qui inexplicabile vinculum solvisset, cupido incessit animo1 sortis ejus implendae. Circa regem erat et Phrygum turba et Macedonum, illa expectatione suspensa, haec sollicita ex temeraria regis fiducia: quippe series vinculorum ita astricta erat, ut unde nexus inciperet, quove se conderet, nec ratione, nec visu perspici posset: solvere aggressus injecerat curam, ne in omen verteretur irritum inceptum. Ille nequicquam2 diu luctatus cum latentibus nodis, nihil, inquit, interest, quomodo solvantur: gladioque ruptis omnibus loris, oraculi sortem vel elucit, vel implevit.3

3. Cum deinde Dareum, ubicunque esset, occupare statuisset, ut a tergo tuta relinqueret, Amphoterum classi ad oram Hellesponti, copiis autem praefecit Hegelochum, Lesbum et Chium Coumque praesidiis hostium liberaturos. His talenta ad belli usum quingenta attributa: ad Antipatrum et eos, qui Graecas urbes tuebantur, sexcenta missa: ex foedere naves sociis imperatae, quae Hellesponto praesiderent. Nondum enim Memnonem vita excessisse cognoverat: in quem omnes intenderat curas, satis gnarus cuncta in expedito fore, si nihil ab eo moveretur. Jamque ad urbem Ancyram ventum erat, ubi numero copiarum inito, Paphlagoniam intrat huic juncti erant Heneti, unde quidam Venetos trahere originem credunt. Omnis haec regio paruit regi, datisque obsidibus tributum, quod ne Persis quidem tulissent, pendere ne cogerentur, impetraverunt. Calas huic regioni

1 For construction of incedo, see Zumpt, § 387. Curtius also uses the accusative with incedere, iv. 10.

2 Without success."

It came to the same thing: the yoke was freed from the beam. As to vel-vel, see Zumpt, § 339.

This island, near Halicarnassus and Cnidus, called in Greek Kos, is written in Latin both Cos and Cous, accus. Con and Coum, ablat. Co. See Zumpt, § 52.

Which were to protect the Hellespont.' The name Hellespontus, though it properly applies to the strait between the Aegean Sea and the Propontis, is also given to the land on both sides, in which, on the European coast, is situated Sestos, on the Asiatic, Abydos.

A Greek of Rhodes, who had been a skilful and highly-trusted commander among the Persians.

Paphlagonia, a country on the Pontus, between the rivers Parthenius and Halys. In this country the Heneti are said once to have dwelt, who, according to a wide-spread tradition, emigrated in the Trojan times, and founded the tribe of the Veneti in Italy. In historical times there were no Heneti in Paphlagonia. Alexander's conquest of Paphlagonia was but superficial; its most complete subjugation was left to Calas. See iv. 23.

The subjunctive shows it to have been a statement of the Paphlagonians themselves. See Gram. § 354.

praepositus est; ipse, assumptis qui ex Macedonia nuper advenerant, Cappadociam1 petiit.

4. At Dareus, nuntiata Memnonis morte haud secus quam2 par erat motus, omissa omni alia spe, statuit ipse decernere: quippe quae per duces suos acta erant cuncta damnabat, ratus pluribus curam, omnibus abfuisse fortunam. Igitur castris ad Babylona positis, quo majore animo capesserent bellum, universas vires in conspectum dedit: et circumdato vallo, quod decem milium armatorum multitudinem caperet, Xerxis exemplo numerum copiarum iniit. Orto sole ad noctem agmina, sicut descripta erant, intravere vallum. Inde emissa occupaverant Mesopotamiae campos, equitum peditumque propemodum innumerabilis turba, majorem quam pro numero speciem ferens. Persarum erant centum milia, in quis eques triginta implebat. Medi decem equitum, quinquaginta milia peditum habebant. Barcanorums equitum duo milia fuere, armati bipennibus levibusque scutis cetrae9 maxime speciem reddentibus: peditum decem milia equitum pari armatu1 sequebantur. Armenii quadraginta milia miserant peditum, additis septem milibus equitum. Hyrcani egregii, ut inter illas gentes, sex milia expleverant, additis equitibus militatura." Derbices" quadraginta peditum milia armaverant: pluribus aere aut ferro praefixae1 hastae,

A large province in the interior of Asia Minor, beyond the Halys. The people inhabited unfortified towns, the principal of which were Mazaca and Comana.

26

'Not otherwise than;' that is, not less than. See Zumpt, § 283. Compare haud aliter ac, haud minus quam, aeque ac.

