Chapter XXX: Eulogy of Alexander (3)

[481] Compare the words of Tissaphernes to Clearchus (Xenophon, _Anabasis_, ii. 5): “Though the king is the only man who can wear the tiara erect upon his head, I shall be able to wear mine erect upon my heart in full confidence, when you are in my service.” Cf. _Curtius_ (iii. 8); Aristophanes (_Birds_, 487). The cap of the ordinary Persians was low, loose, and clinging about the head in folds; whereas that of the king was high and erect above the head. From Xenophon (_Cyropaedia_, viii. 3, 13) we learn that the Persian king’s vest was of a purple colour, half mixed with white, and that no one else was allowed to wear this mixture of white. He had loose trousers of a scarlet colour, and a robe entirely purple. Cf. also _Strabo_ (xv. 3), where the tiara is said to be in the shape of a tower; and Seneca (_De Beneficiis_, vi. 31); _Ammianus_, xviii. 8, 5.

[482] See Xenophon (_Anab._, i. 2, 27; _Cyropaedia_, viii. 3); _Curtius_ (iii. 8).

[483] These people are also called Drangians. They lived west of Arachosia in Drangiana.

[484] According to Plutarch (_Alex._, 48, 49) Alexander suborned Antigonē, the mistress of Philotas, to reveal his secret conversation.

[485] Cf. _Curtius_, vi. 32.

[486] The word ἐπιμηνυτής is found nowhere else in any Greek author.

[487] Full details of the conspiracy and trial of Philotas are given by _Curtius_ (vi. 25-44).

[488] Arrian says nothing about Philotas being put to the torture; but this fact is asserted with ample details by Plutarch (_Alex._, 49); _Diodorus_ (xvii. 80); _Curtius_ (vi. 42, 43); and _Justin_ (xii. 5).

[489] Full particulars of the murder of Parmenio are given by _Curtius_ (vii. 7-9).

[490] For the trial of Amyntas, cf. _Curtius_, vii. 2-6.

[491] Alexander also formed a separate cohort of the men who were pronounced sympathisers with Parmenio, and this cohort afterwards greatly distinguished itself. See _Diodorus_, xvii. 80; _Curtius_, vii. 10; _Justin_, xii. 5.

[492] The Ariaspians inhabited the south part of Drangiana on the borders of Gadrosia. The river Etymander, now known as the Hilmend, flowed through their territories. Cf. _Curtius_, vii. 11; _Diodorus_, xvii. 81.

[493] Gadrosia was the furthest province of the Persian empire on the south-east. It comprised the south-east part of Beloochistan.

[494] This was not the range usually so called, but what was known as the Indian Caucasus, the proper name being Paropanisus. It is now called Hindu-Koosh.

[495] This city was probably on the site of Beghram, twenty-five miles north-east of Cabul. See Grote’s _Greece_, vol. xii. ch. 94.

[496] There are two kinds of silphium or laserpitium, the Cyrenaic, and the Persian. The latter is usually called asafœtida. See _Herodotus_ (iv. 169); Pliny (_Historia Naturalis_, xix. 15; xxiii. 48); Aelian (_Varia Historia_, xii. 37); Aristophanes (_Plutus_, 925); Plautus (_Rud._, iii. 2, 16); _Catullus_ (vii. laserpitiferis Cyrenis).

[497] Cyrene was a colony founded by Battus from Thera, an island colonized by the Spartans. The territory of Cyrenaica is now a part of Tripoli. Cf. Pindar (_Pyth._, iv. 457); _Herodotus_ (iv. 159-205).

[498] This Tanais was usually called Jaxartes, now Sir, flowing into the sea of Aral.

[499] The Oxus, now called Jihoun or Amou, flows into the sea of Aral, but formerly flowed into the Caspian.

[500] Some think this town stood where Naksheh now is, and others think it was at Kesch.

[501] Cf. Xenophon, _Anab._, i. 5, 10.

[502] _Curtius_ (vii. 24) follows the account of Aristobulus, and so does _Diodorus_ (xvii. 83) in the main. Cf. Aelian (_Varia Historia_, xii. 37).

[503] The modern Samarcand.

[504] Arrian and Strabo are wrong in stating that the Jaxartes rises in the Caucasus, or Hindu-Koosh. It springs from the Comedae Montes, now called Moussour. It does not flow into the Hyrcanian, or Caspian Sea, but into the Sea of Aral. It is about 900 miles long.

[505] The river Tanais, of which Herodotus speaks (iv. 45, 57), is the Don; and the Lake Maeotis, is the Sea of Azov. Cf. _Strabo_ (vii. cc. 3 and 4).

[506] _Euxeinos_ (kind to strangers); called before the Greeks settled upon it _Axenos_ (inhospitable). See Ovid (_Tristia_, iv. 4). Cf. _Ammianus_ (xxii. 8, 33): “A contrario per cavillationem Pontus Euxinus adpellatur, et euethen Graeci dicimus stultum, et noctem euphronen et furias Eumenidas.”

[507] So _Curtius_ (vi. 6) makes the Don the boundary of Europe and Asia. “Tanais Europam et Asiam medius interfuit.” Ammianus says: “Tanais inter Caucasias oriens rupes, per sinuosos labitur circumflexus, Asiamque disterminans ab Europa, in stagnis Maeoticis delitescit.” The Rha, or Volga, is first mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century of the Christian era.

[508] Gadeira is now called Cadiz. The Greeks called the continent of Africa by the name of Libya. So _Polybius_ (iii. 37) says that the Don is the boundary of Europe, and that Libya is separated from Asia and Europe respectively by the Nile and the Straits of Gibraltar, or, as he calls the latter, “the mouth at the pillars of Hercules.” Arrian here, like many ancient authors, considers Libya a part of Asia. Cf. _Juvenal_, x. i.

[509] _Curtius_ (vii. 23) gives an account of the massacre by Alexander of the descendants of the Branchidae, who had surrendered to Xerxes the treasures of the temple of Apollo near Miletus, and who, to escape the vengeance of the Greeks, had accompanied Xerxes into the interior. They had been settled in Sogdiana, and their descendants had preserved themselves distinct from the barbarians for 150 years, till the arrival of Alexander. We learn from the table of contents of the 17th book of _Diodorus_, that that historian also gave an account of this atrocity of Alexander in the part of his history, now lost, which came after the 83rd chapter. Cf. _Herodotus_ (i. 92, 157; v. 36); _Strabo_ (xi. 11; xiv. 1).

[510] See Homer’s _Iliad_, xiii. 6. Cf. _Curtius_, vii. 26; _Ammianus_, xxiii. 6.

[511] Cf. _Thucydides_, ii. 97.

[512] _Curtius_ (vii. 26) says, he sent one of his friends named Berdes on this mission.

[513] This was called Alexandria Ultima, on the Jaxartes, probably the modern Khojend.

[514] Cf. _Curtius_ (vii. 26). Zariaspa was another name for Bactra. See _Pliny_ (vi. 18) and _Strabo_ (xi. 11).

[515] This city was also called Cyreschata, because it was the furthest city founded by Cyrus, and the extreme city of the Persian empire.

[516] δυσί was not used in Attic Greek, or but seldom. It became common after the time of Alexander.

[517] Instead of ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ, Sintenis reads ἡμέραν μίαν.

