[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Foreign](https://indike.org/pramana/inf) › [Latin](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la) › [Principate (31 BCE – 300 CE)](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial) › [Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius) › 9.9 # Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander 9.9 Historiae Alexandri Magni 9.9 - **Language:** Latin ### [9.9.1](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.1) Ibi diutius subsistere coactus, quia duces socordius adservati profugerant, misit, qui conquirerent alios. Nec repertis pervicit cupido visendi Oceanum adeundique terminos mundi sine regionis peritis flumini ignoto caput suum totque fortissimorum virorum salutem permittere: > Here he was obliged to make a longer stay than he had anticipated, because the pilots, finding they were not strictly guarded, had absconded. He then sent out a party of his men to search for others. They returned without finding any, but his unquenchable ambition to see the ocean and reach the boundaries of the world, made him entrust his own life and the safety of so many gallant men to an unknown river without any guides possessed of the requisite local knowledge. They thus sailed on ignorant of everything on the way they had to pass. It was entirely left to haphazard and baseless conjecture how far off they were from the sea, what tribes dwelt along the banks, whether the river was placid at its mouth, and whether it was thereabouts of a depth sufficient for their war-ships. The only comfort in this rash adventure was a confident reliance on Alexander's uniform good fortune. The expedition had in this manner now proceeded a distance of 400 stadia, when the pilots brought to his notice that they began to feel sea-air, and that they believed the ocean was not now far off. > — John Watson McCrindle 1896, The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great (Curtius' books VIII–IX) ### [9.9.2](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.2) navigabant ergo omnium, per quae ferebantur, ignari. Quantum inde abesset mare, quae gentes colerent, quam placidum amnis os, quam patiens longarum navium esset, anceps et caeca aestimatio augurabatur: unum erat temeritatis solacium perpetua felicitas. ### [9.9.3](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.3) Iam CCCC stadia processerant, cum gubernatores agnoscere ipsos auram maris et haud procul videri sibi Oceanum abesse indicant regi. ### [9.9.4](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.4) Laetus ille hortari nauticos coepit, incumberent remis: adesse finem laboris omnibus votis expetitum: iam nihil gloriae deesse, nihil obstare virtuti, sine ullo Martis discrimine, sine sanguine oram terrae ab illis capi: ne naturam quidem longius posse procedere: brevi incognita nisi inmortalibus esse visuros. > The king, elated by the news, exhorted the sailors to bend to their oars. The end of their labours, he said, for which they had always been hoping and praying, was close at hand ; nothing was now wanting to complete their glory ; nothing left to withstand their valour. They could now, without the hazard of fighting, without any bloodshed, make the whole world their own. Even nature herself could advance no farther, and within a short time they would see what was known to none but the immortal gods. He nevertheless sent a small party ashore in a boat in order to take some of the natives straggling about, from whom he hoped some correct information might be obtained. After all the huts near the shore had been searched, some natives at last were found hidden away in them. These, on being asked how far off the sea was, answered that they had never so much as heard of such a thing as the sea, but that on the third day they might come to water of a bitter taste which corrupted the fresh water. From this it was understood they meant the sea, whose nature they did not understand. The mariners therefore plied their oars with increased alacrity, and still more strenuously on the following day as they drew nearer to the fulfilment of their hopes. > — John Watson McCrindle 1896, The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great (Curtius' books VIII–IX) ### [9.9.5](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.5) Paucos tamen navigio emisit in ripam, qui agrestes vagos exciperent, e quibus certiora nosci posse sperabat. Illi scrutati omnia tuguria tandem latentes repperere. ### [9.9.6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.6) Qui interrogati, quam procul abessent mari, responderunt nullum ipsos mare ne fama quidem accepisse: ceterum tertio die perveniri posse ad aquam amaram, quae corrumperet dulcem. Intellectum est mare destinari ab ignaris naturae eius. ### [9.9.7](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.7) Itaque ingenti alacritate nautici remigant, et proximo quoque die, quo propius spes admovebatur, crescebat : ardor animorum. Tertio iam die mixtum flumini subibat mare leni adhuc aestu confundente dispares undas. > On the third day they observed that the sea, coming up with a tide as yet gentle, began to mingle its brine with the fresh water of the river. Then they rowed out to another island that lay in the middle of the river, making, however, slower progress in rowing since the stream of the river was now beaten back by the