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he found good fortune there also, lightening the difficulty of that journey. For rains came, which averted the danger from the lack of water and made the air temperate, as the sand was moistened and packed down by the wetness. But when the landmarks of the road were obscured, its guides were lost; but ravens flying overhead guided the journey for those with him, and if any, marching slowly, were left behind, they brought them back at night with their cries. Thus, when he had passed through the difficult part of the journey and arrived at Ammon's, the prophet there, wishing to address him in the Greek language, used a barbarism at the end of the address, saying *o paidios* instead of *o paidion*. And the barbarism gave many the opinion that Alexander's birth was from the gods, as the story spread that the prophet said to him, 'O son of Zeus.' And he, toward the barbarians, boasted of his birth from the god, so that Olympias even said, "Will Alexander not cease slandering me to Hera?" but toward the Greeks he was sparing of the statement. 1.292 And once, having been wounded by an arrow, as blood was flowing from the wound, he said, "What is flowing is blood and not ichor, such as flows in the blessed gods." And when Darius wrote to him, offering ten thousand talents as a ransom for his dearest ones and ceding to him all the land within the Euphrates and making him a friend by marrying one of his daughters, Parmenion said, "If I were Alexander, I would have taken these things;" "And I too," he said, "by Zeus, if I were Parmenion." But he wrote back to Darius that if he came to him, he would not fail to receive any humane treatment. And one of the eunuchs of Darius's wife ran away, and having been saved and brought to him, announced the death of the queen; for she had died in childbirth. And Darius lamented, saying that not only had the queen become a captive, but she had also not received a royal burial. And the eunuch said, "But take courage, O master." "For neither my mistress while living, nor your mother and children, have experienced any ill, nor when she died was she deprived of a fitting burial, but she was even honored with the tears of her enemies." At these words Darius fell into strange suspicions, and taking the eunuch aside privately, he bound him with oaths to say if any passion had occurred on Alexander's part regarding his wife. "For how," he said, "by an enemy, and a young man at that, was an enemy's wife, as you say, so honored?" But the eunuch, cutting him off, said, "Speak no ill, master, and neither disgrace your wife nor speak evil of Alexander, who has shown more self-control to the Persian women than valor to the Persian men;" and 1.293 he confirmed his words with oaths, recounting