Eumenes 1, Chapter 4: Battle in Swamp

Ardhanara sent us one hundred war elephants to show an attitude of obedience toward the Makedonian King, who put them in front of his army, started to march to the east, crossing Punjab, towards the Ganga.
Punjab is a Persian word which means 'Pentapotamia', the five tributaries of Sindhu, Vitasta, Chandrabhaga, Parushni, Shutudri, and Vipasha.
We overran Punjab, crossing five rivers, and at last reached the most eastern river Shutudri. The dividing ridge between the Sindhu and Ganga Valleys are almost over there. But soldiers abruptly refuse to march further.

Eight years has passed since we departed from Pella, the capital city of Makedonia. This time, the soldiers, who have dedicated their life and time to his King, strived and survived for many years with almost no resistance, refuse openly as a dog grinning its defiance to go for a walk, growling and wriggling the body and planting the feet into the ground.
Until now, we have just traced along the royal roads paved by the Persian Kings. But from here, the lands are Indian domain, not Persian. The peoples have never been ruled by the Persian Empire.
King calls up the whole army and says, “Please pay attention to my words, oh! my companions.
We ever attained the eternal glory at Gaugamela. You can't forget the decisive and definitive moment of our victory: the Battle of Gaugamela.
Just after the battle, we briefly stopped in Nineveh, the ruin of ancient capital of Assyria. Half destructed, half covered in sand, but the Library of King Assurbanipal remained there. We excavated hundreds of thousands of forgotten clay tablets. I requested Akkadian scholars to research the old cuneiform writings. Almost of them are trivial records, such as salaries for employees, amounts of crop yields, or list of livestock and poultry production. Among them, I discovered a very interesting document. That was a piece of the record of the Assyrian wars. It describes the campaigns of Queen Shammuramat who lived 500 years ago. She conquered all the Mesopotamia, pushed through the Persian territory and tried to invade Punjab. But she was severely defeated in Sindhu valley. She lost two out of three soldiers and had to return west.
On another day at Persepolis, the tomb city of the Persian kings, I saw an inscription etched on a temple wall on the command of Darayavaush 46 the Great. A guide told me it states that the Kurush47 the Great, who defeated the Median Empire, made an expedition to the west side of Sindhu river where the power of Median Kings ever reached. But he also had to abandon the province defeated by Indians.
After reading the records, the desire to challenge a great achievement, which has never been done by any kings nor queens in this world, such as Shammuramat nor Kurush, has been getting more important in my mind.
My companions, starting from Europe, penetrating Asia, tracing the roads which were paved by Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian kings, we finally reach this land of frontier.
In ancient days, an Assyrian king called himself, 'Shah Sharrani', or Persian kings, 'Shah an Shahs.' An Indian king also claimed himself as 'Rajah dhi Rajah.' These titles have the same meaning, 'Basileus Basileon48.'
A king who conquered the neighbor kings merging the territory was simply called the 'King of Kings'. That's normal, not enough. I can't be satisfied with being such a king! I want to be the only king in the world. And probably you want to be citizens serving the only one sovereign in this world, aren't you? That means this world is unified into only a single nation, the Kosmopolis. Why don't you be a kosmopolitan?
The day, when the world is unified one nation, shall come. But when? Humans have to wait until a king who will be born in the far distant future? Or I, your king, a real king living before your eyes, accomplish now?
Why don't you see the Kosmopolis in this real world before you die?
You only live once. You never live twice. We realize Kosmopolis when we alive and die happily if you assist me, my companions.”
Hephaistion and some macho soldiers get excited with sparkling eyes inspired by the King's speech. But others still more seem depressed.
“Perdikkas49, Krateros50, I want to hear your thoughts.”
They both belong to the Makedonian royal family. If King Alexandros dies, Perdikkas will soon ascend the throne. If Perdikkas also dies, then Krateros will immediately take the supreme command of the Makedonian army.
Perdikkas and Krateros look at each other. Reluctantly, Perdikkas says, “Oh King, it has been a long journey and we arrived here without any critical failures so far. I cannot explain why it could happen. I'm not so simple as to thank deities nor admire you. As you have decided everything before, you also decide by yourself from now on. Go further or not, that is out of my thought.”