force of the tide. They put in to the shore of the island, and such as landed ran hither and thither in quest of provisions, never dreaming of the mishap which was to overtake them from their ignorance of tides. It was now about the third hour of the day when the ocean, undergoing its periodic change, rose in flood-tide, and began to burst upon them and force back the current of the river, which being at first retarded, and then more violently repelled, was driven upward contrary to its natural direction with more than the impetuosity of rivers in flood rushing down precipitous beds. The men in general were ignorant of the nature of the sea, and so, when they saw it continually swelling higher, and overflowing the beach which before was dry, they looked upon this as something supernatural by which the gods signified their wrath against their rash presumption. > — John Watson McCrindle 1896, The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great (Curtius' books VIII–IX) ### [9.9.8](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.8) Tum aliam insulam medio amni sitam evecti paulo lentius, quia cursus aestu reverberabatur, adplicant classem et ad commeatus petendos discurrunt, securi casus eius, qui supervenit ignaris. ### [9.9.9](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.9) Tertia ferme hora erat, cum stata vice Oceanus exaestuans invehi coepit et retro flumen urgere. Quod primo coercitum, deinde vehementius pulsum maiore impetu adversum agebatur. ### [9.9.10](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.10) quam torrentia praecipiti alveo incurrunt. Ignota vulgo freti natura erat, monstraque et irae deum indicia cernere videbantur, identidem intumescens mare et in campos paulo ante siccos descendere superfusum. ### [9.9.11](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.11) Iamque levatis navigiis et tota classe dispersa, qui expositi erant, undique ad naves trepidi et inproviso malo a attoniti recurrunt. > When the vessels were now fairly floated, and the whole squadron scattered in different directions, the men who had gone on shore ran back in consternation to the ships, confounded beyond measure by a calamity of a nature so unexpected. But amid the tumult their haste served only to mar their speed. Some were to be seen pushing the vessels with poles; others had taken their seats to row, but in doing so had meanwhile been preventing the proper adjustment of the oars. Others again, in hastening to sail out into the clear channel, without waiting for the requisite number of sailors and pilots, worked the vessels to little effect, crippled as these were and otherwise difficult to handle. At the same time several other vessels drifted away with the stream before those who were pell-mell crowding into them could all get on board, and in this case the crowding caused as much delay in hurrying off as did the scarcity of hands in the other vessels. From one side were shouted orders to stay, from another to put off, so that amid this confusion of contradictory orders nothing that was of any service could be seen or even heard. In such an emergency the pilots themselves were useless, since their commands could neither be heard for the uproar, nor executed by men so distracted with terror. > — John Watson McCrindle 1896, The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great (Curtius' books VIII–IX) ### [9.9.12](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.12) Sed in tumultu festinatio quoque tarda est. Hi contis navigia pellebant, hi, dum remos aptari prohibebant, ### [9.9.13](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.13) consederant, quidam enavigare properantes, sed non expectatis, qui simul esse debebant, clauda et inhabilia navigia languide moliebantur, aliae a navium inconsulte ruentes receperant: pariterque et multitudo et paucitas festinantes morabatur. ### [9.9.14](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.14) Clamor hinc expectare, hinc ire iubentium dissonaeque voces numquam idem atque unum tendentium non oculorum modo usum, sed etiam aurium abstulerant. ### [9.9.15](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.15) Ne in gubernatoribus quidem quicquam opis erat, quorum nec exaudiri vox a tumultuantibus poterat nec imperium a territis inconpositisque servari. ### [9.9.16](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.16) Ergo conlidi inter se naves abstergerique invicem remi et alii aliorum navigia urgere coeperunt. Crederes non unius exercitus classem vehi, sed duorum navale inisse certamen. > 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. > — John Watson McCrindle 1896, The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great (Curtius' books VIII–IX) ### [9.9.17](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.17) Incutiebantur puppibus prorae, premebantur a sequentibus, qui antecedentes turbaverant: iurgantium ira perveniebat etiam ad manus. ### [9.9.18](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.18) Iamque aestus totos circa flumen campos inundaverat tumulis dumtaxat eminentibus velut insulis parvis, in quos plerique trepidi omissis navigiis enare properant. ### [9.9.19](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.19) Dispersa classis partim in praealta aqua stabat, qua subsederant valles, partim in vado haerebat, utcumque inaequale terrae fastigium occupaverant undae: cum subito novus et pristino maior terror incutitur. ### [9.9.20](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.