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

502 ROXANA.They provided themselves with ropes, took their iron tentpegs, and selecting the most dangerous, because least watched,spot, began the ascent at midnight, by driving the pegs intothe crevices of the rocks, or into the ice or frozen ground.The operation was hazardous in the extreme, and thirty ofthe climbers fell and were killed.The inaccessibility of theledges is shown by the fact that none of the bodies could berecovered for burial. But by dawn the heights were occupied,and the men made great parade of themselves, wavingtheir white scarfs in token ofsuccess.Alexander now pointed out his " winged soldiers " to thegarrison, sent a herald towards the gate, and again calledon Oxyartes to surrender. The position gained may nothave had any peculiar value in compelling this ; but, astonishedbeyond measure at being thus outdone, and imaginingthe men on the rocks above to be much more numerous thanthey actually were, and fully armed, the whole thing savoring,moreover, of the supernatural, with which Alexander'sname was- uniformly connected, the demand was compliedwith.Among the many captives, male and female, was the daughterof Oxyartes, Roxana, said by the Macedonians who sawher to be the most beautiful woman of the East, since Statira,wife of Darius, was dead.She fell as captive to Alexander.But the king is stated to have fallen an equal andhonest captive to her charms. He treated her with all becomingdignity, — as he had Statira, — and shortly afterwardsmarried her. This side of Alexander's character is whollyadmirable. Oxyartes was not only forgiven, but receivedinto highest favor.One other place remained, the Rock of Chorienes, in theland of the Parsetacians, which was the mountainous regionof the upper Oxus. Here Chorienes himself, and many