Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/185

 INACTION OF DARIUS. 153 But he was paralyzed by the fact, that his mother, liis wite. and several of his children, had fallen into the hands of the con queror. Among the countless advantages growing out of the victory of Issus, this acquisition was not the least. It placed Darius in the condition of one who had given hostages for good behavior to his enemy. The Persian kings were often in the habit of exacting from satraps or generals the deposit of their wives and families, as a pledge for fidelity ; and Darius himself had received this guarantee from Memnon, as a condition of en- trusting him with the Persian fleet.' Bound by the like chains himself, towards one who had now become his superior, Darius was afraid to act with energy, lest success should bring down evil upon his captive family. By allowing Alexander to subdue unopposed all the territory west of the Euphrates, he hoped to be allowed to retain his empire eastward, and to ransom back his family at an enormous price. Such propositions did satisfy Par- menio, and would probably have satisfied even Philip, had Philip been the victor. The insatiate nature of Alexander had not yet been fully proved. It was only when the latter contemptuously rejected everything short of surrender at discretion, that Darius began to take measures east of the Euphrates for defending what yet remained. The conduct of Alexander towards the regal hostages, honor- able as it was to his sentiment, evinced at the same time that he knew their value as a subject of political negotiation.^ It was ' Diodoi'. xvii. 23. Compare Xenophon, Anabasis, i. 4, 9 ; Herodotus, vii. 10. visit Statira the wife of Darius, is exaggerated even to absurdity. In regard to women, Alexander was by temperament cold, the opposite of his father Philip. During his youth, his development was so tardy, that there was even a surmise of some physical disability (Hieronymus ap. Athenae. x. p. 435). As to the most beautiful persons, of both sexes, he had only to refuse the numerous tenders made to him by those who sought to gain his favor (Plutarch, Alex. 22). Moreover, after the capture of Damascus, he did select for himself, from among the female captives. Bar- sine, the widow of his illustrious rival Memnon ; daughter of Artabazus, a beautiful woman of engaging manners, and above all, distinguished, by having received Hellenic education, from the simply Oriental haiera of Darius (Plutarch, Alex. 21). In adopting the widow of Memnon as hia
 * The praise bestowed upon the continence of Alexander, for n fusing tc