CHAP. XCIII.] SECOND LETTER FROM DARIUS. 191 should accept such terms, instead of plunging into farther peril."-"So would I (replied Alexander) if I were Parmenio; but since I am Alexander, I must return a different answer." His answer to Darius was to this effect:-"I want neither your money nor your cession. All your money and territory are already mine, and you are tendering to me a part in place of the whole. If I choose to marry your daughter, I shall marry her-whether you give her to me or not. Come hither to me, if you wish to obtain from me any act of friendship'." Alexander might spare the submissive and the prostrate; but he could not brook an equal or a competitor, and his language towards them was that of brutal insolence. Of course this was the last message sent by Darius, who now saw, if he had not before seen, that he had no chance open except by the renewal of war. Being thus entire master of Syria, Phenicia, and Palestine, and having accepted the voluntary sub The Maceoverpowers donian fleet the Persian, and be master of with the mission of the Jews, Alexander marched forward to conquer Egypt. He had determined, before he comes undertook any farther expedition into the interior the Egean of the Persian empire, to make himself master of islands. all the coast-lands which kept open the communications of the Persians with Greece, so as to secure his rear against any serious hostility. His great fear was, of Grecian soldiers or cities raised against him by Persian gold; and Egypt was the last re 1 Arrian, ii. 25,5; Curtius, iv. 5. The answer is more insolent in the naked simplicity of Arrian, than in the pomp of Curtius. Plutarch (Alexand. 29) both abridges and softens it. Diodorus also gives the answer differently (xvii. 54)—and represents the embassy as coming somewhat later in time, after Alexander's return from Egypt. 2 Arrian, ii. 17, 4. maining possession of the Persians, which gave them the means of acting upon Greece. Those means were indeed now prodigiously curtailed by the feeble condition of the Persian fleet in the Ægean, unable to contend with the increasing fleet of the Macedonian admirals Hegelochus and Amphoterus, now numbering 160 sail'. During the summer of 332 B.C., while Alexander was prosecuting the siege of Tyre, these admirals recovered all the important acquisitions-Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos-which had been made by Memnon for the Persian interests. The inhabitants of Tenedos invited them and ensured their success; those of Chios attempted to do the same, but were coerced by Pharnabazus, who retained the city by means of his insular partisans, Apollonides and others, with a military force. The Macedonian admirals laid siege to the town, and were presently enabled to carry it by their friends within. Pharnabazus was here captured with his entire force; twelve triremes thoroughly armed and manned, thirty store-ships, several privateers, and 3000 Grecian mercenaries. Aristonikus, philo-Persian despot of Methymnaarriving at Chios shortly afterwards, but ignorant of the capture-was entrapped into the harbour, and made prisoner. There remained only Mitylênê, which was held for the Persians by the Athenian Chares, with a garrison of 2000 men; who however, seeing no hope of holding out against the Macedonians, consented to evacuate the city on condition of a free departure. The Persians were thus expelled from the sea, from all footing among 1 Curtius, iv. 5, 14. CHAP. XCIII.] SIEGE OF GAZA. 193 the Grecian islands, and from the vicinity of Greece and Macedonia'. It Alexander Egypt These successes were in full progress, when Alex- March of ander himself directed his march from Tyre to towards Egypt, stopping in his way to besiege Gaza. This siege of considerable town, the last before entering on the Gaza. desert track between Syria and Egypt, was situated between one and two miles from the sea. It was built upon a lofty artificial mound, and encircled with a high wall; but its main defence was derived from the deep sand immediately around it, as well as from the mud and quicksand on its coast. was defended by a brave man, the eunuch Batis, with a strong garrison of Arabs, and abundant provision of every kind. Confiding in the strength of the place, Batis refused to admit Alexander. Moreover his judgment was confirmed by the Macedonian engineers themselves, who, when Alexander first surveyed the walls, pronounced it to be impregnable, chiefly from the height of its supporting mound. But Alexander could not endure the thought of tacitly confessing his inability to take Gaza. The more difficult the enterprise, the greater. was the charm for him, and the greater would be the astonishment produced all around when he should be seen to have triumphed2. 