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The Anabasis of Alexander or, The History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great

950 The Hebrew name for Babylon is Babel, i.e. Bab-Bel, court of Bel: porta vel aula, civitas Beli (Winer). In Jer. xxv. 26; li. 41, it is called Sheshach, which Jewish commentators, followed by Jerome, explain by the Canon Atbash, i.e. after the alphabet put in an inverted order. According to this rule the word Babel, which is the Hebrew name of Babylon, would be written Sheshach. Sir Henry Rawlinson, however, says it was the name of a god after whom the city was named; and the word has been found among the Assyrian inscriptions representing a deity.

951 The perfect passive δεδόμημαι is equivalent to the Epic and Ionic form δέδμημαι.

952 σχεθῆναι. See p. 268, note 629.

953 τῶν τὶς ναυτῶν. This position of τίς is an imitation of the usage in Ionic prose. Cf. Herod. i. 85; τῶν τὶς Περσέων. See Liddell and Scott, sub voce τίς. Cf. Arrian, ii. 26, 4; vi. 9, 3; vii. 3, 4; 22, 5; 24, 2.

954 Cf. Arrian v. 13 supra.

955 Cf. Arrian, iii. 6; iv. 18.

956 The Macedonian stater was worth about £1 3s. 6d.

957 Cf. Arrian (Tactics, 12, 11).

958 Cf. Arrian, p. 379, note 853.

959 We read in the speech of Demosthenes against Dionysiodorus (1285), that Cleomenes and his partisans enriched themselves by monopolizing the exportation of corn from Egypt. Cf. Arrian, iii. 5 supra.

960 This island is mentioned by Homer (Odyssey, iv. 355). Alexander constructed a mole seven stades long from the coast to the island, thus forming the two harbours of Alexandria. See Strabo, xvii. 1. The island is chiefly famous for the lofty tower built upon it by Ptolemy Philadelphus, for a lighthouse. Cf. Cæsar (De Bello Civili, iii. 112); Ammianus, xxii. 16.

961 Consult Lucian (Calumniae non temere credendum, 17).

962 After Alexander’s death Cleomenes was executed by Ptolemy, who received Egypt as his share of the great king’s dominions.

963 I.e. the Mediterranean.

964 Diodorus (xvii. 116) and Plutarch (Alex., 73) say that he was a bound prisoner. The latter says his name was Dionysius, and that he was a Messenian.

965 Plutarch (Alex., 75) and Justin (xii. 13) say that he gave a banquet to Nearchus the admiral, and that, as he was leaving it, he was invited to the revel by Medius the Thessalian. Cf. Diodorus, xvii. 117.

966 We learn from Athenæus (x. p. 434 B) that this Court Journal was kept by the royal secretary, Eumenes, afterwards so famous, and by the historian, Diodotus of Erythrae. As to the last days of Alexander, cf. Plutarch (Alex., 76, 77).

967 Cf. Curtius, ix. 23: Mos erat principibus amicorum et custodibus corporis excubare ante praetorium, quotiens adversa regi valetudo incidisset.

968 Serāpis, or more correctly Sarapis, was an Egyptian deity, whose worship was introduced into Greece in the time of the Ptolemies. His worship was introduced into Rome, with that of Isis, in the time of Sulla. Strabo (xvii. 1) gives an account of his cultus in the celebrated temple at Canobus. The Serapeum at Alexandria, which contained the famous library, is described by Ammianus, xxii. 16.

969 I.e. the most valiant.

970 To decide who was to succeed to his power. Cf. Curtius, x. 14; Diodorus, xvii. 117; Justin, xii. 15.

971 Cf. Curtius, x. 31; Diodorus, xvii. 117, 118; Justin, xii. 13. Plutarch (Alex., 77) asserts that nothing was said about Alexander’s being poisoned, until six years after, when Olympias, the enemy of Antipater, set the charge afloat.

972 See Arrian, iv. 10 supra.

973 Cassander was afterwards king of Macedonia and Greece. He put Olympias, Roxana, and her son Alexander Aegus to death, and bribed Polysperchon to put Barsine and her son Hercules to death. He died of dropsy, B.C. 297.

