Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/139

 IMPORTANCE OF MEMXON'S DEATH. 107 If Alexander was a gainer In respect to his own opeiations by the death of this eminent Rhodian, he was yet more a gainer by the change of poHcy which that event induced Daiius to adopt. The Persian king resolved to renounce the defensive schemes of Memnon, and to take the offensive against the Mace- donians on land. His troops, already summoned from the vari- ous parts of the empire, had partially arrived, and were still coming in.^ Their numbers became greater and greater, amount- ing at length to a vast and multitudinous host, the total of which is given by some as 600,000 men ; by others, as 400,000 in- fantry and 100,000 cavalry. The spectacle of this showy and imposing mass, in every variety of arms, costume, and lan- guage, filled the mind of Darius with confidence ; especially as there were among them between 20,000 and 30,000 Gre- cian mercenaries. The Persian courtiers, themselves elate and sanguine, stimulated and exaggerated the same feeling in the king himself, who became confirmed in his persuasion that his enemies could never resist him. From Sogdiana, Baktria, and India, the contingents had not yet had time to arrive ; but most of those between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian sea had come in — Persians, Medes, Armenians, Derbikes, Barkanians, Hyrkanians, Kardakes, etc. ; all of whom, mustered in the plains of Mesopotamia, are said to have been counted, like the troops of Xerxes in the plain of Doriskus, by paling off a space capable of containing exactly 10,000 men, and passing all the soldiers through it in succession.^ Neither Darius himself, nor any of those around him, had ever before seen so overwhelming a mani- festation of the Persian imperial force. To an Oriental eye, in- capable of appreciating the real conditions of military preponder- ance, — accustomed only to the gross and visible computation of numbers and physical strength, — the king who marched forth at the head of such an army appeared like a god on earth, certain to trample down all before him — just as most Greeks had con- ^ Diodor. xvii. 30, 31. Diodorus represents tlie Persian king as liaving begun to issue letters of convocation for the troops, after he heard the death of Memnon ; which cannot be true. Tre letters must have been sent out before.
 * Curtius, ill. 2.