CHAPTER XII.

KIND TREATMENT OF DARIUS’S FAMILY.

The next day, Alexander, though suffering from a wound which he had

received in the thigh from a sword, visited the wounded, and having

collected the bodies of the slain, he gave them a splendid burial with

all his forces most brilliantly marshalled in order of battle. He also

spoke with eulogy to those whom he himself had recognised performing

any gallant deed in the battle, and also to those whose exploits he had

learnt by report fully corroborated. He likewise honoured each of them

individually with a gift of money in proportion to his desert.[267] He

then appointed Balacrus, son of Nicanor, one of the royal body-guards,

viceroy of Cilicia; and in his place among the body-guards he chose

Menes, son of Dionysius. In the room of Ptolemy, son of Seleucus,

who had been killed in the battle, he appointed Polysperchon, son of

Simmias, to the command of a brigade. He remitted to the Solians the

fifty talents[268] which were still due of the money imposed on them as

a fine, and he gave them back their hostages.

Nor did he treat the mother, wife, and children of Darius with

neglect; for some of those who have written Alexander’s history say

that on the very night in which he returned from the pursuit of Darius,

entering the Persian king’s tent, which had been selected for his use,

he heard the lamentation of women and other noise of a similar kind not

far from the tent. Inquiring therefore who the women were, and why they

were in a tent so near, he was answered by some one as follows:—“O

king, the mother, wife, and children of Darius are lamenting for him

as slain, since they have been informed that thou hast his bow and

his royal mantle, and that his shield has been brought back.” When

Alexander heard this, he sent Leonnatus,[269] one of his Companions,

to them, with injunctions to tell them:—“Darius is still alive; in

his flight he left his arms and mantle in the chariot; and these are

the only things of his that Alexander has.” Leonnatus entered the tent

and told them the news about Darius, saying, moreover, that Alexander

would allow them to retain the state and retinue befitting their royal

rank, as well as the title of queens; for he had not undertaken the

war against Darius from a feeling of hatred, but he had conducted it

in a legitimate manner for the empire of Asia. Such are the statements

of Ptolemy and Aristobulus.[270] But there is another report, to the

effect that on the following day Alexander himself went into the tent,

accompanied alone by Hephaestion, one of his Companions. The mother

of Darius,[271] being in doubt which of them was the king (for they

had both arrayed themselves in the same style of dress), went up to

Hephaestion, because he appeared to her the taller of the two, and

prostrated herself before him. But when he drew back, and one of her

attendants pointed out Alexander, saying he was the king, she was

ashamed of her mistake, and was going to retire. But the king told her

she had made no mistake, for Hephaestion was also an Alexander. This

I record neither being sure of its truth nor thinking it altogether

unreliable. If it really occurred, I commend Alexander for his

compassionate treatment of the women, and the confidence he felt in

his companion, and the honour bestowed on him; but if it merely seems

probable to historians that Alexander would have acted and spoken thus,

even for this reason I think him worthy of commendation.[272]