3 In Curtius we find igitur as often at the beginning of a sentence' as after a word; whereas in Cicero it very seldom stands first. For this accusative, see Gram. § 70, note 2.

According to Herodotus, Xerxes numbered his forces in this way in Thrace, at Doriscus on the river Hebrus.

The army was very numerous, but it appeared more so than it really was.

Particular descriptions of troops, as infantry, cavalry, &c., are usually expressed by the singular, in a collective sense.

A tribe otherwise little known, dwelling near the Hyrcani, on the Caspian Sea.

A leathern shield, without wood, similar to the Greek réλrn. From this word cetra, the troops who in Greek are called λraoraí, are called in Latin cetrati.

10 Armed like the cavalry.'

11 Who were accustomed to fight associated with cavalry.

12 A tribe which appears nowhere else in Curtius, but which, according to other writers, was located east of the Hyrcani, towards the Oxus.

13 4

Tipped with brass or iron.' Compare, in reference to the use of praefixus, iii. 8, iv. 35.

quidam lignum igni duraverant. Hos quoque duo milia equitum ex eadem gente comitata sunt. A Caspio mari octo milium pedester exercitus venerat, ducenti equites. Cum his erant ignobiles aliae gentes: duo milia peditum, equitum duplicem paraverant numerum. His copiis triginta milia Graecorum mercede conducta, egregiae juventutis, adjecta. Nam Bactrianos et Sogdianos et Indos ceterosque rubri maris' accolas, ignota etiam ipsi gentium nomina, festinatio prohibebat acciri.2 Nec quicquam illi minus, quam multitudo militum defuit.

5. Cujus tum universae aspectu admodum laetus, purpuratis solita vanitate spem ejus inflantibus, conversus ad Charidemum Atheniensem, belli peritum, et ob exilium infestum Alexandro, quippe Athenis jubente eo fuerat expulsus, percontari coepit, satisne ei videretur instructus ad obterendum hostem? At ille, et suae sortis et regiae superbiae oblitus, Verum, inquit, et tu forsitan audire nolis, et ego, nisi nunc dixero, alias nequicquam confitebor. Hic tanti apparatus exercitus, haec tot gentium et totius Orientis excita sedibus suis moles, finitimis potest esse terribilis: nitet purpura auroque, fulget armis et opulentia, quantam qui oculis non subjecere, animis concipere non possunt. Sed Macedonum acies, torva sane et inculta, clipeis hastisque immobiles cuneos et conferta robora virorum tegit. Ipsi phalangem vocant, peditum stabile agmen: vir viro, armis arma conserta sunt: ad nutum monentis intenti, sequi signa, ordines servare didicerunt. Quod imperatur omnes exaudiunt: obsistere, circumire, discurrere in cornu, mutare pugnam,6

1 The name Mare Rubrum applies to the whole of the great Southern or Indian Ocean, of which the gulf between Arabia and Egypt, which we call the Red Sea, is but a part. The latter is not meant here. 2 For prohibere with infinitive, see Zumpt, $544.

3 Courtiers and statesmen of high rank were called purpurati, because their clothes were adorned with purple hems. Vanitas implies here' stating as true what is doubtful;' it often signifies 'positive falsehood.'

Forsitan is usually followed by the subjunctive mood.

Immovable, unwavering columns (we may use this word instead of the literal translation, wedges'), and close bodies of strong men.' Robora virorum, a poetical and figurative expression, equivalent to robusti viri.

6

These are the regular military terms: obsistere, to form a front line; circumire, to wheel to the right or left, the soldier on the extreme right or left standing still, whilst the others march round him in a half circle; discurrere in cornu, when the men in the rear are brought forward, and extend the front line by placing themselves at the wings; mutare pugnam, to change the kind of battle, as, for instance, when the close lines were broken up and the soldiers fought singly.

non duces magis, quam milites' callent. Ac ne auri argentique studio teneri putes, adhuc illa disciplina paupertate magistra stetit.2 Fatigatis humus cubile est: cibus, quem occupati parant,3 satiat: tempora somni artiora, quam noctis sunt. Jam Thessali equites et Acarnanes Aetolique, invicta bello manus, fundis, credo, et hastis igne duratis repellentur? Pari robore opus est. In illa terra, quae hos genuit, auxilia quaerenda sunt: argentum istud atque aurum ad conducendum militem mitte.5 Erat Dareo mite ac tractabile ingenium, nisi suam naturam plerumque fortuna corrumperet. Itaque veritatis impatiens, hospitem ac supplicem, tunc cummaxime utilia suadentem, abstrahi jussit ad capitale supplicium. Ille ne tum quidem libertatis oblitus, habeo, inquit, paratum mortis meae ultorem: expetet poenas consilii mei spreti ipse, contra quem tibi suasi. Tu quidem licentia regni tam subito mutatus, documentum eris posteris, homines, cum se permisere fortunae, etiam naturam dediscere. Haec vociferantem, quibus imperatum erat, jugulant. Sera deinde poenitentia subiit regem, ac vera dixisse confessus, sepeliri eum jussit.

