Part 15

Nearchos says that he was offended with certain of his friends who reproached him for exposing himself to danger when leading the army, for this, they said, was not the duty of a commander, but of a common soldier, and it seems to me that Alexander resented these remarks because he felt their truth, and knew he had laid himself open to censure. Owing, however, to his prowess in fighting and his love of glory, he, like other men who are swayed by some predominant pleasure, yielded to temptation, lacking sufficient force of will to hold aloof from dangers. Nearchos also says that a certain elderly Boiôtian (whose name he does not give) observing that Alexander resented the censures of his friends, and was giving them sour looks, approached him, and in the Boiôtian tongue thus addressed him: “O Alexander, it is for heroes to do great deeds,” and then he subjoined an Iambic verse, the purport of which was that he who did any great deed was bound also to suffer.[169] The man, it is said, not only found favour with Alexander, but was admitted afterwards to closer intimacy.

_Chapter XIV.—Submission of the Malloi, Oxydrakai, and others—Voyage down the Hydraôtês and Akesinês to the Indus_

At this time envoys came to Alexander from the Malloi who still survived, tendering the submission of the nation; and from the Oxydrakai came the leading men of their cities and their provincial governors, besides 150 of their most eminent men, entrusted with full powers to conclude a treaty. They brought with them those presents which the Indians consider the choicest, and, like the Malloi, tendered the submission of their nation. Their error in so long delaying to send an embassy was, they said, pardonable, for they were attached more than others to freedom and autonomy, and their freedom they had preserved intact from the time Dionysos came to India until Alexander’s arrival. Since, however, Alexander was also, according to current report, of the race of the gods, they were willing, if he so pleased, to receive whatever satrap Alexander might appoint, pay the tribute he chose to impose, and give as many hostages as he required. Upon this he asked for a 1000 men, the flower of the nation, to be retained, if he thought good, as hostages, but, if not, to be employed as auxiliaries until he had finished the war against the other Indians. They selected accordingly 1000 men, their best and tallest, and sent them to him, together with 500 chariots and their charioteers, though these were not demanded. Alexander appointed Philippos as satrap over that nation and over the Malloi who still survived. The hostages he sent back, but he kept the chariots.

When these arrangements had been completed, and many vessels had been built in the interval while his wound was healing, he put on board the fleet 1700 of the cavalry companions, the same number of light-armed troops as before, and about 10,000 infantry, and sailed a short distance down the river Hydraôtês. But when the Hydraôtês fell into the Akesinês he continued the voyage down the latter river (which in preference to the Hydraôtês gives its name to the united stream) until he reached the junction of the Akesinês with the Indus. For these four vast rivers which are all navigable yield up their waters to the river Indus, but not each of them under its own special name. For the Hydaspês discharges into the Akesinês, and the single stream then forms what is called the Akesinês. But this Akesinês again unites with the Hydraôtês, and after absorbing this river is still the Akesinês. The Akesinês after this receives the Hyphasis,[170] and still keeping its own name falls into the Indus, but after the junction it resigns its name to that river. Hence I am ready to believe that the Indus from this point to where it bifurcates to form the Delta expands to a breadth of 100 stadia or even more in places where it spreads out more like a lake than a river.

_Chapter XV.—Appointment of Satraps—Voyage down the Indus to the dominions of Mousikanos, who tenders his submission_

There at the confluence of the Akesinês and Indus he waited until Perdikkas arrived with his forces. This general in the course of his march had subjugated the Abastanoi,[171] one of the independent tribes. Meanwhile there arrived at the camp other thirty-oared galleys and transport vessels which had been built for him among the Xathroi,[172] another independent tribe of Indians whose submission he had received. From the Ossadioi[173] also, another independent tribe, came envoys offering the submission of their nation. Alexander then fixed the confluence of the Akesinês and Indus as the boundary of the satrapy of Philippos, and left with him all the Thracians and as many foot-soldiers as seemed sufficient for the defence of his province. Then he ordered a city to be founded there at the very confluence of the rivers,[174] hoping it would become a great city and make a name for itself in the world. He ordered also the construction of dockyards. At this time the Baktrian Oxyartês, the father of Alexander’s wife Roxana, arrived, and on him he bestowed the satrapy of the Parapamisadai after dismissing the previous satrap Tyriaspês, who had been reported guilty of irregularities in the exercise of his authority.

