Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/153

 BATTLE Of ISSUS. 121 Having thus formed his array, after giving the troops a cer- tain halt after their march, he advanced at a very slow pace, anxious to maintain his own front even, and anticipating that the enemy might cross the Pinarus to meet him. But as they did not move, he continued his adv^ance, preserving the uniformity of the front, until he arrived within bowshot, when he himself, at the head of his cavalry, hypaspists, and divisions of the pha- lanx on the right, accelerated his pace, crossed the river at a quick step, and fell upon the Kardakes or Asiatic hoplites on the Persian left. Unprepared for the suddenness and vehemence of this attack, these Kardakes scarcely resisted a moment, but gave way as soon as they came to close quarters, and fled, vigorously pressed by the Macedonian right. Darius, who was in his cha- riot in the centre, perceived that this untoward desertion ex- posed his person from the left flank. Seized with panic, he caused his chariot to be turned round, and fled with all speed among the foremost fugitives.* He kept to his chariot as lon^ back — a material point in reference to the battle — arc noticed by Cur litis, iii. 9, II. 1 Arrian. ii. 11, 6. Ev}vg. (if eix^v ettI rov up/iaror^ avv role ttjjcjtoic f(j>evye, etc. This simple statement of Arrian is far more credililc ilian the highly wrought details given by Diodorus (xvii. 34) and Curtius (iii 11, 9) about a direct charge of Alexander upon the chariot of Darius, and a murderous combat immediately round that chariot, in which the horses became wounded and unmanageable, so as to be on the point of overturning it. Chares even went so far as to affirm that Alexander had come into personal conflict with Darius, from whom he had received his wound in the thigh (Plutarch, Alex. 20). riutarch had seen the letter addressed by Alexander to Antipater, simply intimating that he had received a slight wound in tiie thigh. In respect to this point, as to so many others, Diodorus and Curiiu3 have copied the same authority. Kallisthencs (ap. Polyb. xii. 22) stated that Alexander had laid his plan of attack with a view to bear upon the person of Darius, which is not improbable (compare Xenoph. Anab. i. 8, 22), and was in fact realized, since the first successful charge of the Macedonians came so near to Darius as to alarm him for the safety of his own person. To the question put by Polybius — How did Alexander know in what part of the army Darius was ? — we may reply, that the chariot and person of Darius would doubt- less be conspicuous : moreover the Persian kings were habitually in the VOL XII. 11