318 



Gradus ad Aornon. 



[No. 4. 



Arrian. 

 sent report to Alexander that the 

 fires of the enemy exceeded those 

 of their own camp. Alexander 

 leaving a party to protect his camp 

 led up his force in three columns 

 upon the enemy. Ptolemy again 

 had to attack a force upon a hill. 

 After much fighting the enemy 

 were routed leaving 40,000 pri- 

 soners and above 230,000 oxen, 

 of which Alexander selected the 

 strongest to send to Macedonia 

 to till the land. 



" Thence he came into the coun- 

 try of the Assakenoi, for he had 

 heard that they had made the 

 most warlike preparations, having 

 20,000 horse and above 30,000 

 foot and 30 elephants. Krateros 

 having already fortified the city, 

 to build which he had been left 

 behind, brought up to Alexander 

 the heavier armed of the force, 

 and the War engines in case 

 they might be wanted for a 

 siege. But Alexander, leading the 

 companion horse and the mount- 

 ed Javelineers and the corps of 

 Koinos and of Poluperchos and 

 the Agrians, a thousand strong, 

 and the archers, came against the 

 Assakenoi. Eor he went through 

 the country of the Gouraioi and 

 with difficulty passed the river 

 (called after the country Grouraios) 

 on account of its depth, its vio- 



Curtius. 

 woody mountains. Therefore he 

 passed Acadera alike deserted of 

 its inhabitants by flight. There- 

 fore necessity altered the form of 

 warfare. For dividing his forces 

 he appeared in arms at many 

 points at once. And all who 

 awaited the enemy, overwhelmed, 

 were conquered with like slaugh- 

 ter. Ptolemy took more, Alexan- 

 der larger cities ; and again he 

 re-assembled his divided forces. 

 Then the river Choaspis being 

 past he left Cosnos (Koinos) to 

 besiege an opulent city (the in- 

 habitants call it Bezira) he him- 

 self came to Mazaga. Assakenos, 

 whose kingdom it was, having 

 lately deceased, his mother (per- 

 haps the child's mother is meant) 

 Cleophes, presided over the coun- 

 try and the city. Thirty thou- 

 sand foot held the town, protected 

 not only by its position but by 

 art also. For where it faces the 

 East it is girt with a torrent, 

 which with its precipitous banks 

 impedes access to the city. On 

 the West and South, as if by art, 

 nature has piled up towering 

 rocks, below which caverns and 

 chasms, worn by ages, yawn to 

 great depth : and where they 

 cease, a ditch of mighty labour in- 

 terposes. A wall of thirty-five 

 stadia (4^ miles) encloses the 



