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36 - History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, Vol II by John Bagnell Bury · History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, Vol II

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Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, Section ten, eleven and twelve of A History
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Speaker 1: of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, Volume two.
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Speaker 1: This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. A History of Greece to the
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Speaker 1: Death of Alexander the Great, Volume two by John bagnell Bury.
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Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, Parts ten, eleven and twelve, Section ten Conquest
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Speaker 1: of Susiana and Persis. Having rested his army in the
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Speaker 1: luxurious and wonderful city of the Euphrates, the conqueror advanced
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Speaker 1: southeastward to Susa, the summer residence of the Persian court.
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Speaker 1: Susa had been already secured for him by Philoxenus, whom
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Speaker 1: he had despatched hither from Marbella with some light troops.
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Speaker 1: In the citadel he found enormous treasures of gold and
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Speaker 1: silver and purple, among other precious things. That Susa was
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Speaker 1: the sculpted group of the tyrant slayers Harmodius and Aristogiton,
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Speaker 1: which Xerxes had carried off from Athens, and Alexander had
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Speaker 1: the pleasure of sending back to its home, this strange
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Speaker 1: historical monument, now more precious than ever through its own
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Speaker 1: strange history. Though it was midwinter, Alexander soon left Susa
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Speaker 1: to accomplish one of the most arduous adventures that he
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Speaker 1: ever undertook. He had won the treasures of Susa, but
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Speaker 1: there were immense treasures still in the palaces of Cyrus
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Speaker 1: and Duras, in the heart of the Persian highlands, and
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Speaker 1: these were guarded not only by the difficulties of the
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Speaker 1: mountainous approaches, but by the army which Ariobaizanis had rescued
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Speaker 1: from the overthrow of Gaugamela. Perhaps the reason for Alexander's
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Speaker 1: haste in pressing on to Pursis was the fear that
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Speaker 1: Darius might descend with a new force from Media if
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Speaker 1: time were given him before Ariobaizanis was crushed. But whatever
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Speaker 1: were his reasons, it seemed to him of the greatest
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Speaker 1: moment to secure purses. Immediately his road lay southeastward, and
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Speaker 1: when he had crossed the river Pasiitigris, the first obstacle
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Speaker 1: that he encountered was the independent tribe of the Uxian
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Speaker 1: hillsmen of whom the Persian kings themselves were accustomed to
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Speaker 1: bestow gifts for their good will. The barbarians held the
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Speaker 1: passes through which the road lay, but a night march
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Speaker 1: by a difficult mountain path enabled Alexander to surprise them,
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Speaker 1: and the Euxians, henceforward were forced to pay yearly gifts
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Speaker 1: to the Lord of Asia, a hundred horses, five hundred
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Speaker 1: drought oxen, and thirty thousand sheep. The Macedonian army was
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Speaker 1: now in the midst of a region which was unknown
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Speaker 1: to Greek charts. Alexander's advance is a march not only
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Speaker 1: of conquest but of discovery, and opens a new epoch
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Speaker 1: in the history of geographical sciences by revealing Central Asia
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Speaker 1: to the knowledge of Europe. Leaving half of his army
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Speaker 1: with Parmenio to proceed more slowly along the main road,
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Speaker 1: Alexander led the other half, including the Macedonians both horse
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Speaker 1: and foot, by a shorter path through the hills to
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Speaker 1: the narrow defile which formed the entrance to Persis and
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Speaker 1: was called the Persian Gates. Ario Baizanis was posted there
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Speaker 1: with forty thousand foot and seven hundred horse guarding the
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Speaker 1: rocky pass, which he had fortified by a wall An attack.
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Speaker 1: Easily repelled, showed Alexander that the pass was unpregnable, yet
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Speaker 1: it must be carried, for this was the only road
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Speaker 1: to the royal cities of Persia. For a moment, Alexander
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Speaker 1: was baffled. Never, perhaps not even before Tire, was he
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Speaker 1: encountered by a problem more desperate to all seeming. But
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Speaker 1: he learned from a prisoner of some extremely perilous paths
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Speaker 1: leading round through the forest which covered the mountains to
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Speaker 1: the back of the pass. At this season, the snow
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Speaker 1: made these paths more dangerous than ever. They might well
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Speaker 1: seem hopeless to men weigh down with heavy armor, but
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Speaker 1: they were the only hope, and Alexander did not hesitate.
