Rather ought he to admire Alexander, whose
honourable treatment of the Persian women proved him to be even
greater than did his bravery in vanquishing their men. Those words the
eunuch assured him, with many protestations and oaths, were perfectly
true. Darius, when he heard this, came out of his tent to his friends,
and, raising his hands to heaven, said, "Ye parent gods, who watch
over the Persian throne, grant that I may again restore the fortune of
Persia to its former state, in order that I may have an opportunity of
repaying Alexander in person the kindness which he has shown to those
whom I hold dearest; but if indeed the fated hour has arrived, and the
Persian empire is doomed to perish, may no other conqueror than
Alexander mount the throne of Cyrus." The above is the account given
by most historians of what took place on this occasion.
XXXI. Alexander, after conquering all the country on the higher bank
of the Euphrates, marched to attack Darius, who was advancing to meet
him with an army of a million fighting men.
During this march, one of Alexander's friends told him as a joke, that
the camp-followers had divided themselves into two bodies in sport,
each of which was led by a general, the one called Alexander, and the
other Darius; and that after beginning to skirmish with one another by
throwing clods of earth, they had come to blows of the fist, and had
at length become so excited that they fought with sticks and stones,
and that it was hard to part them.
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