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

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty one 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, Chapter fifteen, from the Oxes
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  Speaker 1: to the Hyphasis, Part one. It was the summer of
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  Speaker 1: three twenty seven when Alexander set out for India. He
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  Speaker 1: left Demintis in chief command in Bactria with a force
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  Speaker 1: of ten thousand infantry and thirty five hundred cavalry. His
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  Speaker 1: own army numbered one hundred and twenty thousand foot and
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  Speaker 1: fifteen thousand cavalry, of whom probably at least half were
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  Speaker 1: Asiatics and mainly recruited from Bactria and Sogdiana, serving the
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  Speaker 1: double purpose of reinforcements and hostages. The range of the
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  Speaker 1: Perapenesis was crossed by another in a shorter pass than
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  Speaker 1: the Kushon in ten days. At Alexandria, he appointed a
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  Speaker 1: new governor and added some fresh colonists from the less
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  Speaker 1: robust of his soldiers, and then marched onwards to Nekaya,
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  Speaker 1: either a town lying between Alexandria and Ordospana Cabul or
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  Speaker 1: a new name given on this occasion to Ordospana itself.
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  Speaker 1: Then he turned his face eastwards to pass the grim Defiles,
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  Speaker 1: where a British army was destroyed in eighteen forty two,
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  Speaker 1: but he met with no opposition which the historians think
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  Speaker 1: worthy of notice. And presently dividing his forces, he sent
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  Speaker 1: Heifestion and Perdiccas with a strong division down the valley
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  Speaker 1: of the Kofin to its junction with the Indus at Atoc,
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  Speaker 1: the forbidden to the west of which no Hindu may
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  Speaker 1: pass without losing caste, with orders to prepare materials for
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  Speaker 1: a bridge, while he himself struck northeast into the mountains,
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  Speaker 1: partly to reduce the mountain tribes and partly because supplies
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  Speaker 1: were reported as more abundant in that district. It was
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  Speaker 1: several months before the king rejoined Hephestion's corps, and a
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  Speaker 1: detailed record of those months would be but a record
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  Speaker 1: of marches, sieges, and skirmishes without a single reverse, and
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  Speaker 1: of endless booty and prisoners. But of all his successes
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  Speaker 1: in the campaign, probably none was more gratifying to the
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  Speaker 1: king himself than the reduction of the hill fort of Aornus,
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  Speaker 1: so far stronger than the fort of the same name
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  Speaker 1: in Bactria. That a legend told how it had baffled
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  Speaker 1: even the mighty Heracles himself, as described by Arian, whose
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  Speaker 1: authority is irreproachable since it rests on the witness of Ptolemy,
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  Speaker 1: a prominent actor in the storming of the place. It
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  Speaker 1: was a huge rock or mountain plateau, rising eleven states
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  Speaker 1: above the plain, and about two hundred stads in circumference,
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  Speaker 1: with plenty of good spring water, abundance of wood, and
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  Speaker 1: good soil enough to imply one thousand men within a
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  Speaker 1: short distance lay a town called Embolima. Now, the identification
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  Speaker 1: of spots mentioned in Alexander's campaigns in India is not easy,
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  Speaker 1: but the identity of Aornis with a table mountain called
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  Speaker 1: the Mahaban on the right bank of the Indus, about
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  Speaker 1: sixty miles above its confluence with the River Kofin is
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  Speaker 1: almost certain. The description of Aornis answers almost exactly to
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  Speaker 1: that of Mahaban, allowing for the exaggeration of height and
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  Speaker 1: size natural in a man who could not speak from
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  Speaker 1: actual measurement, Mahaban is four thousand, one hundred and twenty
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  Speaker 1: five feet above the plain and is fourteen miles in circumference.