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Speaker 1: He left Cratrus with part of the troops in front
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Speaker 1: of the pass, with orders to attack as soon as
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Speaker 1: he heard the Macedonian trumpets sounding from above on the
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Speaker 1: other side. With the rest of his force, including most
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Speaker 1: of the cavalry, three regiments of the Phalanx, the Hypasthus,
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Speaker 1: and other light troops, he set forth at night and
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Speaker 1: marched quickly eleven miles along the precipitous, snowy track, intersected
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Speaker 1: frequently by deep gullies. When the point was reached at
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Speaker 1: which he was to turn in order to descend on
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Speaker 1: the Persian camp. He again divided his forces and sent
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Speaker 1: one division forward to bridge the river Araxis and cut
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Speaker 1: off the Persian retreat, taking the Hypasthus the royal squadron
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Speaker 1: of the Companions, one regiment of the Phalanx, and some
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Speaker 1: light troops, he raced down upon the camp and destroyed
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Speaker 1: or routed three successive sets of outposts before the day
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Speaker 1: had dawned. Instead of raising the alarm, the sentinels scattered
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Speaker 1: on the mountain, and when the Macedonian trumpets peeled on
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Speaker 1: the brink of his entrenchments, Ariobaizanis was taken completely by surprise.
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Speaker 1: Attacked on both sides, in front by Krateras, who stormed
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Speaker 1: up the wall of rock, and in the rear by Alexander.
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Speaker 1: The Persians were cut to pieces or fell over precipices
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Speaker 1: in their flight. Ariobaizanis, with a small band, escaped into
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Speaker 1: the mountains. The royal palaces of Persia, to which Alexander,
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Speaker 1: now hurried with the utmost speed, stood in the valley
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Speaker 1: of merv dashed, fertile then but desolate at the present day,
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Speaker 1: and close to the city of Istakar, which the Persians
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Speaker 1: deemed the oldest city in the world. In Istaka itself
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Speaker 1: there was a royal house too, but the great palaces
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Speaker 1: stood some miles away, close beneath the mountain, upon a
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Speaker 1: lofty platform against a background of black rock. The platform
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Speaker 1: was mounted by magnificent staircases, and it bore besides massive propilia,
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Speaker 1: four chief buildings, the small palace of Duryas, the larger
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Speaker 1: palace of Xerxes, and two great pillowed halls. The impressive
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Speaker 1: ruins tell a trained eye how to reconstruct the general
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Speaker 1: plan of the royal abode, and there can be no
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Speaker 1: question that Achaemenian architecture had wrought here its greatest achievements,
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Speaker 1: greater than the Palace of Susa, which Alexander had seen,
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Speaker 1: greater than that of Ecbactana, which he was soon to see.
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Speaker 1: This cradle of the Persian Kingdom, to which city and
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Speaker 1: palace together the Greeks give the name of Persepolis, was
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Speaker 1: the richest of all the cities under the sun. It
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Speaker 1: is said that one hundred and twenty thousand talons were
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Speaker 1: found in the treasury. An army of mules and camels
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Speaker 1: were required to remove the spoils. This store of gold,
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Speaker 1: so long withdrawn from use, was now suddenly to be
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Speaker 1: restored to circulation and perturbed the markets of the world.
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Speaker 1: Not far off two days journey northward up the winding
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Speaker 1: valley of the murgab was Passargadae, the city of Cyrus.
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Speaker 1: The maker of Persia, built it close to the field
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Speaker 1: where he had shattered the host of the Median king,
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Speaker 1: and the place is still marked by his tomb in
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Speaker 1: the stones of other buildings, on some of which the
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Speaker 1: traveler may read the words I am Cyrus, the King
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Speaker 1: the Acamedean. In Parsagadae, too, Alexander found a store of treasure.
