437 Polis meant in early times a particular part of Athens, viz. the citadel, usually called the Acropolis. Cf. Aristophanes (Lysistrata, 245 et passim).

438 Demeter and Persephone.

439 About £730,000.

440 Antipater had been left by Alexander regent of Macedonia. Agis III., king of Sparta, refused to acknowledge Alexander’s hegemony, and after a hard struggle was defeated and slain by Antipater at Megalopolis, B.C. 330. See Diodorus, xvii. 63; Curtius, vi. 1 and 2.

441 According to Curtius (v. 6) these forces amounted to nearly 15,000 men. Amyntas also brought with him fifty sons of the chief men in Macedonia, who wished to serve as royal pages. Cf. Diodorus, xvii. 64.

442 A river flowing through Susiana, formed by the junction of the Eulaeus and Coprates.

443 Cf. Strabo, xv. 3.

444 πλεονεκτούμενοι, with dative, defrauded of. Cf. Demosthenes, 1035, 26.

445 γέρα. An Homeric expression.

446 Named Sisygambis (Curtius, v. 11).

447 This was the Araxes. See Strabo, xv. 3.

448 Notice the use of the adverb πρίν with the genitive, instead of the preposition πρό. Cf. Pindar (Pythia, iv. 76) πρὶν ὥρας.

449 Curtius (v. 16) says that Ariobarzanes after a bloody contest got away through the Macedonian lines, with about 40 horsemen and 5,000 foot, and made for Persepolis. Being shut out of that fortress, he was overtaken and slain with all his companions. Cf. Diodorus (xvii. 68).

450 Diodorus (xvii. 69) and Justin (xi. 14) state that on approaching Persepolis, Alexander met 800 Grecian captives, mutilated by loss of arms, legs, eyes, ears, or other members. Curtius (v. 17-19) says there were 4,000 of them. Alexander offered to send these men home, with means of future support; but they preferred to remain in Persis. The king gave them money, clothing, cattle, and land.

451 Diodorus (xvii. 71) and Curtius (v. 20) both state that the amount of treasure captured at Persepolis was 120,000 talents, or £27,600,000. In his own letter Alexander stated that there was sufficient treasure and valuable property to load 10,000 mule carts and 5,000 camels (Plutarch, Alex., 37). Curtius tells us that 6,000 talents were captured at Pasargadae.

452 Pasargadae was the old capital of Persia, founded by Cyrus; but its place was afterwards taken by Persepolis.

453 Diodorus (xvii. 70, 71) and Curtius (v. 20, 22) say that Alexander delivered Persepolis to his soldiers to pillage, and that he ordered a general massacre of the inhabitants. These authors agree with Plutarch (Alex., 38) in asserting that in a drunken revel he was instigated by the courtesan Thais to set fire to the palace, and accompanied her to commence the act of destruction. See Dryden’s famous ode. But Arrian’s account establishes the fact that the fire was the result of a deliberate plan. As regards the massacre, Plutarch (37) expressly states that Alexander wrote home that he ordered it from motives of policy.

454 This was the principal pass through the Elburz mountains from Media into Hyrcania and Parthia.

455 This was the capital of Media, called in Chaldee Achmetha (Ezra vi. 2). The present city of Hamadan is on the same site. It is situated at the foot of Mount Orontes, and was used by the Persian and Parthian kings as their summer residence. It was surrounded by seven walls, each overtopping the one before it, from the outer to the inner, crowned with battlements of different colours. Its citadel was used as a royal treasury. Below it stood a splendid palace, with silver tiles, and adorned with wainscotings, capitals, and entablatures of gold and silver. These treasures, to the value of 4,000 talents, were coined into money by Antiochus the Great of Syria. See Herodotus, i. 98; Polybius, x. 27.

456 This tribe lived in the mountains between Media and Persia.

457 £1,700,000.

458 Curtius (v. 23) says that 6,000 Grecian mercenaries under Plato the Athenian met Alexander in Media, having marched up from Cilicia.

459 Diodorus (xvii. 80) says that the amount of treasure deposited at Ecbatana was 180,000 talents or £41,400,000.

460 A large city in the extreme north of Media, mentioned in the Book of Tobit. It was famous in the Middle Ages under the name of Rai. The ruins of Rai lie south-east of Teheran.

