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23 - Rise of the Macedonian Empire by Arthur M. Curteis · Rise of the Macedonian Empire

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Speaker 1: Section twenty three of the Rise of the Macedonian Empire
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Speaker 1: by Arthur M. Curtis. This librovox recording is in the
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Speaker 1: public domain. Read by Pamelinagami the Return from Hyphasis to
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Speaker 1: Susa Part one. However, disappointed Alexander may have been to
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Speaker 1: give up his schemes of adventure. Beyond the Hyphasis, there
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Speaker 1: was quite enough of the marvelous and the unknown in
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Speaker 1: the future to make him soon forget the disappointment. He
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Speaker 1: had seen alligators in the Indus and a lotus similar
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Speaker 1: to that of Egypt, and a letter of his written
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Speaker 1: about this time to his mother Olympius, shows that he
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Speaker 1: thought he had discovered the source of the Nile in
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Speaker 1: the Indus, which he believed must flow by a circuitous
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Speaker 1: course through the desert, and there, losing its name, passed
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Speaker 1: through Ethiopia and Egypt under the new title of Nile.
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Speaker 1: His after discoveries, of course, and more particular Italy, the
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Speaker 1: adventurous voyage of his admiral Naarchus, who explored the whole
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Speaker 1: coast from the Indus to the Euphrates, dispelled the illusion.
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Speaker 1: The fleet built or collected for the downward passage amounted
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Speaker 1: to two thousand vessels, including eighty men of war. The
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Speaker 1: ships were chiefly manned by Phoenicians and Egyptians, and Naarchus
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Speaker 1: was in command of the troops. Eight thousand were to
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Speaker 1: be on board under the king's own command. The main body,
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Speaker 1: with the elephants under Hephestian, was to accompany the fleet
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Speaker 1: along the eastern bank. Cratus was to lead a smaller
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Speaker 1: division along the opposite side, while a fourth corps was
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Speaker 1: to follow. After a three days interval, on the appointed day,
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Speaker 1: at dawn, the army began its embarkation, and Alexander himself,
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Speaker 1: after sacrificing to the gods, took his stand on the
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Speaker 1: bows of his ship and poured a solemn libation with
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Speaker 1: prayers to the river Deeansies, whose waters he was about
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Speaker 1: to explore, and especially to his great forefathers, Heracles and Ammon. Then,
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Speaker 1: at a given signal, the oars were dashed into the
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Speaker 1: water and the fleet was under way, each division of
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Speaker 1: horse transports, baggage ships and men of war being ordered
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Speaker 1: to keep at a safe and invariable distance from the others.
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Speaker 1: Never before, and probably never since, was such a sight
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Speaker 1: seeing on the Hydaspies, the banks rising high above the
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Speaker 1: level of the water were crowded with natives, whom the
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Speaker 1: splash of the oars and the shouts of the bosuns,
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Speaker 1: re echoing from the cliffs and surrounding woods, had drawn
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Speaker 1: from every side to gaze on the unwonted sight. With
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Speaker 1: childish delight. They ran along the shore by the side
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Speaker 1: of the fleet and sang barbaric songs, keeping time with
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Speaker 1: the measured sweep of the oars. Thus, hour by hour,
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Speaker 1: the fleet dropped quickly down the stream, till on the
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Speaker 1: fifth day they reached the confluence of the Akassinis and
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Speaker 1: the Hydaspies, a point of no little danger, for here
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Speaker 1: the banks converged, and the greater mass of water pent
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Speaker 1: within a narrower space, formed an eddying, chafing rapid, the
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Speaker 1: roar of which was heard from Afar. Amazed at the sound,
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Speaker 1: the sailors almost involuntarily rested on their oars, and the
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Speaker 1: boatswains ceased their chant. They had barely time, indeed, to
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Speaker 1: recover presence of mind before they drifted into danger. The
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Speaker 1: broader vessels suffered no damage, but the long warships got
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Speaker 1: athwart the current, which broke some of the oars and
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Speaker 1: made them almost helpless. Two of the number followed one
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Speaker 1: another and foundered, losing most of the crews. At last,
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Speaker 1: partly drifting, partly rowing, they reached the broader water below
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Speaker 1: and put into the right bank to refit. As they
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Speaker 1: were now approaching the country of a people from whom
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Speaker 1: a fierce resistance was expected, Alexander at this point made
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Speaker 1: a new disposition of his forces. The people were the Melians,
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Speaker 1: whose name perhaps remains in that of the city of Multan.
