The Anabasis of Alexander : $b or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great

THE

  ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER.




  THE

  ANABASIS OF ALEXANDER;

  OR,

  The History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great.

  _LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH A COMMENTARY,
  FROM THE GREEK OF ARRIAN THE NICOMEDIAN_,

  BY

  E. J. CHINNOCK, M.A., LL.B., LONDON,

  _Rector of Dumfries Academy_.


  London:

  HODDER AND STOUGHTON,

  27, PATERNOSTER ROW.

  MDCCCLXXXIV.

  Butler & Tanner,
  The Selwood Printing Works,
  Frome, and London.




PREFACE.


When I began this Translation, more than two years ago, I had no
intention of publishing it; but as the work progressed, it occurred
to me that Arrian is an Author deserving of more attention from the
English-speaking races than he has yet received. No edition of his
works has, so far as I am aware, ever appeared in England, though on
the Continent many have been published. In the following Translation I
have tried to give as literal a rendering of the Greek text as I could
without transgressing the idioms of our own language. My theory of the
duty of a Translator is, to give the _ipsissima verba_ of his Author
as nearly as possible, and not put into his mouth words which he never
used, under the mistaken notion of improving his diction or his way of
stating his case. It is a comparatively easy thing to give a paraphrase
of a foreign work, presenting the general drift of the original; but no
one, unless he has himself tried it, can understand the difficulty of
translating a classical Author correctly without omission or mutilation.

In the Commentary which I have compiled, continual reference has been
made to the other extant authorities on the history of Alexander,
such as Diodorus, Plutarch, Curtius, Justin, and Aelian; so that I
think I may safely assert that, taking the Translation and the Notes
together, the book forms a complete history of Alexander’s reign. Much
geographical and other material has also been gathered from Herodotus,
Strabo, Pliny, and Ammianus; and the allusions to the places which are
also mentioned in the Old Testament are given from the Hebrew.

As Arrian lived in the second century of the present era, and nearly
five hundred years after Demosthenes, it is not to be expected that he
wrote classical Greek. There are, however, at least a dozen valuable
Greek authors of this century whose works are still extant, and of
these it is a safe statement to make, that Arrian is the best of them
all, with the single exception of Lucian. I have noticed as many of his
deviations from Attic Greek constructions as I thought suitable to a
work of this kind. A complete index of Proper Names has been added, and
the quantities of the vowels marked for the aid of the English Reader.
In the multiplicity of references which I have put into the Notes, I
should be sanguine if I imagined that no errors will be found; but if
such occur, I must plead as an excuse the pressure of work which a
teacher in a large school experiences, leaving him very little energy
for literary labour.

  E. J. C.

  DUMFRIES,
  _December, 1883_.




CONTENTS.


                                                                  PAGE

  Life and Writings of Arrian                                        1

  Arrian’s Preface                                                   6


  BOOK I.

  CHAP.

  I. Death of Philip and Accession of Alexander.—His Wars
       with the Thracians                                            8

  II. Battle with the Triballians                                   12

  III. Alexander at the Danube and in the Country of the
         Getae                                                      14

  IV. Alexander destroys the City of the Getae.—The Ambassadors
        of the Celts                                                16

  V. Revolt of Clitus and Glaucias                                  18

  VI. Defeat of Clitus and Glaucias                                 22

  VII. Revolt of Thebes (_September_, B.C. 335)                     25

  VIII. Fall of Thebes                                              28

  IX. Destruction of Thebes                                         31

  X. Alexander’s Dealings with Athens                               34

  XI. Alexander crosses the Hellespont and visits Troy              36

  XII. Alexander at the Tomb of Achilles.—Memnon’s advice
         Rejected by the Persian Generals                           38

  XIII. Battle of the Granicus (B.C. 334)                           41

  XIV. Arrangement of the Hostile Armies                            43

  XV. Description of the Battle of the Granicus                     45

  XVI. Defeat of the Persians.—Loss on Both Sides                   47

  XVII. Alexander in Sardis and Ephesus                             50

  XVIII. Alexander marches to Miletus and Occupies the
           Island of Lade                                           52

  XIX.