[518] This city was called by the Greeks, Alexandria on the Tanais. See _Curtius_, vii. 28.

[519] Cf. _Livy_, xxi. 27:—Hispani sine ulla mole in utres vestimentis conjectis ipsi caetris superpositis incubantes flumen tranavere.

[520] See _Herodotus_, iv. 122-142.

[521] This was Maracanda, according to iii. 30 supra. There is an error in the text; Abicht proposes to read ἐπὶ τὰ ὅρια, instead of ἐς τὰ βασίλεια.

[522] This river is now called Sogd, or Kohik. The Greek name signifies “very precious,” a translation of the native name. Cf. _Strabo_, p. 518.

[523] _Curtius_ (vii. 32) says that Spitamenes laid an ambush for the Macedonians, and slew 300 cavalry and 2,000 infantry.

[524] About 170 miles.

[525] _Curtius_ (vii. 40) says that Alexander founded six cities in Bactria and Sogdiana. _Justin_ (xii. 5) says there were twelve.

[526] This is a mistake; for it ends in a lake Dengiz near Karakoul.

[527] The Areius is now called Heri-rud. The Etymander is the modern Hilmend. Nothing is known of the Epardus.

[528] The Peneius is now called Salambria. It forces its way through the vale of Tempe, between mounts Olympus and Ossa, into the sea. Cf. Ovid (_Met._, i. 568-576).

[529] On the analogy of πρὶν the later prose-writers use ἔστε with the infinitive. Cf. _Arrian_, ii. 1, 3; v. 16, 1.

[530] See Bk. iii. ch. 29 supra.

[531] See Bk. iii. ch. 19 supra.

[532] See Bk. iii. ch. 16 supra.

[533] _Curtius_ (vii. 40) says that the reinforcement was 19,000 men.

[534] Cf. Plutarch (_Alex._, 43); _Diodorus_ (xvii. 83).

[535] _I.e._ non-Hellenic.

[536] Cf. _Diodorus_, xvii. 77; _Justin_, xii. 3. We learn from Plutarch (_Alex._, 45), that he did not assume the tiara of the Persian kings. Cf. _Arrian_, vii. 9; vii. 29 infra. The Medic robe was a long silken garment reaching to the feet, and falling round the body in many deep folds.

[537] Caranus, a descendant of Temenus, king of Argos, is said to have settled in Macedonia, and to have become the founder of the dynasty of Macedonian kings. Temenus was a descendant of Heracles. Cf. ii. 5; iv. 10. One of the chief causes of disgust which the Greeks felt at the conduct of Pausanias, the conqueror at Plataea, was, that he adopted the Persian attire. “This pedigree from Temenus and Hercules may be suspicious; yet it was allowed, after a strict inquiry by the judges of the Olympic games (_Herodotus_, v. 22), at a time when the Macedonian kings were obscure and unpopular in Greece. When the Achaean league declared against Philip, it was thought decent that the deputies of Argos should retire (_T. Liv._, xxxii. 22).”—_Gibbon._ Cf. _Herodotus_, viii. 137; _Thucydides_, ii. 99, 100; v. 80.

[538] Cf. _Curtius_, viii. 6.

[539] The sons of Jove, Castor and Pollux. ἐπιφρασθέντα is a word borrowed from Homer and Herodotus.

[540] Cf. _Curtius_, viii. 17: “Non deerat talia concupiscenti perniciosa adulatio perpetuum malum regum, quorum opes saepius assentatio quam hostis evertit.”

[541] _Curtius_ (viii. 3 and 4) says that it was Alexander himself that spoke depreciatingly of Philip, and that Clitus even dared to defend the murdered Parmenio.

[542] Instead of the usual reading from καὶ ταύτῃ to καὶ ταύτην, Sintenis reads οἱ δὲ σάρισαν παρὰ τῶν φυλάκων τινὸς καὶ ταύτῃ παίσαντα τὸν Κλεῖτον ἀποκτεῖναι.

[543] Cf. _Curtius_ (viii. 3 and 6), who calls the sister of Clitus, Hellanice.

[544] From Plutarch (_Alex._, 13) we learn that Alexander imagined he had incurred the avenging wrath of Bacchus by destroying Thebes, the birthplace of that deity, on which account it was supposed to be under his tutelary care.

[545] _Curtius_ (viii. 6) says, that in order to console the king, the Macedonian army passed a vote that Clitus had been justly slain, and that his corpse should not be buried. But the king ordered its burial.

[546] A philosopher of Abdera, and pupil of Democritus. After Alexander’s death, Anaxarchus was thrown by shipwreck into the hands of Nicocreon, king of Cyprus, to whom he had given offence, and who had him pounded to death in a mortar.

[547] Cf. Sophocles (_Oedipus Col._, 1382; _Antigone_, 451); Hesiod (_Opera et Dies_, 254-257); Pindar (_Olympia_, viii. 28); Demosthenes (_Advers. Aristogiton_, p. 772); _Herodotus_, iii. 31.

[548] Plutarch (_Alex._, 52) tells us that Callisthenes the philosopher was also summoned with Anaxarchus to administer consolation, but he adopted such a different tone that Alexander was displeased with him.

[549] _Curtius_ (viii. 17) says that Agis was the composer of very poor poems.

[550] _Justin_ (xii. 6) says that Callisthenes was a fellow-student with Alexander under Aristotle. He composed three historical works: I. _Hellenica_, from B.C. 387 to 337; II. _The History of the Sacred War_, from B.C. 357 to 346; III. _The History of Alexander._ Cf. _Diodorus_, xiv. 117. According to _Polybius_ (xii. 23), he was accused by Timaeus of having flattered Alexander in his History.

[551] Hipparchus was slain B.C. 514, and Hippias was expelled from Athens B.C. 510. See _Thucydides_, vi. 53-59.

[552] Eurystheus was king over Argos and Mycenae alone.

[553] When Conon the famous Athenian visited Babylon, he would not see Artaxerxes, from repugnance to the ceremony of prostration, which was required from all who approached the Great King. We are also informed by Plutarch (_Artaxerxes_, 22), that Pelopidas declined to perform this ceremony, so degrading in the eyes of the Greeks. His colleague, Ismenias, however, dropped his ring in front of the king, and then stooped to pick it up, thus going through the act of prostration. Cf. Aelian (_Varia Historia_, i. 21). Xenophon said to his soldiers:—οὐδένα γὰρ ἄνθρωπον δεσπότην ἀλλὰ τοὺς θεοὺς προσκυνεῖτε. (_Anab._, iii. 13).

[554] _Curtius_ (viii. 18) says that the speech proposing to honour Alexander as a god was made by Cleon, a Sicilian Greek.

[555] ἀχθομένους. The usual reading is μαχομένους.

[556] Cf. Xenophon (_Cyrop._, 4, 27):—λέγεται τοὺς συγγενεῖς φιλοῦντας ἀποπέμπεσθαι αὐτὸν νόμῳ Περσικῷ.

[557] πρόσκεινται. Cf. _Herodotus_, i. 118:—τοῖσι θεῶν τιμὴ αὕτη προσκέεται.

[558] Alexander’s mother Olympias was daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, who traced his descent from Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, the grandson of Aeacus.

