[1]See Book II. and Book III.
[1]See Book II. and Book III.
[2]μηχαναῖς τειχoμάχοις.
[2]μηχαναῖς τειχoμάχοις.
[3]ὧν ἐις τὴν σύλληψιν ἐμὲ κληρονόμον ὁ πατὴρ κατελέλοιπεν.
[3]ὧν ἐις τὴν σύλληψιν ἐμὲ κληρονόμον ὁ πατὴρ κατελέλοιπεν.
[4].... "Nihil est audacius illisDeprensis; iram atque animos a crimine sumunt."Juv. VI. 284.
[4]
.... "Nihil est audacius illisDeprensis; iram atque animos a crimine sumunt."Juv. VI. 284.
[5]"Hoc volo, sic jubeo, stat pro ratione voluntas."Juv. VI. 223.
[5]
"Hoc volo, sic jubeo, stat pro ratione voluntas."Juv. VI. 223.
[6]"ὀφθαλμὸς φιλίας πρόξενος· καὶ τὸ σύνηθες τῆς κοινωνίας."Achilles Tatius, Β. i.
[6]
"ὀφθαλμὸς φιλίας πρόξενος· καὶ τὸ σύνηθες τῆς κοινωνίας."Achilles Tatius, Β. i.
[7]oὕτως ὑπτίως προσιοῦσα.
[7]oὕτως ὑπτίως προσιοῦσα.
[8]"Segnius irritant animos demissa per auremQuam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, et quæIpse sibi tradit spectator."—-Hor. A. P. 180.
[8]
"Segnius irritant animos demissa per auremQuam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, et quæIpse sibi tradit spectator."—-Hor. A. P. 180.
[9]"Cuncta ferit dum cuncta timet; desævit in omnes,Ut se posse putent; nec bellua tetrior ullaQuam servi rabies in libera terga furentesAgnoscit gemitus, et pœnæ parcere nescitQuam subiit, dominique memor quem verberat odit."Claudian in Eutrop. i. 108.
[9]
"Cuncta ferit dum cuncta timet; desævit in omnes,Ut se posse putent; nec bellua tetrior ullaQuam servi rabies in libera terga furentesAgnoscit gemitus, et pœnæ parcere nescitQuam subiit, dominique memor quem verberat odit."Claudian in Eutrop. i. 108.
[10]"Justum et tenacem propositi virum.. . . . . .Non vultus instantis tyranniMente quatit solida."—Hor. III. Od. iii. 1.
[10]
"Justum et tenacem propositi virum.. . . . . .Non vultus instantis tyranniMente quatit solida."—Hor. III. Od. iii. 1.
[11]ῥίψωμίν ἄγκυραν.
[11]ῥίψωμίν ἄγκυραν.
[12]"Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought."—Shakespeare.
[12]"Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought."—Shakespeare.
[13]Plutarch thus describes the punishment of poisoners among the Persians.—"Poisoners are put to death, by the Persian laws, in the following manner. The head of the criminal is laid upon a flat stone, the executioner with another stone beats and pounds his head, until both head and face are entirely crushed."
[13]Plutarch thus describes the punishment of poisoners among the Persians.—"Poisoners are put to death, by the Persian laws, in the following manner. The head of the criminal is laid upon a flat stone, the executioner with another stone beats and pounds his head, until both head and face are entirely crushed."
[14]Παντάρζην φορέουσα πυρὸς μὴ τάρζει ἐρώην'Ρηῑδιώς μόιραις καὶ τ'αδόκητα πέλει.
[14]
Παντάρζην φορέουσα πυρὸς μὴ τάρζει ἐρώην'Ρηῑδιώς μόιραις καὶ τ'αδόκητα πέλει.
[15]Αἰθιόπον εἰς γᾶιαν ἀφίξεαι ἄμμιγα κόυρηΔεσμών Άρτακέων αὔριον ἐκπροφυγών.
[15]
Αἰθιόπον εἰς γᾶιαν ἀφίξεαι ἄμμιγα κόυρηΔεσμών Άρτακέων αὔριον ἐκπροφυγών.
[16]Herodotus gives the same account of the swiftness of this race, and mentions their subsisting upon snakes, lizards, and other reptiles, adding, that their language resembles the shrill cry of a bat; they are the modern Tibboos.—See Herod. iv. 183, Blakesley's Edit.
[16]Herodotus gives the same account of the swiftness of this race, and mentions their subsisting upon snakes, lizards, and other reptiles, adding, that their language resembles the shrill cry of a bat; they are the modern Tibboos.—See Herod. iv. 183, Blakesley's Edit.
[17]See Xen. Cyrop. vii. 5. 60.
[17]See Xen. Cyrop. vii. 5. 60.
Syene was now closely blockaded, and on every side, as with a net, invested by the Ethiopian army.
Oroondates, as soon as he was informed of the design and sudden approach of the enemy (who, having passed the cataracts, were pressing towards the place), using the utmost diligence and expedition, had contrived to throw himself into the city before their arrival; and after planting his engines and artillery upon the walls, awaited the attack, and made every preparation for a vigorous defence.
Hydaspes, the king of Ethiopia, though he was deceived in the hope of surprising the town before they had any notice of his approach, invested it, however, on all sides, and surrounding it with a line of circumvallation, made for the present no attack, but sat down quietly before it, filling and exhausting the plains of Syene with myriads of men, beasts, and cattle. Here the party which has been mentioned brought their captives into his presence.