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Speaker 1: It is true that their territory lay to the north
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Speaker 1: of the Hydrootes, and that Multan now lies considerably to
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Speaker 1: the south of it. But it is well known that
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Speaker 1: the Punjab rivers often changed their courses in the present day,
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Speaker 1: and geographers have supposed that the Hydraotes Ravi and Hydaspis
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Speaker 1: in Alexander's time met far more to the south. In
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Speaker 1: conjunction with the Melians occurred two other names, at once
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Speaker 1: curious and interesting, Brakeman's and Oxey Drakens Sudrakai. If we
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Speaker 1: may suppose that these names represent what we know as
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Speaker 1: Brahmins high caste and Sudras low caste, it is not
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Speaker 1: only of interest as confirming the high antiquity of Indian castes,
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Speaker 1: but will serve to explain why powerful as they were,
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Speaker 1: they failed to act in concert. The mutual jealousy of
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Speaker 1: high and low caste was only suspended for a while
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Speaker 1: by common hostility to the invader. Their forces, if united,
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Speaker 1: are said to have numbered eighty thousand infantry, ten thousand cavalry,
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Speaker 1: and seven hundred chariots. But they do not appear to
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Speaker 1: have dreamt of resistance in the field, but to have
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Speaker 1: trusted rather to their walled towns and to the belt
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Speaker 1: of desert which sheltered their northern frontier. Fearing lest they
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Speaker 1: might seek to escape by flight, Alexander organized four flying columns,
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Speaker 1: as he had before done in Sogdiana, to sweep through
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Speaker 1: the country. He himself intended to strike boldly across the desert,
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Speaker 1: decide whence they would least anticipate attack, and thus to
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Speaker 1: be upon them before they expected him. Naarchus was sent
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Speaker 1: out with the fleet to the confluence of the Acassinis
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Speaker 1: and Hydrodes. This campaign against the Melians reminds us in
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Speaker 1: many points of the campaign of three twenty nine and Sogdiana.
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Speaker 1: Rapidity of action characterized both alike. The preparations of the
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Speaker 1: natives were forestalled by the king's dash across the desert,
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Speaker 1: Town after town was taken with ease. Scattered bodies of
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Speaker 1: their troops were intercepted and cut to pieces. Fugitives were
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Speaker 1: pursued and destroyed. Little by little, the miserable remnant of
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Speaker 1: the population was driven in upon their chief town, where
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Speaker 1: it was hoped that all further resistance might be crushed
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Speaker 1: at one blow. If we can overlook the inhumanity of
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Speaker 1: an attack on unoffending natives, and it can hardly be
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Speaker 1: too often repeated that to a Greek the use of
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Speaker 1: the term in such a connection would seem quite out
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Speaker 1: of place, we cannot but admire the king's skillful tactics
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Speaker 1: and the energy with which they were carried out. In
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Speaker 1: attacking this town, Alexander was within a little of losing
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Speaker 1: what might have seemed a charmed life. At the first onset,
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Speaker 1: the defenders abandoned the walls and fled to the citadel.
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Speaker 1: The Macedonians burst in through a postern gate, Alexander leading
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Speaker 1: the way. The rest followed, but in the hurry of
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Speaker 1: the moment, or in the belief that the place was
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Speaker 1: as good as taken, most of the ladders were left behind.
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Speaker 1: It soon became clear that the walls must be scaled
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Speaker 1: if the citadel was to fall, and the king, seizing
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Speaker 1: the first ladder that came to hand, planted it against
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Speaker 1: the wall himself, and crouching behind his shield, mounted and
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Speaker 1: leaped to the top. Close behind him followed Poikestus, bearing
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Speaker 1: the sacred shield from the temple of the iliin Athena.
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Speaker 1: Behind poychasts was Leonotus, the veteran Abraeus, mounted by another ladder.
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Speaker 1: At the foot were swarming the foremost troops, eager to
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Speaker 1: be at their king's side, when suddenly both ladders broke
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Speaker 1: beneath the weight of the climbing crowd, and Alexander was
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Speaker 1: left with his three companions on the wall, a mark
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Speaker 1: for every weapon. To clear a free space around him
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Speaker 1: was the work of a moment. Some of the enemy
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Speaker 1: were slain, others pushed headlong from the wall. Then, after
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Speaker 1: a moment's hesitation, and with what even an Alexander was
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Speaker 1: insane rashness, he leaped down among the enemy on the inside,
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Speaker 1: and settling his back against the wall, prepared to defend himself.