9

6. Thymodes erat, Mentoris filius, impiger juvenis: cui

1 Every common soldier in the Macedonian army understands these evolutions, and knows the best modes of executing them, quite as perfectly as the officers.

2 Has been maintained.'

3 Which they prepare hastily, and by snatches, whilst engaged in other occupations.'

That is, they do not devote the whole night to sleep, but rise before daybreak.

The advice, then, of Charidemus was this:-That the army which Darius was to lead against the Macedonians should be composed, principally at least, of Greek mercenaries, because these alone were equal to the enemy in activity and skill. This advice, of course, implied a great contempt of the Asiatics.

Literally, 'When he did not, as very often happened, corrupt (that is, change for the worse the tendency of) his natural disposition, by his good fortune;' that is, his lofty station. In this translation we treat fortuna as the ablative. Others read sanam instead of suam. The sentence then becomes general: 'If it were not too frequently the case that fortune corrupts a naturally good disposition.'

Then especially.' Tum maxime would have been sufficient here, but tunc cummaxime is stronger. Cummaxime is joined with nunc as well as tunc; but maxime is joined only to the adverb of past time.

'Not even then;' that is, after hearing his sentence. The distinction between tunc and tum is properly this: tunc is, at that time,' opposed to nunc; tum is, thereupon,' or, very often, correlative to quum. See Zumpt, $285.

9Those to whom the execution of the sentence had been intrusted.'

praeceptum est a rege, ut omnes peregrinos milites, in quis1 plurimum habebat spei, a Pharnabazo acciperet, opera eorum usurus in bello: ipse Pharnabazo tradit imperium, quod antea Memnoni dederat.2 Anxium de instantibus curis, agitabant etiam per somnum species imminentium rerum; sive illas aegritudo, sive divinatio animi praesagientis accersit.3 Castra Alexandri magno ignis fulgore collucere ei visa sunt, et paulo post Alexander adduci ad ipsum in eo vestis habitu, quo ipse fuisset, equo deinde per Babylona vectus, subito cum ipso equo oculis esse subductus. Ad haec vates varia interpretatione curam distrinxerant: alii laetum id regi somnium esse dicebant, quod castra hostium arsissent, quod Alexandrum, deposita regia veste, in Persico et vulgari habitu perductum esse vidisset. Quidam vera augurabantur: quippe illustria Macedonum castra visa fulgorem Alexandro portendere: quem regnum Asiae occupaturum esse, haud ambigere, quoniam in eodem habitu Dareus fuisset, cum appellatus est rex. Vetera quoque omina, ut fere, sollicitudo revocaverat: recensebant enim Dareum in principio imperii vaginam acinacis Persicam jussisse mutari in eam formam, qua Graeci uterentur, protinusque Chaldaeos interpretatos, imperium Persarum ad eos transiturum, quorum arma esset imitatus. Ceterum ipse et vatum responso, quod edebatur in vulgus, et specie, quae per somnum oblata erat, admodum laetus, castra ad Euphraten moveri jubet.

5

7. Patrio more Persarum traditum est orto sole demum procedere. Die jam illustri signum e tabernaculo regis buccina dabatur. Super tabernaculum, unde ab omnibus con

1

Quis is often used for quibus, without any difference of meaning. It is only employed, however, in the relative sense, not in the interrogative.

2 Namely, to command the fleet, which was to cruise in the Aegean, and on the coast of Asia Minor, and to endeavour to bring about a revolt of the states of Greece against the Macedonian supremacy.

3 Accersere and arcessere are two forms of the same verb. The manuscript reading in Curtius is decidedly the former; in Cicero the latter is more common.

Habitus is the exterior or outward form of anything. It is sometimes used by itself without vestis, in the sense of dress.

5 The infinitive depends on the verb 'they said,' which must be taken out of augurabantur. See Gram. $379, note 2.

At the time when he was appointed king.' The verb ought properly, being in the oratio obliqua, to have been in the pluperfect subjunctive, appellatus esset.

They related.'

The Greek sword was long and straight, the ancient Persian scimitar short and curved.

In the Roman army, too, the signals for setting and relieving sentinels were made by a horn.