Demon also informs
us that amongst other things the Kings of Persia had water brought
from the Nile and the Danube, and laid up in their treasury, as a
confirmation of the greatness of their empire, and to prove that they
were lords of all the world.
XXXVII. As the district of Persis[412] was very hard to invade, both
because of its being mountainous, and because it was defended by the
noblest of the Persians (for Darius had fled thither for refuge),
Alexander forced his way into it by a circuitous path, which was shown
him by a native of the country, the son of a Lykian captive, by a
Persian mother, who was able to speak both the Greek and the Persian
language. It is said that while Alexander was yet a child, the
prophetess at the temple of Apollo at Delphi foretold that a wolf[413]
should some day serve him for a guide when he went to attack the
Persians. When Persis was taken, a terrible slaughter was made of all
the prisoners. A letter written by Alexander himself is still extant,
in which he orders that they should all be put to the sword, thinking
this to be the safest course. He is said to have found as much coined
money here[414] as in Susa, and so much other treasure that it
required ten thousand carts, each drawn by a pair of mules, and five
thousand camels, to carry it away.
Alexander, observing a large statue of Xerxes which had been thrown
down and was being carelessly trampled upon by the soldiers as they
pressed into the royal palace, stopped, and addressed it as though it
were alive.
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