[559] οἱ λόγοι γίγνονται. There is another reading, ὀλίγοι γίγνωνται.

[560] Cf. _Herodotus_, i. 214, with Dean Blakesley’s note.

[561] _Curtius_ (viii. 20) says, that it was Polysperchon who made sport of the Persian, and incurred the king’s wrath.

[562] _Ammianus_ (xviii. 3) says: “Ignorans profecto vetus Aristotelis sapiens dictum, qui Callisthenem sectatorem et propinquum suum ad regem Alexandrum mittens, ei saepe mandabat, ut quam rarissime et jucunde apud hominem loqueretur, vitae potestatem et necis in acie linguae portantem.”

[563] Cf. _Curtius_ (viii. 21); Aelian (_Varia Historia_, xiv. 49). After the battle of Pydna, where the Romans conquered the Macedonians, the _pueri regii_ followed the defeated king Perseus to the sanctuary at Samothrace, and never quitted him till he surrendered to the Romans. See _Livy_, xlv. 6.

[564] For this use of διαπίπτειν, cf. Aristophanes (_Knights_, 695); _Polybius_ (v. 26, 16); διαπεσούσης αὐτῷ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς.

[565] Alexander wrote to Craterus, Attalus, and Alcetas, that the pages, though put to the torture, asserted that no one but themselves was privy to the conspiracy. In another letter, written to Antipater the regent of Macedonia, he says that the pages had been stoned to death by the Macedonians, but that he himself would punish the Sophist, and those who sent him out, and those who harboured in their cities conspirators against him. Aristotle had sent Callisthenes out. Alexander refers to him and the Athenians. See Plutarch (_Alex._, 55).

[566] Cf. _Arrian_ (vii. 29).

[567] _Curtius_ (viii. 29) says that Alexander afterwards repented of his guilt in murdering the philosopher. His tragical death excited great indignation among the ancient philosophers. See Seneca (_Naturales Quaestiones_, vi. 23); Cicero (_Tusc. Disput._, iii. 10), speaking of Theophrastus, the friend of Callisthenes.

[568] We find from chapter xxii. that these events occurred at Bactra.

[569] The Chorasmians were a people who inhabited the country near the lower part of the river Oxus, between the Caspian and Aral Seas.

[570] This mythical race of warlike females is said to have come from the Caucasus and to have settled near the modern Trebizond, their original abode being in Colchis. Cf. _Arrian_ (vii. 13); _Strabo_ (xi. 5); _Diod._ (xvii. 77); _Curt._ (vi. 19); _Justin_ (xii. 3); Homer (_Iliad_, iii. 189); Aeschўlus (_Eumenides_, 655); _Herod._ (iv. 110-116; ix. 27).

[571] See iii. 29 supra.

[572] Propontis means the sea _before the Pontus_. Compare Ovid (_Tristia_, i. 10, 31):—“Quaque tenent _Ponti_ Byzantia littora _fauces_.”

[573] We learn, from _Curtius_ (viii. 3), that it was at this place that Clitus was murdered.

[574] These were a people dwelling to the north-east of the Caspian, who were chiefly remarkable for having defeated and killed Cyrus the Great. See _Herodotus_, i. 201-216.

[575] There were two other generals named Peithon; one the son of Agenor, and the other the son of Crateas. See _Arrian_, vi. 15, 28, etc.

[576] _Curtius_ (viii. 1) says that the name of the defeated general was Attinas.

[577] Artabazus was in his 95th year when he joined Alexander with the Grecian troops of Darius in B.C. 330. See _Curtius_, vi. 14. His viceroyalty was destined for Clitus; but on the death of that general it was conferred on Amyntas. See _Curtius_, viii. 3.

[578] _Curtius_ (viii. 11 and 12) says that the wife of Spitamenes murdered him and carried his head to Alexander.

[579] The Hebrew name for Media is Madai, which means _middle-land_. The Greeks called the country Media, according to _Polybius_ (v. 44), because it lies near the middle of Asia.

[580] Of the year 327 B.C.

[581] ὤρα, akin to Latin _cura_, a poetical and Ionic word, often found in Herodotus.

[582] About £2,700.

[583] About £327. _Curtius_ (vii. 41) says that the first prize was 10 talents, the second 9 talents, and the same proportion for the eight others, so that the tenth man who mounted received one talent. The stater of Darius, usually called a daricus, was a gold coin of Persia. See Smith’s _Dictionary of Antiquities_.

[584] Cf. _Curtius_ (vii. 43), vela, signum capti verticis.

[585] Roxana and her son Alexander Aegus were put to death by Cassander, B.C. 311.

[586] Statira. She died shortly before the battle of Arbela.

[587] καρτερὸς αὑτοῦ. Cf. _Theocritus_, xv. 94, ἁμῶν καρτερός.

[588] After the capture of Damascus, Alexander married Barsine, the widow of his rival Memnon, and daughter of Artabazus. She was distinguished for her beauty and accomplishments, having received a Grecian education. By her he had a son named Heracles. See Plutarch (_Alex._, 21). She and her son were put to death by Polysperchon, B.C. 309.

[589] Cf. _Herodotus_, i. 131; _Curtius_, iv. 42. The Persians called this god Ormuzd.

[590] _Curtius_ (viii. 16) says that Alexander saw Roxana at a banquet given by Oxyartes in his honour.

[591] Krüger substituted περιεῖργε for περιέργει.

[592] βατά. Cf. Xenophon (_Anab._, iv. 6, 17).

[593] Arrian imitates Herodotus in the use of ὡς with the infinitive instead of ὥστε.

[594] This term is a Persian word meaning mountaineers. The tribe mentioned here lived between the rivers Oxus and Jaxartes, on the borders of Bactria and Sogdiana.

[595] _Curtius_ (viii. 17) says Alexander took with him 30,000 select troops from all the conquered provinces, and that the army which he led against the Indians numbered 120,000 men.

[596] This is the Indian Caucasus, or mount Parapamisus, now called Hindu-Koosh.

[597] The Cophen is now called Cabul. Nicaea was probably on the same site as the city of Cabul. Others say it is Beghram. The Greek word _Satrapes_ denotes a Persian viceroy. It is a corruption of a word meaning _court-guardian_, in the Behistûn Inscriptions written Khshatrapâ. See Rawlinson’s _Herod._, i. 192.

[598] _Curtius_ (viii. 43) says that Taxiles was the title which the king of this district received. His name was Omphis.

[599] A district between the rivers Indus and Attock. Its capital, Peucela, is the modern Pekheli.

[600] The brigade of Clitus still bore the name of its commander after his death. Cf. _Arrian_, vii. 14 infra.

[601] These were tribes living in the north-west of the Punjab.

[602] Probably the modern Kama, a tributary of the Cabul.

[603] Supposed to be another name for the Choes.

[604] καὶ τοὺς ψιλοὺς. The usual reading is τοὺς χιλίους, 1,000 _Agrianians_.

[605] A tributary of the Cophen, probably what is now called the Lundye, running parallel with the Kama.

[606] Cf. _Livy_, xxi. 31:—“Amnis saxa glareosa volvens, nihil stabile nec tutum ingredienti praebet.”

[607] This was the capital of the Assacenians. _Curtius_ (viii. 37) calls it Mazagae, and describes its strong position.

[608] See Bk. ii. 23 supra.