“If you were I, Perdikkas.”
“If I were you, I never came here.”
The answer irritated King. “Master Aristoteles taught us that, if we go down the Ganga from here, we reach the East Sea, the eastern end of the world.
From there, go up to north, then west along Scythian coast, we reach the Kaspian Sea.
Or if we take the route down the Sindhu river, we reach the Arabian Sea, which is linked to Persian, Erythraean, and Libyan Seas. If we go further, the Libyan Sea leads us to European Sea. There we enter our Pontos51 through the Pillars of Herakles. Finally we sail back to Hellenic waters.
Which do you prefer, Ganga or Sindhu? Both will be fascinating, since no one has ever carried out such a fantastic voyage.
For me, Ganga is preferable, because we almost get to the eastern end of the world, it is easier to conquer the rest of the eastern area first, than get far back and go around the western continents.
According to Herodotos52, Scythian countries are facing to the East and North Seas, adjacent to India to the south, and to Europe to the west. It is said that the shape of the Scythian continent is almost square, about 4000 stadia53 from east to west and also 4000 stadia from north to south. We walk about 200 stadia in a day. Hence, from the east end of India to the east boundary of Europe, we traverse 8000 stadia, it takes only 40 days. If we sail, we'll go much faster. Of course, we'll encounter lots of vicious barbaric tribes. We should tame them all. We also have to found colonies, construct cities and harbors. It will take two or three years I suppose, but I don't think it's an impossible campaign.
We've already acquired the Asia, the center of the world. If we get Scythia first, only Libya, India and Europe will remain. It is said that each of the three subcontinents has the same area as Scythia, about 4000 by 4000 square stadia, So it can be said that we will complete the entire world in almost 10 years.”
“Too optimistic,” Perdikkas complains. “but it's your usual way. You decide by yourself. And we follow you with no objection, as we always did. Or, is there a matter of some concern that you have to discuss with us this time? If so, tell me that.”
“Concern? I have none since I have left Makedonia.”
“Then we will do, as usual.”
“Krateros, what do you think?”
He summoned up courage to speak for the whole army, “My Lord, please listen to me. You see yourself, how many Makedonian and Hellenic soldiers started with you, and how few of us are left. Some have been settled in the cities founded by you. Some have lost in the fields of battle. Others have been disabled by wounds. Others have been left behind in different parts of Asia, but the majority have perished by disease.
Only a few out of many survived, and these few possessed no longer of the same bodily strength as before, while their spirits are still more depressed. Those, whose parents are still living, have a yearning to see them, a yearning to see their wives and children, and a yearning to see their native land itself. I beg your mercy, oh, my Lord. I want to go home where I belong.”
The army applauded Krateros' speech. King resented him.

“Ptolemaios, Eumenes,” King keeps calm. “where are you? Give me your advice.”
I know my King very well. He determines what he should do in advance, then he ask us to verify his thought, or to deepen his conviction, or to know how precisely his companions understand his plan. Sometimes a minor modifications or improvements are applied after he hears our propositions, but it's nothing more than a final brush up, the thought he roughly sketched first never changes. He is a man of self-help.
While I am thinking how to respond to him, Ptolemaios stands up among the soldiers and says, “I know very well that it is not suitable for this situation to show my personal opinions, which rather differ in some points of view from those of our Lord. I apologize if I cause any confusion among us.” Ptolemaios pauses a while until the audience become quiet. “My Lord, in early Egyptian or Mesopotamian mythology, the earth was portrayed as a flat disk, floating in the ocean. We Hellenes also share the kosmography for centuries. However, none of us has gone around and discovered the true shape of the world. We just hear it from foreigners. Foreigners also hear from some other foreign travelers. Nobody found the East or North Ocean, which are the extremes of the world. Nobody saw that the West Ocean outside of Libya is connected the Arabian See. Who knows how large is this world? Who knows how far the end of the Scythian or Indian land is. Nobody can calculate how deeply the Libyan Continent extends beyond the Nile.
