

850About £4,600,000.Justin, xii. 11, agrees with Arrian; butDiodorus(xvii. 109); Plutarch (Alex., 70);Curtius(x. 8) say 10,000 talents.

851Cf.Curtius(ix. 41);Arrian(vi. 22) supra.

852The Epigoni, or Afterborn, were the sons of the seven chiefs who fell in the first war against Thebes. See Herodotus, Pindar, Sophocles, etc.

853For thismesanculonsee Gellius (Noctes Atticae, x. 25);Polybius, xxiii., 1, 9; Euripides (Phoenissae, 1141;Andromache, 1133);Alciphron, iii. 36.

854It was at this time that Harpalus, viceroy of Babylon, having squandered a great deal of the treasure committed to his charge, became frightened at the return of Alexander, and fled to Greece with 50,000 talents and 6,000 mercenary troops. SeeDiodorus, xvii. 108.

855The Eulaeus is now called Kara Su. After joining the Coprates it was called Pasitigris. It formerly discharged itself into the Persian Gulf, but now into the Shat-el-Arab, as the united stream of the Euphrates and Tigris is now called. In Dan. viii. 2, 16, it is called Ulai. Cf.Pliny, vi. 26, 31; xxxi. 21.

856The Greeks and Romans sometimes speak of Mesopotamia as a part of Syria, and at other times they call it a part of Assyria. The Hebrew and native name of this country was Aram Naharaim, or “Syria of the two rivers.”

857The Tigris now falls into the Euphrates.

858Cf.Arrian, iii. 7, supra;Curtius, iv. 37.

859Cf.Strabo, xvi. 1;Herodotus, i. 193;Ammianus, xxiv. 3, 14.

860Probably this city stood at the junction of the Tigris with the Physcus, or Odorneh. See Xenophon (Anab.ii. 4, 25);Herodotus, i. 189;Strabo, (xvi. 1) says that Alexander made the Tigris navigable up to Opis.

861Cf.Justin(xii. 11);Diodorus(xvii. 109);Curtius(x. 10, 11). These authors put the punishment of the ringleaders after the speech instead of before.

862Thracians meanmountaineers; Hellenes,warriors; Dorians,highlanders; Ionians,coast-men; and Aeolians,mixed men. See Donaldson (New Cratylus, sect. 92).

863The gold and silver mines at Mount Pangaeon near Philippi brought Philip a yearly revenue of more than 1,000 talents (Diodorus, xvi. 8).Herodotus(v. 17) says that the silver mines at Mount Dysorum brought a talent every day to Alexander, father of Amyntas.

864This is a Demosthenic expression. SeeDe Falsa Legatione, 92; andI. Philippic, 45.

865B.C.346.

866He here refers to his own part in the victory of Chaeronea,B.C.336. SeeDiodorus, xvi. 86; Plutarch (Alex.9).

867This fact is attested by Demosthenes (De Haloneso, 12).

868The Thebans under Pelopidas settled the affairs of Macedonia, and took young Philip to Thebes as a hostage,B.C.368.

869About £122,000. Cf. Plutarch (Alex.15);Curtius, x. 10.

870Ἴων is the Hebrew Javan without the vowel points. In the Persian name for the Greeks Ἰάονες, one of these vowels appear. See Aeschўlus (Persae, 178, 562).

871Larger Phrygia formed the western part of the great central table-land of Asia Minor. Smaller Phrygia was also called Hellespontine Phrygia, because it lay near the Hellespont. SeeStrabo, xii. 8.

872A blue band worked with white, which went round the tiara of the Persian kings.

873Cf.Ammianus, xxv. 4, 15: “(Julianus) id aliquoties praedicans, Alexandrum Magnum, ubi haberet thesauros interrogatum, apud amicos benevole respondisse.”

874Cf.Arrian, i. 16 supra.

875It is supposed that the Saxones,i.e.Sacasuna,sons of the Sacae, originated from this nation.

