Читать книгу The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great - John Watson McCrindle - Страница 23

When the inhabitants of Bazira heard that Ora had fallen, they regarded their case as desperate, and at the dead of night fled from their city to the Rock, as all the other barbarians were doing, for, having left their cities, they were fleeing to the rock in that land called Aornos;[50] for this is a mighty mass of rock in that part of the country, and a report is current concerning it that even Heraklês, the son of Zeus, had found it to be impregnable. Now whether the Theban, or the Tyrian, or the Egyptian Heraklês penetrated so far as to the Indians[51] I can neither positively affirm nor deny, but I incline to think that he did not penetrate so far; for we know how common it is for men when speaking of things that are difficult to magnify the difficulty by declaring that it would baffle even Heraklês himself. And in the case of this rock my own conviction is that Heraklês was mentioned to make the story of its capture all the more wonderful. The rock is said to have had a circuit of about 200 stadia, and at its lowest elevation a height of eleven stadia.[52] It was ascended by a single path cut by the hand of man, yet difficult. On the summit of the rock there was, it is also said, plenty of pure water which gushed out from a copious spring. There was timber besides, and as much good arable land as required for its cultivation the labour of a thousand men.

Fig. 8.—The Tyrian Heraklês.

Alexander on learning these particulars was seized with an ardent desire to capture this mountain also, the story current about Heraklês not being the least of the incentives. With this in view he made Ora and Massaga strongholds for bridling the districts around them, and at the same time strengthened the defences of Bazira. The division under Hêphaistiôn and Perdikkas fortified for him another city called Orobatis[53] in which they left a garrison and then marched on to the river Indus. On reaching it they began preparing a bridge to span the Indus in accordance with Alexander’s orders.

Alexander now appointed Nikanor, one of the companions, satrap of the country on this side of the Indus,[54] and then first marched himself towards that river and received the submission of the city of Peukelaôtis which lay not far from the Indus. He placed in it a garrison of Macedonian soldiers under the command of Philippos, and then occupied himself in reducing other towns—some small ones—situated near the river Indus.[55] He was accompanied on this occasion by Kôphaios and Assagetês the local chiefs.[56] On reaching Embolima,[57] a city close adjoining the rock of Aornos,[58] he there left Krateros with a part of the army to gather into the city as much corn as possible and all other requisites for a long stay, that the Macedonians having this place as the basis of their operations might, during a protracted siege, wear out the defenders of the rock by famine, should it fail to be captured at the first assault. He himself then advanced to the rock, taking with him the archers, the Agrianians, the brigade of Koinos, the lightest and best-armed men selected from the remainder of the phalanx, 200 of the companion cavalry, and 100 horse-archers. At the end of the day’s march he encamped on what he took to be a convenient site. The next day he advanced a little nearer to the Rock, and again encamped.