he placed such as carried bucklers, and made them kneel down, the better to secure themselves from the arrows of the enemy. Behind these were those who worked the machines for discharging arrows and stones, covered on all sides with soldiers armed cap-a-pee. The rest who followed the engines had their shields fixed together over their heads, in form of a tortoise, by which they defended the sailors who wore corslets. The like order and dis position was observed in the other rafts or floats which carried the horse....

The army found great difficulty in crossing. Every thing conspired to intimidate them; the clamonr and confusion, that are inseparable from such an enterprise; the rapidity of the stream, which carried away every thing with it; and the sight of a numerous army drawn up in battle array, on the opposite shore. However, the presence of Alexander, who was ever the foremost in encountering dangers, made them neglect their own safety, and be concerned for his only. As soon as the Macedonians began to draw near the shore, they who carried shields rose up together, when throwing their javelins with a strong arm, every weapon did execution. When they perceived that the enemy, overpowered with that shower of shafts, began to retire, and draw their horses back, they leaped on the shore with incredible swiftness, and, animating one another, began the charge with vigour. In this disorder, the troopers, whose horses were ready bridled, rushed upon the enemy, and quite broke them. The king could not be heard, by reason of the faintness of his voice; but the example he set spoke for him.

And now nothing was heard in the Macedonian army but shouts of joy and victory, whilst they continued to attack the barbarians with the utmost fury. The latter not being able to stand so severe an onset, fed as fast as their horses could carry them; for these were the cavalry only. Though the king was very weak, he nevertheless pursued them briskly a long way, till being at last quite spent, he was obliged to stop. After commanding his troops to pursue them as long as they could see, he withdrew to the camp in order to repose himself, and to wait the return of his for ces. The Macedonians had already gone beyond the boundaries or limits of Bacchus, which were marked out by great stones ranged pretty close one to the other, and by great trees, the trunks of which were covered with ivy. Howev er, the heat of the pursuit carried them still farther, and they did not return back into the camp till after midnight, having killed a great number of the enemy, and taken many

more prisoners, with 1800 horses, all which they drove be fore them. On Alexander's side there were but 60 troopers slain, and about 100 foot, with 1000 wounded! Alexander sent back to the Scythians all their prisoners without ransom, to show, that not animosity, but a thirst of glory, had prompted him to make war against so valiant a nation.

. The report of this victory, and much more the clemency with which the king treated the vanquished, greatly increas ed his reputation. The Scythians had always been considered as invincible; but after their defeat it was owned that every nation in the world ought to yield to the Macedonians. The Sace, who were a powerful nation, sent an embassy to Alexander, by which they submitted themselves to him, and requested his friendship. The Scythians themselves made an apology by their ambassadors, throwing the whole blame of what had happened on some few people, and declaring that they were ready to obey all the commands of the vic torious prince.

Alexander, being so happily freed from the care and trouble of this important war, bent his whole thoughts on Maracanda, in which the traitor Spitainenes had fortified himself. At the first news of Alexander's approach, he had fled away, and withdrawn into Bactriana. The king pursued him thither, but despairing to come up with him, he returned back and sacked Sogdiana, which is watered by the river Polytimetus.

Among the Sogdians that were taken prisoners, there were 30 young men, who were well shaped and very come ly, and the greatest lords of the country. These being told, that they were led to execution by Alexander's command, began to sing songs of joy, to leap and dance, discovering all the indications of an immoderate joy. The king, surprised to see them go to death with so much gaiety, had them brought before him; when he asked them, how they came to break into such transports of joy, when they saw death before their eyes? They answered, that they should have been afflicted had any other person but himself put them to death; but as they would be restored to their ancestors by the command of so great a monarch, who had vanquished all nations, they blessed this death; a death so glorious, that

the bravest men would wish to die the same.

Alexander, admiring their magnanimity, asked whether they would desire to be pardoned, upon condition that they should no lon ger be his enemies? They answered, he might be assured they had never been his enemies; but that, tacked them, they had defended themselves; and that, had they been applied to in a gentle manner, and not attacked by

as he had at

force, and violence, they would have vied with him in politeness and generosity. The king asked them farther, what pledge they would give him of their faith and sincerity? "No other," answered they, "but the same life we receive "from your goodness, and which we shall always be ready "to give back, whenever you shall require it." And, indeed, they were as good as their word. Four of them, whom he took into his body-guard, endeavoured to rival the Macedonians in zeal and fidelity.

The king, after having left a small number of forces in Sogdiana, marched to Bactriana, where having assembled all his generals, he commanded Bessus to be brought before them; when, after reproaching him for his treachery, and causing his nose and ears to be cut off, he sent him to Ecba. tana, there to suffer whatever punishment Darius' mother should think proper to inflict upon him. Plutarch has left us an account of his execution. Four trees were bent by main force, one towards the other; and to each of these trees one of the limbs of this traitor's body was fastened. Afterwards, these trees being let return to their natural position, they flew back so much violence, that each tore away the limb that was fixed to it, and so quartered him. The same punishment is at this day inflicted on persons convicted of high-treason, who are tore to pieces by 4 horses.

