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

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty five of the Rise of the Macedonian Empire
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  Speaker 1: by Arthur M. Curtis. This LibriVox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. Read by Pamelinagami, Chapter seventeen, closing scenes, Part one.
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  Speaker 1: In the winter of three twenty four to three, Alexander
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  Speaker 1: set out from Susa to Agbaitana, passing on his way
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  Speaker 1: the famous rock monuments of Bihistan. His object, no doubt,
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  Speaker 1: was to gratify the Meads by a short stay in
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  Speaker 1: their capital, as he had already stayed in Babylon and Persepolis,
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  Speaker 1: and to retain what had been a yearly custom of
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  Speaker 1: the former kings of Persia. They were further gratified by
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  Speaker 1: a magnificent celebration of the annual festival of Dionysus. But
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  Speaker 1: the general joy was suddenly overcast by a great sorrow. Hephestion,
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  Speaker 1: the lover of Alexander, fell ill of a fever, which,
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  Speaker 1: of foolish confidence in his own strength, induced him to
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  Speaker 1: neglect during the feast. He became rapidly worse, and at
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  Speaker 1: last sank before the king could reach his bedside from
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  Speaker 1: the amphitheater, whence he was hastily summoned. It was only
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  Speaker 1: natural that a man of strong manly affection like Alexander
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  Speaker 1: should for three days shut himself up in sorrowful isolation,
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  Speaker 1: and neither eat nor drink. It was only natural that
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  Speaker 1: he should bury a comrade so dear and faithful, with
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary honors, at Babylon, his capital, and that he should
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  Speaker 1: order a general mourning throughout Asia. But we may surely
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  Speaker 1: dismiss as the mere gossip which gathers round every great name,
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  Speaker 1: such tales as that he cut off the hair of
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  Speaker 1: his horses and mules, or dismantled the town walls of
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  Speaker 1: their battlements, or killed the foolish physician who could not
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  Speaker 1: save his friend's life, or raised to the ground the
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  Speaker 1: temple of Esclapius and Agbatana by way of revenge. And
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  Speaker 1: may echo Aryan's verdict that such barbarous follies were not
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  Speaker 1: consistent with Alexander's character, though they might be natural enough
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  Speaker 1: in a Xerxes, who chastened the hellaspont with fetters for
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  Speaker 1: wrecking his bridge. The king was roused from his deep
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  Speaker 1: dejection by that best of remedies, the necessity for action.
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  Speaker 1: The Kassians, a mountain tribe on the borders of Susiana
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  Speaker 1: and Medea were up in arms, taking with him the
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  Speaker 1: dead body for burial. He set out on his march
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  Speaker 1: to Babylon about midwinter three twenty four to three, dividing
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  Speaker 1: his army into two corps under himself and Ptolemy, respectively,
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  Speaker 1: and crushing the armed resistance of the mountaineers as he went.
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  Speaker 1: He then came down from the mountains into the Tigris Valley,
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  Speaker 1: and so passed on to the capital. It was his
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  Speaker 1: last march. Already, omens and presages we are told of
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  Speaker 1: impending calamity were of frequent occurrence, and it would seem
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  Speaker 1: that even Alexander's strong mind was not a little impressed.
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  Speaker 1: As he drew near to Babylon, he was met by
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  Speaker 1: a body of Chaldean priests, who, in private audience besought
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  Speaker 1: him to defer his entry into the city, for there
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  Speaker 1: God Belus had revealed to them that an entrance into
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  Speaker 1: Babylon at that time would not be for his good.
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  Speaker 1: Then a strange story got wind about the Indian philosopher Colonos.