As far as I observed, the Mount Ararat is higher than our Olympos, and Kaukasos mountains seem higher than Ararat. I see that the Indian mountains in the Himalayan Range are much higher and steeper than Asian ones. And I could say that the Euphrates and Tigris rivers are longer and wider than the Istros54 or Nile, and Sindhu and Ganga rivers flow much more water. The more we traveled east, the bigger mountains and rivers we encountered. We cannot estimate how far and how wide the world continues.
If we march onwards to east, we enter the heartland of India, the Ganga Valley, after passing deserts for twenty days. The Ganga is 32 stadia in width and 10 stadia in depth. The Valley is the most fertile and most populous land in this world, a paradise of uncountable elephants.”
King frowns. The Nile is only three stadia at the widest.
“Furthermore, my Lord, India is the oldest country flourishing from non-historical era. At the center of India locates Pataliputra55, the capital of the renowned Magadha people. Pataliputra is the biggest Indian city, perhaps the biggest one in the world. The king of the Pataliputra, the Rajah dhi Rajah of Indians, is called Dhana Nanda, who is the uncle of the king of Punjab, Rajah Paurava56, whom we captured recently at the Battle on Vitasta river. It is said that King Dhana Nanda has nine hundred ninety-nine millions of gold coins, as well as twenty thousand of horsemen, two hundred infantry men, two thousands of chariots drawn by four horses, and ten thousand of war elephants. Compared to the Dhana Nanda's military forces, our army is like a picnic of children. If we go down the Ganga river, we must fight against Pataliputra, but it is impossible to break through its defense. Even for an adventurous King like you, it's a reckless challenge.”
“Indian tales are always exaggerated. It's never believable. 999 million of gold coins? Hahaha, stop joking. If we collect all the coins from Hellas, Persia, and Egypt, the sum will be no more than one million, I presume.”
“Yeah, I hope so. I tell you another story. Some decades ago, the Persian King Khshayarsha57 led his army to invade Libya and captured a Phoenician admiral, whom King Khshayarsha examined by himself. Khshayarsha said,
'I hear that you Phoenicians occupy the Pontos from Egypt to the Pillar of Heracles. Is it true?'
The admiral replied, 'Yes, exactly. We sail further than Hellenes, from the northern extreme of European Sea, to the southern extreme of Libya.'
'Can you explain how is the southern extreme of Libya?'
'Almost three hundred years ago, the Egyptian Pharaoh Nakhtnebef II sent out an expedition of Phoenicians. They sailed from the Red Sea, went around Libyan coast, entered the Pillar of Heracles, and finally returned to Egypt. That means the West Ocean connects to the South Ocean at the most southern point of Libya.'
'How long did they sail? Would it take a month or two, or half a year?'
'No. Three years.'
'What an astonishing voyage your ancestors did! Now I became the king of Libya, thus I command you, Admiral, the same task as the Pharaoh did before. I will liberate you if you prove again that you can sail around Libya, but this time you sail in the reverse direction. Start from the Pontos, exit the Pillars of Heracles, go around the coast of Libya, then return to the Red Sea. If you succeed, I will reward you by appointing you the Satrap of the whole Libya. Otherwise, I will cut off your head. Do you try it?'
This admiral accepted the King's proposal, sailed out the Herakles Pillars. He eagerly inspected all the rivers, inlets, straits and channels along the coast, but spent three years in vain. There was no passage to the Red Sea. In the fourth year, he began to flee, but only got captured and executed.
Sailors, traders, and nomadic peoples have traveled every corner of the world for hundreds of years before we get started. We should trace along the secure routes that the pioneers already discovered. We are not adventurers, but conquerors, aren't we? It is too risky and fruitless for us to step outside of our well-known world.”
“Steady but tedious suggestion typical of wise men like you, Ptolemaios. Then what shall we do next?”
“Let me say, my Lord. If we go down Sindhu, we will reach Arabian Sea. We sail further and reach Persia.”
“Right, sailing from the outlet of Sindhu to the west, we must cross a barren coastland without harbors to reach Persian Gulf. But that's all.”
“So, we'd better interrupt our exploration for a while. It's time to go back home. We have tried hard enough. We all got tired, too. We restart conquest after refining the strategy carefully, discussing with various scholars from all over the world.”

“What do you think about their discussions?” I asked to Seleukos.
“I think it is time to retrieve Babylon.”
“Retrieve Babylon?”
