When Darius answered that he feared Alexander and his men would escape
unless he attacked, Amyntas said, "O king, have no fears on that
score; for he will come and fight you, and I warrant he is not far off
now." However, Amyntas made no impression on Darius, who marched
forward into Kilikia, while at the same time Alexander marched into
Syria to meet him. During the night they missed one another, and each
turned back, Alexander rejoicing at this incident, and hurrying to
catch Darius in the narrow defile leading into Kilikia, while Darius
was glad of the opportunity of recovering his former ground, and of
disentangling his army from the narrow passes through the mountains.
He already had perceived the mistake which he had committed in
entering a country where the sea, the mountains, and the river Pyramus
which ran between them, made it impossible for his army to act, while
on the other hand it afforded great advantages to his enemies, who
were mostly foot soldiers, and whose numbers were not so great as to
encumber their movements.
Fortune, no doubt, greatly favoured Alexander, but yet he owed much of
his success to his excellent generalship; for although enormously
outnumbered by the enemy, he not only avoided being surrounded by
them, but was able to outflank their left with his own right wing, and
by this manoeuvre completely defeated the Persians. He himself fought
among the foremost, and, according to Chares, was wounded in the thigh
by Darius himself.
Pages:
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493