Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

HONORS TO THE DEAD. 249The loss then, in killed, at the Granicus, o£ the three thousandhorse headed by Alexander, was less than three per cent-Cavalry never loses as heavily as infantry ; the organizationof mounted troops does not enable them to stand up to decimationso well as foot.The fighting ranks high as a combatof cavalry, and victory was won against vast odds.If we estimatethe wounded at ten to one, the loss was thirty-one percent., exceptionally high for cavalry, high for any body ofmen. We shall recur to these statistics often. It is well tobear the percentages in mind.These first Macedonian brave to perish at the Granicus hadstatues by Lysippus erected in their memory ; they were buriedin full armor and with the greatest honors, and their familieswere relieved from taxes and handsomely provided for. Thewounded were treated with the highest consideration. Alexanderpersonally visited each and listened to the story of hisprowess. The Persians and Greek mercenaries were alsoburied, and plundering was prohibited ; but the Greek prisonerswere sent to Macedonia in chain-gangs, to till the soil,for ha\ang, contrary to the decision of the associated cities atCorinth, entered the service of the Persian king and madewar on Greeks. Such Thebans as happened to be amongthem, the king let off scot-free. Three hundred panoplieswere sent to Athens to be dedicated in the Acropolis withthis inscription :" Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks,except the Lacedcemonians, present these spoils of the foreignerinhabiting Asia." Booty was freely distributed to allthe soldiers to whet their appetite for more.The battle of the Granicus was courageously but unintelligentlyfought by the Persians, who relied upon courageinstead of tactics, and put their infantry to no use whatever.And yet this infantry was one of the largest and bestbodies of foot the Persian army had so far had, and capa-