rumque in re militari gratiora vulgo sunt, exercitatio corporis inter ipsos, cultus' habitusque paulum a privato abhorrens, militaris vigor; quis ille vel ingenii dotibus, vel animi artibus,2 ut pariter carus ac venerandus esset, effecerat.

3

17. At Dareus, nuntio de adversa valetudine ejus accepto, celeritate, quantam capere tam grave agmen poterat, ad Euphraten contendit, junctoque eo pontibus, quinque tamen diebus trajecit exercitum, Ciliciam occupare festinans. Jam Alexander, viribus corporis receptis, ad urbem Solos pervenerat: cujus potitus, ducentis talentis multae nomine exactis, arci praesidium militum imposuit. Vota deinde pro salute suscepta per ludum atque otium reddens,5 ostendit, quanta fiducia barbaros sperneret: quippe Aesculapio et Minervae ludos celebravit. Spectanti nuntius laetus affertur Halicarnasso, Persas acie a suis esse superatos, Myndios quoque et Caunios et pleraque tractus ejus suae facta dicionis. Igitur edito spectaculo ludicro castrisque motis, et Pyramo amne ponte juncto, ad urbem Mallon pervenit: inde alteris castris ad oppidum Castabulum. Ibi Parmenio regi occurrit, quem praemiserat ad explorandum iter saltus, per quem ad urbem Isson nomine penetrandum erat. Atque ille angustiis ejus occupatis, et praesidio modico relicto, Isson quoque desertam a barbaris ceperat. Inde progressus, deturbatis qui interiora montium obsidebant, praesidiis cuncta firmavit, occupatoque itinere, sicut paulo ante dictum est, idem et auctor et nuntius venit. Isson deinde rex copias admovit : ubi consilio habito,

Cultus is the arrangement and regulation of the outward man, and includes everything connected with these, except eating and drinking. It includes, therefore, habitation, furniture, bath, dress, &c. The last is a very common signification. We may then take it here in the meaning of 'dress' (in which we include arms), or more widely, we may translate it 'private arrangements.' As to habitus, see chap. 6, note 2.

2 By vel-vel, the author leaves it undecided whether these attributes were the gifts of nature, or were acquired. The result was the same. Supply tanta.

3

Nomine can here be translated quite literally, 'under the name of a fine; that is, as a punishment. But this expression is very often used in the sense of 'on account of,' or 'on the part of.' See Zumpt, $679.

People, when in any danger, used naturally to vow offerings to the gods, and where there was no such vow, it was customary to give some token of thanks to Heaven after deliverance from danger. The Greek mode of expressing such gratitude was by games. Per ludum et otium is not used for the instrumental ablative, but expresses the kind and manner, in or with games, and relaxation from labour.'

Exhibition of games.' Ludicrum is used by itself also in this sense. The existence of the nom. masc. of this adjective is uncertain.

utrumne1 ultra progrediendum foret, an ibi opperiendi essent novi milites, quos ex Macedonia adventare constabat, Parmenio non alium locum proelio aptiorem esse censebat. Quippe illic utriusque regis copias numero futuras pares, cum angustiae multitudinem non caperent; planitiem ipsis2 camposque esse vitandos, ubi circumiri, ubi ancipiti acie opprimi possent. Timere, ne non3 virtute hostium, sed lassitudine sua vincerentur. Persas recentes subinde successuros, si laxius stare potuissent. Facile ratio tam salubris consilii accepta est. Itaque inter angustias saltus hostem opperiri statuit.

18. Erat in exercitu regis Sisenes Perses: quondam a praetore Aegypti missus ad Philippum, donisque et omni honore cultus, exilium patria sede mutaverat secutis deinde in Asiam Alexandrum, inter fideles socios habebatur. Huic epistolam Cretensis miles obsignatam anulo, cujus signum haud sane notum erat, tradidit. Nabarzanes praetor Darei miserat eam, hortabaturque Sisenem, ut dignum aliquid nobilitate atque moribus suis ederet, magno id ei apud regem honori fore. Has litteras Sisenes, utpote innoxius ad Alexandrum saepe deferre temptavit; sed cum tot curis apparatuque belli regem videret urgeri, aptius subinde tempus expectans, suspicionem initi scelesti consilii praebuit. Namque epistola, priusquam ei redderetur, in manus Alexandri pervenerat, lectamque eam, ignoti anuli sigillo impresso, Siseni dari jusserat, ad aestimandam fidem barbari. Qui quia per complures dies non adierat regem, scelesto consilio eam visus est suppressisse, et in agmine a Cretensibus, haud dubie jussu regis, occisus.

