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Darius at Issus.

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with his cavalry.^[1] Nevertheless, Amyntas, at any rate, confidently affirmed that Alexander would certainly come to any place where he heard Darius might be; and he exhorted him by all means to stay where he was. But the worse advice, because at the immediate time it was more pleasant to hear, prevailed; moreover he was led by some divine influence into that locality where he derived little advantage from his cavalry and from the sheer number of his men, javelins and bows, and where he could not even exhibit the mere magnificence of his army, but surrendered to Alexander and his troops an easy victory. For it was already decreed by fate that the Persians should be deprived of the rule of Asia by the Macedonians, just as the Medes had been deprived of it by the Persians, and still earlier the Assyrians by the Medes.

CHAPTER VII.

Darius at Issus.—Alexander's Speech to his Army.

Darius crossed the mountain range by what are called the Amanic Gates, and advancing towards Issus, came without being noticed to the rear of Alexander.^[2] Having reached Issus, he captured as many of the Macedonians as had

↑ Aeschines tells us in his speech against Ctesiphon (p. 552), that the anti-Macedonian statesmen at Athens at this time received letters from their friends, stating that Alexander was caught and pinned Up in Cilicia. He says Demosthenes went about showing these letters and boasting of the news. Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, xi. 7, 3) says that "not only Sanballat at Samaria but all those that were in Asia also were persuaded that the Macedonians would not so much as come to a battle with the Persians, on account of their multitude."
↑ There are two passes by which the eastern countries are entered from Cilicia; one on the south, near the sea, leads into Syria. The other pass lies more to the north, and leads to the country near the Euphrates. The latter was called the Amanic, and the former the Syrian gate. Alexander had just passed through the Syrian gate in order to march against Darius, at the very time that Darius was descending into

[1] Aeschines tells us in his speech against Ctesiphon (p. 552), that the anti-Macedonian statesmen at Athens at this time received letters from their friends, stating that Alexander was caught and pinned Up in Cilicia. He says Demosthenes went about showing these letters and boasting of the news. Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, xi. 7, 3) says that "not only Sanballat at Samaria but all those that were in Asia also were persuaded that the Macedonians would not so much as come to a battle with the Persians, on account of their multitude."

[p91-2] There are two passes by which the eastern countries are entered from Cilicia; one on the south, near the sea, leads into Syria. The other pass lies more to the north, and leads to the country near the Euphrates. The latter was called the Amanic, and the former the Syrian gate. Alexander had just passed through the Syrian gate in order to march against Darius, at the very time that Darius was descending into

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