Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander 9.9.20

9.9.20

Reciprocari coepit mare magno tractu aquis in suum fretum recurrentibus reddebatque terras paulo ante profundo salo mersas. Igitur destituta navigia alia praecipitantur in proras, alia in latera procumbunt. Strati erant campi sarcinis, armis, avulsarum tabularum remorumque fragmentis.

The ships accordingly ran foul of each other, broke away each other's oars, and bumped each other's sterns. A spectator could not have supposed that what he saw was the fleet of one and the same army, but rather two hostile fleets engaged in a sea-fight. Prows were dashed against poops, and vessels that damaged other vessels in front of them were themselves damaged in turn by vessels at their stern. The men, as was but natural, lost their temper, and from high words fell to blows. By this time the tide had overflowed all the level lands near the river's edge, leaving only sandheaps visible above the water like so many islands. To these numbers of the men swam for safety, neglecting through fear the safety of the vessels they quitted, some of which were riding in very deep water where depressions existed in the ground, while others were stranded on shoals where the waves had covered the more or less elevated parts of the channel. But now they were suddenly surprised with a new danger, still greater than the first, for the sea, which had begun to ebb, was rushing back whence it came with a strong current, and was rendering back the lands which just before had been deeply submerged. This pitched some of the stranded vessels upon their sterns, and caused others to fall upon their sides, and that too with such violence that the fields around them were strewn with baggage, arms, broken oars, and wreckage.