1 Curtius, iv. 5, 14-22; Arrian, iii. 2, 4–8. * Arrian, ii. 26, 5. Οἱ δὲ μηχανοποιοὶ γνώμην ἀπεδείκνυντο, ἄπορον εἶναι βίᾳ ἑλεῖν τὸ τεῖχος, διὰ ὕψος τοῦ χώματος· ἀλλ ̓ ̓Αλεξάνδρῳ ἐδόκει αἱρετέον εἶναι, ὅσῳ ἀπορώτερον· ἐκπλήξειν γὰρ τοὺς πολεμίους τὸ ἔργον τῷ παραλόγῳ ἐπὶ μέγα, καὶ τὸ μὴ ἑλεῖν αἰσχρὸν εἶναί οἱ, λεγόμενον ἔς τε τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ Δαρεῖον. About the fidelity, and obstinate defensive courage, shown more than once by the inhabitants of Gaza-see Polybius, xvi. 40, His first assaults fail-he is wounded he erects an immense mound round the town. He began by erecting a mound south of the city, close by the wall, for the purpose of bringing up his battering engines. This external mound was completed, and the engines had begun to batter the wall, when a well-planned sally by the garrison overthrew the assailants and destroyed the engines. The timely aid of Alexander himself with his hypaspists, protected their retreat; but he himself, after escaping a snare from a pretended Arabian deserter, received a severe wound through the shield and the breastplate into the shoulder, by a dart discharged from a catapult; as the prophet Aristander had predicted-giving assurance at the same time, that Gaza would fall into his hands'. During the treatment of his wound, he ordered the engines employed at Tyre to be brought up by sea; and caused his mound to be carried around the whole circumference of the town, so as to render it approachable from every point. This Herculean work, the description of which we read with astonishment, was 250 feet high all round, and two stadia (1240 feet) broad2; the loose sand around could hardly have been suitable, so that materials must have been brought up from a distance. The undertaking was at length completed; in what length of time we do not know, but it must have been considerable-though doubtless thousands of 1 Arrian, ii. 26, 27; Curtius, iv. 6, 12-18; Plutarch, Alexand. 25. 2 Arrian, ii. 27, 5. χῶμα χωννύναι ἐν κύκλῳ παντόθεν τῆς πόλεως. It is certainly possible, as Droysen remarks (Gesch. Alex. des Grossen, p. 199), that wavró@ev is not to be interpreted with literal strictness, but only as meaning in many different portions of the walled circuit. Yet if this had been intended, Arrian would surely have said xóμara in the plural, not x@ua. CHAP. XCIII.] GAZA TAKEN.-TREATMENT OF BATIS. 195 labourers would be pressed in from the circumjacent country'. taken by a siege of Gaza was now attacked at all points by battering- Gaza is rams, by mines, and by projectile engines with storm, after various missiles. Presently the walls were breached two months. in several places, though the defenders were unremitting in their efforts to repair the damaged parts. Alexander attempted three distinct general assaults; but in all three he was repulsed by the bravery of the Gazæans. At length, after still farther breaching of the wall, he renewed for the fourth time his attempt to storm. The entire Macedonian phalanx being brought up to attack at different points, the greatest emulation reigned among the officers. The Æakid Neoptolemus was first to mount the wall; but the other divisions manifested hardly less ardour, and the town was at length taken. Its gallant defenders resisted; with unabated spirit, to the last; and all fell in their posts, the incensed soldiery being no way disposed to give quarter. son are governor becomes severely One prisoner alone was reserved for special treat- The garriment-the prince or governor himself, the eunuch all slain, Batis; who, having manifested the greatest energy except the and valour, was taken severely wounded, yet still Batis, who alive. In this condition he was brought by Leon- prisoner, natus and Philôtas into the presence of Alexander, wounded. who cast upon him looks of vengeance and fury. The Macedonian prince had undertaken the siege mainly in order to prove to the world that he could overcome difficulties insuperable to others. But he had incurred so much loss, spent so much time and 1 1 Diodorus (xvii. 48) states the whole duration of the siege as two months. This seems rather under than over the probable truth. |