well as the courtiers, were totally ignorant of the science of war. The whole train of operations on the side of the Per sians was a series of blunders. Darius advancing to Issus; Alexander was no sooner apprised of his approach, than, having endeavoured by sacrifices to render the gods of the place propitious to his cause,* he drew up his army on a spot of ground near that city, bounded on one side by the mountains and on the other by the sea. In this situation, Darius, not being able to extend his front beyond that of the Macedonians, could dispose his army no otherwise than in a deep column. The Macedonians breaking the first lines and driving them upon the second, and these falling upon the third, the whole Persian army was thrown into confusion, and the greatest number of those who fell on that fatal day were trampled to death by their flying comrades. Darius, who had placed himself in the front, with great difficulty got out of the crowd, left his chariot behind and mounted on horseback the better to hasten his flight. But Alexander was checked in his pursuit by the Greek mercenaries in the Persian service, who charging the Macedonians with astonishing resolution killed great numbers of them, with Ptolemy, the son of Seleucus, and about 120 other officers of distinction. Though attacked in flank by Alexander in person, they maintained their ground till they had lost 12,000 men out of 20,000, of which their body was composed. The remaining 8000 retreated in good order over the mountains toward Tripoli, where meeting with the transports, which had conveyed them from Lesbos, they seized as many as were requisite for their purpose, and after having burned the rest in order to prevent a pursuit, they sailed immediately to Cyprus. The Macedonians plundered the Persian camp; and the mother and wife of Darius, with his two daughters and his son Ochus, not quite six years of age, were made prisoners. The loss of the Persians in horse is stated at 10,000, but in regard to the foot, historians disagree, the lowest computation makes the number of the slain amount to 80,000, the highest to 120,000; and 40,000 are said to have been made prisoners. The highest statement * Issus was a Grecian colony, and consequently retained the Greek religion gives only 300 for the whole loss of the Macedonians. This account, incredible as it may seem, is yet more probable than those which writers give of the action at the river Granicus; for the battle of Issus appears to have been a downright massacre. But, after all, if the Greek mercenaries who fought with such determined valour, and at last retreated in good order, lost 12,000 men, it is difficult to conceive that Alexander should lose only 300. The historians of the life of that hero seem willing to make us believe that his Macedonians were invulnerable. Alexander, however, made an honourable use of his victory. He treated his prisoners with humanity, and the captive princesses with extraordinary respect. They remained in his camp as in a sacred temple, the asylum of innocence. None but their attendants dared to approach their pavilion. Alexander himself having once visited them, was so struck with the beauty of the daughters and consort of Darius, that, distrusting his own frailty, he resolved not to repeat the visit. In short the royal captives were treated with the same respect as if they had still remained in the court of Persia. Darius had, previous to the battle of Issus, sent the royal treasures to Damascus; but they were betrayed by the governor into the hands of Parmenio, whom Alexander, immediately after his victory, sent to take possession of that city. The booty was immense, and the Thessalian horse, who performed this expedition, acquired at once ample fortunes. Among the prisoners were the widow and three daughters of Ochus, who had reigned before Darius, and the daughter of Oxathres, brother of Darius, besides the wives and children of several of the principal courtiers and commanders, so that scarcely one noble family in Persia was without its share in this calamity, All Syria now submitted to the conqueror, and the governors of the cities and provinces surrendered themselves and their treasures. At this juncture Darius made a proposal to Alexander to treat for the ransom of the royal captives, accompanied with a challenge to decide the contest for empire, in a general engagement, with an equal number of men on each side. The whole epistle, however, was couched in the pompous style of Persian ostentation. Alexander returned him an answer in firm and dignified language. The Macedonians having become masters of Syria and Phenice, with little opposition, except at Tyre and Gaza, proceeded into Egypt. A numerous body of Egyptians met Alexander at Pelusum to make their submission. The whole Egyptian nation received him as its deliverer from the Persian yoke; and the governor of Memphis seeing the general defection immediately put him in possession of that metropolis. He then paid a visit to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and in his way thither founded the city of Alexandria. Having settled the affairs of Egypt, he returned into Syria and began his march for the countries of Upper Asia. Advancing to the Euphrates he crossed that river at Thapsacus and continued his march towards the Tigris. Darius having assembled another numerous army at Babylon, sent a detachment to obstruct Alexander's passage over that river. The Macedonians, however, had passed the Tigris before the arrival of the enemy. They remained two days encamped on its banks, during which time an accident happened, which shews the power of popular superstition, and