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Speaker 1: For four months, he had made the Persian palaces his headquarters,
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Speaker 1: during which time he received the submission of Carmania or Kerman,
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Speaker 1: and made some excursions to punish the robbers who infested
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Speaker 1: the neighboring mountains. But the most famous incident connected with
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Speaker 1: the sojourn at Persepolis is the conflagration of the Palace
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Speaker 1: of Xerxes. The story is that one night, when Alexander
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Speaker 1: and his companions were drunk deep at a royal festival, Thius,
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Speaker 1: an attic courtesan who was of the company, mindful of
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Speaker 1: her country and all the wrongs would Xerxes had wrought
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Speaker 1: flung out among the tipsy carousers the idea of burning
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Speaker 1: down the house of the malignant foe who had burned
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Speaker 1: the temples of Greece. The mad words of the woman
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Speaker 1: inspired a wild frenzy and whirled the revelers forth, armed
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Speaker 1: with torches. To accomplish the barbarous deed, Alexander hurled the
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Speaker 1: first brand, and the cedar woodwork of the palace was
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Speaker 1: soon in flames. But before the fire had done its work,
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Speaker 1: the king's head was cool, and he commanded the fire
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Speaker 1: to be quenched. It is folly to attempt to read
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Speaker 1: into this act a deliberate policy. It was the wild
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Speaker 1: freak of a moment repented the next section eleven Death
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Speaker 1: of Duras. In the meantime, King Darius remained in Epactana,
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Speaker 1: surrounded by the adherents who were faithful to him, chiefly
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Speaker 1: the satraps of those lands which were still unconquered Media
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Speaker 1: itself in Hyrcania, Ariea and Bactria, Aracosia and Drangiana. It
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Speaker 1: is probable that after the Gaugamela battle, Alexander hoped to
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Speaker 1: receive some proposal from his defeated foe more submissive and
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Speaker 1: acceptable than that which had been sent after Issus. He
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Speaker 1: would have been ready, perhaps the leaf to Durius the
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Speaker 1: eastern part of his dominions with the royal title, though
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Speaker 1: as a dependent vassal, and to content himself for a
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Speaker 1: while with the empire which he had won, including Susa
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Speaker 1: and Persepolis. It may have been with the hope of
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Speaker 1: receiving overtures that he tarried so long in Persis, But
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Speaker 1: Durius gave no sign Media was defensible. He had a
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Speaker 1: large army from the northern satrapies, and he had Bactria
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Speaker 1: as a retreat, if retreat he must. The spring was advanced.
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Speaker 1: When Alexander left Persis for Ecpactana. The direct road did
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Speaker 1: not lie by Susa, but much further east through the
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Speaker 1: land of Partacine. He made all speed when the news
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Speaker 1: reached him by the way that Durius was at Ecbactana
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Speaker 1: with a large army prepared to fight. But when, after
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Speaker 1: a succession of force marshes he drew nigh to the city,
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Speaker 1: he found that Durius had flown eastward, following the women
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Speaker 1: and heavy baggage which had been sent on to the
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Speaker 1: Caspian gates, and taking the treasures with him. It is
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Speaker 1: said that the reason of this retreat was the default
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Speaker 1: of some Caldusian and Scythian troops which had failed to
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Speaker 1: arrive in time. When he reached the Median capital, Alexander
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Speaker 1: was detained by the need of arranging certain matters before
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Speaker 1: he pursued his rival into the northern wilds. He paid
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Speaker 1: off the Thessalian troops and the other Greek confederates, giving
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Speaker 1: them a handsome donative and a conduct to the Aegean.
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Speaker 1: But any who chose to enroll themselves anew in his
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Speaker 1: service and share in his further course of conquest might stay,
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Speaker 1: and not a few staid. Parmenio was entrusted with the
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Speaker 1: care of seeing that the treasures of purses were transported
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Speaker 1: and safely deposited in the strong keep of Ecpactana, where
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Speaker 1: they were to remain in charge for the treasury Harpalus
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Speaker 1: and a large body of Macedonian troops. Parmenio was then
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Speaker 1: to proceed northward to Cadusia and along the shores of
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Speaker 1: the Caspian Sea, where he was to meet the King
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Speaker 1: with the main part of the army, Alexander hurried on
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Speaker 1: merciless to men and steeds, bent on the capture of
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Speaker 1: duryas his way lay by Reggae, and when he reached
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Speaker 1: that place, a little to the south of the modern
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Speaker 1: capital of Persia, he found that the fugitive was already
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Speaker 1: well beyond the Caspian Gates, which lie a long day's
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Speaker 1: journey to the east. Despairing of overtaking him, Alexander rested
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Speaker 1: some days at Reggae before he advanced towards Parthia through
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Speaker 1: the Caspian pass. But meanwhile doom was stealing upon duryas
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Speaker 1: by another way. His followers were beginning to suspect that
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Speaker 1: ill luck dogged him, and when he proposed to stay
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Speaker 1: and risk another battle instead of continuing his retreat to Bactria,
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Speaker 1: none were willing, except the remnant of Greek mercenaries, who
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Speaker 1: were still faithful to the man who had hired them,
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Speaker 1: and perhaps dreaded punishment as racousance to the Greek cause. Bessis,
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Speaker 1: the satrap of Bactria, was a kinsman of the king,
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Speaker 1: and it was felt by many that he might be
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Speaker 1: able to raise up again the Achimenian house which Darius
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Speaker 1: had been unable to sustain. A plot was formed. Durius
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Speaker 1: was seized and bound in the middle of the night,
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Speaker 1: set in a litter, and hurried on as a prisoner
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Speaker 1: along the road to Bactria. This event disbanded his army.