876At the Persian court, kinsman was a title bestowed by the king as a mark of honour. Curtius says they were 15,000 in number. Cf.Diodorus, xvi. 50; Xenophon (Cyropaedia, i. 4, 27; ii. 2, 31).

877As to this Persian custom, see Xenophon (Agesilaus, v. 4;Cyropaediai. 4, 27).

878Cf.Justin, xii. 7; Plutarch (Eumenes, 16);Curtius, viii. 17;Livyxxxvii. 40;Polybius, v. 79, 4.

879ἔμενον λιπαροῦντες. The more usual construction would be ἐλιπάρουν μένοντες. Cf.Herodotus, ix. 45 (λιπαρέετε μένοντες); iii. 51 (ἐλιπάρεε ἱστορέων)

880The paean was sung, not only before and after battle, but also after a banquet, as we see from this passage and from Xenophon (Symposium, ii. 1).

881About £240.

882Literally “with his own head,” an Homeric expression. We learn from Plutarch (Eumenes, 6), that Craterus was a great favourite with the Macedonians because he opposed Alexander’s Asiatic innovations. See also Plutarch (Alexander, 47);Diodorus, xvii. 114:—Κράτερον μὲν γὰρ εἶναι φιλοβασιλέα, Ἡφαιστίωνα δὲ φιλαλέξανδρον.

883The use of κελεύειν with the dative, is in imitation of Homer. Cf. i. 26, 3 supra.

884We learn from Diodorus (xviii. 4) that when Alexander died, Craterus had got no farther than Cilicia on his return journey. He had with him a paper of written instructions, among which were projects for building an immense fleet in Phoenicia and the adjacent countries for conveying an expedition against the Carthaginians and the other western nations as far as the pillars of Hercules; for the erection of magnificent temples, and for the transportation of people from Europe into Asia and from Asia into Europe. Alexander’s generals put these projects aside, as too vast for any one but Alexander himself.

885Cf.Curtius, x. 31.

886The Greeks reckoned according to the lunar months, and therefore they talked of ten months instead of nine as the period of gestation. Cf.Herodotus, vi. 63; Aristophanes (Thesmoph.742); Menander (Plocion, fragment 3); Plautus (Cistell.i. 3, 15); Terence (Adelphi, iii. 4, 29).

887For this expression, cf.Dion Cassius, xlii. 57; Homer (Iliad, 23, 538);Pausanias, vii. 10, 2;Herodotus, viii. 104.

888Here there is a gap in the manuscripts of Arrian, which probably contained an account of the flight of Harpalus, the viceroy of Babylon, with the treasures committed to his care, and also a description of the dispute between Hephaestion and Eumenes. SeePhotius(codex 92).

889Cf. Plutarch (Eumenes, 2).

890The march was from Opis to Media, as we see from the next chapter.

891Cf.Herodotus(iii. 106; vii. 40);Strabo, xi. 7 and 14;Diodor.xvii. 110;Ammianus, xxiii. 6. Sir Henry Rawlinson says: “With Herodotus, who was most imperfectly acquainted with the geography of Media, originated the error of transferring to that province the Nisea (Nesá) of Khorassan, and all later writers either copied or confounded his statement. Strabo alone has escaped from the general confusion. In his description we recognise the great grazing plains of Khawah, Alishtar, Huru, Silakhur, Burburud, Japalak, and Feridun, which thus stretch in a continuous line from one point to another along the southern frontiers of Media.” Alexander probably visited the westernmost of these pastures which stretch from Behistûn to Ispahan along the mountain range. The form διαρπαγῆναι is used only by the later writers for διαρπασθῆναι.

892Cf.Strabo, xi. 5;Diodorus, xvii. 77;Curtius, vi. 19;Justin, xii. 3;Arrian, iv. 15; Homer (Iliad, iii. 189); Aeschўlus (Eumenides, 655); Hippocrates (De Aere, Aquis, et Locis, p. 553).

893The queen is called Thalestris by Diodorus and Curtius.

894This is a mistake, for Xenophon does mention the Amazons in theAnabasis(iv. 4, 16). For Trapezus and the Phasians see hisAnabasis(iv. 8, 22; v. 6, 36.)

