Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/269

 ALEXANDER REACHES SUSA. 237 During the halt in Karmania Alexander had the satisfaction of seeing his admiral Nearchus,* who had brought the fleet round from the mouth of the Indus to the harbor called Hannozeia (Or- muz), not far from the entrance of the Persian Gulf; a voyage of much hardship and distress, along the barren coasts of the Ori- tsc, the Gedrosians, and the Ichthjophagi.2 Nearchus, highly commended and honored, was presently sent back to complete his voyage as far as the mouth of the Euphrates ; while He- phaestion also was directed to conduct the larger portion of the ai-my, with the elephants and heavy baggage, by the road near the coast from Karmania into Persis. This road, though circui- tous, was the most convenient, as it was now the winter season ;' but Alexander himself, with the lighter divisions of his army, took the more direct mountain road from Karmania to Pasarga- dsc and Persepolis. Visiting the tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian empire, he was incensed to find it violated and pillaged. He caused it to be carefully restored, put to death a Macedonian named Polymachus as the offender, and tortured the Magian guardians of it for the purpose of discovering accom- plices, but in vain.* Orsines, satrajj of Persis, was however ac- cused of connivance in the deed, as well as of various acts of murder and spoliation : according to Curtius, he was not only innocent, but had manifested both good faith and devotion to Al- exander ; ^ in spite of which he became a victim of the hostility of the favorite eunuch Bagoas, who both poisoned the king's mind with calumnies of his own, and suborned other accusers with false 1 Nearchus had begun his voyage about the end of September, or begin ning of October ( Arrian, Indie. 21 ; Strabo, xv. p. 721 ). 3 Arrian, vi. 28, 12-29, 1. Persarum, nee insontis modo, sed eximire quoque benignitatis in regem." The great favor which the beautiful eunuch Bagoas (though Arrian does not mention him) enjoyed with Alexander, and the exalted position which he occupied, are attested 1 y good contemporary evidence, especially the philosopher Dikacarchus — see Athenae. xiii. p. 603 ; Dikrearch. Fragm. 19. ap. Hist. Grsec. Fragm. Didot, vol. ii. p. 241. Compare the Fragments of Eumenes and Diodotus (.^lian, V. H. iii. 23) in Didot, Fragm. Scriptot Hist. Alex. Magni, p. 121 ; Plutarch De Adul et Amic. Discrim. p. 6.5.
 * Arrian, vi. 28, 7 ; Arrian, Indica, c. 33-37.
 * Plutarch, Alex. 69 ; Arrian, vi. 29, 17 ; Strabo, xv. p. 730.
 * Arrian, vi. 30, 2; Curtius, x. 1, 23-38. "Hie fuit exitus noLilissimi