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Speaker 1: The Greek mercenaries went off northwards into the Caspian Mountains,
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Speaker 1: and many of the Persians turned back to find pardon
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Speaker 1: and grace with Alexander. They found him a camped on
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Speaker 1: the Parthian side of the Caspian Gates and told him
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Speaker 1: the new turn of events. When he had learned that
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Speaker 1: his old rival was a prisoner and that Bessis was
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Speaker 1: now his antagonist, Alexander resolved on a swift and hot pursuit,
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Speaker 1: leaving the main body of the army to come slowly after.
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Speaker 1: He set forth at once with his cavalry some light foot,
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Speaker 1: and sped the whole night through, not resting till the
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Speaker 1: next day at noon, and then another evening and night
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Speaker 1: at the same breathless speed, sunrise saw him at Thara.
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Speaker 1: It was the place where the great King had been
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Speaker 1: put in chains, and it was ascertain from his interpreter,
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Speaker 1: who had remained behind ill, that Bessis and his followers
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Speaker 1: intended to surrender Darias if the pursuit were pressed, there
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Speaker 1: was the greater need for haste. The pursuers rode on
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Speaker 1: throughout another night, men and horses were dropping with fatigue.
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Speaker 1: At noon, they came to a village where the pursuit
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Speaker 1: had halted the day before, and Alexander learned that they
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Speaker 1: intended to march in the night. He asked the people
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Speaker 1: if there was no short way, and was told that
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Speaker 1: there was a short way, but it was waterless. Alexander
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Speaker 1: instantly dismounted five hundred of his horsemen and gave their
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Speaker 1: steeds to the officers and the strongest men of the
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Speaker 1: infantry who were with them. With these he started in
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Speaker 1: the morning, and, having ridden some forty five miles, came
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Speaker 1: up with the enemy at break of day. The barbarians
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Speaker 1: were straggling, many of them unarmed. A few who made
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Speaker 1: a stand were swept away, but most of them fled
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Speaker 1: when they saw that it was Alexander. Bessus and his
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Speaker 1: fellow conspirators bade their prisoner no longer seemingly in chains
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Speaker 1: mount a horse, and when Drius refused, they stabbed him
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Speaker 1: and rode their ways, wounding the litter mules too, and
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Speaker 1: killing the drivers. The beasts, sore and thirsty, strayed about
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Speaker 1: half a mile from the road down a side valley,
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Speaker 1: where they were found at a spring by a Macedonian
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Speaker 1: who came to slake his thirst. The great king was
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Speaker 1: near his last gasp. If he could have spoken Greek,
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Speaker 1: or if the stranger had understood Persian, he might have
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Speaker 1: found words to send a message of thanks to his
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Speaker 1: conqueror for the generous treatment of his wife and mother,
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Speaker 1: who were then assuredly in his thoughts. Afterwards, men had
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Speaker 1: no scruple in placing appropriate words in the mouth of
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Speaker 1: the dying monarch. It is enough to believe that he
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Speaker 1: had solace of a cup of water in his supreme moments,
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Speaker 1: and thanked the Macedonian soldier by a sign. Alexander viewed
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Speaker 1: the body and was said to have thrown his own
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Speaker 1: cloak over it in pity. It was part of his
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Speaker 1: fair luck that he had found Duras dead, for if
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Speaker 1: he had taken him alive, he would not have put
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Speaker 1: him to death, and such a captive would have been
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Speaker 1: a perpetual embarrassment. He sent the corpse with all honour
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Speaker 1: to the Queen Mother, the last of the Achaemenian kings,
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Speaker 1: buried with his forefathers at Persepolis. Section twelve. Spirit of
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Speaker 1: Alexander's policy as Lord of Asia. Before we follow Alexander
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Speaker 1: on his marches of conquest and discovery into the regions
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Speaker 1: which were then in europeanize the Far East, we may
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Speaker 1: pause to observe his attitudes as ruler and king for
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Speaker 1: the months which passed between the Battle of Gaugamela and
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Speaker 1: the Death of Duras where a critical period which witnessed
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Speaker 1: a remarkable change in his conception of his duty and
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Speaker 1: in his political aims. From the very beginning he had
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Speaker 1: shown to the conquered people's a tolerance which was not
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Speaker 1: only promoted by generosity, but upon political wisdom. He had
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Speaker 1: not attempted to apply an artificial scheme to all countries,
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Speaker 1: but had permitted each country to retain its national institutions.