Alexander received at this time, both from Macedonia and Greece, a large number of recruits, amounting to upwards of 16,000 men. By this considerable reinforcement he was enabled to subdue all those who had rebelled; and to curb them for the future, he built several fortresses in Margiana.

*All things were now restored to a profonnd tranquillity. There remained but one strong hold, called Petra Oxiana, or the rock of Oxus, which was defended by Arimazus, a native of Sogdiana, with 30,000 soldiers under his command, and ammunition and provisions for two years. This rock, which was very high and craggy on all sides, was accessible only by a single path that was cut in it. The king, after viewing its works, was a long time in suspence whether he should besiege it; but, as it was his character to aim at the marvellous in all things, and to attempt impossibilities, he resolved to try if he could not overcome, on this occasion, nature itself, which seemed to have fortified this rock in such a manner as had rendered it absolutely impregnable. However, before he formed the siege, he summoned those barbarians, but in mild terms, to submit to him. Arimazes

* A. M. 3676. Ant. J. C. 328.

U

received this offer in a very haughty manner; and, after using several insulting expressions, asked, "whether Alex"ander, who was able to do all things, could fly also; and "whether nature had on a sudden given him wings?"

Alexander was highly exasperated at this answer. He therefore gave orders for selecting, from among the mountaineers who were in his army, 300 of the most active and dexterous. These being brought to him, he addressed them thus: "It was in your company, brave young men, that I "stormed such places as were thought impregnable; that I "made my way over mountains covered with eternal snows; "crossed rivers, and broke through the passes of Cilicia. "This rock, which you see, has but one outlet, which alone "is defended by the barbarians, who neglect every other "part. There is no watch or sentinel, except on that side "which faces our camp. If you search very narrowly, you "certainly will meet with some path that leads to the top "of the rock. Nothing has been made so inaccessible by "nature as not to be surmounted by valour: and it was on"ly by our attempting, what no one before had hopes of ef"fecting, that we possessed ourselves of Asia. Get up to "the summit, and when you shall have made yourselves "masters of it, set up a white standard there as a signal; "and be assured, that I then will certainly disengage you "from the enemy, and draw them upon myself, by making "a diversion." At the same time that the king gave out this order, he made them the most noble promises: but the pleasing him was considered by them as the greatest of all rewards. Fired therefore with the noblest ardour, and fancying they had already reached the summit, they set out, af ter having provided themselves with wedges to drive into the stones, cramp-irons, and thick ropes.

The king went round the mountain with them, and commanded them to begin their march at the second watch of the night, by that part which should seem to them of easi est access; beseeching the gods to guide their steps. They then took provisions for two days, and being armed with swords and javelins only, they began to ascend the mountain, walking some time on foot; afterwards, when it was necessary for them to climb, some forced their wedges into the stones which projected forwards, and by that means raised themselves: others thrust their cramp-irons into the stones that were frozen, to keep themselves from falling in so slippery a way, in fine, others driving in their wedges with great strength, made them serve as so many scaling ladders.

About ten o'clock.

They spent the whole day in this manner, hanging against the rock, and exposed to numerous dangers and difficulties, being obliged to struggle at the same time with snow, cold, and wind. Nevertheless, the hardest task ways yet to come; and the farther they advanced, the higher the rock seemed to rise. But that which terrified them most, was the sad spectacle of some of their comrades falling down precipices, whose unhappy fate was a warning to them of what they themselves might expect. Notwithstanding this, they still advanced forward, and exerted themselves so vigorously, that, in spite of all these difficulties, they at last got to the top of the rock. They then were all inexpressibly weary, and many of them had even lost the use of some of their limbs. Night and drowsiness came upon them at the same time, so that, dispersing themselves in such distant parts of the rock as were free from snows, they lay down in them and slept till day-break. At last, waking from a deep sleep, and looking on all sides to discover the place where so many people could lie hid, they saw smoke below them, which showed them the haunt of the enemy. They then put up the signal, as had been agreed; and their whole company drawing up, 32 were found wanting, who had lost their lives in the ascent.

In the mean time the king, equally fired with a desire of storming the fortress, and struck with the visible danger to which those men were exposed, continued on foot the whole day, gazing upon the rock, and he himself did not retire to rest till dark night. The next morning, by peep of day, he was the first who perceived the signal. Nevertheless he was still in doubt whether he might trust his eyes, because of the false splendour which breaks out at day-break; but the light increasing, he was sure of what he saw. Sending therefore for Cophes, who before, by his command, had sounded the barbarians, he dispatched him a second time, with an exhortation to think better of the matter; and in case they should still depend upon the strength of the place, he then was ordered to show them the band of men behind their backs, who were got to the summit of the rock. Cophes employed all the arguments possible, to engage Arimazes to capitulate; representing to him that he would gain the king's favour, in case he did not interrupt the great designs he meditated, by obliging him to make some stay before that rock. Arimazes sent a haughtier and more insolent answer than before, and commanded him to retire. Then Cophes, taking him by the hand, desired he would come out of the cave with him, which the barbarian doing, he showed him the Macedonians posted over his head, and said, in an insulting