974 Cf. Pausanias, xviii. 4; Curtius, x. 31; Plutarch (Alex., 77). The ancients called the poison, “the water of Styx”; it was obtained from Nonacris in the north of Arcadia, near which the river Styx took its origin. Justin (xii. 14) says: Cujus veneni tanta vis fuit, ut non aere, non ferro, non testa contineretur, nec aliter ferri nisi in ungula equi potuerit. Pliny (Hist. Nat., xxx. 53) says: Ungulas tantum mularum repertas, neque aliam ullam materiam quae non perroderetur a veneno Stygis aquae, cum id dandum Alexandro magno Antipater mitteret, dignum memoria est, magna Aristotelis infamia excogitatum.

975 Diodorus (xvii. 117) states that after drinking freely, Alexander swallowed the contents of a large goblet, called the cup of Heracles, and was immediately seized with violent pain. This statement, however, is contradicted by Plutarch. It seems from the last injunction of Calanus, the Indian philosopher, that it was considered the right thing to drink to intoxication at the funeral of a friend. See Plutarch (Alex., 69).

976 June, 323 B.C.

977 Ptolemy took the embalmed body of Alexander to Egypt, and placed it in Memphis, but removed it a few years after to Alexandria. See Curtius, x. 31. Cf. Aelian (Varia Historia, xii. 64; xiii. 29).

978 Cf. Diodorus, xvii. 4; ἡ ὀξύτης τοῦ νεανίσκου.

979 Cf. Curtius, x. 18: Gloriae laudisque, ut justo major cupido, ita ut juveni et in tantis admittenda rebus.

980 Plutarch (Alex., 28) attributes the same motive to Alexander in representing himself to be the son of Zeus. Livy (ix. 18) says: Referre in tanto rege piget superbam mutationem vestis et desideratas humi jacentium adulationes, etiam victis Macedonibus graves, nedum victoribus; et foeda supplicia, et inter vinum et epula, caedes amicorum et vanitatem ementiendae stirpis. Consult the whole of the interesting passage in Livy, ix. 17-19. See also Aelian (Varia Historia, ii. 19; v. 12; ix. 37).

981 Cf. Herodotus, vii. 41; Arrian, iii. 11 supra.

982 Xenophon (Cyropaedia, vii. 5, 85) says that the Persian Equals-in-Honour, or Peers, spent their time about the Court.

983 Cf. Arrian, iv. 14 supra; Justin, ix. 8; Athenæus, x. p. 434 B; Aelian (Varia Historia, iii. 23; ix. 3; xii. 26).

984 Europe and Asia. Arrian reckoned Libya, or Africa, as a part of Asia. See iii. 30; v. 26; vii. 1.

985 Dr. Leonhard Schmitz says:—“Arrian is in this work one of the most excellent writers of his time, above which he is raised by his simplicity and his unbiassed judgment. Great as his merits thus are as an historian, they are yet surpassed by his excellence as an historical critic. His Anabasis is based upon the most trustworthy historians among the contemporaries of Alexander, such as Ptolemy, Aristobulus, which two he chiefly followed, Diodotus of Erythrae, Eumenes of Cardia, Nearchus of Crete, and Megasthenes; and his sound judgment as to who deserved credit, justly led him to reject such authors as Onesicritus, Callisthenes, and others. No one at all acquainted with this work of Arrian’s can refuse his assent to the opinion of Photius (p. 73; comp. Lucian, Alex., 2), that Arrian was the best among the numerous historians of Alexander. One of the great merits of the work, independent of those already mentioned, is the clearness and distinctness with which he describes all military movements and operations, the drawing up of the armies for battle, and the conduct of battles and sieges. In all these respects the Anabasis is a masterly production, and Arrian shows that he himself possessed a thorough practical knowledge of military affairs. He seldom introduces speeches, but wherever he does he shows a profound knowledge of man; and the speech of Alexander to his rebellious soldiers, and the reply of Coenus, as well as some other speeches, are masterly specimens of oratory. Everything, moreover, which is not necessary to make his narrative clear is carefully avoided.” See Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography.

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES.

(The numbers refer to the pages.)