He was delighted at the sight of the young people; his soul, by a secret prescient movement, of which he knew not the cause, inclining towards his children. He thought this too an omen of victory, and joyfully exclaimed—"See! the gods, as our first spoils, deliver up to us our enemies in bonds. Let these then, as our first captives, be carefully preserved for our triumphant sacrifices to be offered, as the customs of Ethiopia require, to the gods of our country, when we shall have subdued our foes." And having praised and rewarded the captors, he sent them, together with their prisoners, to the rear of the army, ordering the latter to be kept under a guard (many of whom understood their language), to be treated, attended, and provided for in the most careful and splendid manner, and especially to be preserved from all contamination, as destined to be sacred victims. He directed their iron chains to be taken off, and fetters of gold to be put on in their room—for this metal is used by the Ethiopians in the way in which other nations use iron. His commands were obeyed; and the lovers, when they saw their first chains taken off, began to entertain hopes of liberty, which were soon crushed by the appearance and application of the golden ones.
Theagenes could not forbear smiling, and exclaimed—"Here is, indeed, a splendid mutation of fortune; the goddess is very kind to us, and changes our iron for gold: enriched by our fetters, we are become prisoners of high price."
Chariclea smiled at this sally, and tried to keep up his spirits, insisting that the more favourable predictions of the gods were beginning to be fulfilled, and endeavouring to soothe his mind with better hopes.
Hydaspes, who had flattered himself that he should take Syene at his first appearance, without opposition, being very nearly repulsed by the garrison, defending themselves bravely, irritated besides by insulting speeches, determined no longer to continue the blockade, by which, the city might at last be taken, to the destruction of some and the escape of others: but, by a new and unusual way of assault, to involve the town, and its defenders, in one common and universal ruin.
His plan of attack was this: he described a circle round the walls, which he divided into portions of ten cubits each, assigning ten men to every division, and ordering them to dig a wide and deep ditch. They dug it accordingly, while others, with the earth they threw out, raised a mound or wall parallel with, and nearly equal in height, to that of the place which they were besieging. The garrison made no attempt to hinder these operations—the besieging army was so numerous, that they durst not venture on a sally—and the works were carried on at such a distance from the walls, as to be out of the reach of their missile weapons.
When he had completed this part of his plan, with wonderful dispatch, owing to the multitude of men employed in it, and the diligence with which he urged on their labours, he proceeded to execute another work. He left a part of the circle, to the space of about fifty feet, plain and unfilled up. From each extremity of the ditch above described, he extended a long mound down to the Nile, raising it higher and higher as it approached the river. It had the appearance of two long walls, preserving all the way the breadth of fifty feet.
When he had carried on his lines so that they joined the river, he cut a passage for it, and poured its waters into the channel, which he had provided for them. They, rushing from higher into lower ground, and from the vast width of the Nile into the narrow channel, and confined by the mounds on each side, thundered through the passage and channel with a noise and impetuosity that might be heard at a great distance.
The fearful sight and sound struck the ears and met the eyes of the astonished inhabitants of Syene. They saw the alarming circumstances in which they were, and that the view of the besiegers was, to overwhelm them with the waters. The trenches which surrounded, and the inundation which was now fast approaching, prevented their escaping out of the city, and it was impossible for them to remain long in it, without the extremest danger; they took measures, therefore, as well as they were able, for their own protection.
In the first place, they filled up and secured every opening and crevice in the gates with pitch and tow; then they propped and strengthened the walls with earth, stones, and wood, heaping up against them anything which was at hand. Every one was employed; women, children, and old men; for no age, no sex, ever refuses labour when it is for the preservation of their lives. They who were best able to bear fatigue were employed in digging a subterraneous and narrow passage, from the city to the enemy's mound, which work was thus conducted:
They first sunk a shaft near the walls, to the depth of five cubits; and when they had dug it below the foundations, they carried their mine on forwards towards the bulwarks with which they were inclosed, working by torchlight; those who were behind receiving, in regular order, the earth thrown out from those who were before, and depositing it at length in a vacant place in the city, formerly occupied by gardens, where they raised it into a heap.
Their intention in these operations, was to give some vent and outlet to the waters, in case they should reach the city; but the approach of the calamities which threatened them was too speedy for their endeavours to prevent it. The Nile, rolling through the channel which had been prepared for it, soon reached the trench, overflowed it everywhere, and formed a lake of the whole space between the dyke and the walls; so that an inland town seemed like an island in the midst of the sea, beaten and dashed against on all sides by the waves.
At first, and for the space of a day, the strength of the walls resisted; but the continued pressure of the waters, which were now raised to a great height, and penetrated deeply into an earth black and slimy, which was cleft in many places, from the summer's heat, sensibly undermined the walls; the bottom yielded to the pressure of the top, and wherever, owing to the fissures in the ground, a settlement took place, there the walls began to totter in several places, menacing a downfall, while they who should have defended the towers were driven from their stations by the oscillation.
Towards evening a considerable portion of the wall between the towers fell down; not so much, however, as to be even with the ground, and afford a passage to the waters, for it was still about five cubits above them; but now the danger of an inundation was imminent and most alarming.
At this sight a general cry of horror and dismay arose in the city, which might be heard even in the enemy's camp—the wretched inhabitants stretched out their hands to the gods, in whom only they had hope, and besought Oroondates to send deputies with offers of submission to Hydaspes. He, reduced to be the slave of Fortune, unwillingly listened to their entreaties; but he was entirely surrounded with water, and it being out of his power to send an officer to the enemy, he was reduced by necessity to this contrivance—he wrote down the purport of their wishes, tied it to a stone, and endeavoured, by means of a sling, to make it serve the purpose of a messenger by traversing the waters; but his design was disappointed; the stone fell short, and dropped into the water before it reached the other side. He repeated the experiment several times. The archers and slingers strained every nerve to accomplish that upon which they thought their safety and life depended; but still without success. At length, stretching out their hands to the enemy, who stood on their works spectators of their distress, the miserable citizens implored their compassion by the most piteous gestures, and endeavoured to signify what was meant by their ineffectual stones and arrows—now clasping their hands together, and holding them forwards in a suppliant manner—now putting their arms behind their backs, in token that they submitted to servitude.
