Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/217

 DARIUS PUT TO DEATH BY BESSUS. 185 advance in Iheir flight ; upon which Alexander, notwithstanding the exhaustion both of men and horses, pushed on with increased speed through all the night to the ensuing day at noon. He there found himself in the village where Bessus had encamped on the preceding day. Yet learning from deserters that his en- emies had resolved to hasten their retreat by night marches, he despaired of overtaking them, unless he could find some shorter road. He was informed that there was another shorter, but leading through a waterless desert. Setting out by this road late in the day with his cavalry, he got over no less than forty- five miles during the night, so as to come on Bessus by complete surprise on the following morning. The Persians, marching in disorder without arms, and having no expectation of an enemy, were so panic-struck at the sudden appearance of their indefati- gable conqueror, that they dispersed and fled without any attempt to resist. In this critical moment, Bessus and Barsaentes urged Darius to leave his chariot, mount his horse, and accompany them in their flight. But he refused to comply. They were determined however that he should not fall alive into the hands of Alexander, whereby his name would have been employed against them, and would have materially lessened their chance of defending the eastern provinces ; they were moreover incensed by his refusal, and had contracted a feeling of hatred and con- tempt to which they were glad to give effect. Casting their ja- velins at him, they left him mortally wounded, and then pursued their flight.^ His chariot, not distinguished by any visible mark, nor known even to the Persian soldiers themselves, was for some time not detected by the pursuers. At length a Macedonian soldier named Polystratus found him expiring, and is said to have received his last words ; wherein he expressed thanks to Alexander for the kind treatment of his captive female relatives, and satisfaction that the Persian throne, lost to himself, was ' " Rams apud Medos regura cruor; unaque cuncto Poena manet generi ; quamvis crudelibus aeque Paretur dominis." (Claudian. in Eutrop. ii. p. 478 ) Court conspiracies and assassinations of the prince, however were not uu known either among the Achaemenidae or the Arsaicidac. 16*