B.C. 330, sends home the Thessa -necessity for him now to pursue sultory warfare. ant post, and of the military force left in Media; of which territory Oxodates, a Persian who had been imprisoned at Susa by Darius, was named satrap1. At Ekbatana Alexander was joined by a fresh force of 6000 Grecian mercenaries2, who had marched from Kilikia into the interior, probably lian cavalry crossing the Euphrates and Tigris at the same points as Alexander himself had crossed. Hence he was enabled the better to dismiss his Thessalian cavalry, with other Greeks who had been serving during his four years of Asiatic war, and who now wished to go home3. He distributed among them the sum of 2000 talents in addition to their full pay, and gave them the price of their horses, which they sold before departure. The operations which he was now about to commence against the eastern territories of Persia were not against regular armies, but against flying corps and distinct native tribes, relying for defence chiefly on the difficulties which mountains, deserts, privation, or mere distance, would throw in the way of an assailant. For these purposes he required an increased number of light troops, and was obliged to impose even upon his heavy-armed cavalry the most rapid and fatiguing marches, such as none but his Macedonian Companions would have been contented to execute; moreover he was called upon to act less with large masses, and more with small and broken divisions. talents (v. 8, 11). The treasure of both places was transported to Ekbatana. 1 Arrian, iii. 20, 4. 3 Arrian, iii. 19, 10: compare v. 27, 7. 2 Curtius, v. 23, 12. CHAP. XCIV.] PURSUIT OF DARIUS.-CASPIAN GATES. 247 He now therefore for the first time established a regular Taxis, or division of horse-bowmen'. pursues Darius to the Caspian Gates, but fails in over taking him. Remaining at Ekbatana no longer than was suf- Alexander ficient for these new arrangements, Alexander recommenced his pursuit of Darius. He hoped to get before Darius to the Caspian Gates, at the north-eastern extremity of Media; by which Gates? was understood a mountain-pass, or rather a road of many hours' march, including several difficult passes stretching eastward along the southern side 1 Arrian, iii. 24, 1. ἤδη γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ ἱππακοντισταὶ ἦσαν τάξις. See the remarks of Rüstow and Köchly upon the change made by Alexander in his military organization about this period, as soon as he found that there was no farther chance of a large collected Persian force, able to meet him in the field (Geschichte des Griech. Kriegswesens, p. 252 seq.). The change which they point out was real,—but I think they exaggerate it in degree. 2 The passes called the Caspian Gates appear to be those described by Morier, Fraser, and other modern travellers, as the series of narrow valleys and defiles called Ser-Desch, Sirdari, or Serdara Khan,—on the southernmost of the two roads which lead eastward from Teheran towards Damaghan, and thence farther eastward towards Mesched and Herat. See the note of Mützel in his edition of Curtius, v. 35, 2, p. 489; also Morier, Second Journey through Persia, p. 363; Fraser's Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan, p. 291. The long range of mountains, called by the ancients Taurus, extends from Lesser Media and Armenia in an easterly direction along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Its northern declivity, covered by prodigious forests with valleys and plains of no great breadth reaching to the Caspian, comprehends the moist and fertile territories now denominated Ghilan and Mazanderan. The eastern portion of Mazanderan was known in ancient times as Hyrkania, then productive and populous; while the mountain range itself was occupied by various rude and warlike tribes-Kadusii, Mardi, Tapyri, &c. The mountain range, now called Elburz, includes among other lofty eminences the very high peak of Demavend. The road from Ekbatana to Baktra, along which both the flight of Darius and the pursuit of Alexander lay, passed along the broken ground skirting the southern flank of the mountain range Elburz. Of this broken ground the Caspian Gates formed the worst and most difficult portion. B.C. 330, July. Conspiracy formed against Darius by Bessus and others, who seize his person. of the great range of Taurus towards Parthia. He marched with his Companion-cavalry, the lighthorse, the Agrianians, and the bowmen-the greater part of the phalanx keeping up as well as it could ---to Rhagæ, about fifty miles north of the Caspian Gates; which town he reached in eleven days, by exertions so severe that many men as well as horses were disabled on the road. But in spite of all speed, he learnt that Darius had already