Alexander's self-restraint and his other virtue. And Darius prayed to be able to repay Alexander for the good things he had shown to his dearest ones, or that no other might sit upon the throne of Cyrus than Alexander. And now, having taken the land within the Euphrates, Alexander went against Darius, who was leading a hundred myriads of troops. And when the armies came into sight of one another, and it was night, and the fires of the barbarians lit up the plain between them, and a great noise came from the camp, Parmenion and some others of the companions, struck by their number, advised Alexander to attack the enemy at night; for they would not be able to withstand so great an army in a pitched battle. But he said, "I do not steal the victory." On the following day, when the battle was joined, as some say, at Arbela, but as others, at Gaugamela, the barbarians gave way, and there was a pursuit of them. And Alexander, seeing Darius from afar on a high chariot, surrounded by very many splendidly armed horsemen, pushed the fleeing men there, so as to throw into confusion with them those who stood their ground and to scatter many of them. And when many had fallen before Darius, as it was not possible to drive the chariot, being hindered by the fallen bodies, Darius dismounted from it, and mounting a mare, he fled. And he would have been caught, if Parmenion had not sent for Alexander to come to the aid of the

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εὐτυχίαν ευρε κἀκεῖ τὸ ἐργῶδες τῆς πορείας ἐκείνης ἐπικουφίζουσαν. ὑετοὶ γὰρ γενόμενοι τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀνυδρίας κίνδυνον διεκρούσαντο καὶ τὸν ἀέρα εὐκραῆ πεποιήκασιν, ὑγρανθείσης τῆς αμμου καὶ συμπιληθείσης ἐκ τῆς ὑγρότητος. τῶν δὲ τῆς ὁδοῦ γνωρισμάτων συγχυθέντων οἱ ταύτης ἡγεμόνες πεπλάνηντο· κόρακες δὲ ὑπεριπτάμενοι τῆς πορείας ἡγοῦντο τοῖς μετ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ ει τινες βραδυποροῦντες ὑπελιμπάνοντο, νυκτὸς ἐκείνους ταῖς κλαγγαῖς ἀνεκόμιζον. ουτω δὲ διελθόντι τῆς πορείας τὸ δύσεργον, καὶ εἰς Αμμωνος φθάσαντι, ὁ ἐκεῖ προφήτης Ελληνι φωνῇ θέλων προσφωνῆσαι αὐτῷ, ἐβαρβάρισε περὶ τὸ τέλος τὸ πρόσρημα, ω παιδίος ἀντὶ τοῦ παιδίον εἰπών. καὶ ὁ βαρβαρισμὸς δόξαν πολλοῖς παρέσχε τοῦ ἐκ θεῶν τοῦ ̓Αλεξάνδρου γεγονέναι τὴν γένεσιν, διαδοθέντος λόγου οτι παῖ ∆ιὸς ὁ προφήτης ειπεν αὐτῷ. κἀκεῖνος πρὸς μὲν τοὺς βαρβάρους ἐμεγαλαύχει τὴν γένεσιν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς καὶ τὴν ̓Ολυμπιάδα λέγειν "οὐ παύσεται διαβάλλων με πρὸς τὴν Ηραν ὁ ̓Αλέξανδρος;" πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Ελληνας τοῦ λόγου ἐφείδετο. 