PLIGHT OF DARIUS — GREEK MERCENARIES. 12t> siuthority, many others, uncertified or untrue, were lecounted about his kind behavior to these princesses ; and Alexander himself, shortly after the battle, seems to have heard fictions about it, which he thought himself obliged to contradict in a let- ter. It is certain, (from the extract now remaining of tliis letter) that he never saw, nor ever entertained the idea of seeing, the capti e wife of Darius, said to be the most beautiful woman in Asia ; moreover he even declined to hear encomiums upon hei beauty.* How this vast host of fugitives got out of the narrow limits of Kilikia, or how many of them quitted that country by the same pass over Mount Amanus as that by which they had entered it — we cannot make out. It is probable that many, and Darius himself among the number, made their escape across the mountain by various subordinate roads and by-paths ; which, though unfit for a regular army with baggage, would be found a welcome re- source by scattered companies. Darius managed to get together 4000 of the fugitives, with whom he hastened to Thapsakus, and there recrossed the Euphrates. The only remnant of force, still in a position of defence after the battle, consisted of 8000 of the Grecian mercenaries under Amyntas and Thymodes. These men, fighting their way out of Kilikia (seemingly towards the south, by or near Myriandrus), marched to Tripolis on the coast of Phe- nicia, where they stiU found the same vessels in which they had themselves been brought from the armament of Lesbos. Seizing sufficient means of transport, and destroying the rest to prevent pursuit, they immediately crossed over to Cyprus, and from thence to Egypt. ^ With this single exception, the enor- mous Persian host disappears with the battle of Issus. We hear of no attempt to rally or re-form, nor of any fresh Persian force afoot until two years afterwards. The booty acquired by the vic- tors was immense, not merely in gold and silver, but also in cap- tives for the slave-merchant. On the morrow of the battle, Alex- 1 Plutarch, Alex. 22. iyu yup (Alexander) ovx ctl icjpaKuc av evpe^eh T7/V Aapeiov yvvaiKa fj (ieliovTiEViiivo^ Idtlv, ukV ovde tuv XeyovTuv nepl tt/^ evficpcpiac aurf/^ TrpoGdedey/zivo^ tov T^Syov.
- Arrian, ii. 13, 2, 3 ; Diodor. xvii. 48. Curtius says that these Greeks
got away by by-paths across the mountains (Aaiuiius) — which may be true (Curtius, iii. II, 19). 11*
