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NARRATION XVIII.

The triumphant entry of Alexander into Babylon, A. Č. 332.

(Anc. Hist. Q. Cur. book 5.)

FROM the moment Alexander had finished so terrible a vengeance, his vast genius suggests the project of founding in Egypt a new Tyre, and of making it as flourishing as the ancient city had been, either by its population, its opulence, or its commerce. He calls his new city, after his own name, Alexandria. 1

Free from all those cares which had suspended his march against Darius, he advances to the contest, which he begins in the plains of Arbela, and obtains a victory which secures to him the empire of Asia.

Whilst Darius is abandoned by his dearest favourites, wandering and fugitive, and near to expire, the victim of the villainous treachery of Bassus, Alexander enters Babylon3 in triumph.

Alexandria is situated upon one of the western mouths of the Nile, near to the Mediterranean. Its situation was so eligible, that whilst under the first successors of Alexander, it became the emporium of the world and the centre of commerce. This state of splendour lasted till the building of Cairo by the Soudans. It ceased at last all at once, when the Portuguese by the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, opened a new direction for commerce. We see yet in this city the vestiges of its ancient greatness.

2

Arbela now called Erbel, is in Persia and upon the frontiers of Asiatic Turkey.

3 Babylon. See page 9.

C

Alexander quadrato agmine, quod ipse ducebat, velut in aciem irent, ingredi suos jubet. Magna pars Babyloniorum constiterat in muris, avida cognoscendi novum regem. Plures obviam egressi sunt; inter quos Bagophanes, arcis et regiæ pecuniæ custos: ne studio à Mazao vinceretur, totum iter floribus coronisque constraverat,argenteis altaribus utroque latere dispositis, quæ, non thure modo, sed omnibus odoribus cumulaverat : eum dona sequebantur, greges pecorum equorumque; leones quoque et pardales caveis præferebantur. Magi deinde, suo more patrium carmen canentes. Post hos Chaldæi, Babyloniorumque non vates modò, sed etiam artifices cum fidibus sui generis ibant: laudes ii regum canere soliti; Chaldæi siderum motus et statas tem porum vices ostendere. Equites deindè Babylonii, suo atque equorum cultu ad luxuriam magis quàm ad magnificentiam exacto, ultimi ibant. Rex, armatis stipatus, oppidanorum turbam post ultimos pedites ire jussit; ipse cum curru urbem ac deinde regiam intravit. Postero die supellectilem Darii et omnem pecuniam recognovit.

Cæterùm, ipsius urbis pulchritudo ac vetustas, non regis modò, sed etiam omnium oculos in semet haud immeritò convertit. Semiramis eam condiderat; vel, ut plerique credidêre, Belus, cujus regia ostenditur. Murus instraçtus laterculo coctili, bitumine interlitus,

spatium xxx et duorum pedum latitudinem amplectitur; quadrigæ inter se occurrentes sine periculo commeare dicuntur: altitudo muri c cubitorum eminet spatio, turres denis pedibus quàm murus altiores sunt: totius operis ambitus CCCLXVIII stadia complectitur. Singulorum stadiorum structuram singulis diebus perfectam esse memoriæ proditum est. Edificia non sunt admota muris, sed ferè spatium unius jugeris absunt; ac ne totam quidem urbem tectis occupaverunt: per xc stadia habitatur ; nec omnia continua sunt, credo, quia tutius visum est pluribus locis spargi: cætera serunt coluntque ut, si externa vis ingruat, obsessis alimenta ex ipsius urbis solo subministrentur. Euphrates interfluit, magnæque molis crepidinibus coercetur: sed omnium operum magnitudinem circumveniunt cavernæ ingentes, in altitudinem pressæ ad accipiendum impetum fluminis; quod, ubi apposita crepidinis fastigium excessit, urbis tecta corriperet, nisi essent specus lacusque qui exciperent: coctili laterculo structi sunt, totum opus bitumine astringitur. Pons lapideus, flumini impositus, jungit urbem: hic quoque inter mirabilia Orientis opera numeratus est; quippe Euphrates altum limum vehit, quo penitus ad fundamenta jacienda egesto, vix suffulciendo operi firmum reperiunt solum; arenæ autem subindè cumulatæ, et saxis quibus pons sustinetur adnexæ, morantur amnem, qui, retentus, acriùs

quàm si libero cursu mearet illiditur. Arcem quoque ambitu xx stadia complexam habet: xxx pedes in terram turrium fundamenta demissa sunt; ad LXXX summum munimenti fastigium pervenit.

Super arce, vulgatum Græcorum fabulis miraculum, pensiles horti sunt, summam murorum altitudinem æquantes, multarumque arborum umbrâ et proceritate amœni. Saxo pilæquæ totum onus sustinent instructæ sunt: super pilas lapide quadrato solum stratum est, patiens terræ quam altam injiciunt et humoris quo rigant terras; adeòque validas arbores sustinent moles, ut stipites earum VIII cubitorum spatium crassitudine æquent, in L pedum altitudinem emineant, et frugiferæ sint ut si terrâ suâ alerentur: et quum vetustas, non opera solùm manu facta, sed etiam ipsam naturam paulatim exedendo perimat; hæc moles, quæ tot arborum radicibus premitur tantique nemoris pondere onerata est, inviolata durat: quippe xx lati parietes sustinent, undecim pedum intervallo distantes; ut procul visentibus sylvæ montibus suis imminere videantur. Syriæ regem, Babylone regnantem, hoc opus esse molitum, memoriæ proditum est, amore conjugis victum, quæ, desiderio nemorum silvarumque in campestribus locis virum compulit amænitatem naturæ genere hujus operis imitari. Diutius in hâc urbe quàm usquam constitit rex ; nec ullus locus disciplinæ militari magis nocuit.

NARRATION XIX.

Murder of Clitus.

[Anc. Hist. Q. Cur. book 8.]

THE most important cities of Persia, Susa1 Persepolis2 and Ecbatana3 are eager to follow the example of Babylon and open their gates to the conqueror.

It did not escape Alexander, that in conquering others, he should also vanquish the excesses of his own passions: But the silly vanity he had of passing for the Son of Jupiter, with his excessive thirst for wine, and the violent acts he often committed in his fits of rage, sullied the glory of his achievements in the eyes of posterity. Parmenio, the greatest of his generals, is sacrificed to his jealousy, and the virtuous Callisthenes is delivered to the most cruel tortures for despising his divinity. The repentance he shews for the murder of Clitus, proves the greatness of his fault, but not his justification.

Hic erat qui apud Granicum amnem nudo capite regem dimicantem clypeo suo texit, et

1 Suze-now Susa or Souster, is still the capital of Chusistan in Persia.

2 Persepolis, now in ruins, is called Estaker, near Schiras in Persia.

3 Ecbatana. see page 10.

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