461 ἔστε generally means until. In its present use cf. ii. 11 supra, ἔστε μὲν φάος ἦν.

462 The Drangians lived in a part of Ariana west of Arachosia.

463 Justin (xi. 15) and Curtius (v. 34) state that Darius was bound in chains of gold. The former says that the name of the place was Thara in Parthia, where the king was arrested. Probably these chains were those worn by the king or his nobles, according to the Persian custom. This is the only sentence in Arrian where περὶ suffers anastrophe, coming after the noun.

464 Plutarch (Alex., 42) says that Alexander rode 3,300 stades, or about 400 miles, in eleven days. In the next chapter he says that only sixty of his men were able to keep up with him in the pursuit.

465 Curtius (v. 24-38) gives very ample details of what occurred during the last days of Darius. Cf. Diodorus (xvii. 73); Justin (xi. 15).

466 The Persian kings were buried at Persepolis. See Diodorus, xvii. 71. Plutarch (Alex., 43) says that Alexander sent the corpse of Darius to his mother.

467 In the year B.C. 330, the first of Hecatombaion fell on the first of July.

468 Darius came to the throne B.C. 336.

469 In 2 Kings xi. 4, 19 the word translated captains in our Bible is Carim, the Carians. These men formed the body-guard of the usurper Athaliah, who stood in need of foreign mercenaries. David had a body-guard of Philistines and Cretans. The Carians served as mercenaries throughout the ancient world, as we learn from Thucydides, i. 8; Herodotus, i. 171; ii. 152; v. 111; Strabo, xiv. 2. The Lydians appear in the Bible under the name of Lud (Isa. lxvi. 19). Herodotus (i. 94) gives an account of the colonization of Umbria by the Lydians, from which sprung the state of the Etruscans. Hence Vergil (Aeneid, ii. 782) speaks of the “Lydius Tybris.” See also Aeneid, viii. 479; Horace (Satires, i. 6, 1); Tacitus (Annals, iv. 55); Dionysius (Archaeologia Romana, i. 28).

470 He married Barsine, eldest daughter of Darius (Arrian, vii. 4 infra). She was also called Arsinoe and Stateira.

471 According to Curtius (vi. 6-10) the soldiers were very desirous of returning home; but Alexander made an harangue and induced them to advance into Hyrcania.

472 The modern Balkh.

473 The Caspian.

474 Diodorus (xvii. 75) calls this river Stiboetis; Curtius (vi. 10) calls it Ziobetis.

475 Krüger has ἐνταῦθα instead of τούτῳ.

476 Curtius (vi. 14) says Artabazus had nine sons, one of whom, Pharnabazus, was the admiral of the Persian fleet. See Arrian (ii. 1; ii. 2; iii. 2 supra).

477 Cf. Curtius, vi. 16.

478 Sinope was a prosperous colony of Miletus on the Euxine. It is still called Sinoub. It was the birthplace of Diogenes.

479 Chalcedon was a colony of Megara, situated on the Propontis at the entrance of the Bosporus, nearly opposite Byzantium.

480 Areia occupied what is now the east part of Khorasan, and the west and north-west of Afghanistan. Susia is the modern Tus.

481 Compare the words of Tissaphernes to Clearchus (Xenophon, Anabasis, ii. 5): “Though the king is the only man who can wear the tiara erect upon his head, I shall be able to wear mine erect upon my heart in full confidence, when you are in my service.” Cf. Curtius (iii. 8); Aristophanes (Birds, 487). The cap of the ordinary Persians was low, loose, and clinging about the head in folds; whereas that of the king was high and erect above the head. From Xenophon (Cyropaedia, viii. 3, 13) we learn that the Persian king’s vest was of a purple colour, half mixed with white, and that no one else was allowed to wear this mixture of white. He had loose trousers of a scarlet colour, and a robe entirely purple. Cf. also Strabo (xv. 3), where the tiara is said to be in the shape of a tower; and Seneca (De Beneficiis, vi. 31); Ammianus, xviii. 8, 5.

482 See Xenophon (Anab., i. 2, 27; Cyropaedia, viii. 3); Curtius (iii. 8).

483 These people are also called Drangians. They lived west of Arachosia in Drangiana.

484 According to Plutarch (Alex., 48, 49) Alexander suborned Antigonē, the mistress of Philotas, to reveal his secret conversation.