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  Speaker 1: Before his death, it was said he declined to take
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  Speaker 1: leave of the king because he should soon meet him
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  Speaker 1: at Babylon. On another occasion, Alexander was cruising on the
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  Speaker 1: canal of Polycopas, which had been dug to carry off
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  Speaker 1: the superfluous waters of the Euphrates at flood time. As
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  Speaker 1: the boat in which he was sailing passed by some
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  Speaker 1: tombs of ancient Assyrian kings, it chanced that a sudden
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  Speaker 1: gust lifted from his head the cauzia, or broad brimmed cap,
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  Speaker 1: which fell into the water, while the diadem which encircled
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  Speaker 1: it lodged in the reeds that grew out of one
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  Speaker 1: of the tombs. A sailor at once plunged in and
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  Speaker 1: swam to recover it, but in returning placed it on
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  Speaker 1: his own head lest it should be wedded. For this
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  Speaker 1: exploit he was rewarded with a talent, but afterwards flogged
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  Speaker 1: for being so thoughtless as to put on the king's
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  Speaker 1: head dress. Some of the soothsayers were even so alarmed
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  Speaker 1: at the evil omen as to urge the king to
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  Speaker 1: put the sailor to death. By and by another event
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  Speaker 1: happened still more disquieting. It was at Babylon, and the
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  Speaker 1: king was holding a council about his intended campaigns. Feeling thirsty,
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  Speaker 1: he rose from his throne and left the council room,
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  Speaker 1: followed by his officers, only a few attendants remaining behind.
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  Speaker 1: It was a moment of unguarded relaxation. On a sudden,
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  Speaker 1: a man, a stranger to all, entered the chamber, and,
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  Speaker 1: passing through the midst of the astonished slaves, before they
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  Speaker 1: had the presence of mind to stop him, seated himself
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  Speaker 1: in the empty throne. The etiquette of the Persian court,
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  Speaker 1: as stringent as that of the French or Spanish courts
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  Speaker 1: in their palmy days, forbade the laying of a finger
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  Speaker 1: on one who was sitting in the royal seat. So
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  Speaker 1: the slaves fell to rending their clothes and beating their breasts,
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  Speaker 1: but had nothing else that they could do. The news
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  Speaker 1: was presently carried to Alexander, who ordered the man to
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  Speaker 1: be seized, and an attempt was made by torture to
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  Speaker 1: elicit his purpose or the names of his confederates. But
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  Speaker 1: the only thing that he could say was that it
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  Speaker 1: came into his mind to do, and he did it,
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  Speaker 1: a statement from which the seers inferred that it was
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  Speaker 1: an inspiration from heaven and must be regarded as a warning.
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  Speaker 1: Our inference should be perhaps that he was mad. However,
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  Speaker 1: little any of these omens sing might have effected so
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  Speaker 1: powerful a mind as Alexander's. It was inevitable that their concurrence,
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  Speaker 1: at a time when he was depressed, and when perhaps
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  Speaker 1: the seeds of fever were already in his system, should
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  Speaker 1: impress him not a little. The first warning of the
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  Speaker 1: Kaldean priests he set aside with a jesting quotation from Euripides,
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  Speaker 1: and indeed shrewdly suspected that they had a personal interest
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  Speaker 1: in keeping him out of Babylon, fearing to be brought
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  Speaker 1: to book for peculation during his absence. But the recurrence
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  Speaker 1: of the omens and the increasing alarm of the seers
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  Speaker 1: seem at last to have made Alexander himself anxious, and
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  Speaker 1: to have inspired him with fears of a plot. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: it became necessary to enter Babylon, and, owing to the
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  Speaker 1: morasses on the south and west, with his face turned
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  Speaker 1: towards the gloomy west, and by the very eastern gate
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  Speaker 1: against which the priests had warned him. But it was
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  Speaker 1: a splendid spectacle such as the city had seldom. If ever,
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  Speaker 1: there were the veteran troops that had conquered Asia, the
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  Speaker 1: fleet of Naarchus, which had sailed in waters never but
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  Speaker 1: once navigated before. There were new ships from Phoenicia and
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  Speaker 1: others building on the stocks of the new harbor. There
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  Speaker 1: was an army of workmen busy upon the splendid funeral
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  Speaker 1: pyre of a festion. Last, but not least, there were
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  Speaker 1: crowds of ambassadors, not only from Greek cities, but from Libya,
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  Speaker 1: from the Leucanians, the Turanians, and even, according to one author,
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  Speaker 1: from the Romans, from Scythia, Ethiopia, and Carthage, an imposing
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  Speaker 1: array testifying to the widespread influence of Alexander's name. For
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  Speaker 1: the moment, Babylon was the center and capital of the world.