[609] _Curtius_ (viii. 37, 38) says that the name of the queen was Cleophis, and that after the surrender she gained Alexander’s favour. He also informs us that the king died just before Alexander’s arrival.

[610] Probably Bajour, north-west of Peshawur. The position of Ora cannot be fixed.

[611] This was the king of the Indian mountaineers. See _Arrian_, v. 8 infra.

[612] On the ground of ἐν τῇ πόλει ξυμφυγόντες not being classical Greek, Krüger has substituted ἐν τῇ πόλει ξυμπεφευγότες, and Sintenis εἰς τὴν πόλιν ξυμφυγόντες. No one however ought to expect Arrian to be free from error, writing, as he did, in the middle of the second century of the Christian era.

[613] This seems to be the Greek translation of the native name, meaning the place to which no bird can rise on account of its height. Cf. _Strabo_, xv. 1. This mountain was identified by Major Abbot, in 1854, as Mount Mahabunn, near the right bank of the Indus, about 60 miles above its confluence with the Cabul.

[614] Cf. _Arrian_, ii. 16 supra.

[615] _Curtius_ (viii. 39) says that the river Indus washed the base of the rock, and that its shape resembled the _meta_ or goal in a race-course, which was a stone shaped like a sugar-loaf. Arrian’s description is more likely to be correct as he took it from Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s generals.

[616] Near mount Mababunn are two places called Umb and Balimah, the one in the valley of the river and the other on the mountain above it. See Major Abbot’s _Gradus ad Aornon_.

[617] δαήμων, a poetical word. Cf. Homer (_Odyssey_, viii. 159).

[618] Probably Dyrta was at the point where the Indus issues from the Hindu-Koosh.

[619] Gronovius first introduced καὶ before τοὺς ψιλούς.

[620] The name Indus is derived from the Sanscrit appellation _Sindhu_, from a root _Syandh_, meaning _to flow_. The name Indians, or Sindians, was originally applied only to the dwellers on the banks of this river. _Hindustan_ is a Persian word meaning the country of the Hindus or Sindus. Compare the modern Sinde, in the north-west of India, which contains the lower course of the Indus. In Hebrew India was called Hodu, which is a contraction of Hondu, another form of Hindu. See Esther i. 1; viii. 9. Krüger changed ὡδοποιεῖτο into ὡδοποίει.

[621] This city was probably on the site of Jelalabad.

[622] ἐπεί τε. This is the only place where Arrian uses this Ionic form for the simple ἐπεί.

[623] The Indians worship a god Homa, the personification of the intoxicating soma juice. This deity corresponds to the Greek Dionysus or Bacchus.

[624] The slopes of this mountain were covered with vines. See Ovid (_Fasti_, ii. 313; _Metamorphoses_, xi. 86); Vergil (_Georgics_, ii. 98); _Pliny_, xiv. 9.

[625] φανείη. Arrian does not comply with the Attic rule, that the subjunctive should follow the principal tenses in the leading sentence. Cf. v. 6, 6; 7, 5; vii. 7, 5; 15, 2.

[626] Cf. Pliny (_Nat. Hist._, vi. 23; viii. 60; xvi. 62). The ordinary reading is ἄλση παντοῖα· καὶ δεῖν σύσκιον. For this Krüger has proposed ἄλση παντοίᾳ ὕλῃ σύσκια.

[627] The other names of Dionysus were: Bacchus, Bromius, Evius, Iacchus, Lenaeus, Lyaens. The Romans called him Liber.

[628] _Curtius_ (viii. 36) says that the Macedonians celebrated Bacchanalia for the space of ten days on this mountain.

[629] The 1st aor. pass. ἐσχέθην is found only in Arrian and Plutarch. Cf. vii. 22, 2 infra.

[630] The celebrated Geographer and Mathematician, who was born B.C. 276 and died about B.C. 196. His principal work was one on geography, which was of great use to Strabo. None of his works are extant. He was made president of the Alexandrian library, B.C. 236.

[631] Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, v. 11).

[632] The earliest mention of India which has descended to our times is in Aeschўlus (_Supplices_, 284).

[633] Arrian frequently uses the Ionic and old Attic word, σμικρός.

[634] About £480,000.

[635] Alexander probably crossed the Indus near Attock. The exact site of Taxila cannot be fixed.

[636] The Hydaspes is now called Jelum, one of the five great tributaries of the Indus.

[637] Herodotus considered the Danube the largest river in the world as known to him, and the Dnieper the largest of all rivers except the Danube and the Nile. See _Herodotus_, iv. 48-53.

[638] “Amnis Danubius sexaginta navigabiles paene recipiens fluvios, septem ostiis erumpit in mare. Quorum primum est Peuce insula supra dicta, ut interpretata sunt vocabula Graeco sermone, secundum Naracustoma, tertium Calonstoma, quartum Pseudostoma: nam Boreonstoma ac deinde Sthenostoma longe minora sunt caeteris: septimum ingens et palustri specie nigrum.”—_Ammianus_ (xxii. 8, 44). _Pliny_ (iv. 24) says that the Danube has six mouths, the names of which he gives.

[639] The Indus does not rise in the Parapamisus, but in the Himalayas. It has two principal mouths, but there are a number of smaller ones. Ptolemy said there were seven. The Delta is between 70 and 80 miles broad. “Delta, a triquetrae litterae forma hoc vocabulo signatius adpellata.”—_Ammianus_, xxii. 15.

[640] The territory included by the Indus and its four affluents is now called Punjab, a Persian word meaning _five rivers_.

[641] Ctesias was the Greek physician of Artaxerxes Mnemon. He wrote a history of Persia and a book on India. His works are only preserved in meagre abridgement by Photius. Aristotle says that he was false and untrustworthy (_Hist. of Animals_, viii. 27; _De Generatione Animalium_, ii. 2). Subsequent research has proved Ctesias to be wrong and Herodotus generally right in the many statements in which they are at variance.

[642] The fact is, that the Indus is nowhere more than 20 stades, or 2-1/2 miles broad.

[643] See _Strabo_, xv. 1; xvi. 4; _Herod._, iii. 102, with Dean Blakesley’s note.

[644] οὐδαμῶν is the Ionic form for οὐδένων.

[645] The Greek name Αἴθιοψ means _sunburnt_. The Hebrew name for Aethiopia is Cush (black). In ancient Egyptian inscriptions it is called _Keesh_. It is the country now called Abyssinia. Aethiopas vicini sideris vapore torreri, adustisque similes gigni, barba et capillo vibrato, non est dubium. (_Pliny_, ii. 80).

[646] Cf. Xenophon (_Cyropaedia_, vii. 5, 67).

[647] Called the _Indica_, a valuable little work in the Ionic dialect, still existing.

[648] Nearchus left an account of his voyage, which is not now extant. Arrian made use of it in writing the _Indica_. See that work, chapters xvii. to lxiii.

[649] Megasthenes was sent with the Plataean Dēimachus, by Seleucus Nicator, the king of Syria and one of Alexander’s generals, as ambassador to Sandracotus, king of the country near the Ganges. He wrote a very valuable account of India in four books.

[650] _Taurus_ is from the old root tor meaning _high_, another form of which is _dor_. Hence Dorians = highlanders.