485 Cf. Curtius, vi. 32.

486 The word ἐπιμηνυτής is found nowhere else in any Greek author.

487 Full details of the conspiracy and trial of Philotas are given by Curtius (vi. 25-44).

488 Arrian says nothing about Philotas being put to the torture; but this fact is asserted with ample details by Plutarch (Alex., 49); Diodorus (xvii. 80); Curtius (vi. 42, 43); and Justin (xii. 5).

489 Full particulars of the murder of Parmenio are given by Curtius (vii. 7-9).

490 For the trial of Amyntas, cf. Curtius, vii. 2-6.

491 Alexander also formed a separate cohort of the men who were pronounced sympathisers with Parmenio, and this cohort afterwards greatly distinguished itself. See Diodorus, xvii. 80; Curtius, vii. 10; Justin, xii. 5.

492 The Ariaspians inhabited the south part of Drangiana on the borders of Gadrosia. The river Etymander, now known as the Hilmend, flowed through their territories. Cf. Curtius, vii. 11; Diodorus, xvii. 81.

493 Gadrosia was the furthest province of the Persian empire on the south-east. It comprised the south-east part of Beloochistan.

494 This was not the range usually so called, but what was known as the Indian Caucasus, the proper name being Paropanisus. It is now called Hindu-Koosh.

495 This city was probably on the site of Beghram, twenty-five miles north-east of Cabul. See Grote’s Greece, vol. xii. ch. 94.

496 There are two kinds of silphium or laserpitium, the Cyrenaic, and the Persian. The latter is usually called asafœtida. See Herodotus (iv. 169); Pliny (Historia Naturalis, xix. 15; xxiii. 48); Aelian (Varia Historia, xii. 37); Aristophanes (Plutus, 925); Plautus (Rud., iii. 2, 16); Catullus (vii. laserpitiferis Cyrenis).

497 Cyrene was a colony founded by Battus from Thera, an island colonized by the Spartans. The territory of Cyrenaica is now a part of Tripoli. Cf. Pindar (Pyth., iv. 457); Herodotus (iv. 159-205).

498 This Tanais was usually called Jaxartes, now Sir, flowing into the sea of Aral.

499 The Oxus, now called Jihoun or Amou, flows into the sea of Aral, but formerly flowed into the Caspian.

500 Some think this town stood where Naksheh now is, and others think it was at Kesch.

501 Cf. Xenophon, Anab., i. 5, 10.

502 Curtius (vii. 24) follows the account of Aristobulus, and so does Diodorus (xvii. 83) in the main. Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, xii. 37).

503 The modern Samarcand.

504 Arrian and Strabo are wrong in stating that the Jaxartes rises in the Caucasus, or Hindu-Koosh. It springs from the Comedae Montes, now called Moussour. It does not flow into the Hyrcanian, or Caspian Sea, but into the Sea of Aral. It is about 900 miles long.

505 The river Tanais, of which Herodotus speaks (iv. 45, 57), is the Don; and the Lake Maeotis, is the Sea of Azov. Cf. Strabo (vii. cc. 3 and 4).

506 Euxeinos (kind to strangers); called before the Greeks settled upon it Axenos (inhospitable). See Ovid (Tristia, iv. 4). Cf. Ammianus (xxii. 8, 33): “A contrario per cavillationem Pontus Euxinus adpellatur, et euethen Graeci dicimus stultum, et noctem euphronen et furias Eumenidas.”

507 So Curtius (vi. 6) makes the Don the boundary of Europe and Asia. “Tanais Europam et Asiam medius interfuit.” Ammianus says: “Tanais inter Caucasias oriens rupes, per sinuosos labitur circumflexus, Asiamque disterminans ab Europa, in stagnis Maeoticis delitescit.” The Rha, or Volga, is first mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century of the Christian era.

508 Gadeira is now called Cadiz. The Greeks called the continent of Africa by the name of Libya. So Polybius (iii. 37) says that the Don is the boundary of Europe, and that Libya is separated from Asia and Europe respectively by the Nile and the Straits of Gibraltar, or, as he calls the latter, “the mouth at the pillars of Hercules.” Arrian here, like many ancient authors, considers Libya a part of Asia. Cf. Juvenal, x. i.

