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

280 PISIDIA REDUCED.by Alexander in person. Undismayed at the formidablearray of the phalanx, the mountaineers showed wonderfuldevotion, rushing in crowds upon the line of sarissas, in frontof which they fell by hundreds in a vain effort to break itdown. But they found the Macedonians as immovable astheir own native rocks, and confessing the hopelessness oftheir task, but hoping to try conclusions again, dispersed allover the surrounding country in places where the Macedonians,heavily armed and ignorant of the ground, did notdeem it wise to attempt to follow. About five hundred ofthe barbarians had been slain. This dispersion, however,worked them no good. It was at once taken advantage ofby the king, who advanced on and stormed the town, capturingit without difficulty in its half-deserted condition.Therehad fallen in this combat about twenty Macedonians, includingCleander, the general of the archers, — the second chiefof this gallant body killed in action.At this point Alexander made a halt, and undertook anumber of expeditions against the rest of the strongholds ofPisidia.By taking some by storm, and by granting terms toothers, he managed inno great time, and without any singlecase ofnoteworthy opposition, to reduce the entire country tohis control, so far as it was essential to protect himself inhisonward march. The road to the upland plains beyond thisrange was open to him, without leaving danger in his rear.The king now marched into Phrygia, leaving Lake Ascaniaon his left, and readied Cel^enae in five marches. Thiscity lay in the mountains at theheadwaters of the Maeander,and had been constructed by Xerxes, after his defeat by theGreeks, as a bulwark against their expected advance.It wasbuilt on an inaccessible rock and could have made an interminabledefense ;but the garrison, consisting of one thousandCarians and one hundred Greek mercenaries, headed by the