895SeeDiodorus, iv. 16. This was one of the twelve labours of Hercules.

896See Plutarch (Theseus, 26).

897“The Battle of the Amazons” was a celebrated painting in the Stoa Poecile at Athens, executed by Micon, son of Phanichus, a contemporary of Polygnotus aboutB.C.460. Cf. Aristophanes (Lysistrata, 678): “Look at the Amazons whom Micon painted on horseback fighting with the men.” See alsoPausanias(i. 15; viii. 11).

898Cf.Herodotus, iv. 110-117; ix. 27.

899See Isocrates (Panegyricus, 19); Lysias (Oratio Funebris, near the beginning).

900Strabo(xi. 5) declined to believe in the existence of the Amazons altogether. However, even Julius Cæsar spoke of them as having once ruled over a large part of Asia. See Suetonius (Life of Julius Cæsar, 22). Eustathius, onDionysius Periegetes, p. 110, derives the nameAmazonesfrom ἀ,not, and μᾶζα,barley-bread:—διὸ καὶ Ἀμαζόνες ἐκαλοῦντο οἷα μὴ μάζαις ἀλλὰ κρέασι θηρίων ἐπιστρεφόμεναι. This is not the usual derivation of the word.

901Cf. Plutarch (Alex.72);Diodorus(xvii. 110).

902Plutarch makes this statement.

903See Homer (Iliad, xxiii. 141, 152);Arrian(i. 12).

904SeeHerodotus(vii. 35). Xerxes meansthe venerable king. Cf.Herod., vi. 98. See Donaldson’sNew Cratylus, sections 161, 479.

905Epidaurus in Argolis was celebrated as the chief seat of the worship of Aesculapius.

906This is an Homeric expression, meaningmyself.

907Equal to £2,300,000. Plutarch (Alex.72) agrees with Arrian.Diodorus(xvii. 115) andJustin(xii. 12) say 12,000 talents.

908Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, vii. 8);Diodorus(xvii. 114, 115); Plutarch (Alex.72, 75;Eumenes, 2;Pelopidas, 34).

909See p. 392, note888.

910Cossaea was a district on the north-east of Susiana, which the Persian kings never subdued, but purchased the quiet of the inhabitants by paying them tribute. It is supposed to be the Cush of the Old Testament.Diodorus(xvii. 111) says that Alexander completed his conquest of the Cossaeans in forty days. Plutarch (Alex.72) says he called the massacre of the Cossaeans his offering to the manes of Hephaestion.

911Cf.Livy, vii. 37, 38;Pliny, xxii. 4;Justin, xii. 13.

912The Romans called these people Etruscans.

913Justin(xxi. 6) says that the Carthaginians sent Hamilcar to learn Alexander’s real designs against them, under the pretence of being an exile offering his services.

914Cf.Diodorus, xvii. 113.

915Aristus was a man of Salamis in Cyprus. Neither his work nor that of Asclepiades is extant. Aristus is mentioned byAthenæus(x. 10) andStrabo(lib. xv.).

916Livy(ix. 18) says he does not think the contemporary Romans even knew Alexander by report.

917These are what Hirtius (Bell. Alex.11) calls “naves apertas et constratas.”

918See p. 155, note392.

919See p. 199, note499.Strabo(xi. 7) says that Aristobulus declared the Oxus to be the largest river which he had seen except those in India.

920See p. 198, note498. The Oxus and Jaxartes really flow into the Sea of Aral, or the Palus Oxiana, which was first noticed byAmmianus Marcellinus(xxiii. 6, 59) in the 4th centuryA.D.Ptolemy, however, mentions it as a small lake, and not as the recipient of these rivers. Cf.Pliny, vi. 18.

921The Araxes, or Aras, joins the Cyrus, or Kour, and falls into the Caspian Sea. It is now called Kizil-Ozan, or Red River. Its Hebrew name is Chabor (2 Kings xvii. 6). Pontem indignatus Araxes (Vergil,Aeneid, viii. 728). See Aeschўlus (Prometheus, 736), Dr. Paley’s note.