[651] The ancient geographers thought that the Jaxartes bifurcated, part of it forming the Tanais, or Don, and flowing into the lake Maeotis, or Sea of Azov; and the other part falling into the Hyrcanian, or Caspian Sea. The Jaxartes and Oxus flow into the Sea of Aral, but the ancients thought that they fell into the Caspian, as there is indeed evidence to prove that they once did. _Hyrcania_ is the Greek form of the old Persian _Virkâna_, that is _Wolf’s Land_. It is now called Gurgân.

[652] _Herodotus_ (i. 203) states decidedly that the Caspian is an inland sea. _Strabo_ (xi. 1), following Eratosthenes, says that it is a gulf of the Northern Ocean.

[653] The Euphrates, after its junction with the Tigres, flows through the marshes of Lamlum, where its current moves less than a mile an hour.

[654] Cf. _Arrian_, vi. 27 infra.

[655] Probably the Chandragupta of the Sanscrit writers. He conquered from the Macedonians the Punjab and the country as far as the Hindu-Koosh. He reigned about 310 B.C.

[656] Mount Dindymus, now called Murad Dagh, was sacred to Cybele, the mother of the gods, who was hence called Dindymene.

[657] Hecataeus of Miletus died about B.C. 476. He wrote a work upon Geography, and another on History. His works were well known to Herodotus but only fragments survive.

[658] See _Herodotus_, ii. 5.

[659] See _Herodotus_, ii. 10-34.

[660] See Homer’s _Odyssey_, iv. 477, 581. In Hebrew the name for Egypt is _Mitsraim_ (dark-red). In form the word is dual, evidently in reference to the division of the country by the Nile. The native name was _Chem_, meaning _black_, probably on account of the blackness of the alluvial soil.

[661] ἄλλοι is Abicht’s reading instead of πολλοί.

[662] Arrian, in his _Indica_, chap. 4, gives the names of these rivers.

[663] See _Herodotus_, vii. 33-36; iv. 83, 97, 133-141. _Bosporus_ = Oxford. The name was applied to the Straits of Constantinople, and also to those of Yenikale, the former being called the Thracian and the latter the Cimmerian Bosporus. Cf. Aeschўlus (_Prom._, 734). Ad Bosporos duos, vel bubus meabili transitu; unde nomen ambobus (_Pliny_, vi. 1).

[664] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 86) says that Alexander crossed on a bridge of boats. Cf. _Strabo_, p. 698; _Curtius_, viii. 34.

[665] There was another river called Rhenus, a tributary of the Po, now called the Reno. It was called Rhenus Bononiensis, being near Bononia or Bologna.

[666] αἱ πρύμναν κρουόμεναι. For this nautical term compare _Thucydides_, i. 51; _Herodotus_, viii. 84; _Diodorus_, xi. 18; Aristophanes, _Wasps_, 399. κατὰ ῥοῦν is Krüger’s reading for the usual κατὰ πόρον.

[667] The explanation of this passage given in Liddell and Scott’s _Lexicon_, sub voce κλῖμαξ, is evidently incorrect, as there is nothing about a chariot in the original.

[668] Compare the description of Cæsar’s bridge over the Rhine (_Gallic War_, iv. 17).

[669] The place where Alexander crossed the Indus was probably at its junction with the Cophen or Cabul river, near Attock. Before he crossed he gave his army a rest of thirty days, as we learn from _Diodorus_, xvii. 86. From the same passage we learn that a certain king named Aphrices with an army of 20,000 men and 15 elephants, was killed by his own men and his army joined Alexander.

[670] The kingdom of Porus lay between the Hydaspes and Acesines, the district now called Bari-doab with Lahore as capital. It was conquered by Lords Hardinge and Gough in 1849.

[671] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 87) says that Porus had more than 50,000 infantry, about 3,000 cavalry, more than 1,000 chariots, and 130 elephants. _Curtius_ (viii. 44) says he had about 30,000 infantry, 300 chariots, and 85 elephants.

[672] ἐπιτρέψας is Krüger’s reading instead of ἐπιτάξας.

[673] About the month of May. See chap. 12 infra; also _Curtius_, viii. 45, 46. _Strabo_ (xv. 1) quotes from Aristobulus describing the rainy season at the time of Alexander’s battle with Porus at the Hydaspes.

[674] Cf. _Arrian_, i. 14 supra.

[675] ἀλλὰ κενόν is Krüger’s reading, instead of ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνον.

[676] ἄλσει is Abicht’s reading for εἴδει.

[677] About 17 miles.

[678] This use of πρίν with infinitive after negative clauses, is contrary to Attic usage.

[679] The perf. pass. πέπηγμαι is used by Arrian and Dionysius, but by Homer and the Attic writers the form used is πέπηγα. _Doric_, πέπαγα.

[680] Seleucus Nicator, the most powerful of Alexander’s successors, became king of Syria and founder of the dynasty of the Seleucidae, which came to an end in B.C. 79.

[681] For this use of ὅσον, cf. Homer (_Iliad_, ix. 354); _Herodotus_, iv. 45; Plato (_Gorgias_, 485 A; _Euthydemus_, 273 A).

[682] Compare the passage of the Rhone by Hannibal. (See _Livy_, xxi. 26-28; _Polybius_, iii. 45, 46.)

[683] 100 Greek and 101 English feet.

[684] See Donaldson’s _New Cratylus_, sec. 178.

[685] πρὶν κατίδωσιν. In Attic, πρὶν ἄν is the regular form with the subjunctive; but in Homer and the Tragic writers ἄν is often omitted.

[686] Cf. Arrian’s _Tactics_, chap. 29.

[687] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 89) says that more than 12,000 Indians were killed in this battle, over 9,000 being captured, besides 80 elephants.

[688] According to Diodorus there fell of the Macedonians 280 cavalry and more than 700 infantry. Plutarch (_Alex._ 60) says that the battle lasted eight hours.

[689] _Curtius_ (viii. 50, 51) represents Porus sinking half dead, and being protected to the last by his faithful elephant. _Diodorus_ (xvii. 88) agrees with him.

[690] Cf. _Curtius_, viii. 44; _Justin_, xii. 8.

[691] Cf. _Arrian_, ii. 10 supra. δεδουλωμένος τῇ γνώμῃ. The Scholiast on _Thucydides_ iv. 34, explains this by τεταπεινωμένος φόβῳ.

[692] Cf. Plutarch (_Alex._, 60); _Curtius_, viii. 51.

[693] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 87) says that the battle was fought in the archonship of Chremes at Athens.

[694] Nicaea is supposed to be Mong and Bucephala may be Jelalpur. See _Strabo_, xv. 1.

[695] Cf. Plutarch (_Alex._, 61). Schmieder says that Alexander could not have broken in the horse before he was sixteen years old. But since at this time he was in his twenty-ninth year he would have had him thirteen years. Consequently the horse must have been at least seventeen years old when he acquired him. Can any one believe this? Yet Plutarch also states that the horse was thirty years old at his death.

[696] _Curtius_ (vi. 17) says this occurred in the land of the Mardians; whereas Plutarch (_Alex._, 44) says it happened in Hyrcania.

[697] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 89), says Alexander made a halt of 30 days after this battle.

[698] Cf. _Arrian_, v. 8 supra, where an earlier embassy from Abisares is mentioned.

