Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/149

 DARIUS ADVANCES INTO KILIKIA. 117 Araanus into Kilikia.i lo cro3S, by any pass, over such a range as that of Mount Amanus, with a numerous army, heavy baggage, and ostentatious train (including all the suite necessary for the regal f;xmily), must have been a work of no inconsiderable time ; and the only two passes over this mountain were, both of them, narrow and easily defensible.^ Darius followed the northernmost of the two, winch brought him into the rear of his enemj Thus at the same time that the Macedonians were marching southward to cross Mount Amanus by the southern pass, and at- tack Darius in the plain — Darius was coming over into Kilikia by the northern pass to drive them before him back into ]Mace- donia.3 Reaching Issus, seemingly about two days after they had left it, he became master of their sick and wounded left in the town. With odious brutality, his grandees impelled him to inflict upon these poor men either death or amputation of hands and arms.^ He then marched forward — along the same road by the shore of the Gulf which had already been followed by Alexander — and encamped on the banks of the river Pinarus. The fugitives from Issus hastened to inform Alexander, whom they overtook at Myriandrus. So astonished was he, that lie refused to believe the news, until it had been confirmed by some officers whom he sent northward along the coast of the Gulf in a small galley, and to whom the vast Persian multitude on the shore was distinctly visible. Then, assembling the chief officers, he communicated to them the near approach of the enemy, ex- ' An-ian, ii. 6 ; Curtius, iii. 8, 2; Diodor. xvii. 32. ^ Cicero, Epist. acl Famil. xv. 4. Sec the instractive commentary of Miitzell ad Curtium, iii. 8, p. 103, 104. I have given in an Appendix to this Volume, some explanatory comments on the ground near Issus. ' Plutarch (Alcxand. 20) states this general fact correctly ; but he is mis- taken in saying that the two armies missed one another in the night, etc. that about a fortnight before, Alexander had sent Parmenio forward from Tarsus to secure the Gates of Kilikia and Syria, while he himself marched backward to Soli and Anchilaus. He and Parmenio must have been sep- arated at this time by a distance, not less than eight days of ordinary march. If during this interval, Darius had arrived at Issus, h3 would have been just between them, and would hare cut them off one from the other. It waa Alexander's (^ood luck that sc grave an embarrassment,did not occur
 * Arrian, ii. 7, 2 ; Curtius, iii. 8, 14. I have mentioned, a few pages back,