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Speaker 1: At first, they ventured to attack him at close quarters,
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Speaker 1: thinking to kill him off hand, but when they saw
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Speaker 1: their leaders slain and three others fall beneath his sword
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Speaker 1: or by the stones which lie some Homeric hero, he
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Speaker 1: picked up and dashed among them. They drew off and
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Speaker 1: plied him from a distance with darts and arrows. By
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Speaker 1: this time his three companions were at his side, but
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Speaker 1: the position was becoming critical. Abraeus was struck in the
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Speaker 1: face and slain. The king himself was wounded in the chest, and,
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Speaker 1: after fighting for a while, began to faint from loss
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Speaker 1: of blood, and sank upon his shield, while Poichestes and Leontus,
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Speaker 1: who sheltered him as best they could, were also wounded. Meantime,
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Speaker 1: the soldiers outside were in a state of fury at
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Speaker 1: their king's danger. In the absence of ladders, they improvised
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Speaker 1: means of mounting by driving pegs into the earthen rampart
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Speaker 1: or climbing on each other's backs. Others burst a hole
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Speaker 1: through one of the gates, and so struggled in a
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Speaker 1: few at a time. A short, sharp conflict followed, and
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Speaker 1: then a terrible massacre the enraged soldiers, sparing neither man,
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Speaker 1: woman nor child to tell the tale. Alexander was carried
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Speaker 1: out on his shield in a dead faint, and when
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Speaker 1: he came to himself, the barbed arrow was cut out
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Speaker 1: of the wound. But when from loss of blood he
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Speaker 1: fainted again and lay as one dead, the rumor that
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Speaker 1: he was dead spread even to the camp on the river,
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Speaker 1: and was followed by an universal outburst of genuine sorrow
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Speaker 1: and panic. Their heroic leader had fallen, it seemed, and
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Speaker 1: now who was to lead them back to Macedon, to
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Speaker 1: the thousand dangers which were before them. It is easy
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Speaker 1: to imagine the general shout of joy, therefore, which welcomed
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Speaker 1: Alexander when he was sufficiently recovered to drop down the
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Speaker 1: river to the camp, and was seen not only to
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Speaker 1: wave his hand to the anxious crowds upon the bank,
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Speaker 1: but to be able even to mount his horse. They
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Speaker 1: pressed around him to touch his hands, his knees, his clothes,
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Speaker 1: or crowned him with garlands and filets. Before the camp
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Speaker 1: on the Akassinis was abandoned, the Melians made their submission.
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Speaker 1: The king then sailed to the junction of the five
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Speaker 1: rivers and found it, as usual, another colony with docks
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Speaker 1: and forts to command the navigation, and thence proceeded southwards
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Speaker 1: towards the mouth, meeting with but little opposition except from
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Speaker 1: the Brahmins, who seemed to have been able in those days,
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Speaker 1: as in these, to rouse a tempest of religious and
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Speaker 1: political fanaticism against the Infidel, and induced a certain king,
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Speaker 1: Musicanus to revolt when Alexander had passed to the south.
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Speaker 1: But such partial resistance was useless and its punishment fearful.
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Speaker 1: Musicanus and his advisers were attacked, seized and crucified. Many
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Speaker 1: of his towns were raised to the ground and the
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Speaker 1: inhabitants reduced to slavery. Others were occupied by garrisons. There
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Speaker 1: was still a voyage of some two hundred miles before
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Speaker 1: the open sea could be reached, But when the Raja
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Speaker 1: of the Delta of the Indus had surrendered his dominions,
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Speaker 1: there was little more hostility to be feared, and Craterus
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Speaker 1: was detached with three divisions of the phalanx, the elephants
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Speaker 1: and some light troops, together with the Invalids, to take
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Speaker 1: the easier but longer road to Persia by way of
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Speaker 1: the Bowl and Pass and the valley of the eddimanderint Carmania.
