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

xxvni.BABYLON, SUSA. THE UXIANS. OCTOBER TO DECEM-BER, B. C. 331.Alexander marched on Babylon, fearing a second Tyre.With walls threehundred feet high, it could well have delayed him as long as did the queen cityof Phoenicia.But Mazieus, who, after his gallant efforts at Gaugamela, hadretreated on the capital, deemed it wise to surrender the city.He received hisdue reward.Here Alexander gave his men a long and well-earned rest, and distributedto them a handsome gratuity out of the treasures taken from the GreatKing, and here, too, Alexander made a number of army changes, fitting theorganization to its new conditions. Babylon became a secondary base. Susahad also been surrendered, with its vast treasures, to an advance column, whichAlexander had sent thither from Arbela. The next objective was Persepolis. Toreach this home of the Persian monarchs, Alexander had to cross several riversand an Alpine range ; but, though it was now winter, he set out. The first oppositionhe encountered on the way was at the defile of the Uxians, who hadfor generations compelled a tribute for passage even from the Great King,This defile Alexander captured by a clever manoeuvre, and reduced the Uxiansto submission.From Arbela the fugitive king fledthrough the mountainsof Armenia towards Media, with the remnants of the Bactriancavalry under Bessus, the " kinsmen," a few applebearers,and a handful of Greek mercenaries, all told somesix thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry.Ariobarzanes,one of his generals, who had commanded part of theRed Sea troops, rescued from the turmoil a force stated atfrom twenty-five to forty thousand men, and retired to defendthe Persian Gates. Anticipating that Alexander wouldmarch on Babylon and Susa, the great prizes of the campaign,Darius retired in a quite opposite direction towardsEcbatana, where it would have been difficult for an army to