[699] _Strabo_ (xv. 1) says that this Porus was a cousin of the Porus captured by Alexander.

[700] This is the Chenab. See Arrian (_Indica_, iii.), who says that where it joins the Indus it is 30 stades broad.

[701] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 95) says that Alexander received a reinforcement from Greece at this river of more than 30,000 infantry and nearly 6,000 cavalry; also suits of armour for 25,000 infantry, and 100 talents of medical drugs.

[702] Μέλλειν is usually connected with the future infinitive; but Arrian frequently uses it with the present.

[703] Now called the Ravi.

[704] Sangala is supposed to be Lahore; but probably it lay some distance from that city, on the bank of the Chenab.

[705] Compare Cæsar (_Bell. Gall._, i. 26): pro vallo carros objecerant et e loco superiore in nostros venientes tela conjiciebant, et nonnulli inter carros rotasque mataras ac tragulas subjiciebant nostrosque vulnerabant.

[706] ἐγκυρεῖν is an epic and Ionic word rarely used in Attic; but found frequently in _Herodotus_, _Homer_, _Hesiod_, and _Pindar_.

[707] The Greeks had only three watches; but Arrian is speaking as a Roman.

[708] Eumenes, of Cardia in Thrace, was private secretary to Philip and Alexander. After the death of the latter, he obtained the rule of Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus. He displayed great ability both as a general and statesman; but was put to death by Antigonus in B.C. 316, when he was 45 years of age. Being a Greek, he was disliked by the Macedonian generals, from whom he experienced very unjust treatment. It is evident from the biographies of him written by Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos, that he was one of the most eminent men of his era.

[709] Now called the Beas, or Bibasa. Strabo calls it Hypanis, and Pliny calls it Hypasis.

[710] In the Hebrew Bible Javan denotes the Ionian race of Greeks, and then the Greeks in general (Gen. x. 2, 4; Isa. lxvi. 19; Ezek. xxvii. 13; Joel iii. 6; Zech. ix. 13). In Dan. viii. 21, x. 20, xi. 2, Javan stands for the kingdom of Alexander the Great, comprising Macedonia as well as Greece. The form of the name _Javan_ is closely connected with the Greek _Ion_, which originally had a digamma, _Ivon_. Pott says that it means _the young_, in opposition to the _Graikoi_, the old. According to Aristotle (_Meteorologica_, i. 14) the Hellenes were originally called Graikoi. Cf. Sanscrit, _jewan_; Zend, _jawan_; Latin, _juvenis_; English, _young_.

[711] Coele-Syria, or the Hollow Syria, was the country between the ranges of Libanus and Antilibanus. Syria between the rivers is usually called by its Greek name of Mesopotamia. It is the Padan Aram of the Bible. Cappadocia embraced the whole north-eastern part of the peninsula of Asia Minor. Slaves were procured from this region. See Horace (_Epistles_, i. 6, 39); _Persius_, vi. 77. The name _Pamphylia_ is from πᾶν and φυλή, because of the mixed origin of the inhabitants.

[712] Cf. Arrian (_Anabasis_, vii. 1; _Indica_, 43). _Herodotus_ (iv. 42) says that Pharaoh Neco sent a Phoenician expedition from the Red Sea, which circumnavigated Africa and returned by the Straits of Gibraltar, or the Pillars of Hercules. The Carthaginian Hanno is said to have sailed from Cadiz to the extremity of Arabia. See Pliny (_Historia Naturalis_, ii. 67; v. 1). _Herodotus_ (iv. 43) says that the Carthaginians asserted they had sailed round Africa. There is a Greek translation of Hanno’s _Periplus_ still extant. As to the Pillars of Hercules, see Aelian (_Varia Historia_, v. 3). They are first mentioned by Pindar (_Olym._ iii. 79; _Nem._ iii. 36).

[713] The interior of Africa, from the Straits of Gibraltar to Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the then unexplored South.

[714] Arrian, like many other ancient writers, includes Africa, or Libya, as a part of Asia. The boundaries were the Eastern Sea and the Atlas Mountains. Cf. _Arrian_, iii. 30; vii. 1 and 30. The name Asia first occurs in Homer (_Iliad_, ii. 461), in reference to the marsh about the Caÿster, and was thence gradually extended over the whole continent.

[715] Heracles, from whom the Macedonian kings claimed to be descended.

[716] Hence Hercules is called Tirynthius. (Virgil, _Aeneid_, vii. 662; viii. 228).

[717] See chap. 1 of this book.

[718] Cf. Xenophon (_Anab._, i. 7, 4).

[719] Cf. _Curtius_, ix. 12.

[720] _Arrian_ (iii. 19) says that the Thessalians were sent back from Ecbatana.

[721] _Pontus Euxinus_ antea ab inhospitali feritate _Axenos_ appellatus (_Pliny_, vi. 1).

[722] The Latin name Carthago and the Greek Carchedon were corruptions of the Phoenician Carth-Hadeshoth, the “new city.”

[723] _Pliny_ (vi. 21), says that Alexander erected the altars on the farther bank of the Hyphasis, whereas Arrian, Diodorus, and Plutarch say they were on this side of the river. _Curtius_ (ix. 13) does not specify the side of the river.

[724] _Herodotus_ (iv. 44) says that the Indus is the only river besides the Nile which produces crocodiles. He does not seem to have known the Ganges.

[725] This was the _Nelumbium speciosum_, the Egyptian bean of Pythagoras, the Lotus of the Hindus, held sacred by them. It is cultivated and highly valued in China, where it is eaten. The seeds are the shape and size of acorns.

[726] _I.e._ the Mediterranean.

[727] See _Arrian_, v. 6 supra. The native name of Egypt was _Chem_ (black). Compare Vergil (_Georgic._ iv. 291):—Viridem Aegyptum _nigrâ_ fecundat arenâ. Usque coloratis amnis devexus ab Indis.

[728] This use of ἀμφί with the dative is instead of the Attic περί with the genitive or accusative.

[729] Plutarch (_Alex._ 66) informs us that Alexander’s army numbered 120,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry. Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, 19).

[730] Arrian, in the _Indica_ (chap. 19), says that Alexander embarked with 8,000 men.

[731] _Strabo_ (xv. 1) says that the realm of Sopeithes was called Cathaia.

[732] As Alexander was at this time east of the Indus, the expression, “beyond the Indus,” means west of it.

[733] Cf. _Arrian_, v. 2 supra.

[734] Only fragments of this narrative are preserved. _Strabo_ (xv. 1) says that the statements of Onesicritus are not to be relied upon.

[735] _Curtius_ (ix. 13) and _Diodorus_ (xvii. 95) say that there were 1,000 vessels. Arrian (_Indica_, 19) says there were 800. Krüger reads χιλίων in this passage instead of the common reading δισχιλίων.

[736] From Arrian (_Indica_, 18) we learn that he sacrificed to his country gods, and to Poseidon, Amphitrite, the Nereids, the Ocean, as well as to the three rivers. Cf. i. 11, supra.

[737] Cf. iii. 3 supra.

[738] Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, 7).

[739] Cf. _Curtius_ (ix. 15); _Diodorus_ (xvii. 97). The latter says that Alexander offered sacrifice to the gods for having escaped the greatest danger, and having contested with a river like Achilles.

