Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/283

 ALEXANDER AT BABYLON. 251 {he interminable marshes stretching out near the western bank. The shiice being reported not to work well, he projected the con- struction of a new one somewhat farther down. He then sailed through the Pallakopas in order to survey the marshes, together with the tombs of the ancient Assyrian kings which had been erected among them. Himself steering his vessel, with the kausia on his head, and the regal diadem above it,* he passed some time among these lakes and swamps, which were so exten- sive that his fleet lost the way among them. He stayed long enough also to direct, and even commence, the foundation of a new city, in what seemed to him a convenient spot.^ On returning to Babylon, Alexander found large reinforce- ments arrived there — partly under Philoxenus, Menander, and Menidas, from Lydia and Karia — partly 20,000 Persians, under Peukestes the satrap. He caused these Persians to be incor- porated in the files of the Macedonian phalanx. According to the standing custom, each of these files was sixteen deep, and each soldier was armed with the long pike or sarissa wielded by two hands ; the lochage, or front-rank man, being always an ofK- cer receiving double pay, of great strength and attested valor — and those second and third in the file, as well as the rearmost man of all, being likewise strong and good men, receiving larger pay than the rest. Alexander, in his new arrangement, retained the three first ranks and the rear rank unchanged, as well as the same depth of file ; but he substituted twelve Persians in place of the twelve Macedonians who followed after the third-rank man ; so that the file was composed first of the lochage and two other chosen Macedonians, each armed with the sarissa — then of twelve Persians armed in their own manner with bow or jave- lin — lastly, of a Macedonian with his sarissa bringing up the the rear.^ In this Macedonico-Persian file, the front would have ' Arrian, vii. 22, 2, 3 ; Strabo, xvi. p. 741. ^ Arrian, vii. 21, 11. n6?uv i^uno^ufirjai re Kal eTe'txioe. ^ Arrian, vii. 2.3, 5. Even when performing the purely military operation of passing these soldiers in review, inspecting their exercise, and determia ing their array, — Alexander sat upon the regal throne, surrounded by Asiatic eunuchs : his principal officers sat upon couches with silver feet, near to him (Arrian, vii. 2t, 4). This is among the evidences of Iiis altered manners.