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Speaker 1: One general principle. Indeed, he did adopt the division of power,
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Speaker 1: and this was a notable improvement on the Persian method.
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Speaker 1: Under the Persian kingdom, a satrap was usually sole governor,
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Speaker 1: controlling not only the civil administration, but the treasury and
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Speaker 1: the troops. Alexander in most cases committed the internal administration
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Speaker 1: to the governor, and appointed with him and independent of
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Speaker 1: his authority, a financial officer and military commander. This division
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Speaker 1: of authority was a security against rebellion. We have already
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Speaker 1: seen in Egypt and Babylonia that in manners of religion,
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Speaker 1: Alexander was like all Greeks, brought mindinded and tolerant. But
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Speaker 1: the Macedonian king, the commander in chief of the Greek confederates,
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Speaker 1: had set forth as a champion of Greeks against mere Barbarians,
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Speaker 1: as a leader of Europeans against effeminate Asiatics, as representative
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Speaker 1: of a higher folk against beings lower in the human chain.
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Speaker 1: All the Macedonians and Greeks who followed him regarded the
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Speaker 1: East as a world to be plundered and rifled by
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Speaker 1: their higher intelligence and courage, and considered the Orientals and
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Speaker 1: its inferior set by nature, to be their own slaves.
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Speaker 1: Slaves by nature they showed to the political wisdom by
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Speaker 1: Aristotle himself, Alexander's teacher, and the victories of Issus and
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Speaker 1: Gaugamela were calculated to confirm the Europeans in their sense
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Speaker 1: of unmeasured superiority But as Alexander advanced, his view expanded,
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Speaker 1: and he rose to a loftier conception of his own
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Speaker 1: position and his relation to Asia. He began to transcend
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Speaker 1: the familiar distinction of Greek and Barbarian, and to see
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Speaker 1: that for all the truth it contained, it was not
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Speaker 1: the last word that could be said. He formed the
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Speaker 1: notion of an empire both European and Asiatic, in which
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Speaker 1: the Asiatics should not be dominated by the European invaders,
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Speaker 1: but Europeans and Asiatics alike should be ruled on an
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Speaker 1: equality by a monarch, indifferent to the distinction of Greek
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Speaker 1: and Barbarian, and looked upon as their own king by
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Speaker 1: Persians as well as by Macedonians. The idea begins to
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Speaker 1: show itself after the Battle of Gaugamela. The Persian lords
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Speaker 1: and satraps who submit are received with favor and confidence.
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Speaker 1: Alexander learns to know and appreciate the fine qualities of
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Speaker 1: the Iranian noblemen. Some of the eastern provinces are entrusted
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Speaker 1: to Persian satraps, for example Babylonian to Messius, and the
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Speaker 1: court of Alexander ceases to be purely European, with oriental courtiers.
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Speaker 1: The forms of an oriental court are also gradually introduced.
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Speaker 1: The Asiatics prostrate themselves before the Lord of Asia, and
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Speaker 1: presently Alexander adopts the dress of a Persian king at
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Speaker 1: court ceremonies in order to appear less a foreigner in
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Speaker 1: the eyes of his Eastern subjects. The idea which prompted
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Speaker 1: this policy was new and bold, and it harmonized with
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Speaker 1: the great work of Alexander, the breaking down of barriers
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Speaker 1: between East and West. But it was accompanied by a
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Speaker 1: certain imperious self exaltation which we do not find in
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Speaker 1: the earlier part of Alexander's career, and it involved him
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Speaker 1: in troubles with his own folk. The Macedonians strongly disapproved
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Speaker 1: of their king's new path. They disliked the rival influence
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Speaker 1: of the Asiatic nobles, and their prejudices were shocked at
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Speaker 1: seeing Alexander occasionally assume Oriental robes. The Macedonian royalty was
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Speaker 1: indeed inadequate for Alexander's imperial position, but it is unfortunate
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Speaker 1: that he had no other model than the Royalty of Persia,
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Speaker 1: hedged round by forms which were so distasteful to the
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Speaker 1: free spirit of Greece. The life of Alexander was spent
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Speaker 1: in solving difficult problems, political and military, and none was
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Speaker 1: harder than this to create a kingship which should conciliate
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Speaker 1: the prejudices of the East, without offending the prejudices of
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Speaker 1: the West. End of Chapter seventeen, Section ten, eleven and
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Speaker 1: twelve