Hydaspes understood their signs, and was ready to receive their submission—for great minds are easily inclined to clemency by the sight of a prostrate enemy—but he was desirous first to make trial of their intentions.
He had already prepared some river-craft, which floating down the Nile, were drawn up near the mound: he chose ten of these, and filling them with archers, he ordered them what to say to the Persians, and sent them towards the city. They set out well prepared to defend themselves, in case the enemy should attempt anything against them.
This passage of a vessel, from wall to wall, presented a novel sight—mariners sailing over an inland country and cultivated plains: war, which is wont to produce strange spectacles, seldom, perhaps, afforded a more uncommon one than this—a navy proceeding against a town, and sailors, in boats, engaged with soldiers upon the walls.
Those in the city observed the boats making for the part of the wall which had fallen down, and their spirits being sunk with their misfortunes, surrounded as they were with perils, they began to suspect and dread the designs of those who were coming for their preservation: for, in such extremity of danger, everything is a cause of suspicion and of fear.[1]They began, therefore, to cast their darts and to shoot their arrows towards those who were in the boats: for men, who despair of safety, think even the shortest delay of destruction as so much gained. They flung their weapons, however, in such a manner as not to inflict wounds, but only to hinder the approach of the enemy.
The Ethiopians returned the attack more in earnest, not knowing the intentions of the Persians: they wounded several of those who were upon the ramparts, some of whom tumbled over into the water. The engagement was proceeding with greater warmth, one party endeavouring merely to repulse; the other to attack, when an old man, of great authority among the Syenæans, who stood upon the wall, thus addressed his fellow-citizens:
"Infatuated men! your distresses seems to have taken away your senses. You have encouraged and besought the Ethiopians to come to your assistance; and now, when they are, beyond all your hopes, arrived, you do everything in your power to drive them away again. If they come with friendly intentions, and bring conditions of peace, they are your preservers; if they have hostile designs, you need not fear their landing; we are so numerous, that we shall easily overpower them. But if we were to destroy all these, what would it avail us, surrounded as we are by such a cloud of enemies both by land and water? Let us then receive them, and see what is their business here."
This speech was received with approbation, both by the people and the Viceroy; and withdrawing from the breached portion of the wall, they stood motionless with their arms.
When the space between the walls was thus cleared, the inhabitants signed to the Ethiopians that they might freely approach: they advanced, therefore, and when near enough, they from their boats addressed the besieged multitude as follows:
"Persians! and inhabitants of Syene! Hydaspes, King of the Eastern and Western Ethiopia, and now your sovereign also, knows how to subdue his enemies, and to spare those who supplicate his mercy—the one belongs to valour, the other to humanity: the merit of the former belongs chiefly to his soldiers; that of the latter is entirely his own. Your safety or destruction is now in his hands; but since you throw yourselves on his compassion, he releases you from the impending and unavoidable dangers which encompass you. He does not himself name the conditions of your deliverance, but leaves them to you to propose; he has no desire to tyrannize over justice—he wishes to treat the fortunes of men with equity."
To this address the inhabitants of Syene replied,—"That they threw themselves, their wives and children, upon the mercy of the Ethiopian prince, and were ready to surrender their city (if they were spared), which was now in such sore distress, that unless some god, or Hydaspes himself, very speedily interposed, there were no hopes of its preservation."
Oroondates added,—"That he was ready to yield up, and put into their hands, both the cause of the war, and its prizes—the city of Philœ, and the emerald mines: in return, he required that neither he nor his soldiers should be made prisoners of war, but that Hydaspes, as a crowning act of generosity, would permit them to retire to Elephantine upon condition of their doing injury to no one: as to himself, it was indifferent to him whether he laid down his life now, or perished hereafter, by the sentence of his master, for having lost his army; the latter alternative would indeed be the worst, for now he would undergo a common, and possibly, an easy kind of death; in the other case, he would have to suffer the refinements of cruelty and torture. He also requested them to receive two of his Persians into their boats, that they might proceed to Elephantine, professing that if they found the garrison of that city disposed to surrender to the Ethiopians, he would no longer delay to follow their example."
The delegates complied with his request; took the Persians on board, returned to the camp, and informed Hydaspes of the result of their embassy.
Hydaspes smiled at the infatuation of Oroondates, who was insisting upon terms, while his very existence hung upon another's will. "It would be foolish, however," said he, "to let so many suffer for the stupidity of one." Accordingly he permitted those whom the Viceroy had sent to proceed to Elephantine; little regarding whether the troops there yielded or resisted. He ordered his men to close up the breach which they had made in the banks of the Nile, and to make another in those of the mound or wall; so that the river being prevented from flowing in at one opening and the stagnant water retiring apace out of the other, the space between his camp and Syene might soon be dry, and practicable for his soldiers to march over.
His commands were executed. His men made a beginning of the work, but night coming on deferred its completion till the next day. Meantime they who were in the city omitted nothing which might contribute to their preservation, not despairing of preservation, though it appeared almost beyond hope.