“Retrieve Persia, if I say more accurately.”
“Why? King said that we should go further. Krateros said break exploration and go back home to rest. Is your plan different from them?”
“Maybe. I love King's idealism.”
“The kosmopolitanism, you mean.”
“Yes, and indeed, I dislike Krateros' sentimentalism. I almost agree with Perdikkas and Ptolemaios.
The Persian king Khshayarsha build the Gate of All Nations in Persepolis. It was a symbol of the harmonic unification of the humankind, a symbol of kosmopolitanism.”
“But our King sentenced to burn down the gate, because it converted into the symbol of the harsh domination and exploitation of the world.”
“You've got a point. If our King wants to be a true successor of Persian kings, he must avoid being hated by nations. Kosmopolitanism needs approval of all peoples. Our King has to take care of them.
As far as I observed this world along campaigns, I think if he wants to realize the Kosmopolis in this world, he must select the best city for his capital located at the center of the world, right?”
“In a sense.”
“Where is it? Needless to say, the capital city should be Babylon. The richest and most populous city. Susa is the second, the most convenient place for world traffic and trade. Both cities are located in lower Mesopotamia, the most important province of the world.
Our King fought against the Persian king and took his place. There were several good reasons to do so. We invaded his land simply because he invaded us first. It is natural right to revenge. But eastern India is not Persia. Indians have nothing to do with Makedonians. We have no right to claim the sovereignty there yet. We are not invaders, but retrievers of Persia. Our king must not be so greed as Khshayarsha, who made us fight back Persia.”
“I come to understand your idea. Our King tends to hasten too much to expand his reign as far as he can reach. But it is more important to stabilize the basis of his empire for the purpose of realizing the Kosmopolis. So he must return to Babylon, the most suitable place where the king reigns, where he must first establish a stable, sustainable political system and get approval of all peoples of all nations.”
“Yeah, yeah, that is what I mean.”
“You seem too young to have such a profound analysis of politics, Seleukos.”
“Probably because I lost my father, who was responsible for his clan.”
“You are in turn responsible for your people now?”
“Yes. They feed me and I feed them. When my father Antiokhos died, Ptolemaios became the regent. But he soon left Makedonia to take part in King's expedition. Since then, I have been the leader of all the members of all the families of my clan. I also volunteered for King's army and left Makedonia, to feed my clan. I have no intention to return to Makedonia anymore. Someday I will call all the members of my clan to Asia.”
“Where your clan immigrates to?”
“No idea. As our King wishes. He will found new colonies more and more. I want some of them, if possible. I will be far north Scythia, or southern end of Libya. I don't care much where I should live.
It's not only my desire, but also my duty. Anyway, I think the most important thing is to win the people's trust, to preserve the Persian heritages, and to pass them down from generation to generation.”
“You are one of the next generations.”
Seleukos grinned, “I'm not so proud of myself yet, but,”
“But what?”
“I have so many things to prepare. If I were appointed by our King a satrap of somewhere in Asia, what I should do.”
“Are you always dreaming such a thing?”
“It's not a dream! It will soon become real in ten or twenty years. I don't have enough time thinking about it. You, Eumenes, also you must start to prepare, right now.”
“I? Why? I don't have my clan. I don't even have my own family, either.”
“A man of no ambition, no hope you are.” Seleukos laughed. “I hear that King will soon command every one of his companions to marry a Persian woman.”
“I hear it, too.”
“Hurry up Eumenes, choose by yourself, otherwise, King or somebody else forces you to have some woman to be married. No matter whom you marry, once you have your own family, you come to realize what you have to do.”
“Don't worry about me. I will deal with it well when the time comes. How about you? I noticed that you were somehow attracted to Miss Apama when you first met her.”
“She is a very charming and graceful woman. So I saluted her courteously.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes, that's all, but I admit you that I feel special sympathy towards her.”
“Isn't it affection? Or love?”
“Not exactly. It's funny she and I were born and raised far separated, we never met before, but I feel we share similar mentality and morality. Probably because she was an heirless of Sogdian hereditary rulers, but she lost it.
I'm so sorry she is treated very badly by everyone, simply because King offered her to take care of the Persian princesses.”
