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

ALEXANDER'S FORCES. 511Alexander had practically finished his military expedition,when he reached the Kniits of the Persian Empire. But severalthings, added to his restlessambition, combined to carryhim onward. His reasons are not usually given in the authorities; the event tells the story. The king of Taxila, whowas at war with Porus, lord of the region beyond the Ilydaspes,had invited Alexander to come to his help. And Sisicottus,king of a land near the Indus, had joined Alexander afterthe fall of Bessus, and had since been faithful to him. Fromsuch persons as these Alexander not only received much informationconcerning India, but from intercourse with themhad drunk in a deep longing to invade it.Alexander's force at this moment is hard to calculate.Plutarch gives it as one hundred and thirty-five thousand menin the campaign down the Indus. It is probable that despitehis losses, the large accessions of recruits from Macedonia,probably those classes owing military service whose turn hadcome for active duty, soldiers of fortune from Greece, Thrace,Agriania and other sources — about one hundred and fiftythousand men in all reached him from home — had at the presentmoment more than doubled the small army of thirty-fivethousand men with which he crossed the Hellespont. Addedto these, were large numbers of Oriental recruits embodied inthe cavalry and phalanx. Many troops were drawn from thesatrapies in the rear, which, in their turn, drew fresh men fromhome to replace the lost. Thus were repaired the enormouslosses in battle, by severity of climate and the heavy marchingof six long years. But there must be taken into considerationthe very heavy garrisons Alexander was obliged to leavebehind. In Bactria alone, as a sample, ten thousand footand thirty-five hundred horse had been stationed. We knowthat he replaced these garrisons largely by levies from thewarlike tribes he had just conquered ; that Phoenicia, Cyprus,