Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/219

 HALT AT REKATOMPYLUS. 137 battle of Issus, and abandonment of Tyre and Gaza, in the fond hope of repurchasing queens whom he had himself exposed to captivity — lastly, what is still less pardonable, his personal cowardice in both the two decisive battles deliberately brought about by himself. If we follow his conduct throughout the strug- gle, we shall find little of that which renders a defeated prince either respectable or interesting. Those who had the greatest i-eason to denounce and despise him were his friends and his countrymen, whom he possessed ample means of defending, yet threw those means away. On the other hand, no one had better grounds for indulgence towards him than his conqueror; for whom he had kept unused the countless treasures of the three capitals, and for whom he had lightened in every way the diffi- culties of a conquest, in itself hardly less than impracticable.^ The recent forced march, undertaken by Alexander for the purpose of securing Darius as a captive, had been distressing in the extreme to his soldiers, who required a certain period of repose and compensation. This was granted to them at the town of Hekatompylus in Parthia, where the Avhole army was again united. Besides abundant supplies from the neighboring region, the soldiers here received a donative derived from the large booty taken in the camp of Darius.^ In the enjoyment and revelry universal throughout the army, Alexander himself partook. His indulgences in the banquet and in wine-drinking, to which he was always addicted when leisure allowed were ed. In the main they do not contradict the narrative of Arrian, Init ratlier amplify and dilute it. Diodorus (xvii. 73), Plutarch ( Alexand. 42, 43), and Justin (xi. 15) give n") new information. ' Arrian (iii. 22) gives an indulgent criticism on Darius, dwelling chiefly upon his misfortunes, hut calling him uvdpl tu ftiv TzolEjiia, elirep rivl uX^o fiiX-doKu, TE Kat ov (ppevf/pei, etc. • Curtius, vi. 5, 10; vi. 6, 15. Diodor. ::vii. 74. Hekatompylus was an important position, where several roads joined (Polyb. x. 28). It was situ- ated on one of the roads running eastward from the Caspian Gates, on the southern flank of Mount Taurus (Elburz). Its locality cannot he fixed with certainty: Hitter (Erdkunde, part viii. 465, 467) with others conceives it to have been near Damaghan; Forbiger (Handbuch der AUen Geo- graphic, vol. ii. p. 549) places it farther eastward, near Jai-Jerm. Mr. Long notes it on his map, as site « nknown.