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Speaker 1: The king himself continued the descent of the river towards
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Speaker 1: its mouth, accompanied by Hephestian on the left bank. At
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Speaker 1: the apex of the delta, one hundred and thirty miles
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Speaker 1: above the sea. Hephestian was left to turn the native
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Speaker 1: town of Papilla into a strong fortress, and Alexander took
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Speaker 1: only the swiftest ships of the fleet to face the
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Speaker 1: unknown dangers before him. The shifting sand banks were presumably
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Speaker 1: as great a source of peril than as now, and
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Speaker 1: for the greater part of the distance he could obtain
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Speaker 1: no pilots near the mouth. Moreover, his vessels were caught
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Speaker 1: in the ebb and flow of a rushing tide and
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Speaker 1: experience quite unfamiliar to Greeks, and somewhat roughly handled. All dangers, however,
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Speaker 1: were happily surmounted. Alexander sailed some miles into the Indian
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Speaker 1: Ocean and satisfied himself of its true nature. He explored
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Speaker 1: the delta of the Run of Kutch, and then returned
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Speaker 1: to Patala to finish the preparations for his own march
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Speaker 1: to the west and for the voyage of exploration along
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Speaker 1: the shores of the ocean, the direction of which was
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Speaker 1: given to Naarchus. Although Alexander was in part aware of
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Speaker 1: the difficulties of his intended march. He clearly did not
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Speaker 1: know them all, nor the time which the march would require.
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Speaker 1: Yet his object in making it was precise and intelligible.
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Speaker 1: If we suppose with Arian that he was eager to
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Speaker 1: do what Cyrus and Semiramis had failed to do, we
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Speaker 1: may be sure also that he wished to reduce provinces
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Speaker 1: of the Empire as ye yet unvisited, and to be
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Speaker 1: near at hand in case the fleet were in need
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Speaker 1: of help. He had set out from Patala with perhaps
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Speaker 1: fifty thousand men towards the end of August three, twenty three.
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Speaker 1: The great heat, therefore, which lasts from March to November,
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Speaker 1: though beginning to subside, was still so terrific as to
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Speaker 1: render night marches for the most part necessary. The nature
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Speaker 1: of the country, too, is harassing and forbidding. There are
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Speaker 1: ranges of mountains which form the southern fringe of the
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Speaker 1: terrible central plateau before described, and which run parallel to
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Speaker 1: the sea, but seldom nearer than ten miles. The ridges
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Speaker 1: are bare, and even the valleys are poor and barren.
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Speaker 1: At intervals. The desert seems, as it were, to intrude
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Speaker 1: upon the mountains, and though here and there aromatic plants
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Speaker 1: were found to relieve the bareness, the horrors of heat
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Speaker 1: and thirst were aggravated by the numbers of poisonous herbs
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Speaker 1: and venomous snakes. While they were not a little annoyed
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Speaker 1: by thorns, says aaron of such uncommon size and strength
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Speaker 1: as to tear the horsemen from his horse if they
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Speaker 1: caught his clothes, and to hold an entangled hair as
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Speaker 1: firmly as the hook does a fish. Sometimes they would
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Speaker 1: come to stretches of fine, soft sand, like untrodden snow,
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Speaker 1: dazzling to the eye and hot to the feet, and
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Speaker 1: swept by the wind into vast rolling billows. Men and
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Speaker 1: beasts alike sank under the toil of ascending and descending
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Speaker 1: these unyielding sand waves, so that the sick and weakly
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Speaker 1: fell out of the ranks, while the chariots for their
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Speaker 1: transport had been broken up to avoid the labor of
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Speaker 1: dragging them through the sea of sand. To fall out
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Speaker 1: therefore was certain death. But of all their hardships, thirst
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Speaker 1: was the most terrible, as it is of all human sufferings,
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Speaker 1: the most intolerable, The one torture which robs ordinary men
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Speaker 1: of the spirit of self sacrifice. Yet a fine and
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Speaker 1: touching story is told of Alexander, which borders on the sublime.
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Speaker 1: They were on the march, Alexander at the head, all alike,
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Speaker 1: oppressed with heat and thirst. Some light troops had come
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Speaker 1: upon some water in a shallow torrent bed, a priceless prize,
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Speaker 1: which they gathered in a helmet and bore loyally to
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Speaker 1: their king, greedy, if loving eyes were turned upon him.
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Speaker 1: Yet it was too little to share with others, who
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Speaker 1: but a man of self restraint, almost heroic, would have
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Speaker 1: endured as Alexander endured to take the helmet and calmly
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Speaker 1: pour the water on the ground. And so refreshed was
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Speaker 1: the whole army by this example, such as Arian's comment
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Speaker 1: that one might have thought that every man had drunk
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Speaker 1: of the water poured out by Alexander. End of Section
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Speaker 1: twenty three