Then he transported Krateros, with the bulk of the army and the elephants, to the left side of the river Indus, because the route along that bank of the river seemed easier for an army heavily accoutred, and because the tribes inhabiting those parts were not quite friendly. He sailed himself down to the capital of the Sôgdoi, where he fortified another city, constructed other dockyards, and repaired his damaged vessels. He then appointed Oxyartês and Peithôn satraps of the country which extended from the confluence of the Indus and Akesinês to the sea, together with the whole sea-board of India.[175]

Krateros he again despatched with the army [through the country of the Arachôtians and Drangians]; while he sailed down himself to the realm of Mousikanos,[176] which was reported to be the most opulent in India, because that sovereign had neither come to surrender himself and his country, nor sent envoys to seek his friendship. He had not even sent presents to show the respect due to a mighty king, nor had he asked any favour from Alexander. He therefore made the voyage down the river so rapidly that he reached the frontiers of the country of Mousikanos before that prince had even heard that Alexander had started to attack him. Mousikanos, dismayed by his sudden arrival, hastened to meet him, taking the choicest presents India could offer and all his elephants with him. He offered to surrender both his nation and himself, and acknowledged his error, which was the most effective way with Alexander to obtain from him whatever one wanted. Alexander therefore granted Mousikanos a full pardon on account of his submission and penitence, expressed much admiration of his capital and his realm, and confirmed him in his sovereignty. Krateros was then ordered to fortify the citadel which protected the capital, and this work was executed while Alexander was still on the spot. A garrison was placed in the fortress, which he thought suitable for keeping the surrounding tribes in subjection.

_Chapter XVI.—Campaign against Oxykanos and Sambos_

Then he took the archers and the Agrianians and the cavalry which was sailing with him, and marched against the governor of a district in that part of the country whose name was Oxykanos, because he neither came himself nor sent envoys to offer the surrender of himself and his country.[177] At the first assault he took by storm the two largest cities under the rule of Oxykanos, in the second of which that chief himself was taken prisoner. The booty he gave to the army, but the elephants he led away and reserved for himself. The other cities in the same country surrendered without attempting resistance wherever he advanced; so much were the minds of all the Indians paralysed with abject terror by Alexander and the success of his arms.

He then advanced against Sambos, whom he had appointed satrap of the Indian mountaineers, and who was reported to have fled on hearing that Mousikanos had been pardoned by Alexander, and was ruling his own land, for he and Mousikanos were on hostile terms. But when Alexander approached the city called Sindimana,[178] which formed the metropolis of the country of Sambos, the gates were thrown open on his arrival, and the members of the household of Sambos with his treasure (of which they had reckoned up the amount) and his elephants went forth to meet him. Sambos, these men informed him, had fled, not from hostility to Alexander, but from fears to which the pardon of Mousikanos had given rise. He captured besides another city,[179] which had at this time revolted, and he put to death all those Brachmans who had instigated the revolt. These Brachmans are the philosophers of the Indians, and of their philosophy, if so it may be called, I shall give an account in my work which describes India.

_Chapter XVII.—Mousikanos is captured by Peithôn and executed—Alexander reaches Patala at the apex of the Indus Delta_

Meantime he received word that Mousikanos had revolted. Thereupon he despatched the satrap Peithôn, the son of Agênor, against him with an adequate force, while he marched himself against the cities which had been placed under the rule of Mousikanos. Some of these he razed to the ground after reducing the inhabitants to slavery; into others he introduced garrisons and fortified their citadels. When these operations were finished he returned to the camp and the fleet—whither Mousikanos was conducted, who had been taken prisoner by Peithôn. Alexander ordered the rebel to be taken to his own country and hanged there, together with all those Brachmans who had instigated him to revolt. Then there came to him the ruler of the country of the Patalians, which, as I have stated, consists of the Delta formed by the river Indus, and is larger than the Egyptian Delta. This chief surrendered to him the whole of his land, and entrusted both himself and all his possessions to him. Alexander sent him back to his government with orders to make all due preparations for the reception of his expedition. He then sent away Krateros into Karmania by the route through the Arachôtians and the Sarangians,[180] leading the brigades of Attalos, Meleager, and Antigenês, along with some of the archers and such of the companions and other Macedonians as he was sending home to Macedonia as unfit for further service. He also sent away the elephants with him. The rest of the army, except that portion which with himself was sailing down to the sea, was placed under the command of Hêphaistiôn. Peithôn, who led the horse-lancers and the Agrianians, he transported to the opposite bank so that he might not be on that side of the river by which Hêphaistiôn was to advance. Peithôn was instructed to put colonists into the cities which had just been fortified, to suppress any insurrection which the Indians might attempt, to introduce settled order among them, and then to join him at Patala.

