Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/272

240 HISTORY OF GREECE. were Abulites, satrap of Susiana, with his son Oxatlires ; the lal* ter was even slam by the hands of Alexander himself, with a sarissa^ — the dispensation of punishment becoming in his hands an outburst of exasperated temper. He also despatched per- emptory orders to all the satraps, enjoining them to dismiss their mercenary troops without delay .^ This measure produced considerable effect on the condition of Greece — about which I shall speak in a subsequent chapter. Hai'palus, satrap of Baby- lon (about whom also more, presently), having squandered large sums out of the revenues of the post upon ostentatious luxury, became terrified when Alexander was approaching Susiana, and fled to Greece with a large treasure and a small body of soldiers.^ Serious alai'm was felt among all the satraps and officers, inno- 1 Plutarch, Alex. 68. ' Diodor. xvii. 106-111. ' Among: the acctis.itions which reached Alexander against this satrap, we are surprised to find a letter addressed to him {Iv Tfj Tzpbc 'A?J^avdpov eTTKyTo/irj) by the Gvcck historian Theopompus ; who set forth with indig nation the extravagant gifts and honors heaped by Harpalus upon his two successive mistresses — Pythionike and Glykera; celebrated Het.'erfe from Athens. These proceedings Theopompus desci-ibes as insults to Alexander (Theopompus ap. Athena?, xiii.p. 586-595; Prngment. 277, 278 cd. Didot), The satyric drama called 'A77/V, represented before Alexander at a period subsequent to the flight of Harpalus, cannot have been represented (ag Athenaeus states it to have been) on the banks of the Hydnspes, because Har- palus did not make his escape until he was frightened by the approach of Alexander returning from India. At the Hydas]ies, Alexander was still on his outward progress ; very far off. and without any idea of returning. It appears to me that the words of Athenaeus respecting this drama — edlda^s Aiovvaiuv ovruv irrl tov 'Y 6 uotov tov noTa/iov (xiii. p. 595) — involve a mistake or misreading; and that it ought to stand enl tov Xougtzov tov noTafiov. I may remark that the words Medus Hgdaspes in Virgil, Gcorg, iv. 211, probably involve the same confusion. The Choaspes was the river, near Susa: and this drama was performed before Alexander at Susa during the Dionysiaof the year 324 b. c, after Harpalus had fled. The Dionysia were in the month Elaphebolion ; now Alexander did not fight Porus on tlic Hydaspcs until the succeeding month Mtinychion at the earliest — and probably later. And even if we suppose (which is not probable) that he reached the Hydaspes in Elaphebolion, he would have no leisure to cele- brate dramas and a Dionysiac festival, while the army of Porus was waiting for him on the opposite bank. Moreover it is no way probable that, on the remote Hydaspes, he had any actors or chorus, or means of celebrating drarias at all.