Apama and I meet almost every day. I am so accustomed to working with her. For me, she is nothing more special than a caretaker for Amastri.

King withdrew into his tent and shut himself in for three days. The mood of the soldiers did not change. He finally proclaimed his decision to turn back, and the army received it with tears of joy and grateful shouts.
King starts every preparation to return. He backtracked to Vitasta river where he completed his fleet with 800 ships, which were all given to the Cretan admiral Nearkhos, who just arrived from the Pontos, going upstream the Sindhu, whereas Punjab was deposited to Paurava. The fleet went downward headed by Nearkhos, a division by Krateros marched on the right bank of river Vitasta, while Hephaistion with the elephants on the left.

Paurava, now the satrap of Punjab warned King, “The land you are going to face is the lower Sindhu, where the six rivers of Punjab are mingled together into a huge swamp. It swells up as broad as a sea when it gathers the snowmelt water running down from Kaukasos and Himalaya from spring until summer. It annually floods.”
“Yea, as the Nile does.”
“Because now is the season of flood, it's very difficult to invade there.”
“I can wait until the flood waters recede.”
“Moreover, the tribes you'll encounter there are quite different from us.
As you were already reported, my uncle Dhana Nanda's domain in the Ganga Valley is as civilized as mine. It is exceedingly fertile and wealthy, inhabited by brave agriculturists enjoying an excellent system of government under an aristocracy which exercised its power with justice and moderation; besides, the land was well stocked with elephants of superior size and courage. But, the peoples downwards are not. They live there together because they are like a school of fish swarming in the marsh.”
“A school of swarming fish in marsh?”
“Yes. The gift of the Sindhu. It's not a metaphor. They have no king, no aristocracy, no principality, therefore no justice and no judgement.”
“Uncivilized republicans?”
“Yes, that's right. The only way you govern them is drying up the water or scooping them out of water, but it's impossible because tremendous water is flowing in all the year and they are swarming again and again in water.
It's also like crashing an anthill. It will soon recover because you cannot kill them all. It will be an endless slaughter. How cruel. So my friend, Alexandros. Leave them. Sail through their swamps as quickly as possible, run away to the sea, so as not to by cursed by Indian gods staining the river with blood. You must regret for the rest of your life.”
“Thank you, my friend, Paurava, for your valuable advice. But I have to construct some harbors, dockyards with citadels, and maintain them along Sindhu, to communicate by water between Persia and inner India, otherwise I will soon lose my colonies in Gandhara and Punjab. I want to make my navy sail securely in India. It's truly inevitable.”
“Ho, good grief. You are an insatiable king. Do it if fate had decided you.”

King's army suddenly attacked the swamp. Unarmed men in the fields were simply butchered offering no resistance. As Perdikkas assaulted on villages, the people fled in a well-fortified island in Sindhu river. Its shores were surrounded by tall stone wall. King attempted siege by boat.
King orders to build a special device to besiege a stronghold on water. It's a relatively large twin boat on which a tall tower is erected with a scaling ladder. As the sun went down, impatiently King himself got on the boat, landed it to the shore, stretched the ladder to the wall and started scaling up, covering himself with a shield held by hand. Several companions also scaled to protect him.
He reached the top of the wall and exposed himself to the enemies. The helmet of the Makedonian king was shining, it attracted the enemies' attention. The defenders began shooting at their target with crossbows all at once. Companions were wounded by the rain of arrows.
King was also hit on his chest and kneeled down. He grasped the arrow and tried to pull it out by himself, but he coughed up blood, vomited from mouth. Hephaistion and some colleagues dashed up the ladder, picked King's body up, put him on the shield and carried back to our camp by boat.
His face got already pale and bloodless. I said, “Everyone, prepare for the worst. He might not be saved.”
Perdikkas pull his foot on King's stomach and pull the shaft of the arrow mercilessly. It come out but the arrowhead remained stuck in King's chest. King vomited blood every time he took a breath.
“We got in great trouble.” Perdikkas glanced around.
“How selfish you are! You bring us here and die first!”
Raokhshna kicked his bed and gave a punch in his face.
“No, stop,” Apama held Raokhshna's back.