[740] According to _Diodorus_ (xvii. 96) and _Curtius_ (ix. 14) Alexander here made an expedition against the Sibi; defeated an army of 40,000 Indians, and captured the city of Agallassa.

[741] The chief city of the Mallians is the modern Mooltan.

[742] Μήπω. In later writers μή is often used where the Attic writers would use οὔ.

[743] Strabo and Curtius call this river Hyarotis.

[744] The Brachmans, or Brahmins, were a religious caste of Indians. The name was sometimes used for the people whose religion was Brahminism. Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, 11); _Strabo_, xv. 1; p. 713 ed. _Casaubon_.

[745] Cf. _Arrian_ i. 11 supra.

[746] The Romans called these men _duplicarii_. See _Livy_, ii. 59; vii. 37.

[747] τοῖς ἔπειτα πυθέσθαι. Cf. Homer (_Iliad_, xxii. 305; ii. 119).

[748] _Curtius_ (ix. 22) calls the physician Critobulus. Near the city of Cos stood the Asclepiēum, or temple of Asclepius, to whom the island was sacred, and from whom the chief family, the Asclepiadae, claimed descent. Curtius says:—Igitur patefacto latius vulnere, et spiculo evolso, ingens vis sanguinis manare coepit, linquique animo rex, et caligine oculis offusa, veluti moribundus extendi.

[749] Cf. Plutarch (_Alex._ 63); _Diodorus_ (xvii. 98, 99); _Curtius_ (ix. 18-23); _Justin_ (xii. 9).

[750] As to Fame, or Rumour, see Homer (_Iliad_, ii. 93; _Odyss._ xxiv. 412); Hesiod (_Works and Days_, 758-762); Vergil (_Aeneid_, iv. 173-190); Ovid (_Met._ xii. 39-63); Statius (_Theb._ ii. 426).

[751] _Curtius_ (ix. 18) says it was the town of the Oxydracians.

[752] Nearly 70 miles.

[753] _Isthmus_ is from the same root as ἰέναι, _to go_, and thus means a _passage_. Pindar (_Isthmia_, iv. 34) calls it the “bridge of the sea.”

[754] We learn from _Curtius_ (ix. 21) that the authors who stated that Ptolemy was present in this battle were Clitarchus and Timagenes. From the history of the former, who was a contemporary of Alexander, Curtius mainly drew the materials for his history of Alexander.

[755] Ptolemy received this appellation from the Rhodians whom he relieved from the assaults of Demetrius. The grateful Rhodians paid him divine honours as their preserver, and he was henceforward known as Ptolemy Soter. B.C. 304. See _Pausanias_, i. 8, 6.

[756] The word ἀταλαίπωρος is used in a similar way by _Thucydides_, i. 20, 4.

[757] _Curtius_ (ix. 24) says that Craterus was deputed by the officers to make this representation to the king, and that he was backed up by Ptolemy and the rest.

[758] This line is a fragment from one of the lost tragedies of Aeschўlus: δράσαντι γάρ τι καὶ παθεῖν ὀφείλεται.

[759] _Curtius_ (ix. 23) says that he was cured of his wound in seven days. _Diodorus_ (xvii. 99) says that it took many days.

[760] Arrian does not mention the Sutledj, which is the fifth of the rivers of the Punjab. _Pliny_ (vi. 21) calls it Hesidrus; _Ptolemy_ (vii. 1) calls it Zaradrus.

[761] About 12 miles. Ita se findente Nilo ut triquetram terrae figuram efficiat. Ideo multi Graecae literae vocabulo Delta appellavere Aegyptum (_Pliny_, v. 9).

[762] This tribe dwelt between the Acesines and the Indus. _Diodorus_ (xvii. 102) calls them Sambastians; while _Curtius_ (ix. 30) calls them Sabarcians. The Xathrians and Ossadians dwelt on the left bank of the Indus.

[763] We find from _Curtius_ (ix. 31) and _Diodorus_ (xvii. 102) that the name of this was Alexandria. It is probably the present Mittun.

[764] _Curtius_ (ix. 31) calls this satrap Terioltes, and says he was put to death. His appointment as viceroy is mentioned by _Arrian_ (iv. 22 supra).

[765] This king is called Porticanus by _Curtius_ (ix. 31), _Diodorus_ (xvii. 102), and _Strabo_ (xv. 1).

[766] An expression imitated from _Thucydides_ (iv. 34). Cf. _Arrian_, ii. 10; v. 19; where the same words are used of Darius and Porus.

[767] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 102) says that Sambus escaped beyond the Indus with thirty elephants.

[768] See note, page 327 supra.

[769] The _Indica_, a valuable work still existing. See chapters x. and xi. of that book.

[770] These people inhabited the Delta of the Indus, which is now called Lower Scinde. Their capital, Patala, is the modern Tatta.

[771] Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, ii.).

[772] _Curtius_ (ix. 34) calls this king Moeris.

[773] Aristobulus, as quoted by _Strabo_ (xv. 1), said that the voyage down the Indus occupied ten months, the fleet arriving at Patala about the time of the rising of Sirius, or July, 325 B.C.

[774] The right arm of the Indus is now called the Buggaur, and the left Sata.

[775] _I.e._ caused a heavy swell of waters. Cf. _Apollonius Rhodius_, ii. 595; _Polybius_, i. 60, 6. This wind was the south-west monsoon.

[776] Cf. _Curtius_ (ix. 35, 36); Cæsar (_Bell. Gall._ iv. 29). τὰ σκάφη ἐμετεωρίζοντο. Arrian does not comply with the Attic rule, that the plural neuter should take a verb in the singular. Compare ii. 20, 8; v. 17, 6 and 7; etc.

[777] Plutarch (_Alex._ 66) says that Alexander called the island Scillustis; but others called it Psiltucis. He also says that the voyage down the rivers to the sea took seven months.

[778] In regard to this expedition, see _Arrian_, vii. 20 infra.

[779] About 200 miles. Arrian here follows the statement of Nearchus. Aristobulus said that the distance was 1,000 stades. See _Strabo_, xv. 1.

[780] See _Curtius_, ix. 38. This lake has disappeared.

[781] These periodical winds are the southerly monsoon of the Indian Ocean. Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, 21).

[782] This occurs at the beginning of November. The Romans called the Pleiades _Vergiliae_. Cf. _Pliny_ (ii. 47, 125): Vergiliarum occasus hiemem inchoat, quod tempus in III. Idus Novembres incidere consuevit. Also _Livy_ (xxi. 35, 6): Nivis etiam casus, occidente jam sidere Vergiliarum, ingentem terrorem adjecit.

[783] This river, which is now called the Purally, is about 120 miles west of the mouth of the Indus. It is called Arabis by Arrian (_Indica_, 21); and Arbis by _Strabo_ (xv. 2).

[784] These were a people of Gadrosia, inhabiting a coast district nearly 200 miles long in the present Beloochistan. Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, 22 and 25); _Pliny_, vi. 23.

[785] The Arabitians dwelt between the Indus and the Arabius; the Oritians were west of the latter river.

[786] Rhambacia was probably at or near Haur.

[787] According to _Diodorus_ (xvii. 104) the city was called Alexandria.

[788] Ora was the name of the district inhabited by the Oritians.

[789] Cf. Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xii. 33-35).