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. ### [9.9.21](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.21) Miles nec egredi in terram nec in nave subsistere audebat identidem praesentibus graviora, quae sequerentur, expectans. Vix, quae perpetiebantur, videre ipsos credebant, in sicco naufragia, in amni mare. > The soldiers, meanwhile, neither dared to trust themselves to the land nor to leave their ships, as they dreaded that some calamity, worse than before, might at any moment befall them. They could scarcely indeed believe what they saw and experienced, these shipwrecks upon dry land, and the presence of the sea in the river. Nor did their misfortunes end here, for as they did not know that the tide would soon afterwards bring back the sea and float their ships, they anticipated that they would be reduced by famine to the most dismal extremities. To add to their terror monstrous creatures of frightful aspect, which the sea had left behind it, were seen wandering about. As night drew on the hopelessness of the situation oppressed even the king himself with harassing anxieties. But no care could ever daunt his indomitable spirit, and great as was his anxiety it did not prevent him from remaining all night on the watch and giving out his orders. He even sent some horsemen to the mouth of the river with instructions that when they saw the tide returning they should go before it and announce its approach. Meanwhile he caused the shattered vessels to be repaired, and those that were overturned to be set upright, at the same time ordering the men to be ready and on the alert when the land would be inundated by the return of the tide. > — John Watson McCrindle 1896, The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great (Curtius' books VIII–IX) ### [9.9.22](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.22) Nec finis malorum: quippe aestum paulo post mare relaturum, quo navigia adlevarentur, ignari famem et ultima sibimet ominabantur. Beluae quoque fluctibus destitutae terribiles vagabantur. ### [9.9.23](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.23) Iamque nox adpetebat, et regem quoque desperatio salutis aegritudine adfecerat. Non tamen invictum animum curae obruunt, quin tota nocte persederet in speculis equitesque praemitteret ad os amnis, ut, cum mare rursus exaestuare sensissent, praecederent. ### [9.9.24](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.24) Navigia quoque et lacerata refici et eversa fluctibus erigi iubet paratosque esse et intentos, cum rursus mare terras inundasset. ### [9.9.25](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.25) Tota ea nocte inter vigilias adhortationesque consumpta celeriter et equites ingenti cursu refugere et secutus est aestus. Qui primo aquis leni tractu subeuntibus coepit levare navigia, mox totis campis inundatis etiam inpulit classem. > The whole of that night had been spent by the king in watching and addressing words of encouragement to his men, when the horsemen came back at full gallop, with the tide following at their heels. It came at first with a gentle current which sufficed to set the ships afloat, but it soon gathered strength enough to set the whole fleet in motion. Then the soldiers and sailors, giving vent to their irrepressible joy at their unexpected deliverance, made the shores and banks resound with their exulting cheers. They asked each other wonderingly wherefrom so vast a sea had suddenly returned, whereto it had retired the day before, what was the nature of this strange element, which at one time was out of harmony with the natural laws of space, but at another was obedient to some fixed laws in respect of time? The king conjecturing from what had happened that the tide would return after sunrise, took advantage of it, and starting at midnight sailed down the river attended by a few ships, and having passed its mouth, advanced into the sea a distance of 400 stadia, and thus at last accomplished the object he had so much at heart. Having then sacrificed to the tutelary gods of the sea and of the places adjacent, he took the way back to his fleet. > — John Watson McCrindle 1896, The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great (Curtius' books VIII–IX) ### [9.9.26](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.26) Plaususque militum nauticorumque insperatam salutem inmodico celebrantium gaudio litoribus ripisque resonabat. Unde tantum redisset subito mare, quo pridie refugisset, quaenam esset eiusdem elementi natura modo discors, modo imperio temporum obnoxia, mirabundi requirebant. ### [9.9.27](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9.27) Rex cum ex eo, quod acciderat, coniectaret post solis ortum statum tempus esse, media nocte, ut aestum occuparet, cum paucis navigiis secundo amne defluxit evectusque os eius CCCC stadia processit in mare tandem voti sui compos. Praesidibusque et maris et locorum dis sacrificio facto ad classem rediit. ## Translations (1) - [The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great (Curtius' books VIII–IX)](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius~en-mccrindle.9.9.p1) — John Watson McCrindle 1896, English --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.9.9) · Pramāṇa