On the third day after Alexander had started on the voyage, he was informed that the Prince of Patala was fleeing from that city, taking with him most of its inhabitants, and leaving the country deserted. He accordingly accelerated his voyage down the river, and on reaching Patala found that both the city itself and the cultivated lands which lay around it had been deserted by the inhabitants. But he despatched his lightest troops in pursuit of the fugitives, and when some of these had been captured sent them on to their countrymen to bid them take courage and return, for they were free to inhabit their city and cultivate their lands as formerly; and so most of them did return.[181]

_Chapter XVIII.—Alexander orders wells to be dug in the district round Patala, and sails down the western arm of the Indus_

After directing Hêphaistiôn to construct a citadel in Patala, he sent out men into the adjacent country, which was waterless, to dig wells[182] and make it habitable. Some of the barbarians in the neighbourhood attacked them, and, as they fell upon them quite unexpectedly, killed several of their number, but as the assailants lost many on their own side, they fled to the desert. The men were thus able to complete the work they were sent to execute, especially as Alexander, on learning that they had been attacked by the barbarians, had sent additional troops to take part in the work.

Near Patala the stream of the Indus is divided into two large rivers,[183] both of which retain the name of the Indus till they enter the sea. Here Alexander set about the construction of a roadstead and dock, and when some satisfactory progress had been made with these undertakings, he resolved to sail down to the mouth of the right arm of the river.[184] To Leonnatos he gave the command of about 1000 cavalry and 8000 heavy and light infantry, and despatched him to move down the island of Patala, holding along the shore in a line with the squadron of ships. He set out himself on a voyage down the right arm of the river, taking with him the fastest vessels with one and a half bank of oars, all the thirty-oared galleys, and several of the smaller craft. As the Indians of that region had fled, he had no pilot to direct his course, and this made the navigation all the more difficult. Then on the second day after he had started a storm arose, and the gale blowing against the current made deep furrows in the river, and battered the hulls of the vessels so violently that most of his ships were damaged, while some of the thirty-oared galleys were completely wrecked, though the sailors managed to run them on shore before they went all to pieces in the water. Other vessels were therefore constructed; and Alexander, having despatched the quickest of the light-armed troops some distance into the interior, captured some Indians, whom he employed in piloting his fleet for the rest of the voyage. But when they found themselves where the river expands to the vast breadth of 200 stadia the wind blew strong from the outer sea, and the oars could scarcely be raised in the swell. They therefore again drew toward the shore for refuge, and the fleet was steered by the pilots into the mouth of a canal.

_Chapter XIX.—The fleet is damaged by the tide, halts at an island in the Indus, and thence reaches the open sea_

While the fleet was at anchor here, a vicissitude to which the Great Sea is subject occurred, for the tide ebbed, and their ships were left on dry ground. This phenomenon, of which Alexander and his followers had no previous experience, caused them no little alarm, and greater still was their dismay, when in due course of time the tide advanced, and the hulls of the vessels were floated aloft. Those vessels which it found settled in the soft mud were uplifted without damage, and floated again, nothing the worse for the strain; but as for those vessels which had been left on a drier part of the beach, and were not firmly embedded, some on the advance of a massive wave fell foul of each other, while others were dashed upon the strand and shattered in pieces.[185] Alexander caused these vessels to be repaired as well as circumstances allowed, and despatched men in advance down the river in two boats to explore an island at which the natives informed him he must anchor on his way to the sea. They said that the name of the island was Killouta.[186] When he learned that the island had harbours, was of great extent, and yielded water, he ordered the rest of the fleet to make its way thither, but he himself with the fastest sailing ships advanced beyond the island to see the mouth of the river, and ascertain whether it offered a safe and easy passage out into the open main. When they had proceeded about 200 stadia beyond the island, they descried another which lay out in the sea. Then they returned to the island in the river, and Alexander, having anchored his ships near its extremity, offered sacrifice to those gods to whom, he said, Ammôn had enjoined him to sacrifice. On the following day he sailed down to the other island which lay in the ocean, and approaching close to it also, offered other sacrifices to other gods and in another manner. These sacrifices, like the others, he offered under sanction of an oracle given by Ammôn. He then advanced beyond the mouths of the river Indus, and sailed out into the great main to discover, as he declared, whether any land lay anywhere near in the sea, but, in my opinion, chiefly that it might be said that he had navigated the great outer sea of India. He then sacrificed bulls to the god Pôseidôn, which he threw into the sea; and following up the sacrifice with a libation, he threw the goblet and bowls of gold into the bosom of the deep as thanks-offerings, beseeching the god to conduct in safety the naval expedition which he intended to despatch under Nearchos to the Persian Gulf and the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris.