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  Speaker 1: It is spoken of as a mountain plateau scarped on
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  Speaker 1: the east by tremendous precipices, from which one long spur
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  Speaker 1: descends upon the Indus, and as the natural refuge of
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  Speaker 1: the neighboring tribes from the arms of a conqueror. Nor
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  Speaker 1: can it be mere chance that the name Embolema seems
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  Speaker 1: to survive in the names of two villages, Um and Balimah,
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  Speaker 1: lying respectively, in the river valley and in the mountains
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  Speaker 1: immediately above it, leaving craters at Embolema to collect corn
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  Speaker 1: and other necessities for a long blockade. In case the
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  Speaker 1: first assault was to fail, Alexander himself advanced toward the
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  Speaker 1: mountain to reconnoiter at first sight, even he might well
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  Speaker 1: despair of success. There was only one road leading to
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  Speaker 1: the top of the plateau, made for the purpose and
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  Speaker 1: difficult of access, and the steepness of the cliff walls
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  Speaker 1: may be inferred from the fact that in the night
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  Speaker 1: attack in which the defenders were chased from their stronghold,
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  Speaker 1: great numbers perished by falling from the rocks. But the
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  Speaker 1: maneuver which succeeded against the factory in Aornas was successful.
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  Speaker 1: Here also some natives of the Disas District came into
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  Speaker 1: camp and offered to act as guides to a commanding
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  Speaker 1: spot on the weakest side of the plateau, from whence
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  Speaker 1: it might be possible to take it. It is difficult
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  Speaker 1: to gather an exact idea from Arian's somewhat confused account,
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  Speaker 1: but it would seem that there was a hill separated
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  Speaker 1: from the rock itself by a long though shallow depression,
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  Speaker 1: not occupied by the natives, and only to be reached
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  Speaker 1: by a rough and difficult track. Its occupation would at
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  Speaker 1: once give the assailants the advantage of attacking from above
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  Speaker 1: and not from below. The operation was accomplished with success. Ptolemy,
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  Speaker 1: led by the native guides and taking a considerable body
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  Speaker 1: of light troops, occupied the hill unperceived under cover of darkness, and,
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  Speaker 1: having hastily entrenched himself, set light to a bonfire as
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  Speaker 1: a signal of success to his friends below. It was
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  Speaker 1: well that he had succeeded. For alex Xander, endeavoring the
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  Speaker 1: next day to fight his way to join him, found
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  Speaker 1: the difficulties of the ground too much for him, and
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  Speaker 1: was rudely repulsed. Then the natives, elated by success, made
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  Speaker 1: a dashing attempt to carry Ptolemy's entrenchments, but the conditions
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  Speaker 1: of success were here reversed, and after a fierce struggle,
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  Speaker 1: they were driven back at nightfall and obliged to retire.
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  Speaker 1: In the night, Alexander sent off an Indian with a
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  Speaker 1: dispatch to Ptolemy, ordering him to watch for his own advance,
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  Speaker 1: and when he himself attacked, to do the same, that
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  Speaker 1: they might place the garrison between two fires. There was
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  Speaker 1: seldom much delay in the Macedonian camp when there was
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  Speaker 1: work to be done, and by break of day the
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  Speaker 1: army was in motion. Presently Ptolemy's troops also issued from
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  Speaker 1: their entrenchments. A desperate battle followed, lasting from dawn to
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  Speaker 1: mid day, in which at last Alexander was victorious, and,
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  Speaker 1: having effect did a junction with Ptolemy. Thus became master
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  Speaker 1: of a base of operations from which to attack the
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  Speaker 1: plateau with some hope of success. As many times before,
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  Speaker 1: so now he began carrying a mound across the depression
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  Speaker 1: already mentioned. Every man was set to work, and the
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  Speaker 1: king himself stood watching, ready to praise or blame as
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  Speaker 1: need might be. The mound advanced a furlong a day,
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  Speaker 1: and by the fourth day had so nearly reached the
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  Speaker 1: plateau that a handful of Macedonian soldiers were able to
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  Speaker 1: rush across the intervening space and to seize a small
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  Speaker 1: peak which abutted on the plateau, and where they were
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  Speaker 1: partially protected by the arrows and missiles of their comrades
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  Speaker 1: on the mound. Every nerve was now strained to complete
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  Speaker 1: the communication between the peak and the mound, and it
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  Speaker 1: became a question of hours how soon the attack might
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  Speaker 1: be delivered. But by this time the garrison was thoroughly cowed,
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  Speaker 1: having never before seen such resolute energy in an assailant,
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  Speaker 1: and they sent an embassy to Alexander offering to surrender
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  Speaker 1: on terms. It seems that their real object was to
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  Speaker 1: gain time and thus to steal away on the following
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  Speaker 1: night and to separate to their several homes. But Alexander
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  Speaker 1: was as far seeing as they aware of their design.
