The Anabasis of Alexander/Book IV/Chapter VII

by Arrian

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CHAPTER VII.

Treatment of Bessus.

When he had accomplished this, he came to Zariaspa; where he remained until the depth of winter arrived.^[1] At this time came to him Phrataphernes the viceroy of Parthia, and Stasanor, who had been sent into the land of the Areians to arrest Arsames.^[2] Him they brought with them in chains, as also Barzanes, whom Bessus had appointed viceroy of the land of the Parthians, and some others of those who at that time had joined Bessus in revolt. At the same time arrived from the sea, Bpocillus,^[3]Melamnidas and Ptolemy, the general of the Thraciansj who had convoyed down to the sea the Grecian allies and the money sent with Menes.^[4] At this time also arrived Asander and Nearchus at the head of an army of Grecian mercenaries.^[5] Asclepiodorus, viceroy of Syria, and Menes the dqputy also arrived from the sea, at the head of another ariily. Then Alexander gathered a conference of those who were then at hand, and led Bessus in before them. Having accused hitn of the betrayal of Darius, he ordered his nose and ears to be cut off, and that he should be taken to Ecbatana to be put to death there in the council of the Medes and Persians.^[6] I do not commend this excessive punishment; on the contrary, I consider that the mutilation of the prominent features of the body is a barbaric^[7] custom, and I agree with those who say that Alexander was induced to indulge his desire of emulating the Median and Persian wealth and to treat his subjects as inferior beings according to the custoni of the foreign kings. Nor do I by any means commend him for changing the Macedonian style of dress which his fathers had adopted, for the Median one,^[8] being as he was a descendant of Heracles.^[9] Besides, he was not ashamed to exchange the head-dress which he the conqueror had so long worn, for that of the conquered Persians. None of these things do I commend; but I consider Alexander's great achievements prove, if anything can, that supposing a man to have a vigorous bodily constitution, to be illustrious in descent, and to be even more successful in war than Alexander himself; even supposing he could sail right round Libya as well as Asia, and hold them both in subjection as Alexander indeed designed; even if he could add the possession of Europe to that of Asia and Libya; all these things would be no furtherance to such a man's happiness, unless at the same time he possess the power of self-control, though he has performed the great deeds which have been supposed.

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1. On the analogy of πρὶν the later prose-writers use ἔστε with the infinitive. Cf. Arrian, ii. 1, 3; v. 16, 1.
2. See Bk. iii. ch. 29 supra.
3. See Bk. iii. ch. 19 stpra.
4. See Bk. iii. ch. 16 supra.
5. Curtius (vii. 40) says that the reinforcement was 19,000 men.
6. Cf. Plutarch (Alex., 43); Diodorus (xvii. 83).
7. I.e. non-Hellenic.
8. Cf. Diodorus, xvii. 77; Justin., xii. 3. We learn from Plutarch (Alex., 45), that he did not assume the tiaia of the Persian kings. Cf. Arrian, vii. 9; vii. 29 infra. The Medio robe was a long silken garment reaching to the feet, and falling round the body in many deep folds.
9. Caranus, a descendant of Temenus, king of Argos, is said to have settled in Macedonia, and to have become the founder of the dynasty of Macedonian kings. Temenus was a descendant of Heracles. Cf. ii. 5; iv. 10. One of the chief causes of disgust which the Greeks felt at the conduct of Pausanias, the conqueror at Plataea, was, that he adopted the Persian attire. " This pedigree from Temenus and Hercules may be suspicious; yet it was allowed, after a strict inquiry by the judges of the Olympic games (Herodotus, v. 22), at a time when the Macedonian kings were obscure and unpopular in Greece. When the Achaean league declared against Phllip, it was thought decent that the deputies of Argos should retire (T. Liv., xxxii. 22)."—Gibbon. Cf. Herodotus, viii. 137; Thucydides, ii. 99, 100; v. 80.