Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander 9.10.12

9.10.12

Et cum haec quoque alimenta defecerant, iumenta caedere adgressi ne equis quidem abstinebant. Et cum deessent, quae sarcinas veherent, spolia de hostibus, propter quae ultima Orientis peragraverant, cremabant incendio.

This isolation from the rest of the world has brutalised their character, which even by nature is far from humane. They have long claw-like nails and long shaggy hair, for they cut the growth of neither. They live in huts constructed of shells and other offscourings of the sea. Their clothing consists of the skins of wild beasts, and they feed on fish dried in the sun, and on the flesh of sea monsters cast on the shore during stormy weather. The Macedonians having by this time consumed all their provisions, suffered first from scarcity and at last from hunger, so that they were driven to search everywhere for the roots of the palm, which is the only tree that country produces. When even this kind of food failed them, they began to kill their beasts of burden, and did not spare even their horses. They were thus deprived of the means of carrying their baggage, and had to burn the rich spoils taken from their enemies, for the sake of which they had marched to the utmost extremities of the East.