19. Jamque Graeci milites, quos Thymodes a Pharnabazo acceperat, praecipua spes et propemodum unica, ad Dareum pervenerant. Hi magnopere suadebant, ut retro abiret, spatiososque Mesopotamiae campos repeteret: si id consilium

1

Equivalent to utrum without ne. See Gram. 197, 10, note 1. According to the original construction of this phrase, it might have been, utrum progrediendumne esset ultra,an novi ibi milites opperiendi, which must be explained by reference to a fuller form of the sentence: utrum faceret, ultrane progrederetur, an ibi opperiretur.

2 By themselves;' that is, the Macedonians, in opposition to the Persians.

3 Ne non does not here stand for ut; but non belongs to virtute hostium in opposition to lassitudine sua. 'He feared lest they should be conquered, not certainly by the valour of the enemy, but by their own fatigue.'

For construction of mutare, see Gram. $294, note.

Cicero uses innocens only, Curtius employs both innocens and innoxius with the same signification. Innoxius, however, has also a passive meaning, 'unhurt.'

From time to time.'

damnaret, at ille' divideret saltem innumerabiles copias, neu2 sub unum fortunae ictum totas vires regni cadere pateretur. Minus hoc regi, quam purpuratis ejus displicebat: ancipitem fidem, et mercede venalem proditionem imminere, et dividi non ob aliud copias velle, quam ut ipsi in diversa digressi, si quid commissum esset, traderent Alexandro. Nihil tutius fore, quam circumdatos eos exercitu toto obrui telis, documentum non inultae perfidiae futuros. At Dareus, ut erat sanctus ac mitis, se vero tantum facinus negat esse facturum, ut suam secutos fidem, suos milites, jubeat trucidari. Quem deinde amplius nationum exterarum salutem suam crediturum sibi, si tot militum sanguine imbuisset manus? Neminem stolidum consilium capite luere debere. Defuturos enim qui suaderent, si suasisse periculosum esset. Denique ipsos cotidie ad se advocari in consilium, variasque sententias dicere, nec tamen melioris fidei haberi, qui prudentius suaserit. Itaque Graecis nuntiares jubet, ipsum quidem benevolentiae illorum gratias agere, ceterum, si retro ire pergat, haud dubie regnum hostibus traditurum. Fama bella stare, et eum, qui recedat, fugere credi. Trahendi vero belli vix ullam esse rationem. Tantae enim multitudini, utique cum jam hiems instaret, in regione vasta, et invicem a suis atque hoste vexata, non suffectura alimenta. Ne dividi quidem copias posse servato more majorum, qui universas vires discrimini bellorum semper obtulerint. Et hercule terribilem antea regem, et absentia sua ad vanam fiduciam elatum, postquam adventare se senserit, cautum pro temerario factum, delituisse inter angustias saltus ritu ignobilium ferarum, quae strepitu praetereuntium audito, silvarum latebris se occuluerint. Jam etiam valetudinis simulatione frustraris suos milites. Sed non amplius ipsum 'See Zumpt, § 756.

2 The same as neve.

3 Whatever might be intrusted to them.' See Zumpt, § 740. Blameless,' of stainless conduct.' Ut erat: we speak in the same way: honourable as he was;' that is, according to his own 'honourable feelings.

Regularly, nuntiari. But we can supply an accusative of those who were to convey the message. He commanded that some one should tell the Greeks.' This form of expression occurs in several passages of Curtius.

Are supported by, or depend upon, fame:' fame is the keystone of wars. Therefore fama is a casual ablative. See Gram. § 291. "Because Alexander had not crossed Cilicia to meet the Persians, but was waiting for them in a narrow, mountain-girt place, as Curtius has already told us.

That he kept back, and defeated the wishes of his soldiers by the pretence of sickness.'" Valetudo means 'state of health,' good or bad, bona or mala, more frequently when it stands alone, the latter.

esse passurum detrectare certamen. In illo specu, in quem pavidi recessissent, oppressurum esse cunctantes. Haec magnificentius jactata, quam verius.1

20. Ceterum pecunia omni rerumque pretiosissimis2 Damascum Syriae cum modico praesidio militum missis, reliquas copias in Ciliciam duxit, insequentibus more patrio agmen conjuge ac matre. Virgines quoque cum parvo filio comitabantur patrem. Forte eadem nocte et Alexander ad fauces, quibus Syria aditur, et Dareus ad eum locum, quem Amanicas Pylas vocant, pervenit. Nec dubitavere Persae, quin Isso relicta, quam ceperant, Macedones fugerent. Nam etiam saucii quidam et invalidi, qui agmen non poterant persequi, excepti erant. Quos omnes, instinctu purpuratorum, barbara feritate saevientium, praecisis adustisque manibus circumduci, ut copias suas noscerent, satisque omnibus spectatis nuntiare quae vidissent regi suo, jussit. Motis ergo castris, superat Pinarum amnem, in tergis, ut credebat, fugientium haesurus.