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  Speaker 1: He pretended to amuse them with overtures for their surrender,
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  Speaker 1: but made ready meanwhile for attack, And when it was dark,
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  Speaker 1: after allowing time for them to withdraw their sentinels and
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  Speaker 1: to begin the stealthy evacuation, he put himself at the
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  Speaker 1: head of seven hundred heavy armed troops and rushed up
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  Speaker 1: into the plateau, being the first to set foot in
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  Speaker 1: it himself. The rest of the army soon followed, and,
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  Speaker 1: overtaking the panic stricken fugitives, began cutting them down in
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  Speaker 1: all directions. Many were slain on the spot, or pursued
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  Speaker 1: into the plain and slain there. Many were killed by
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  Speaker 1: falling from the cliffs. When day broke, Alexander was master
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  Speaker 1: of this important fortress and of the adjacent country which
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  Speaker 1: it commanded, and in a position to rejoin Hephestian and
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  Speaker 1: Perdiccas when he pleased at the bridge over the Indus,
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  Speaker 1: which they had built near Atak. In the course of
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  Speaker 1: the campaign to the north of the Kofen, the Macedonians
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  Speaker 1: are said by Arian to have passed a city called Nysa,
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  Speaker 1: which claimed Dionysus as its founder. It is added by
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  Speaker 1: Curtius that in this country of the Juryans they were
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  Speaker 1: struck by various sites and names among the natives and
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  Speaker 1: in the products of the district, which reminded them of
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  Speaker 1: their own legends of the same god, And that near
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  Speaker 1: to Nysa was Mount Maras, where grapevines were to be seen,
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  Speaker 1: as well as the Ivy and Laurel, which he had planted.
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  Speaker 1: It is easy to believe both that Alexander himself was
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  Speaker 1: nothing loath to be treading, as a might seem in
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  Speaker 1: the very steps of Dionysus, and that the natives were
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  Speaker 1: acute enough then, as often since, to humor the whims
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  Speaker 1: of an invincible conqueror. On the other hand, we are
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  Speaker 1: in a position to go further than this, and even
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  Speaker 1: to infer how the confusion arose. The most correct form
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  Speaker 1: of the ancient name of the Hindukush appears to be
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  Speaker 1: Perapanisis or Nissas, so that the name Nysa or something
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  Speaker 1: similar may have been heard and misunderstood by Macedonian ears. Moreover, if,
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  Speaker 1: as is probable, the country of the Jurians answered to
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  Speaker 1: the modern Kaffiristan, whose inhabitants, like those of Barakshan, have
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  Speaker 1: still floating traditions about Alexander, it is worthy to note
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  Speaker 1: that grapes, both wild and cultivated, grow in profusion in
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  Speaker 1: the valleys, and that the Kafirs unbelievers, as the Mohammedans
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  Speaker 1: of India call the people, are great wine drinkers, both
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  Speaker 1: men and women, and are given to dancing with much
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  Speaker 1: gesticulation and to the accompaniment of wild and rapid music. Certainly,
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  Speaker 1: to any Greek such customs would have seemed to be
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  Speaker 1: of thoroughly dionysiac character. Alexander crossed the Indus a little
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  Speaker 1: above Atoc about March three, twenty six. At this point
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  Speaker 1: nine hundred and fifty miles from the mouth and one
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  Speaker 1: thousand feet above the sea, the river is at all
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  Speaker 1: times broad, deep and rapid, averaging a speed of six
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  Speaker 1: miles an hour, a depth of sixty feet, and a
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  Speaker 1: breadth of eight hundred feet. In the floods of August,
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  Speaker 1: it is sometimes fifteen miles broad when a large part
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  Speaker 1: of the doab land of two rivers, or country between
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  Speaker 1: the Indus and Hydaspes Jelum, is under water. But the Indus,
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  Speaker 1: like the Oxus and Jacksartes, owing partly to a operation
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  Speaker 1: and partly to irrigation, diminishes rather than increases as it
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  Speaker 1: approaches the sea, while the Punjab resembles Bactria in so
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  Speaker 1: far as the desert is never far off and fertility
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  Speaker 1: depends on neighborhood to a river on the eastern bank.
