A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

The reasons
for his success.
Plutarch,
Alexander,
20 i.
A ncient
World, jSo:
Greece, 312 f.
The spoil
and the
captives.
CHAPTER XXV
ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE
I. The Battle of Issus
Fortune, no doubt, greatly favored Alexander, but yet
he owed much of his success to his excellent generalship;
for although enormously outnumbered by the enemy, he
not only avoided being surrounded by them, but was able
to outflank their left with his own right wing, and by this
manoeuvre completely defeated the Persians. He himself
fought among the foremost, and according to Chares was
wounded in the thigh by Darius himself. In the account
of the battle which he despatched to Antipater. Alexander
does not mention the name of the man who wounded him,
but states that he received a stab in the thigh with a
dagger, and that the wound was not dangerous.
He won a most decisive victor)-, and slew more than a
hundred thousand of the enemy, but could not come up
with Darius himself, as he gained a start of nearly a mile.
He captured his chariot, however, and his bow and arrows,
and on his return found the Macedonians revelling in the
rich plunder which they had won, although the Persians
had been in light marching order, and had left most of
their heavy baggage at Damascus. The royal pavilion of
Darius himself, full of beautiful slaves and rich furniture
of every description, had been left unplundered, and was
reserved for Alexander himself, who as soon as he had
taken off his armor, proceeded to the bath, saying "Let
me wash off the sweat of the battle in the bath of Darius."
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