Further Absurdities
It would be tedious to mention all his other absurdities
in connexion with this battle. I must be content with a very few.
He says, for instance, that "Alexander took care in arranging
his order of battle to be himself personally opposed to Darius;
and that at first Darius was equally anxious to be opposite
Alexander, but afterwards altered his mind." But he does not
vouchsafe to tell us how these kings learnt at what part of their
respective forces they were each posted, or to what point in his
own line Darius re-transferred himself. Again, how could a
phalanx mount to the edge of the river bank, when it was precipitous and covered with brushwood? Such a piece of bad
generalship must not be attributed to Alexander, because he is
acknowledged by all to have been a skilful strategist and to
have studied the subject from childhood: we must rather
attribute it to the historian's want of ability to descern between
what is or is not practicable in such movements. So much
for Ephorus and Callisthenes. . . .