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  Speaker 1: Alexander offered solemn sacrifices and then advanced to Taxila Takshachila,
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  Speaker 1: the hewn Rock, the capital of the chief who had
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  Speaker 1: appealed for his aid against Porus, Parusha Hero. If it
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  Speaker 1: be true that the rainy season set in before he
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  Speaker 1: left the city, he must have stayed there some two
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  Speaker 1: or three months, improbable as it may seem, for the
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  Speaker 1: Southwest monsoon seldom begins in the Punjab before the end
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  Speaker 1: of June. From Taxila two roads diverge, one running nearly
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  Speaker 1: due south past Julalpur and crossing the sat Luge just
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  Speaker 1: below its junction with the bayas the other running more
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  Speaker 1: to the eastward and passing through a more fertile and
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  Speaker 1: populous district. Alexander, however, had no choice as to which
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  Speaker 1: of the two he should follow, as Porus had taken
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  Speaker 1: up his position just opposite Jalalipur on the eastern bank
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  Speaker 1: of the Hydaspies, and posted scouts up and down the
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  Speaker 1: river to watch for his enemies coming. Having sent Coynus
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  Speaker 1: back to the Indus with orders to have the vessels
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  Speaker 1: which had formed the bridge sawn in pieces and to
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  Speaker 1: bring them on wagons to the Hydaspes ready for use,
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  Speaker 1: the king himself marched onwards to that river, then fully
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  Speaker 1: a mile a broad where he came in sight of
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  Speaker 1: his enemy, who had thirty thousand infantry and two hundred elephants,
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  Speaker 1: with numerous chariots and cavalry, ready to dispute the passage.
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  Speaker 1: To force it in the face of such an army
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  Speaker 1: was clearly impossible. It was necessary to wait, to distract attention,
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  Speaker 1: to throw the enemy off his guard, to spread for
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  Speaker 1: false intelligence, and then it might be possible to deliver
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  Speaker 1: a sudden and rapid blow. Accordingly, he gave out that
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  Speaker 1: he was aware of the extraordinary difficulty of crossing so
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  Speaker 1: broad and rapid a river in the teeth of such
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  Speaker 1: an army, and had made up his mind to defer
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  Speaker 1: the attempt until the monsoon was over and the water lower.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, he kept Poris always on the
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  Speaker 1: alert by constantly moving his boats and showing deceptive intentions
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  Speaker 1: of crossing. At other times he would send off large
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  Speaker 1: divisions of troops up and down the river, as though
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  Speaker 1: searching for a ford, all of which movements were plainly
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  Speaker 1: visible from the other side. Then, for many nights in
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  Speaker 1: succession he posted on the bank squadrons of cavalry at intervals,
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  Speaker 1: who shouted to one another, and ever and Anon raised
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  Speaker 1: the war cry as though preparing to try the passage,
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  Speaker 1: and at every such alarm, of course, Porus made instant
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  Speaker 1: preparation for battle. At last, after many false alarms, and
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  Speaker 1: since they always ended in noise and shouting, Porus was
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  Speaker 1: thrown completely off his guard and even ceased to take
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  Speaker 1: notice of such purposeless agitation. Then and not till then,
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  Speaker 1: Alexander resolved that the time was come for action. About
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  Speaker 1: eighteen miles up the stream, on the right bank there
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  Speaker 1: was a remarkable cliff where the river takes a wide bend,
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  Speaker 1: turning from a southeasterly to a southwesterly course. Opposite the cliff,