509 Curtius (vii. 23) gives an account of the massacre by Alexander of the descendants of the Branchidae, who had surrendered to Xerxes the treasures of the temple of Apollo near Miletus, and who, to escape the vengeance of the Greeks, had accompanied Xerxes into the interior. They had been settled in Sogdiana, and their descendants had preserved themselves distinct from the barbarians for 150 years, till the arrival of Alexander. We learn from the table of contents of the 17th book of Diodorus, that that historian also gave an account of this atrocity of Alexander in the part of his history, now lost, which came after the 83rd chapter. Cf. Herodotus (i. 92, 157; v. 36); Strabo (xi. 11; xiv. 1).

510 See Homer’s Iliad, xiii. 6. Cf. Curtius, vii. 26; Ammianus, xxiii. 6.

511 Cf. Thucydides, ii. 97.

512 Curtius (vii. 26) says, he sent one of his friends named Berdes on this mission.

513 This was called Alexandria Ultima, on the Jaxartes, probably the modern Khojend.

514 Cf. Curtius (vii. 26). Zariaspa was another name for Bactra. See Pliny (vi. 18) and Strabo (xi. 11).

515 This city was also called Cyreschata, because it was the furthest city founded by Cyrus, and the extreme city of the Persian empire.

516 δυσί was not used in Attic Greek, or but seldom. It became common after the time of Alexander.

517 Instead of ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ, Sintenis reads ἡμέραν μίαν.

518 This city was called by the Greeks, Alexandria on the Tanais. See Curtius, vii. 28.

519 Cf. Livy, xxi. 27:—Hispani sine ulla mole in utres vestimentis conjectis ipsi caetris superpositis incubantes flumen tranavere.

520 See Herodotus, iv. 122-142.

521 This was Maracanda, according to iii. 30 supra. There is an error in the text; Abicht proposes to read ἐπὶ τὰ ὅρια, instead of ἐς τὰ βασίλεια.

522 This river is now called Sogd, or Kohik. The Greek name signifies “very precious,” a translation of the native name. Cf. Strabo, p. 518.

523 Curtius (vii. 32) says that Spitamenes laid an ambush for the Macedonians, and slew 300 cavalry and 2,000 infantry.

524 About 170 miles.

525 Curtius (vii. 40) says that Alexander founded six cities in Bactria and Sogdiana. Justin (xii. 5) says there were twelve.

526 This is a mistake; for it ends in a lake Dengiz near Karakoul.

527 The Areius is now called Heri-rud. The Etymander is the modern Hilmend. Nothing is known of the Epardus.

528 The Peneius is now called Salambria. It forces its way through the vale of Tempe, between mounts Olympus and Ossa, into the sea. Cf. Ovid (Met., i. 568-576).

529 On the analogy of πρὶν the later prose-writers use ἔστε with the infinitive. Cf. Arrian, ii. 1, 3; v. 16, 1.

530 See Bk. iii. ch. 29 supra.

531 See Bk. iii. ch. 19 supra.

532 See Bk. iii. ch. 16 supra.

533 Curtius (vii. 40) says that the reinforcement was 19,000 men.

534 Cf. Plutarch (Alex., 43); Diodorus (xvii. 83).

535 I.e. non-Hellenic.

536 Cf. Diodorus, xvii. 77; Justin, xii. 3. We learn from Plutarch (Alex., 45), that he did not assume the tiara of the Persian kings. Cf. Arrian, vii. 9; vii. 29 infra. The Medic robe was a long silken garment reaching to the feet, and falling round the body in many deep folds.

537 Caranus, a descendant of Temenus, king of Argos, is said to have settled in Macedonia, and to have become the founder of the dynasty of Macedonian kings. Temenus was a descendant of Heracles. Cf. ii. 5; iv. 10. One of the chief causes of disgust which the Greeks felt at the conduct of Pausanias, the conqueror at Plataea, was, that he adopted the Persian attire. “This pedigree from Temenus and Hercules may be suspicious; yet it was allowed, after a strict inquiry by the judges of the Olympic games (Herodotus, v. 22), at a time when the Macedonian kings were obscure and unpopular in Greece. When the Achaean league declared against Philip, it was thought decent that the deputies of Argos should retire (T. Liv., xxxii. 22).”—Gibbon. Cf. Herodotus, viii. 137; Thucydides, ii. 99, 100; v. 80.

