Ἀλεξάνδρου ἀνάβασις 6.10.2

6.10.2

ὁ δέ, ἔστε μὲν ἔτι θερμὸν ἦν αὐτῷ τὸ αἷμα, καίπερ κακῶς ἔχων ἠμύνετο· πολλοῦ δὲ δὴ τοῦ αἵματος καὶ ἀθρόου οἷα δὴ ξὺν πνεύματι ἐκρυέντος, ἴλιγγός τε αὐτὸν καὶ λειποψυχία κατέσχε καὶ πίπτει αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα ξυννεύσας. Πευκέστας δὲ περιβὰς πεπτωκότι καὶ ὑπερσχὼν τὴν ἱερὰν τὴν ἐξ Ἰλίου ἀσπίδα πρὸ αὐτοῦ [εἶχε], καὶ Λεοννάτος ἐς τὰ ἐπὶ θάτερα, οὗτοί τε βάλλονται ἀμφότεροι καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐγγὺς ἦν ἤδη ὑπὸ τοῦ αἵματος ἐκλιπεῖν.

At this crisis Peukestas, and Abreas the dimoirite, and after them Leonnatos, the only men who succeeded in reaching the top of the wall before the ladder broke, leaped down and began fighting in front of the king. But there Abreas fell, pierced in the forehead by an arrow. Alexander himself was also struck by one which pierced through his cuirass into his chest above the pap, so that, as Ptolemy says, air gurgled from the wound along with the blood. But sorely wounded as he was, he continued to defend himself as long as his blood was still warm. Since much blood, however, kept gushing out with every breath he drew, a dizziness and faintness seized him, and he fell where he stood in a collapse upon his shield. Peukestas then bestrode him where he fell, holding up in front of him the sacred shield which had been taken from Ilion, while Leonnatos protected him from side attacks. But both these men were severely wounded, and Alexander was now on the point of swooning away from the loss of blood. As for the Macedonians, they were at a loss how to make their way into the citadel, because those who had seen Alexander shot at upon the wall and then leap down inside it had broken down the ladders up which they were rushing in all haste, dreading lest their king, in recklessly exposing himself to danger, should come by some hurt. In their perplexity they devised various plans for ascending the wall. It was made of earth, and so some drove pegs into it, and swinging themselves up by means of these, scrambled with difficulty to the top. Others ascended by mounting one upon the other. The man who first reached the top flung himself headlong from the wall into the city, and was followed by the others. There, when they saw the king fallen prostrate, they all raised loud lamentations and outcries of grief. And now around his fallen form a desperate struggle ensued, one Macedonian after another holding his shield in front of him. In the meantime, some of the soldiers having shattered the bar by which the gate in the wall between the towers was secured, made their way into the city a few at a time, and others, when they saw that a rift was made in the gate, put their shoulders under it, and having then pushed it into the space within the wall, opened an entrance into the citadel in that quarter.