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  Speaker 1: in mid river was an island, which, as well as
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  Speaker 1: the bank, was densely covered with tamarisks. This was the
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  Speaker 1: point decided upon for the passage. To keep up the
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  Speaker 1: illusion in the mind of his enemy, the king posted
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  Speaker 1: sentinels along the whole distance from the camp to the cliff,
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  Speaker 1: each man within sight and earshot of his neighbor Hoo
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  Speaker 1: during several nights kept up the shouting and noise eyes
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  Speaker 1: already described, and lighted fires at intervals. Poris was again
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  Speaker 1: completely deceived and took no notice, merely lining his side
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  Speaker 1: of the river with scouts to give notice of any
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  Speaker 1: unusual movement. At last, a night was fixed upon for
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  Speaker 1: the attempt, and Alexander set out in the afternoon with
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  Speaker 1: two divisions of the phalanx and the flower of the
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  Speaker 1: cavalry and light troops, striking somewhat inland, perhaps by the
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  Speaker 1: Kandar Nullah or rivulet, so as to be out of sight.
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  Speaker 1: Craterus was left in camp with the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: phalanx and some cavalry, and his orders were to remain
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  Speaker 1: quiet in case Poris detached only a part of his
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  Speaker 1: forces against the king. But if he saw that the
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  Speaker 1: whole of the elephants were withdrawn, which were the only
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  Speaker 1: real difficulty where horses were concerned, he was to cross
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  Speaker 1: without loss of time. Midway between the island and the
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  Speaker 1: camp were posted the mercenary foot and horse, with orders
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  Speaker 1: to make the passage whenever they saw that fighting had begun.
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  Speaker 1: Pontoons of skins had already been prepared, and the boats
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  Speaker 1: brought from the Indus had been put together. It was
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  Speaker 1: a night made for the occasion, dark and windy, with
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  Speaker 1: thunder and heavy rain, so that the words of command,
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  Speaker 1: and the noise, inseparable from the movement of large bodies
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  Speaker 1: of armed men, were inaudible at a distance. Just before dawn,
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  Speaker 1: the wind and rains ceased, and the passage began. The
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  Speaker 1: whole force was thrown across to the island as silently
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  Speaker 1: and rapidly as possible in the boats and pontoons. It
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  Speaker 1: would seem, however, from Marion, that they had all mistaken
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  Speaker 1: the island for a projection of the bank, and were
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  Speaker 1: taken aback at finding that a rapid, though narrow channel
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  Speaker 1: of the river still separated them from the mainland. But
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  Speaker 1: there was no time to be lost in embarking the
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  Speaker 1: troops a second time. The scouts had already sighted them
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  Speaker 1: and gallop off to raise the alarm. At last they
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  Speaker 1: found a ford, but so heavy had been the rainfall
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  Speaker 1: that it could hardly be called practicable, for the water
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  Speaker 1: was above the men's breasts as they waited, and up
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  Speaker 1: to the horse's necks. Nevertheless, all got safely across, and
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  Speaker 1: Alexandra at once made his arrangements for the battle, which
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  Speaker 1: he intended to bring on without delay, pushing on himself
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  Speaker 1: at the head of the cavalry five thousand in number,
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  Speaker 1: in case the enemy should be panic stricken and attempt
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  Speaker 1: to flee without fighting. He ordered the archers and the
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  Speaker 1: six thousand heavy infantry to follow him as fast as
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  Speaker 1: they could. End of Section twenty one.