[790] Cf. _Strabo_ (xv. 2); Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xii. 26).

[791] Probably the snow-flake.

[792] This is the well-known catechu, obtained chiefly from the Acacia Catechu. The liquid gum is called kuth or cutch in India.

[793] These people were called Ichthyophagi, or Fish-eaters. They are described by Arrian (_Indica_, 29); _Curtius_, ix. 40; _Diodorus_, xvii. 105; Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ vi. 25, 26); Plutarch (_Alex._ 66); _Strabo_, xv. 2. They occupied the sea-coast of Gadrosia, or Beloochistan. Cf. Alciphron (_Epistolae_, i. 1, 2).

[794] A man of Callatis, a town on the Black Sea in Thrace, originally colonized by the Milesians.

[795] Cf. _Herodotus_, i. 193.

[796] Pura was near the borders of Carmania, probably at Bampur. The name means _town_.

[797] Cf. _Strabo_, xv. 2; _Diodorus_, ii. 19, 20. According to Megasthenes, Semiramis died before she could carry out her intended invasion of India. See Arrian (_Indica_, 5). Neither Herodotus nor Ctesias mentions an invasion of India by Cyrus; and according to Arrian (_Indica_, 9), the Indians expressly denied that Cyrus attacked them.

[798] Strabo says that some of these marches extended 200, 400, and even 600 stades; most of the marching being done in the night. Krüger substitutes ξυμμέτρους for ξύμμετρος οὖσα.

[799] Cf. _Thucydides_, ii. 49, 3.

[800] Cf. Xenophon (_Anab._ vii. 5, 13); Homer (_Odyss._ vii. 283).

[801] _Curtius_ (vii. 20) mentions a similar act of magnanimity as having occurred on the march in pursuit of Bessus through the desert to the river Oxus. Plutarch (_Alex._ 42) says it was when Alexander was pursuing Darius; Frontinus (_Strategematica_, i. 7, 7) says it was in the desert of Africa; _Polyaenus_ (iv. 3, 25) relates the anecdote without specifying where the event occurred. μετεξέτεροι is an Ionic form very frequently used by Herodotus.

[802] Compare note on page 146.

[803] This man had been placed over the Oritians. See page 351 supra.

[804] _Curtius_ (ix. 41) says that Craterus sent a messenger to the king, to say that he was holding in chains two Persian nobles, Ozines and Zeriaspes, who had been trying to effect a revolt.

[805] The Areians were famed for their skill as professional mourners. See Aeschўlus (_Choëphorae_, 423). For the origin of the name see Donaldson (_New Cratylus_, sect. 81.)

[806] ἐξηλέγχθη is substituted by Sintenis for the common reading ἐξηγγέλθη.

[807] According to _Curtius_ (x. 1), Cleander and his colleagues were not slain, but put into prison; whereas 600 of the soldiers who had been the agents of their cruelty were put to death. Curtius says Cleander was spared for having killed Parmenio with his own hand. Cf. iii. 26 supra.

[808] The _thriambus_ was a hymn to Bacchus, sung in festal processions in his honour. It was also used as a name of that deity, as we learn from _Diodorus_, iv. 5. It was afterwards used as synonymous with the Roman _triumphus_, by Polybius, Dionysius, and Plutarch.

[809] The Bacchanalian procession through Carmania is described by _Curtius_ (ix. 42); Plutarch (_Alex._ 67); and _Diodorus_ (xvii. 106).

[810] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 106) says that the port into which Nearchus put was called Salmus.

[811] ἐκπεριπλεύσοντα. The Attic future of πλέω is πλεύσομαι. πλέυσω is only found in Polybius and the later writers.

[812] See Arrian (_Indica_, 18-43).

[813] The name for Persia and the Persians in the Hebrew Bible, is Paras. Cyrus is called Koresh (the sun) in Hebrew; in the cuneiform inscriptions the name is Khurush. Cambyses is called Ahasuerus in Ezra iv. 6; and Smerdis the Magian is the Artaxerxes who was induced by the Samaritans to forbid the further building of the temple (Ezra iv. 7-24). The Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther is probably Xerxes. Artaxerxes the Long-handed was the patron of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra vii. 11-28; Neh. ii. 1-9, etc). “Darius the Persian,” mentioned in Neh. xii. 22, was probably Darius Codomannus, who was conquered by Alexander. The province of Susiana, previously called Elymais, appears in the Hebrew under the name of Eilam or Elam. Persis is still called Fars.

[814] B.C. 325.

[815] Aria. See chap. 27 supra.

[816] _Curtius_ (x. 4) says Orxines was descended from Cyrus.

[817] See iii. 25 supra.

[818] Cf. _Strabo_, xv. 3, where a description of this tomb is given, derived from Onesicritus, the pilot of Alexander. See Dean Blakesley’s note on _Herodotus_ i. 214.

[819] Just a few lines above, Arrian says that the couch was by the side of the coffin.

[820] Cf. _Ammianus_, xxiii. 6, 32, 33. The Magi were the priests of the religion of Zoroaster, which was professed by the Medes and Persians. Their Bible was the Avesta, originally consisting of twenty-one books, only one of which, the twentieth (Vendidad), is still extant.

[821] See iii. 18 supra.

[822] According to _Curtius_ (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.

[823] Purpura et nitor corporis, ornatusque Persicus multo auro multisque gemmis.—Cicero (_de Senectute_, 17).

[824] Pasargadae 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.”

[825] The 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 Zend _Tighra_, which comes from the Sanscrit _Tig_, to sharpen. Its present name is Dijleh. The respective lengths of the Euphrates and Tigris are 1,780 and 1,146 miles.

[826] Among these were _Curtius_ (x. 3); _Diodorus_ (xviii. 4); and Plutarch (_Alex._, 68).

[827] Gadeira or Gades was a Phoenician colony. The name is from the Hebrew גָּדֵר, _a fence_. Cf. _Pliny_ (iv. 36); appellant Poeni _Gadir_ ita Punica lingua _septum_ significante. Also Avienus (_Ora Maritima_, 268): Punicorum lingua conseptum locum _Gaddir_ vocabat. According to _Pliny_ (v. 1), Suetonius Paulinus was the first Roman general who crossed the Atlas Mountains.

[828] See note 714, page 309.

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

[830] Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, 11).

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

[832] This must have occurred B.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).

[833] Cf. _Strabo_, xv. 1.

[834] Strabo calls this sage Mandanis.

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

[836] Plutarch (_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 also _Strabo_ (xv. 1).

[837] _Strabo_ (xv. 1) says that the voluntary death of Calanus occurred at Pasargadae; Aelian (_Varia Historia_, v. 6) says it was at Babylon; but _Diodorus_ (xvii. 107) says it happened at Susa, which statement is confirmed by the fact of Nearchus being seemingly present.

[838] Cf. Arrian (_Indica_, 10).

[839] Cf. _Arrian_, vii. 13 infra; and _Herodotus_, vii. 40.

[840] Cf. Cicero (_Tusc. Disput._ v. 27).

[841] Media. See vi. 29 supra.

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

[843] For this use of φθείρομαι, cf. Aristophanes (_Plutus_, 610); _Alciphron_, i. 13, 3; with Bergler’s note.

[844] Cf. _Curtius_, x. 5.