538 Cf. Curtius, viii. 6.

539 The sons of Jove, Castor and Pollux. ἐπιφρασθέντα is a word borrowed from Homer and Herodotus.

540 Cf. Curtius, viii. 17: “Non deerat talia concupiscenti perniciosa adulatio perpetuum malum regum, quorum opes saepius assentatio quam hostis evertit.”

541 Curtius (viii. 3 and 4) says that it was Alexander himself that spoke depreciatingly of Philip, and that Clitus even dared to defend the murdered Parmenio.

542 Instead of the usual reading from καὶ ταύτῃ to καὶ ταύτην, Sintenis reads οἱ δὲ σάρισαν παρὰ τῶν φυλάκων τινὸς καὶ ταύτῃ παίσαντα τὸν Κλεῖτον ἀποκτεῖναι.

543 Cf. Curtius (viii. 3 and 6), who calls the sister of Clitus, Hellanice.

544 From Plutarch (Alex., 13) we learn that Alexander imagined he had incurred the avenging wrath of Bacchus by destroying Thebes, the birthplace of that deity, on which account it was supposed to be under his tutelary care.

545 Curtius (viii. 6) says, that in order to console the king, the Macedonian army passed a vote that Clitus had been justly slain, and that his corpse should not be buried. But the king ordered its burial.

546 A philosopher of Abdera, and pupil of Democritus. After Alexander’s death, Anaxarchus was thrown by shipwreck into the hands of Nicocreon, king of Cyprus, to whom he had given offence, and who had him pounded to death in a mortar.

547 Cf. Sophocles (Oedipus Col., 1382; Antigone, 451); Hesiod (Opera et Dies, 254-257); Pindar (Olympia, viii. 28); Demosthenes (Advers. Aristogiton, p. 772); Herodotus, iii. 31.

548 Plutarch (Alex., 52) tells us that Callisthenes the philosopher was also summoned with Anaxarchus to administer consolation, but he adopted such a different tone that Alexander was displeased with him.

549 Curtius (viii. 17) says that Agis was the composer of very poor poems.

550 Justin (xii. 6) says that Callisthenes was a fellow-student with Alexander under Aristotle. He composed three historical works: I. Hellenica, from B.C. 387 to 337; II. The History of the Sacred War, from B.C. 357 to 346; III. The History of Alexander. Cf. Diodorus, xiv. 117. According to Polybius (xii. 23), he was accused by Timaeus of having flattered Alexander in his History.

551 Hipparchus was slain B.C. 514, and Hippias was expelled from Athens B.C. 510. See Thucydides, vi. 53-59.

552 Eurystheus was king over Argos and Mycenae alone.

553 When Conon the famous Athenian visited Babylon, he would not see Artaxerxes, from repugnance to the ceremony of prostration, which was required from all who approached the Great King. We are also informed by Plutarch (Artaxerxes, 22), that Pelopidas declined to perform this ceremony, so degrading in the eyes of the Greeks. His colleague, Ismenias, however, dropped his ring in front of the king, and then stooped to pick it up, thus going through the act of prostration. Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, i. 21). Xenophon said to his soldiers:—οὐδένα γὰρ ἄνθρωπον δεσπότην ἀλλὰ τοὺς θεοὺς προσκυνεῖτε. (Anab., iii. 13).

554 Curtius (viii. 18) says that the speech proposing to honour Alexander as a god was made by Cleon, a Sicilian Greek.

555 ἀχθομένους. The usual reading is μαχομένους.

556 Cf. Xenophon (Cyrop., 4, 27):—λέγεται τοὺς συγγενεῖς φιλοῦντας ἀποπέμπεσθαι αὐτὸν νόμῳ Περσικῷ.

557 πρόσκεινται. Cf. Herodotus, i. 118:—τοῖσι θεῶν τιμὴ αὕτη προσκέεται.

558 Alexander’s mother Olympias was daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, who traced his descent from Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, the grandson of Aeacus.

559 οἱ λόγοι γίγνονται. There is another reading, ὀλίγοι γίγνωνται.

560 Cf. Herodotus, i. 214, with Dean Blakesley’s note.

561 Curtius (viii. 20) says, that it was Polysperchon who made sport of the Persian, and incurred the king’s wrath.