Some carried on their mine, which they now supposed must approach near the enemy's mound; having computed, as well as they could, by means of a rope, the interval between that and their own walls. Others repaired the wall which had fallen down, working by torchlight, readily finding materials from the stones which had fallen inwards. They had, as they thought, tolerably well secured themselves for the present; but were destined to have a new alarm; in the middle of the night, a portion of the mound, in that part where the enemy had been digging on the preceding day, suddenly gave way. This was caused either by the earth which formed the foundation being moist and porous, or by the mining party having sapped the ground above them, or by the ever-increasing body of water widening the narrow breach, or perhaps it might be ascribed to divine interposition. So tremendous was the noise and the report, that the besiegers and besieged, though ignorant of the cause, imagined a great part of the city wall to have been carried away; but the Ethiopians, feeling themselves safe in their tents, deferred satisfying their curiosity till the morning.
The inhabitants of Syene, on the contrary, were, with reason, more solicitous; they immediately examined every portion of their walls, and each finding all safe in his own vicinity, concluded that the accident had happened in some other part. The approach of daylight cleared up all their doubts; the breach in the mound, and the retreat of the waters, being then visible.
And now the Ethiopians dammed up the breach in the river's bank, by fixing planks, supported by strong wooden piles, strengthening them still more with a quantity of earth and fascines, taken partly from the banks and partly brought in boats, thousands labouring at the work. In this way the water was got rid of. The space, however, between the camp and the town was, as yet, by no means passable, being very deep in mud and dirt; and though it was in some places apparently dry ground, the surface was thin, and treacherous for the feet either of horses or men.
Thus passed two or three days. The Syenæans opened their gates, and the Ethiopians discontinued all hostile movements; the truce, however, was carried on without any intercourse between the parties. Guards on either side were discontinued; and they in the city gave themselves up to pleasure and enjoyment.
It happened that this was the season for celebrating the overflowing of the Nile; a very solemn festival among the Egyptians. It falls out about the time of the summer solstice, when the river first begins to swell, and is observed with great devotion throughout the country; for the Egyptians deify the Nile, making him one of their principal gods; and equalling him to heaven; because they say, that without clouds or rain he annually waters and fertilizes their fields; this is the opinion of the vulgar. They consider it a proof of his divinity, that the union of moist and dry being the principal cause of animal life, he supplies the former, the earth the latter quality (admitting also the existence of other elements.) These opinions are promulgated among the vulgar, but they who have been initiated in the mysteries, call the earth Isis,[2]the river Osiris, substituting words for things. The goddess, they say, rejoices when the god makes his appearance upon the plains, and grieves proportionably when he is absent, feeling indignation against his enemy, Typho.[3]
The cause of this is, I imagine, that men skilled in divine and human knowledge, have not chosen to disclose to the vulgar the hidden significations contained under these natural appearances, but veil them under fables; being however ready to reveal them in a proper place, and with due ceremonies, to those who are desirous and worthy of being initiated.[4]So much I may be allowed to say with permission of the deity, preserving a reverential silence as to what relates to more mystic matters.
I return now to the course of my story. The inhabitants of Syene were employed in celebrating their festival with sacrifices and other ceremonies; their bodies, indeed, worn with labour and suffering, but their minds filled with devotion towards their deity, whom they honoured as best their present circumstances would permit.
Oroondates, taking the opportunity of the dead of night, when the citizens, after their fatigues and rejoicings, were plunged in sleep, and having beforehand secretly acquainted his Persian soldiers with his intentions, and appointed them the particular hour and gate at which they were to assemble, led them out of their quarters.
An order had been issued to every corporal[5]to leave the horses and beasts of burden behind, that they might have no impediment on their march, nor give any intimation of their design, by the tumult which the mustering them would cause. Orders were given to take their arms alone, and, together with them, a beam or plank.
As soon as they were assembled at the appointed gate, they proceeded to lay their planks across the mud, (close to one another) which were successively passed from hand to hand, by those behind, to those in front. They passed over them, as by a bridge, and the whole body reached, without accident, the firm land.
They found the Ethiopians sleeping in security, without watch or guard; and passing by them unperceived Oroondates led his men with all possible speed to Elephantine. He was readily received into the city by means of the two Persians whom he had sent before, and who, having watched, night after night, caused the gates to be opened upon the concerted watch-word being given.
When day began to dawn, the inhabitants of Syene were aware of the flight of their defenders. Every one missed the Persian whom he had lodged in his house, and the sight of the planks laid over the mud, confirmed them in their suspicions, and explained the manner of it. They were thrown into great consternation at this discovery; expecting, with reason, a severe punishment, as for a second offence, fearing they should be thought to have abused the clemency of their conqueror, and to have connived at the escape of the Persians. They determined therefore, after some consultation, to go out of the city in a body, to deliver themselves up to Hydaspes, to attest their innocence with oaths, and implore his mercy. Collecting together then all ranks and ages, with the air of suppliants, they marched in procession, over the bridge of planks. Some carried boughs of trees, others tapers and torches, the sacred ensigns and images of their gods preceding them as messengers of peace.
When they approached the camp of the Ethiopians, they fell down on their knees, raising, as with one consent, a plaintive and mournful cry; and deprecating, by the most humble gestures, the victor's wrath.
They laid their infants on the ground before them, seemingly leaving them to wander whither chance might lead; intending to pacify the wrath of the Ethiopians by the sight of their innocent and guiltless age. The poor children, frightened at the behaviour and outcries of their parents, crept (some of them) towards the adverse army; and with their tottering steps and wailing voices, presented an affecting scene, Fortune, as it were, converting them into instruments of supplication.
Hydaspes observing this uncommon spectacle, and conceiving that they were reiterating their former entreaties and imploring pardon for their crime, sent to know what they meant, and why they came alone, and without the Persians.
