Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/105

 MACEDONIAN ARMY. 73 cfFective train of projectile machines and engines, for battles and sieges, which we shall soon find in operation. As to money, the military chest of Alexander, exhausted in part by profuse dona- tives to his Macedonian officers,^ was as poorly furnished as that of Napoleon Buonaparte on first entering Italy for his brilliant campaign of 1796. According to Aristobulus, he had with him only seventy talents ; according to another authority, no more than the means of maintaining his army for thirty days. Nor had he even been able to bring together his auxiliaries, or com- plete the outfit of his army, without incurring a debt of 800 tal- ents, in addition to that of 500 talents contracted by his father Philip.'^ Though Plutarch^ wonders at the smallness of the force with which Alexander contemplated the execution of such great projects, yet the fact is, that in infantry he was far above any force which the Persians had to oppose him ; * not to speak of comparative discipline and organization, surpassing cA^cn that of the Grecian mercenaries, who formed the only good infantry in the Persian service ; while his cavalry, though inferior as to number, was superior in quality and in the shock of close com- bat. Most of the officers exercising important command in Alexan- der's army were native Macedonians. His intimate personal friend Hephaistion, as well as his body-guards Leonnatus and Lysimachus, were natives of Pella : Ptolemy the son of Lagus, and Pithon, were Eordians from Upper Macedonia; Kraterus and Perdikkas, from the district of Upper Macedonia called Orestis ; ^ Antipater Avith his son Kassander, Kleitus son of Dropides, Parmenio with his two sons Philotas and Nikanor, ' Plutarch, Alcxand. 15. der himself — and Curtius, x. 2, 24. Otiesikritus stated that Alexander owed at this time a debt of 200 talents (Plutarch, Alex. 15). ^ Plutarch, Fort. Alex. M. i. p. .327 ; Justin, xi. 6. (Fragm. ap. Syncellum, Frag. Histor. Graic. vol. iii. p. 695-698) speaks of Lysimachus as a Thessalian from Kranon; but this jiust be a mistake: compare Justin, xv. 3. VOT. XII. 7
 * Anian, vii. 9, tO — the speech which he puts in the mouth of Alexan-
 * Arrian, i. 13, 4.
 * Arrian, vi. 28, 6; Arrian, Indica, 18; Justin, xv. 3-4. Porphyry