passed through the Caspian Gates. After five days of halt at Rhagæ, indispensable for his army, Alexander passed them also. A day's march on the other side of them, he was joined by two eminent Per- sians, Bagistanes and Antibêlus, who informed him that Darius was already dethroned and in imminent danger of losing his life'. The conspirators by whom this had been done, were Bessus, satrap of Baktria-Barsaentes, satrap of Drangiana and Arachosia-and Nabarzanes, general of the regal guards. The small force of Darius having been thinned by daily desertion, most of those who remained were the contingents of the still unconquered territories, Baktria, Arachosia, and Drangiana, under the orders of their respective satraps. The Grecian mercenaries, 1500 in number, and Artabazus, with a band under his special command, adhered inflexibly to Darius, but the soldiers of Eastern Asia followed their own satraps. Bessus and his colleagues intended to make their peace with Alexander by surrendering Darius, should Alexander pursue so vigorously as to leave them no hope of escape; but if they could Arrian, iii. 20, 21. CHAP. XCIV.] DARIUS PUT TO DEATH BY BESSUS. 249 obtain time to reach Baktria and Sogdiana, they resolved to organise an energetic resistance, under their own joint command, for the defence of those eastern provinces-the most warlike population of the empire'. Under the desperate circumstances of the case, this plan was perhaps the least unpromising that could be proposed. The chance of resisting Alexander, small as it was at the best, became absolutely nothing under the command of Darius, who had twice set the example of flight from the field of battle, betraying both his friends and his empire, even when surrounded by the full force of Persia. For brave and energetic Persians, unless they were prepared at once to submit to the invader, there was no choice but to set aside Darius; nor does it appear that the conspirators intended at first anything worse. At a village called Thara in Parthia, they bound him in chains of goldplaced him in a covered chariot surrounded by the Baktrian troops, and thus carried him onward, retreating as fast as they could; Bessus assuming the command. Artabazus, with the Grecian mercenaries, too feeble to prevent the proceeding, quitted the army in disgust, and sought refuge among the mountains of the Tapuri bordering on Hyrkania towards the Caspian Sea2. 1 Masistes, after the shocking outrage upon his wife by Queen Amestris, was going to Baktria to organise a revolt: see Herodot. ix. 113— about the importance of that satrapy. 2 Arrian, iii. 21-23. Justin (xi. 15) specifies the name of the place— Thara. Both he and Curtius mention the golden chain (Curtius, v. 34,20). Probably the conspirators made use of some chains which had formed a part of the ornaments of the royal wardrobe. Among the presents given by Darius son of Hystaspes to the surgeon Demokedes, there were two pairs of golden chains-Δωρέεται δή μιν Δαρείος πεδέων χρυ Prodigious efforts of Alexander to overtake and get possession of Darius. He surprises the Persian corps, but Bessus puts death. On hearing this intelligence, Alexander strained every nerve to overtake the fugitives and get possession of the person of Darius. At the head of his Companion-cavalry, his light-horse, and a body of infantry picked out for their strength and activity, he put himself in instant march, with nothing but arms and two days' provisions for each man; leaving Kraterus to bring on the main body by easier journeys. A forced march of two nights and one day, interrupted only by a short midday repose (it was now the month of July), brought him at daybreak to the Persian camp which his informant Bagistanes had quitted. But Bessus and his troops were already beyond it, having made considerable advance in their flight; upon which Alexander, notwithstanding the exhaustion both of men and horses, pushed on with increased speed through all the night to the ensuing day at noon. He there found himself in the village where Bessus had encamped on the preceding day. Yet learning from deserters that his enemies had resolved to hasten their retreat by night marches, he despaired of overtaking them, unless he could find some shorter road. He was informed that there was another shorter, but leading through a waterless desert. Setting out by this road late in the day with his cavalry, he got over no less than forty-five miles during the night, so as to come on Bessus by complete surprise on the following morning. The Persians, marching in disorder without arms, and having no expectation of an enemy, were so σéwv dúo Čevyeow-Herodot. iii. 130: compare iii. 15. The Persian king and grandees habitually wore golden chains round neck and arms. |