They related all which had happened—the flight of the Persians, their own entire ignorance of it,—the festival they had been celebrating, and the opportunity secretly taken by the garrison to leave them, when they were buried in sleep, after their feastings and fatigues; although, had they been awake, and had they seen them, it would have been out of their power, unarmed as they were, to hinder the retreat of men in arms.
Hydaspes from this relation suspected, as was really the case, that Oroondates had some secret design and stratagem against him; summoning the Egyptian priests therefore, and for the sake of greater solemnity, adoring the images of the gods which they carried with them, he inquired if they could give him any further information about the Persians. He asked whither they were gone, and what were their hopes and intentions. They replied, "That they were ignorant of their schemes; but supposed them to be gone to Elephantine," where the principal part of the army was assembled, Oroondates placing his chief confidence in his barbed cavalry. They concluded by beseeching him, if he had conceived any resentment against them to lay it aside, and to enter their city, as if it were his own.
Hydaspes did not choose to make his entry for the present, but sent two troops of soldiers to search every place where he suspected an ambush might be laid; if they found nothing of that sort, destining them as a garrison for the city. He dismissed the inhabitants of it with kindness and gracious promises, and drew out his army ready to receive the attack of the Persians, should they advance; or, to march against them himself if they delayed.
His troops were hardly formed in order of march when his scouts informed him that the Persians were advancing towards him to give battle: Oroondates had assembled an army at Elephantine, just at the time when as we have seen, he was forced, by the sudden approach of the Ethiopians, to throw himself into Syene with a few troops; being then reduced to imminent danger by the contrivance of Hydaspes; he secured the preservation of the place, and his own safety, by a method which stamped him with the deepest perfidy. The two Persians sent to Elephantine, under pretence of inquiring on what terms the troops there were willing to submit, were really dispatched with a view of informing him whether they were ready and disposed to resist and fight, if by any means he could escape, and put himself at their head.
He now proceeded to put into practice his treacherous intent, for upon his arrival at Elephantine, finding them in such a disposition as he could wish, he led them out without delay, and proceeded with all expedition against the enemy; relying chiefly for success on the hope that by the rapidity of his movements he should surprise them while unprepared. He was now in sight, attracting every eye by the Persian pomp of his host; the whole plain glistening as he moved along, with gold and silver armour. The rays of the rising sun falling directly upon the advancing Persians, shed an indiscribable brightness to the most distant parts, their own armour flashing back a rival brightness.
The right wing was composed of native Medes and Persians—the heavy armed in front—behind them the archers, unincumbered with defensive arms, that they might with more ease and readiness perform their evolutions, protected by those who were before them. The Egyptians, the Africans, and all the auxiliaries were in the left wing. To these likewise were assigned a band of light troops, slingers and archers, who were ordered to make sallies, and to discharge their weapons from the flanks. Oroondates himself was in the centre, splendidly accoutred and mounted on a scythed chariot.[6]He was surrounded on either side by a body of troops, and in front were the barbed cavalry, his confidence in whom had principally induced him to hazard an engagement. These are the most warlike in the Persian service, and are always first opposed, like a firm wall, to the enemy. The following is the description of their armour—A man, picked out for strength and stature, puts on a helmet which fits his head and face exactly, like a mask; covered completely down to the neck with this, except a small opening left for the eyes, in his right hand he brandishes a long spear—his left remains at liberty to guide the reins—a scimitar is suspended at his side; and not his breast alone, but his whole body also, is sheathed in mail, which is composed of a number of square separate plates of brass or steel, a span in length, fitting over each other at each of the four sides, and hooked or sewn together beneath, the upper lapping over the under; the side of each over that next to it in order. Thus the whole body is inclosed in an imbricated scaly tunic, which fits it closely, yet by contraction and expansion allows ample play for all the limbs. It is sleeved, and reaches from neck to knee,[7]the only part left unarmed being under the cuishes, necessity for the seat on horseback so requiring. The greave extends from the feet to the knee, and is connected with the coat. This defence is sufficient to turn aside all darts, and to resist the stroke of any weapon. The horse is as well protected as his rider; greaves cover his legs, and a frontal[8]confines his head. From his back to his belly, on either side, hangs a sheet of the mail, which I have been describing, which guards his body, while its looseness does not impede his motions.
Thus accoutred and as it were fitted[9]into his armour, this ponderous soldier sits his horse, unable to mount himself on account of his weight, but lifted on by another. When the time for charging arrives, giving the reins, and setting spurs to his horse, he is carried with all his force against the enemy, wearing the appearance of a hammer-wrought statue, or of an iron man. His long and pointed spear extends far before him, and is sustained by a rest at the horse's neck, the butt being fixed in another at his croupe. Thus the spear does not give way in the conflict, but assists the hand of the horseman, who has merely to direct the weapon, which pressing onwards with mighty power pierces every obstacle, sometimes transfixing and bearing off by its impulse two men at once.
With such a force of cavalry and in such order, Oroondates marched against the enemy, keeping the river still behind him, to prevent his being surrounded by the Ethiopians, who far exceeded him in number. Hydaspes, on the other hand, advanced to meet him. He opposed, to the Medes and Persians in the right wing, his forces from Meröe, who were well accoutred, and accustomed to close fighting. The swift and light-armed Troglodites, who were good archers, and the inhabitants of the cinnamon region,[10]he drew up to give employment to those posted on the left. In opposition to the centre, boasting as they did of their barbed cavalry, he placed himself, with the tower-bearing elephants, the Blemmyæ, and the Seres, giving them instructions what they were to do when they came to engage. Both armies now approached near, and gave the signal for battle; the Persians with trumpets, the Ethiopians with drums and gongs. Oroondates, cheering on his men, charged with his body of horse. Hydaspes ordered his troops to advance very slowly, that they might not leave their elephants, and that the enemy's cavalry, having a longer course to take, might become exhausted before the conflict. When the Blemmyæ saw them within reach of a spear's cast, the horsemen urging on their horses for the charge, they proceeded to execute their monarch's instructions.
