Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/112

 80 HISTOEY OF GREECE. TJnuble to appreciate Alexander's military superiority, and con* gcious at the same time of their own personal bravery, the} re- pudiated the proposition of retreat as dishonorable, insinualiiij» that Memnon desired to prolong the war in order to exalt liis own importance in the eyes of Darius. This sentiment of mili- tary dignity was farther strengthened by the fact, that the Pei-- f ian military leaders, deriving all their revenues from the land, would have been impoverished by destroying the landed pro- duce. Arsites, in whose territory the army stood, and upon whom the scheme would first take effect, haughtily announced that he would not permit a single house in it to be burnt.^ Oc- cupying the same satrapy as Phamabazus had possessed sixty years before, he felt that he would be reduced to the same sti-aits as Pharnabazus under the pressure of Agesilaus — *' of not being able to pi-ocure a dinner in his own country.""^ The proposition of Memnon was rejected, and it was resolved to await the arrival of Alexander on the banks of the river Granikus. This unimportant stream, commemorated in the Iliad, and im- mortalized by its association with the name of Alexander, takes its rise from one of the heights of Mount Ida near Skepsis,^ and flows northward into the Propontis, which it reaches at a point somewhat east of the Greek town of Parium. It is of no great depth : near the point where the Persians encamped, it seems to have been fordable in many places ; but its right bank was some« what high and steep, thus offeruig obstruction to an enemy's at- tack. The Persians, marching forward from Zeleia, took up a position near the eastern side of the Granikus, where the last declivities of Mount Ida descend into the plain of Adrasteia, a Greek city situated between Priapus and Parium.^ Meanwhile Alexander marched onward towards this position, from Arisbe (where he had reviewed his ai-my) — on the first ' Arriaii, i. 12, 18. * Xcnophon, Hellenic, iv. 1, 33. ' Stralio, xiii. p. 602. The rivers Skamandcr, ^TEsepus, and Granikus, all rise from the same height, called Kotylus. This comes from Deme- trius, a native of Skepsis. "prima congressio in campis Adrastiis fuit." Justin, xi. 6: compare Stra bo. xiii. p. 587, 588.
 * Diodor. xvii. 18, 19. Ot (iupj3apot, rf/v irrupELav Ka-ei/^Ti/ifiivot, etc