922As to the Chaldaeans, see Cicero (De Div., i. 1) andDiod.(ii. 29-31).

923This is a verse from one of the lost tragedies of Euripides. It is also quoted by Cicero (De Divin., ii. 5): Est quidam Graecus vulgaris in hanc sententiam versus; bene qui conjiciet, vatem hunc perhibebo optimum.

924SeeHerodotus(i. 32); Plutarch (Solon, 27).

925See p. 171, note430.Herodotus(i. 181) gives a description of this temple, which he says existed in his time.Strabo(xvi. 1) agrees with Arrian that it was said to have been destroyed by Xerxes. He also says that Alexander employed 10,000 men in clearing away the rubbish of the ruins. Professor Sayce and others adduce this passage of Arrian to prove that Herodotus is not to be trusted even when he says he had seen the places and things which he describes. The words of Herodotus are ἐς ἐμὲ τοῦτο ἔτι ἐόν, meaning, not that he had himself seen the temple, but that it existedtill his time. In chap. 183 he expressly states that he did not see other things which he is describing, but that he derived his information from the Chaldaeans. He was about twenty years of age when Xerxes was assassinated. It must not be forgotten that Strabo and Arrian lived five or six hundred years after Xerxes. The veracity of Strabo is never doubted; yet in his description of Babylon this author speaks of the walls and hanging gardens as if they were still in existence, though not expressly saying so.

926Cf.Arrian, iii. 16 supra.

927SeeArrian, iii. 16 supra.

928Cf. Philostratus (Life of Apollonius, viii. 7, 5).

929Perdiccas was killed by his own troops at Memphis,B.C.321. SeeDiodorus, xviii. 36.

930The battle of Ipsus was foughtB.C.301. See Plutarch (Demetrius, 29).

931Diodorus(xvii. 113) says that embassies came from the Carthaginians, Liby-Phoenicians, Greeks, Macedonians, Illyrians, Thracians, and Gauls.

932Cf.Arrian, iii. 16 supra.

933The name Athens is said to have been derived from the worship of Athena. See Euripides (Ion, 8): Πόλις τῆς χρυσολόγχου Παλλάδος κεκλημένη. Attica is ἀττική or ἀκτικὴ γῆ, the “promontory land.”

934Clazomenae was an Ionian city on the Gulf of Smyrna, celebrated as the birthplace of Anaxagoras. It is now called Kelisman.

935About £1,200,000.

936The Hebrew name for Arabia is Arab (wilderness). In Gen. xxv. 6 it is called the “East country,” and in Gen. xxix. 1 the “Land of the Sons of the East.”

937Cf.Arrian, v. 26; vii. 1 and 15 supra.

938Cf.Herodotus, iii. 8.

939Cf.Herodotus, ii. 40, 86; iii. 110-112;Strabo, xvi. 4; Pliny (Nat. Hist.xii.).

940About 17 miles.

941One of the Sporades, west of Samos, now called Nikaria. Cf. Horace (Carm., iv. 2, 2) and Ovid (Fasti, iv. 28).

942Called Tyrus byStrabo(xvi. 3). It is now called Bahrein, and is celebrated for pearl fisheries.

943A fragment of the work of Androsthenes descriptive of his voyage is preserved byAthenæus(iii. p. 936).

944Probably Ramses. Its ruins are at Abu-Kesheb.

945Probably the projection now called Ras-al-Had.

946Cf. Arrian (Indica, 32).

947About 90 miles. This canal fell into the Persian Gulf at Teredon. No trace of it now remains.

948The Hebrew name for Armenia is Ararat (2 Kings xix. 37; Isa. xxxvii. 38; Jer. li. 27).

949The country called Assyria by the Greeks is called Asshur (level) in Hebrew. In Gen. x. 11 the foundation of the Assyrian kingdom is ascribed to Nimrod; for the verse ought to be translated: “He went forth from that land into Asshur.” Hence in Micah v. 6, Assyria is called the “land of Nimrod.”

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