_Chapter XX.—Alexander after returning to Patala sails down the eastern arm of the Indus_

On his return to Patala, he found the citadel fortified, and Peithôn arrived with his troops after completing the objects of his expedition. Hêphaistiôn was then ordered to prepare what was requisite for the fortification of the harbour, and the construction of a dockyard, for here at the city of Patala, which stands where the river Indus bifurcates, he meant to leave behind him a very considerable naval squadron.

He himself sailed down again to the Great Sea by the other mouth of the Indus,[187] to ascertain by which of the mouths it was easier to reach the ocean. The mouths of the river Indus are about 1800 stadia distant from each other.[188] When he was approaching the mouth, he came to a large lake formed by the river in widening out, unless, indeed, this watery expanse be due to rivers which discharge their streams into it from the surrounding districts, and give it the appearance of a gulf of the sea;[189] for salt-water fish were now seen in it of larger size than the fish in our sea. Having anchored in the lake, at a place selected by the pilots, he left there most of the soldiers under the command of Leonnatos and all the boats, while he himself with the thirty-oared galleys, and the vessels with one and a half bank of oars passed beyond the mouth of the Indus, and sailing out into the sea by this other route, satisfied himself that the mouth of the Indus on this side was easier to navigate than the other. He then anchored his fleet near the beach, and taking with him some of the cavalry, proceeded along the shore a three days’ journey, examining what sort of a country it was for a coasting voyage, and ordering wells to be sunk for supplying sea-farers with water. He then returned to the fleet, and sailed back to Patala. He sent, however, a part of the army to complete the work of digging wells along the shore, with instructions to return to Patala on their completing this service. Sailing down again to the lake, he constructed there another harbour and other docks, and, having left a garrison in the place, he collected sufficient food to supply the army for four months, and made all other necessary preparations for the voyage along the coast.

_Chapter XXI.—Alexander crosses the river Arabios and invades the Oreitai_

The season of the year was impracticable for navigation from the prevalence of the Etesian winds, which do not blow there as with us from the north, but come as a south wind from the Great Ocean. It was ascertained that from the beginning of winter, that is from the setting of the Pleiades,[190] till the winter solstice, the weather was suitable for making voyages, because the mild breezes which then blow steadily seaward from the land, which is drenched by this time with heavy rains, favour coasting voyages, whether made by oar or by sail. Nearchos, who had been appointed to the command of the fleet, was waiting for the season for coasting, but Alexander set out from Patala, and advanced with the whole of his army to the river Arabios.[191] He then took half of the hypaspists and archers, the infantry brigades called foot companions, the corps of companion cavalry, and a squadron from each division of the other cavalry, and all the horse archers, and turned towards the sea, which lay on the left, not only to dig as many wells as possible for the use of the expedition while coasting those shores, but also to fall suddenly upon the Oreitai (an Indian tribe in those parts which had long been independent), because they had rendered no friendly service either to himself or the army. The command of the troops which he did not take with him was entrusted to Hêphaistiôn. There was settled near the river Arabios another[192] independent tribe called the Arabitai, and, as these neither thought themselves a match for Alexander, nor yet wished to submit to him, they fled into the desert when they learned that he was marching against them. But Alexander having crossed the Arabios, which was neither broad nor deep, traversed the most of the desert, and found himself by daybreak near the inhabited country. Then leaving orders with the infantry to follow him in regular line, he set forward with the cavalry, which he divided into squadrons, to be spread over a wide extent of the plain, and it was thus he marched into the country of the Oreitai.[193] All who turned to offer resistance were cut down by the cavalry, but many were taken prisoners. He then encamped near a small sheet of water, and on being joined by the troops under Hêphaistiôn still continued his progress, and arrived at the village called Rambakia,[194] which was the largest in the dominions of the Oreitai. He was pleased with the situation, and thought that if he colonised it, it would become a great and prosperous city. He therefore left Hêphaistiôn behind him to carry this scheme into effect.

_Chapter XXII.—Submission of the Oreitai—Description of the Gadrôsian desert_