the advantage which artifice may derive from ignorance. An eclipse of the moon so terrified those bold Macedonians, who in the field of battle set death and danger at defiance, that they refused to proceed, exclaiming that heaven had declared against them, that the moon refused to lend them her light, and that the gods shewed marks of their displeasure. Alexander immediately summoned the Egyptian soothsayers, who attended the army, and consulted them on this phænomenon. It is certain that neither Alexander nor his Egyptian astrologers were unacquainted with the natural cause of eclipses; but philosophical reasoning would have been lost on the army, and something of a different nature was necessary to make an impres-, sion on the minds and calm the fears of a superstitious multitude. The issue of the inquiry was excellently adapted to the occasion. The astrologers declared that the sun being predominant in Greece and the moon in Persia, whenever the moon suffered an eclipse it portended some great calamity to the latter country. This answer being immediately circulated through the army, the soldiers felt their hopes and their courage revived; and Alexander, taking advantage of the ar dour with which they were inspired, recommenced his march. The battle of Arbela as it is commonly called, although fought at Gangamela, a village about ten miles distant from that city, decided the fate of the Persian empire.* The Greek writers of Alexander's history give a circumstantial detail of this memorable engagement. They describe the manœuvres of the two armies, telling us how bravely the Persians fought, how often they rallied after being repulsed, what prodigies of va lour were displayed by the two kings, and how victory inclined sometimes to one, sometimes to the other side. But after all this pompous detail, which closes with the slaughter of 30,000 according to the lowest, and 90,000 according to the highest computation, Curtius gravely tells us that the loss of the Macedonians amounted to no more than 300, and Arrian reduces their dead to less than one-third of that number.t Such accounts are absolutely inconsistent with probability, and from such historians we can conceive no just idea of this celebrated battle. Either the disparity of loss must be greatly exaggerated, or the obstinacy of the contest strangely misrepresented. But whatever uncertainty may attend circumstantial details, the general issue of great transactions is ascertained from consequences; and those, which followed the battle of Gangamela, sufficiently prove that the action was decisive, and the victory of the Macedonians complete. Arbela, Babylon, and Susa, immediately surrendered without resistance. In those places the conquerors found an immense booty in gold and silver, both in coin and in bullion, with rich equipages, furniture, &c. Some of the provinces made a feeble opposition to their progress, but were soon reduced to subjection. And Alexander, with his army, having advanced to Persepolis, notwithstanding the submission of the inhabitants, tarnished his laurels by giving up to plunder and military execution that proud metropolis of the Persian empire, in revenge for the calamities which Xerxes had about 118 years before inflicted on Greece. A vast sum of money was found in the royal treasury, laid up for defraying the expenses of the war. The booty * Plutarch in Alexandro. Strabo, lib. 26. Quint. Curt. lib. 4. cap. 22. Quintus Curt. lib. 4. Arrian, lib. 3. found in this wealthy capital was immense. The vengeance of the Macedonians was not less insatiable than their avarice. They obtained great riches but exercised horrid barbarities on the miserable inhabitants, whom they massacred without distinction or mercy. The stay of Alexander at Persepolis was employed in feasting and drinking. The Macedonians revelled in the luxuries of this opulent metropolis of the empire of Cyrus. And the king made splendid entertainments for the principal officers. In one of these drunken revels, Alexander and his guests set fire to the magnificent palace of the Persian kings, in revenge for the burning of Athens by Xerxes. But whether this was done at the instigation of Thais, the Athenian courtezan, according to the generally received story, is somewhat problematical. The fact rests chiefly on the authority of Diodorus Siculus. Plutarch mentions it with diffidence ;† and Arrian, Curtius and Strabo are silent on the subject.‡ Darius in the meanwhile had retired into Media, having still an army of 30,000 infantry, in which was a body of 4000 Greeks, who continued faithful to him amidst his misfortunes. He had also besides these, 4000 slingers, and 3000 cavalry, commanded by Bessus, governor of Bactria. Being informed that Alexander was advancing from Persepolis towards Me. dia, the Persian king left Ecbatana, with a design of retiring into Bactria, for the purpose of making fresh levies. Altering however his plan, he resolved with the troops that he had, to try the event of another battle. But Bessus, governor of Bactria, and Narbazanes, a Persian lord, forming a conspiracy, brought over the troops to their interest, seized Darius, put him into a covered cart, and began their march towards Bactria. Bessus was then proclaimed commander in chief, by the Bactrian horse. But Artabazus, a Persian general, with his sons and the troops under his command, together with the Greeks under Patron, separating from the conspirators, marched over the mountains towards Parthiene. Alexander on his arrival at Ecbatana finding that Darius had departed from that place only five days before, immediately began the pursuit. * Diod. Sicul. lib. 17. cap. 7. |