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  Speaker 1: But as Arian repeats many times over with an almost
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  Speaker 1: traumatic iteration, the end was drawing near. All things indeed
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  Speaker 1: went on as usual. Reinforcements were coming and going. The
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  Speaker 1: Euphrates fleet was finished and its sailors were under constant drill.
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  Speaker 1: The details of the Arabian voyage and campaign appeared to
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  Speaker 1: have been settled, and a scheme for the exploration of
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  Speaker 1: the Caspian was so far arranged that a party of
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  Speaker 1: shipwrights was sent to the sea to build a fleet. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: a further step towards the fusion of the peoples of
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  Speaker 1: the empire was made by the incorporation of a certain
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  Speaker 1: number of Persians with the Macedonian infantry of the phalanx,
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  Speaker 1: each file of sixteen containing twelve Persians, while the places
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  Speaker 1: of honor and importance the first three and the last
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  Speaker 1: in the file were reserved for Macedonians. But the end
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  Speaker 1: was drawing near. A solemn sacrifice was celebrated for the
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  Speaker 1: success of the projected expedition, at which wine and meat
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  Speaker 1: were distributed to the troops, and the king himself gave
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  Speaker 1: a banquet to his friends, which was carried on far
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  Speaker 1: into the night. As he was leaving the feast, Medius,
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  Speaker 1: an officer of the Companion cavalry, pressed him to continue
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  Speaker 1: the rebel at his quarters, and Alexander complied. The next evening,
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  Speaker 1: Metius renewed his invitation, and again a great deal of
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  Speaker 1: wine appears to have been drunk. On the following day,
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  Speaker 1: the king felt the first symptoms of fever and accordingly
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  Speaker 1: slept at the house of Medius, Though still well enough
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  Speaker 1: to transact business, he was afterwards carried on a couch
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  Speaker 1: to the river side and rode over to a park
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  Speaker 1: on the other bank, passing the next day in retirement
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  Speaker 1: and in conversation with Metius. But he now grew rapidly worse,
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  Speaker 1: and day by day became weaker, heartly mustering strength to
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  Speaker 1: perform the usual sacrifice, until on the seventh day of
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  Speaker 1: the attack, feeling apparently that he was dying, he had
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  Speaker 1: himself carried back to the palace and summoned the generals
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  Speaker 1: to his presence. He recognized them, but had no strength
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  Speaker 1: to speak. Four of them, in despair, passed the next
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  Speaker 1: night in the temple of Serapis, hoping for a sign.
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  Speaker 1: Three others even consulted the oracle as to whether it
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  Speaker 1: would be better to bring the king to the temple
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  Speaker 1: of the God. The answer was that he was better
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  Speaker 1: where he was. Some of the soldiers, meanwhile, from anxiety
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  Speaker 1: and affection, demanded to be admitted in to see Alexander, and,
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  Speaker 1: being allowed to pass through his chamber, soon saw that
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  Speaker 1: all hope was gone. He lay speechless but sensible, recognizing
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  Speaker 1: them severally as they passed by his bedside, with eloquent eyes,
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  Speaker 1: but hardly able to raise his head. Had he been
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  Speaker 1: able to frame articulate words, it is possible that he
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  Speaker 1: might have returned the answer ascribed to him in the story,
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  Speaker 1: and said that he left his kingdom to the worthiest,
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  Speaker 1: as it was. All he had strength for was to
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  Speaker 1: take the ring from his finger and give it to Perdiccas.
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  Speaker 1: Shortly afterwards. He died in the thirty third year of
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  Speaker 1: his life and the thirteenth of his reign June three,
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  Speaker 1: twenty three, end of section twenty five.