Leaving the Seres to guard the elephants, they sprang out of the ranks, and advanced swiftly towards the enemy. The Persians thought they had lost their senses, seeing a few foot presume to oppose themselves to so numerous and so formidable a body of horse. These latter galloped on all the faster, glad to take advantage of their rashness, and confident that they should sweep them away at the first onset. But the Blemmyæ, when now the phalanx had almost reached them, and they were all but touched by their spears, on a sudden, at a signal, threw themselves on one knee, and thrust their heads and backs under the horses, running no danger by this attempt, but that of being trampled on: this manœuvre was quite unexpected, many of the horses they wounded in the belly as they passed, so that they no longer obeyed the bridle, but became furious, and threw their riders; whom, as they lay like logs, the Blemmyæ pierced in the only vulnerable part, the Persian cuirassier being incapable of moving without help.
Those whose horses were not wounded proceeded to charge the Seres, who at their approach retired behind the elephants, as behind a wall or bulwark. Here an almost total slaughter of the cavalry took place. For the horses of the Persians, as soon as the sudden retreat of the Seres had discovered these enormous beasts, astonished at their unusual and formidable appearance, either turned short round and galloped off, or fell back upon the rest, so that the whole body was thrown into confusion. They who were stationed in the towers upon the elephants (six in number, two on either side, except towards the beast's hind quarters), discharged their arrows as from a bulwark, so continuously and with such true aim, that they appeared to the Persians like a cloud.
Fighting upon unequal terms against mailed warriors, and depending upon their skill in archery, so unfailing was their aim at the sight holes[11]of the enemy, that you might see many galloping in confusion through the throng, with arrows projecting from their eyes.
Some, carried away by the unruliness of their horses to the elephants, were either trampled under foot or attacked by the Seres and the Blemmyæ, who rushing out as from an ambush, wounded some, and pulled others from their horses, in the melée. They who escaped unhurt retreated in disorder, not having done the smallest injury to the elephants: for these beasts are armed with mail when led out to battle, and have, besides, a natural defence in a hard and rugged skin, which will resist and turn the point of any spear.
Oroondates, when he saw the remainder routed, set the example of a shameful flight; and descending from his chariot, and mounting a Nysæan horse,[12]galloped from the field. The Egyptians and Africans in the left wing were ignorant of this, and continued still bravely fighting, receiving, however, more injury than they inflicted, which they bore with great fortitude and perseverance; for the inhabitants of the cinnamon region, who were opposed to them, pressed and confounded them by the irregularity and activity of their attacks, flying as the Egyptians advanced, and discharging their arrows[13]backward as they fled. When the Africans retreated, they attacked them, galling them on all the flanks, either with slings or little poisoned[14]arrows. These they fixed around their turbans, the feathers next their heads, the points radiating outwards; and drawing them thence as from a quiver, they, after taking a sudden spring forward, shot them against the enemy, their own bodies being naked, and their only clothing this crown of arrows. These arrows require no iron point; they take a serpent's back bone, about a foot and a half in length, and after straightening it, sharpen the end into a natural point, which may perhaps account for the origin of the word arrow.[15]
The Egyptians resisted a long time, defending themselves from the darts by interlocking shields—being naturally patient, and bravely prodigal of their lives, not merely for pay but glory; perhaps, too, dreading the punishment of runaways. But when they heard that the barbed cavalry, the strength and right hand[16]of their army, was defeated—that the viceroy had left the field, and that the Medes and Persians, the flower of their foot, having done little against, and suffered much from, those to whom they were opposed, had followed his example, they likewise, at last, gave up the contest, turned about, and retreated. Hydaspes, from an elephant's back, as from a watch tower, was spectator of his victory; which when he saw decided, he sent messengers after the pursuers, to stop the slaughter, and to order them to take as many prisoners as they could, and particularly, were it possible, Oroondates.
Success crowned his wishes, for the Ethiopians extending their numerous lines to a great length on each side, and curving the extremities till they surrounded the Persians, left them no way to escape but to the river. Thus the stratagem which Oroondates had devised against the enemy they found turned against themselves, multitudes being forced into the river by the horses and scythed chariots, and the confusion of the crowd. The viceroy had never reflected, that by having the river in his rear he was cutting off his own means of escape. He was taken prisoner with Achæmenes the son of Cybele. This latter informed of what had happened at Memphis, and dreading the resentment of Oroondates, for having made an accusation against Arsace which he was not able to prove, (the witnesses who would have enabled him to do so being removed,) endeavoured to slay his master in the tumult. He did not, however, give him a mortal wound, and the attempt was instantly revenged, for he was transfixed with an arrow by an Ethiopian, who watched, as he had been commanded, over the safety of the viceroy; and who saw, with indignation, the treacherous attempt of one, who, having escaped the enemy, took the opportunity presented by fortune, to wreak his revenge against his commander.
Oroondates was brought before Hydaspes, faint and bleeding; but his wound was soon staunched by the remedies applied, the king being resolved, if possible, to save him, and himself giving him encouragement.
"Friend," said he, "I grant your life. I hold it honourable to overcome my enemies by my arms while they resist; and by my good offices when they are fallen: but why have you shewn such perfidy towards me?"
