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

428 THE MACEDONIANS MURMUR.The army was exhausted, the divisions all strung out alongthe late line of march, at considerable intervals, in what,under other circumstances, might have been a highly dangerouscondition.Indeed, had not Darius been in abject flight,the late pursuit would have been a foolhardy one. Alexanderwas absolutely incapacitated from continuing an immediatepursuit of the traitors. Indeed, he did not at the momentknow their whereabouts. He concentrated and rested hisarmy near Hecatompylus, north of which city the foothills ofthe Parachoathras or Caspian (modern Labuta or Elburz)mountains begin to rise. Thence he decided to invade Hyrcania.He not only desired to obtain a foothold on the CaspianSea, but could not leave the restless tribes in and beyondthe mountains upon his flank and rear as he advanced.For the first time he here had some difficulty ininducinghis men willingly to join in his project. They were tired ofwandering, physically exhausted, and thought that by thedeath ofDarius their work should be at an end, and that thehomeward path should now be trod, or at least the road toBabylon. But the persuasiveness of Alexander was neverovertaxed. By dint of appealing to their loyalty and affections,and by lavish promises for the future, weU sustainedby his generosity in the past, he overcame their scruples.Curtius says that the men were constantly in the habit ofmurmuring. To a certain extent this is true, and the morethey did so, the higher it throws Alexander's ability into reliefin the fact that he, as constantly, persuaded them to followhim and got from them such splendid efforts. His presentobject was not only to conquer Hyrcania, but also to find theGreek mercenaries, who had served under Darius, and punishthem for fighting for pay against their compatriots. Moreover,he suspected that some of the Great King's fleeing nobleswould have taken refuge in Hyrcania, and they, with