Callisthenes Vague on Alexander's Movements
His account of the movements of Alexander are
equally vague. He says that "he crossed into Asia with
forty thousand infantry and four thousand five hundred
cavalry; but that when he was about to enter Cilicia he was
joined by a reinforcement of five thousand infantry and eight
hundred cavalry." From these numbers, if one were to make
the liberal allowance of three thousand absentees from the
infantry and three hundred from the cavalry on various
services, there would still remain forty-two thousand infantry
and five thousand cavalry. Starting with these numbers, he
goes on to say "that Alexander heard of the entrance of
Darius into Cilicia when he was a hundred stades away from
him, having already marched through the pass: note that he therefore retraced his steps through the pass, his phalanx on
the van, his cavalry next, and his baggage on the rear. But
that as soon as he had debouched upon the open country, he
gave general orders to form up into a phalanx, at first thirty-two
deep; then sixteen; and lastly, when they were nearing the
enemy, eight deep." Now this is a worse blunder than the
last. A stade, allowing for the distances which must be
kept on a march, and reckoning the depth at sixteen, admits
of one thousand six hundred men, each man covering six feet.
It is plain, therefore, that ten stades will admit of only sixteen
thousand men, and twenty twice that number. Hence, when
Alexander caused his men to form sixteen deep, he would
have wanted a width of ground of twenty stades; and even
then, the whole of the cavalry and ten thousand infantry
would have been unaccounted for.