1.292 βέλει δέ ποτε τρωθείς, αιματος ἐκ τῆς πληγῆς καταρρέοντος "τὸ ῥέον" ειπεν "αιμα καὶ οὐκ ἰχὼρ οιός πέρ τε ῥέει μακάρεσσι θεοῖσιν." ὡς δὲ ὁ ∆αρεῖος ἐπέστειλεν αὐτῷ, μύρια μὲν τάλαντα διδοὺς λύτρον τῶν φιλτάτων αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐντὸς Εὐφράτου πάσης αὐτῷ ἐξιστάμενος καὶ φίλον αὐτὸν ποιούμενος μίαν τῶν θυγατέρων αὐτοῦ γήμαντα, ὁ Παρμενίων "εἰ ̓Αλέξανδρος" ειπεν "ημην, ελαβον αν ταῦτα·" "κἀγώ" εφη "νὴ ∆ία, εἰ Παρμενίων." ἀντεπέστειλε δὲ τῷ ∆αρείῳ, εἰ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀφίκηται, μή τινος ἀτυχῆσαι τῶν φιλανθρώπων. ἀποδρὰς δέ τις τῶν εὐνούχων τῆς γυναικὸς ∆αρείου, καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον διασωθείς, τὸν θάνατον τῆς βασιλίσσης ἀπήγγειλεν· εφθη γὰρ θανοῦσα ἐκ τοκετοῦ. ∆αρεῖος δὲ ἀνεκλαύσατο, φήσας οτι οὐ μόνον αἰχμάλωτος ἡ βασίλισσα γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταφῆς βασιλικῆς οὐ τετύχηκε. καὶ ὁ εὐνοῦχος "ἀλλὰ θάρρει, ω δέσποτα," εφη. ουτε γὰρ ζῶσά μου ἡ δέσποινα καὶ ἡ μήτηρ ἡ σὴ καὶ τὰ τέκνα κακοῦ τινος ἐπειράθησαν, ουτ' ἀποθανοῦσα ταφῆς ἐκείνη πρεπούσης ἠμοίρησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολεμίων τετίμηται δάκρυσι." τούτοις ὁ ∆αρεῖος εἰς ὑποψίας ἀτόπους ἐνέπεσε, καὶ τὸν εὐνοῦχον ἰδίᾳ παραλαβών, ορκοις προκατελάμβανεν εἰπεῖν, ει τις περὶ τὴν γυναῖκα γέγονε τῷ ̓Αλεξάνδρῳ ἐμπάθεια. "πῶς γάρ" ελεγε "παρ' ἐχθροῦ καὶ νέου ἀνδρὸς πολεμίου γυνή, ὡς εφης, ουτω τετίμηται;" ὁ δ' εὐνοῦχος τὸν λόγον ἐγκόψας "εὐφήμει, δέσποτα," εφη "καὶ μήτε τὴν γυναῖκα καταίσχυνε μήτ' αυ κακηγόρει ̓Αλέξανδρον, ος πλέον ταῖς Περσίσι τὸ σῶφρον η τοῖς Πέρσαις τὸ γενναῖον ἐνέφηνε·" καὶ 1.293 ορκοις τοὺς λόγους ἐβεβαίου, περὶ τῆς ἐγκρατείας ̓Αλεξάνδρου καὶ τῆς αλλης ἀρετῆς διηγούμενος. καὶ ὁ ∆αρεῖος ηυχετο δυνηθῆναι ἀμείψασθαι τὸν ̓Αλέξανδρον ων εἰς τὰ φίλτατα καλῶν ἐνεδείξατο, η μὴ αλλον εἰς τὸν Κύρου καθίσαι θρόνον η τὸν ̓Αλέξανδρον. Ηδη δὲ τὴν ἐντὸς Εὐφράτου χώραν παρειληφὼς ὁ ̓Αλέξανδρος ἐπὶ ∆αρεῖον ἀπῄει ἑκατὸν μυριάδας στρατοῦ ἐπαγόμενον. ὡς δ' ἐν οψει ἀλλήλων ἐγένοντο τὰ στρατεύματα, καὶ νὺξ ην, καὶ τὸ μεταξὺ πεδίον τὰ πυρὰ τῶν βαρβάρων κατέλαμπον, καὶ θόρυβος ἐκ τοῦ στρατοπέδου προσήχει πολύς, Παρμενίων καὶ αλλοι τῶν ἑταίρων τινὲς ἐκπλαγέντες τὸ πλῆθος συνεβούλευον ̓Αλεξάνδρῳ νυκτὸς ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις· μὴ γὰρ αν δυνηθῆναι κατὰ συστάδην ἀντιστῆναι τοσούτῳ στρατεύματι. ὁ δέ "οὐ κλέπτω τὴν νίκην" ειπε· τῇ δ' ἐπιούσῃ τῆς μάχης συγκροτηθείσης, ὡς μέν τινές φασιν, ἐν ̓Αρβήλοις, ὡς δ' ετεροι, ἐν Γαυσαμήλοις, οἱ βάρβαροι ἐνέκλιναν, καὶ ην αὐτῶν διωγμός. ̓Αλέξανδρος δὲ πόρρωθεν τὸν ∆αρεῖον ἰδὼν ἐφ' αρματος ὑψηλοῦ, ἱππόταις πλείστοις καὶ λαμπρῶς ὡπλισμένοις περικυκλούμενον, ἐκεῖ συνώθει τοὺς φεύγοντας, ωστε τούτοις συνταράξαι τοὺς μένοντας καὶ πολλοὺς σκεδάσαι αὐτῶν. πολλῶν δὲ πεσόντων τοῦ ∆αρείου ἐνώπιον, ὡς οὐκ ην ἐξελάσαι τὸ αρμα τοῖς πτώμασι συνεχόμενον, τούτου μὲν ἀπέβη ∆αρεῖος, θήλειαν δ' ιππον ἀναβεβηκὼς εφυγεν. ἑάλω δ' αν, εἰ μὴ Παρμενίων τὸν ̓Αλέξανδρον μετεπέμψατο ἐπαρήξοντα τῷ