"Towards you, I own," replied the Persian, "I have been perfidious; but to my master I have been faithful."—"As vanquished, then," replied Hydaspes, "what punishment, think you, that you deserve?"—"The same," returned the other, "which my master would inflict upon one of your captains who had fallen into his power, after having proved his fidelity to you."—"If your master," replied the Ethiopian, "were truly royal, and not a tyrant, he would praise and reward him; and excite the emulation of his own people, by commending the good qualities of an enemy: but it seems to me, good sir, that you praise your fidelity at the expence of your prudence, after having adventured yourself against so many myriads of my troops."—"Perhaps," replied Oroondates, "in regard to myself, I have not been so imprudent as may at first appear. I knew the disposition of my sovereign—to punish cowards, rather than to reward the brave. I determined therefore to hazard every thing, and trust to Fortune, who sometimes affords unexpected and improbable successes in war. If I failed and escaped with life, I should at least have it to say, that nothing in my power had been left untried."
Hydaspes, after listening to his words, praised him, sent him to Syene, ordered his physicians to attend him, and all possible care to be taken of him. He himself soon after made his public entry into the city, with the flower of his army. The inhabitants of all ranks and ages went out in procession to meet him, strewed crowns and flowers[17]of the Nile, in his path, greeting him with songs of victory.
He entered the city on an elephant, as on a triumphal chariot, and immediately turned his thoughts to holy matters and thanksgivings to the gods. He made inquiries concerning everything worthy of his curiosity, particularly about the origin of the feasts of the Nile. They shewed him a tank which served as a nilometer, like that which is at Memphis, lined with polished stone, and marked with degrees at the interval of every cubit. The water flows into it under ground, and the height to which it rises in the tank, shews the general excess, or deficiency, of the inundation, according as the degrees are covered or left bare. They shewed him dials, which, at a certain season of the year, cast no shade at noon; for, at the summer solstice, the sun is vertical at Syene, and darts its rays perpendicularly down, so that the water,[18]at the bottom of the deepest wells, is light.
This, however, raised no great astonishment in Hydaspes; for the same phenomenon happens at the Ethiopian Meröe. The people of Syene loudly praised their festival and extolled the Nile, calling it Horus (the year), the fertilizer of their plains—the preserver of Upper Egypt—the father, and, in a manner, the creator of the Lower—as it brings annually new soil into it, and is from thence, possibly, called Nile,[19]by the Greeks.
It points out, they said, the annual vicissitudes of time—summer by the increase, and autumn by the retiring of its waters—spring by the flowers which grow on it, and by the breeding of the crocodiles. The Nile then, is, they say, nothing else but the year, its very appellation confirming this, since the numeral letters which compose its name, amount to 365 units, the number of days which make up the year.[20]They extolled also its peculiar plants and flowers, and animals, and added a thousand other encomiums. "All these praises," said Hydaspes, "belong more to Ethiopia, than to Egypt. If you esteem this river as the father of waters, and exalt it to the rank of a deity, Ethiopia ought surely to be worshipped, which is the mother of your god?"
"We do worship it," replied the priests, "both on many other accounts, and because it has sent you to us, as a preserver and a god." After recommending them to be less lavish in their praises, he retired to a tent which had been prepared for him, and devoted the rest of the day to ease and refreshment. He entertained, at his own table, his principal officers, and the priests of Syene, and encouraged all ranks to make merry. The inhabitants of Syene furnished herds of oxen, flocks of sheep, goats and swine, together with store of wine, partly by way of gift, partly for sale. The next day he mounted a lofty seat; and, ordering the spoil to be brought out, which had been collected in the city, and on the field of battle, distributed it amongst his army, in such proportions as he thought their merit deserved. When the soldier appeared who took Oroondates, "Ask what you please," said the king.—"I have no occasion to ask anything," he replied. "If you will allow me to keep what I have already taken from the Viceroy, I am sufficiently rewarded for having made him prisoner, and preserved him alive, according to your commands." And with this he shewed a sword belt, a scimitar richly jewelled of great value, and worth many talents; so that many cried out, it was a gift too precious for a private man, a treasure worthy of a monarch's acceptance. Hydaspes smilingly replied—
"What can be more kingly than that my magnanimity should be superior to this man's avarice? Besides, the captor has a right to the personal spoils of his prisoner. Let him then, receive as a gift from me, what he might easily have taken to himself, without my knowledge."
Presently those who had taken Theagenes and Chariclea appeared. "Our spoil, Ο king!" said they, "is not gold and jewels, things of little estimation among the Ethiopians, and which lie in heaps in the royal treasures; but we bring you a youth and a maiden, a Grecian pair, excelling all mortals in grace and beauty, except yourself, and we expect from your liberality a proportionate reward."—"You recall them seasonably to my memory," replied Hydaspes. "When I first saw them, in the hurry and confusion in which I was engaged, I took but a cursory view of them. Let some one bring them now before me, together with the rest of the captives."
An officer was immediately despatched for them to the place of their confinement, which was among the baggage, at some distance from the town. They inquired, in their way to the city, of one of their guards, whither they were being conducted. They were told that the king Hydaspes desired to see the prisoners. On hearing the name, they cried out together, with one voice—"Ο ye gods!" fearing till that hour lest some other might be the reigning king; and Theagenes said softly to Chariclea—"You will surely now discover to the king everything which relates to us, since you have frequently told me that Hydaspes was your father."
"Important matters," replied Chariclea, "require great preparation. Where the deity has caused intricate beginnings, there must needs be intricate unravellings. Besides, a tale like ours is not to be told in a moment; nor do I think it advisable to enter upon it in the absence of my mother Persina, upon whose support, and testimony, the foundation of our story, and the whole of our credit, must depend; and she, thanks to the gods I hear, is yet alive."
