Ἰνδική 35.3

35.3

οὔπω πάντα εἴρητο, καὶ Νέαρχός τε καὶ Ἀρχίης προσῆγον. τοὺς δὲ μόλις καὶ χαλεπῶς ἐπέγνω Ἀλέξανδρος· ὅτι τε κομόωντας καὶ κακῶς ἐσταλμένους κατεώρα, ταύτῃ μᾶλλόν τι βεβαιότερον αὐτῷ τὸ ἄχος ὑπὲρ τῆς στρατιῆς τῆς ναυτικῆς ἐγίνετο.

They were accordingly accommodated in the waggons, and conducted to the camp. Some of the horsemen, however, wishing to be the first to impart the news, hastened forward, and told Alexander that Nearkhos himself, and Arkhias with him, and five attendants, would soon arrive, but to enquiries about the rest of the people in the expedition they had no information to give. Alexander, concluding from this that all the expedition had perished except this small band, which had been unaccountably saved, did not so much feel pleasure for the preservation of Nearkhos and Arkhias as distress for the loss of his whole fleet. During this conversation Nearkhos and Arkhias arrived. It was not without difficulty Alexander after a close scrutiny recognized who the hirsute, ill-clad men who stood before him were, and being confirmed by their miserable appearance in his belief that the expedition had perished, he was still more overcome with grief. At length he held out his hand to Nearkhos, and leading him apart from his attendants and his guards he burst into tears, and wept for a long time. Having, after a good while, recovered some composure, “Nearkhos!” he says, “since you and Arkhias have been restored to me alive, I can bear more patiently the calamity of losing all my fleet; but tell me now, in what manner did the vessels and my people perish.” “O my king!” replied Nearkhos, “the ships are safe and the people also, and we are here to give you an account of their preservation.” Tears now fell much faster from his eyes than before, but they were tears of joy for the salvation of his fleet which he had given up for lost. “And where are now my ships,” he then enquired. “They are drawn upon shore,” replied Nearkhos, “on the beach of the river Anamis for repairs.” Upon this Alexander, swearing by Zeus of the Greeks and Ammon of the Libyans, declared that he felt happier at receiving these tidings than in being the conqueror of all Asia, for, had the expedition been lost, the blow to his peace of mind would have been a counterpoise to all the success he had achieved.