21. At illi, quorum amputaverat manus, ad castra Macedonum penetrant, Dareum quanto maximo cursu posset, sequi nuntiantes. Vix fides habebatur. Itaque speculatores in maritimas regiones praemissos explorare jubet, ipse adesset, an praefectorum aliquis speciem praebuisset universi venientís exercitus. Sed cum speculatores reverterentur, procul ingens multitudo conspecta est. Ignes deinde totis campis collucere coeperunt, omniaque velut continenti incendio ardere visa:

In a comparison of this kind, the comparative form is used in Latin in both cases, in English only once. See Gram. § 89, note 1. 2 For this mode of expression, see Zumpt, § 435.

There are two passes by which the eastern countries are entered from Cilicia; one on the south, beside the sea, leads into Syria; near it, in Syria, is the city of Myriandrus. The other pass lies more to the north, and leads to the country along the Euphrates, and onward to Assyria. The former was called the Cilician or Syrian gate, the latter the Amanic. Alexander had entered the Cilician gate, in order to go to meet Darius (this is a different account from that given by Curtius in chap. 17), and was just leaving Cilicia with the main body of his troops, at the time that Darius was descending into it by the Amanic gate, and was by his advanced guard occupying Issus. He was accordingly partly in the rear of Alexander. Both armies made a countermarch, as they were no longer doubtful of the position of their enemies; and the result was, that the Macedonians faced the north-west, the Persians the south-east.

Darius had certainly not done it himself; he had only issued the order. See Zumpt, § 713.

6

For such a phrase as this, see Zumpt, § 689.

For utrum ipse adesset, or ipsene adesset, see Gram. § 197, 10,

note 1.

cum incondita multitudo maxime propter jumenta laxius tenderet. Itaque eo ipso loco metari suos castra jusserat,1 laetus, quod omni expetierat voto, in illis potissimum angustiis decernendum fore. Ceterum, ut solet fieri, cum ultimi discriminis tempus adventat, in sollicitudinem versa fiducia est. Illam ipsam fortunam, qua aspirante res tam prospere gesserat, verebatur, nec injuria ex his, quae tribuisset sibi, quam mutabilis esset, reputabat: unam superesse noctem, quae tanti discriminis moraretur eventum. Rursus occurrebat, majora periculis praemia, et sicut dubium esset, au vinceret, ita illud utique certum esse, honeste et cum magna laude moriturum. Itaque corpora milites curare jussit, ac deinde tertia vigilia instructos et armatos esse. Ipse in jugum editi montis ascendit, multisque collucentibus facibus patrio more sacrificium diis praesidibus loci fecit. Jamque tertium, sicut praeceptum erat, signum tuba miles acceperat, itineri simul paratus ac proelio strenueque jussi procedere, oriente luce pervenerunt ad angustias, quas occupare decreverant. Dareum triginta inde stadia abesse praemissi indicabant. Tunc consistere agmen jubet, armisque ipse sumptis aciem ordinat.

22. Dareo adventum hostium pavidi agrestes nuntiaverunt, vix credenti occurrere etiam, quos ut fugientes sequebatur. Ergo non mediocris omnium animos formido incesserat: quippe itineri quam proelio aptiores erant: raptimque arma capiebant. Sed ipsa festinatio discurrentium suosque ad arma vocantium majorem metum incussit. Alii in jugum montis evaserant, ut hostium agmen inde prospicerent; equos plerique frenabant. Discors exercitus, nec ad unum intentus imperium, vario tumultu cuncta turbaverat. Dareus initio jugum montis cum parte copiarum occupare statuit, et a fronte et a tergo circumiturus hostem, a mari quoque, quo dextrum_ejus cornu tegebatur, alios objecturus, ut undique urgeret. Praeter haec viginti milia praemissa cum sagittariorum manu, Pinarum amnem, qui duo agmina interfluebat, transire, et objicere sese Macedonum copiis jusserat: si id praestare non possent, retrocedere in montes, et occulte circumire ultimos hostium. Ceterum destinata salubriter omni ratione potentior fortuna discussit: quippe alii prae metu imperium exequi non aude

Jusserat, for jussit, to express rapidity. See Zumpt, $ 508. 2 Curtius might have said decernendum esse.

Whether he would not conquer.' The expression states a doubt, but implies also the probability of the affirmative. See Zumpt, $354.

At all events; however matters may fall out.'

That is, after midnight, as the night was divided into four equal watches.

• 'Shattered,' 'nullified.'