"What if we should be sacrificed," returned Theagenes; "or, presented to some one as a gift, how shall we ever get into Ethiopia?"—"Nothing is less likely," said Chariclea. "Our guards have told us that we are to be reserved as victims, to be offered to the deities of Meröe. There is no likelihood that we, who are solemnly devoted to the gods, should be destroyed, or otherwise disposed of; such a vow no religious mind would break. Were we to give way to the incautious joy with which this sudden gleam of good fortune transports us, and discover our condition, and relate our adventures, in the absence of those who alone can acknowledge us, and confirm what we say, we run the greatest risk of raising the indignation of the king; who would regard it as a mockery and insult, that we, captives and slaves as we are, should endeavour to pass ourselves off upon him, as his children."
"But the tokens," said Theagenes, "which I know you always carry about you, will give credit to our relation, and shew that we are not impostors."—"These things," replied Chariclea, "are real tokens to those who know them, and who exposed them with me; but to those who are ignorant of this, they are nothing but bracelets, and precious stones; and may possibly induce a suspicion of our having stolen them. Supposing even that Hydaspes should recollect any of these trinkets, who shall persuade him that they were presented to me by Persina, and still more, that they were the gifts of a mother to her daughter? The most incontrovertible token, my dear Theagenes, is a mother's nature, through which the parent at first sight feels affection towards her offspring,—an affection stirred up by secret sympathy. Shall we deprive ourselves, then, by our precipitation, of this most favourable opening, upon which depends the credit of all we have to say?"
Discoursing in this manner, they arrived near the tribunal of the king. Bagoas was led after them. When Hydaspes saw them, rising suddenly from his throne—"May the gods be propitious to me!" he exclaimed, and sat down again, lost in thought. They who were near him inquired the reason of this sudden emotion. Recollecting himself, he said—"Methought that I had a daughter born to me this day, who at once reached her prime, and perfectly resembled this young maiden, whom I see before me. I disregarded, and had almost forgotten my dream, when this remarkable resemblance recalled it to my memory."
His officers replied—"That it was some fancy of the mind bodying forth future events;" upon which the king, laying aside for the present any farther thought upon the subject, proceeded to examine his prisoners. He asked them—"Who, and from whence, they were?" Chariclea was silent. Theagenes replied, "That they were Grecians, and that the maiden was his sister."
"All honour to Greece," said Hydaspes—"the mother of brave and beautiful mortals, for affording us such noble victims for the celebration of our triumphal sacrifices." And turning to his attendants, he said—"Why had I not a son as well as a daughter born to me in my dream, since this youth, being the maiden's brother, ought according to your observation, to have been shadowed forth to me in my vision?"
He then directed his discourse to Chariclea, speaking in Greek; a language known and studied by the Gymnosophists, and kings of Ethiopia—"And you, Ο maiden," said he, "why do you make no answer to my questions?"—"At the altars of the gods," replied she, "to whom we are destined as victims, you shall know who I am, and who are my parents."
"And what part of the world do they inhabit?" said the king.—"They are present now," said she, "and will assuredly be present, when we are sacrificed." Again Hydaspes smiled.—"This dream-born daughter of mine," he observed, "is certainly herself dreaming, when she imagines that her parents are to be brought from the middle of Greece into Meröe. Let them be taken away and served with the usual care and abundance, to fit them for the sacrifices. But who is this standing near, and in person like an eunuch?"[21]—"He is an eunuch," replied one of the bystanders; "his name is Bagoas; he was in great favour with Oroondates."
"Let him too," said the king, "follow and be kept with the Grecian pair; not as a future victim, but that he may attend upon, and watch over the virgin victim, whom it is necessary to preserve in the utmost purity for the sacrifice; and whose beauty is such, that her virtue, unguarded, may be exposed to much danger and temptation. Eunuchs are a jealous race; and fitly employed for debarring others from the enjoyments of which they are themselves deprived." He then proceeded to examine and decide the fate of the remaining prisoners, who appeared in order; distributing among his followers those who were slaves before; dismissing with liberty those who were free and noble: but he selected ten young men, and as many virgins, in the bloom of youth and beauty, whom he ordered to be preserved for the same purpose to which he had destined Theagenes and Chariclea. And having answered every complaint and application, at last he sent for Oroondates, who was brought in lying on a litter.
"I," said he to him, "now that I have obtained the object of my going to war, feel not the common passion of ambitious minds. I am not going to make my good fortune the minister of covetousness; my victory creates in me no wish to extend my empire. I am content with the limits which nature seems to have placed between Egypt and Ethiopia—the cataracts. Having recovered then what I think my right, I revere what is just and equitable, and shall return peacefully to my own dominions. Do you, if your life be spared, remain viceroy of the same province as before: and write to your master, the Persian king, to this effect, 'Thy brother Hydaspes has conquered by might of hand; but restores all through moderation of mind; he wishes to preserve thy friendship, esteeming it the most valuable of all possessions: at the same time, if desirous of renewing the contest, thou wilt not find him backward.' As to the Syenæans I remit their tribute for ten years; and command thee to do the same." Loud acclamations, both from the soldiers and citizens, followed his last words.
Oroondates crossing his hands, and inclining his body, adored him; a compliment not usual for a Persian to pay to any prince, except his own.—"Ο ye who hear me," said he, "I do not think that I violate the customs of my country, as to my own sovereign, in adoring the most just of kings, who has restored to me my government; who instead of putting me to death has granted me my life; who, able to act as a despotic lord, permits me to remain a viceroy. Should I recover, I pledge myself to promote a solid peace and lasting friendship between the Persians and Ethiopians, and to procure for the Syenæans that remission of tribute which has been enjoined; but should I not survive, may the gods recompense Hydaspes, his family, and remotest descendants, for all the benefits which he has conferred upon me!"