This time has come at last. A brave king followed by loyal soldiers, that's the principle of this army. King always supervises battles by himself, even he ventures to attack at the head of his army to make a breakthrough. It drives his companions crazy to volunteer to rescue him. It's a very dangerous gambling at the risk of King's own life. We know very well that the luck never lasts forever.
“Eumenes,” Hephaistion shouted, hanging me by his muscular arms. “You save him, please. If he dies, we cannot survive. Persians, Indians, all the peoples and tribes rise to their feet and take revenge on us. We have no escape.
Take out the arrowhead from his chest, clean up and stitch the wound, and stop bleeding!”
“No, no. I can't. You know I'm not a surgeon. I've never performed a surgical operation yet. Never! I can take no responsibility for surgery.”
“What are you saying in this emergency, Eumenes,” Perdikkas spoke out, “Once you step into the battlefield, don't be anxious about what you shall do. Nobody but the Nike, the goddess of victory determines everything. Not you, nor I.
Nobody imposes responsibility on you. It's all my responsibility if he dies. Take it easy, and do it right now before it's too late.”
Perdikkas is the vice commander, and King is now unable to command, so the only thing I can do is to follow Perdikkas' direction.
“Yes, sir.”
We have no surgical tools. I burn swords and needles in fire to sanitize them.
King fainted from intense pain dug by a burning sword. Fortunately, it made him stop vomiting blood. The arrowhead penetrated the protector, got caught between ribs, which are probably fractured. The blood seems come out from inside of the lung. A fatal damage.
I figured that if the injury made a hole on his lung, he would be almost hopeless.
The operation is over. He sleeps well as though he were dead.
Next day, he eventually escaped death.
A Rumor that our King is already dead runs among enemies and also us. At the same time, his long-time loving horse Boukephalas58 were dead and buried on the bank of Sindhu. Everyone who saw the tomb believed that our King is already dead and buried there, too.
King had to stay the camp for a few days, recovering from the wound. Even when he had himself conveyed on a liter to the midst of his soldiers, they still doubted if he was really alive. To carry conviction to them, he got off the litter and walked some distance back to his tent. Then arose universal joy and relief in the camp.
“He is immortal! Blessed by Gods!”
“We return to Hellas with our King!”

King got on a ship and went down Parushni river to the confluences of Sindhu. He stood on the prow, grabbing a rope by one hand, and waving the other hand. Many people on the shore still believe that the dead body of the Makedonian King is carried to, or doubt that he is a look-alike pretending King Alexandros.
He landed in front of Ptolemaios. “How was the battle during my absence?”
“Nothing special, my Lord. Perdikkas took your place and operated businesses, enemies gave up resistance and submitted themselves to us.”
“How much damaged?”
“We?”
“Yes.”
“Little.”
“Good.”
“But,”
“What?”
“Boukephalas is dead.”
“Is my Bous dead? Really? What happened? Who killed him?”
“Nobody killed him. He simply got old, traveling from Pella, well endured successive campaigns. He was hit on the hip in the battle on Vitasta river, when we made King Paurava our hostage. Its wound got worse and it never recovered. But I don't think the wound caused this. It's almost a natural death.”
“Oh, my dear colleague saved me again, as we fought at Issos and Gaugamela together. At last he sacrificed his own life to save me!”
“I think it's a mere coincidence.”
“No, Athena knows. She already accepted his soul, but I can't help offering him to her by myself.” He ordered to erect altars dedicated to Athena and Nikaea, and celebrated his success in front of the tomb of Boukephalas.
“Build a temple of Athena here. It shall be the center of a newly constructed colony. I name it 'Boukephalia'.”
Boukephalas was a head-strong wild horse, which the exiled prince Alexandros tamed. Riding it, he returned to Makedonia to ascend the throne. He selected a son of Boukephalas, also named it Boukephalas, and keeps it only for his riding.

King's army somehow returned to normal condition. Only Raokhshna persists in condemning his recklessness publicly. “King must die. We also go to die.” Apama is still depressed all the time giving up everything. Amastri is on the contrary very cheerful probably because she gets in the mood of conquering the world as a companion of her King. She is very mannish and full of curiosity, may be caught by an unverifiable thought, which is very common in youth: 'no matter how hazardous our King's expeditions are, everything will go well eventually as far as I am concerned.'