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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §17.86.1-17.86.7

Capture of Aornos and the Surrender of Mophis

Passage 691 of 723 · Greek

Summary

Alexander bloodlessly captures the rock of Aornos by a stratagem, crosses the Indus River, and accepts the peaceful surrender of Mophis (Taxiles) after correcting a momentary military misunderstanding.

§17.86.1ὁ δʼ Ἀλέξανδρος τοῖς κενοῖς τοῦ πολέμου καταστρατηγήσας τοὺς Ἰνδοὺς χωρὶς κινδύνου ἐκυρίευσε τῆς πέτρας.
And Alexander, having outmaneuvered the Indians by the empty feints of war, gained possession of the rock without danger.
καὶ τῷ μὲν ὁδηγήσαντι τὰς ὡμολογημένας δωρεὰς ἀπέδωκεν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀνέζευξε μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως.
And to the man who had guided him, he paid the promised gifts, while he himself marched away with his army.
§17.86.2καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν Ἀφρίκης τις Ἰνδός, ἔχων μὲν στρατιώτας δισμυρίους, ἐλέφαντας δὲ πεντεκαίδεκα, διέτριβε περὶ τὸν τόπον.
At which time, a certain Indian named Aphrikes, having twenty thousand soldiers and fifteen elephants, was tarrying in those parts.
τοῦτον δέ τινες ἀνελόντες καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ἐνέγκαντες διὰ ταύτης τῆς εὐεργεσίας περιεποιήσαντο τὰς ἰδίας σωτηρίας.
But some men, having slain him and brought his head to Alexander, secured their own safety through this service.
§17.86.3ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τούτους τε προσηγάγετο καὶ τῶν ἐλεφάντων πλανωμένων κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐκυρίευσεν.
The king attached these men to himself and secured the elephants that were wandering about the countryside.
αὐτὸς δὲ παρελθὼν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰνδὸν ποταμὸν καὶ καταλαβὼν τάς τε τριακοντόρους κατεσκευασμένας καὶ τὸν πόρον ἐζευγμένον τριάκοντα μὲν ἡμέρας ἀνέλαβε τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς μεγαλοπρεπεῖς συντελέσας θυσίας διεβίβασε τὴν στρατιὰν καὶ περιέπεσε παραδόξῳ περιπετείᾳ.
He himself, having advanced to the Indus River and found both the thirty-oared ships fully equipped and the crossing bridged, refreshed his army for thirty days; then, having offered magnificent sacrifices to the gods, he ferried his army across and met with an unexpected turn of fortune.
§17.86.4Ταξίλου γὰρ τοῦ βασιλέως προτετελευτηκότος υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Μῶφις διαδεξάμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν διεπέμψατο μὲν καὶ πρότερον πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρονἐν τῇ Σογδιανῇ διατρίβοντα, ἐπαγγελλόμενος αὐτῷ συστρατεύειν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀντιταττομένους τῶν Ἰνδῶν καὶ τότε πρέσβεις ἀποστείλας ἔφησεν αὐτῷ παραδιδόναι τὴν βασιλείαν.
For Taxiles the king having already died, his son Mophis, who had succeeded to the rule, had indeed previously sent messengers to Alexander while he was staying in Sogdiana, promising to join him in campaigning against those of the Indians who opposed him, and now, having sent envoys, he declared that he was surrendering his kingdom to him.
§17.86.5ἀπέχοντος δὲ τεσσαράκοντα σταδίους τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκτάξας τὴν δύναμιν ὡς εἰς πόλεμον καὶ τοὺς ἐλέφαντας κοσμήσας ἀπήντα μετὰ τῶν φίλων.
And when the king was forty stades away, Mophis drew up his army as if for battle, and having decorated his elephants, went to meet him along with his friends.
ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁρῶν προσιοῦσαν μεγάλην δύναμιν ἐκτεταγμένην πολεμικῶς καὶ δόξας τὸν Ἰνδὸν ἐπιβούλως πεποιῆσθαι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, ὅπως ἀπαρασκεύοις τοῖς Μακεδόσιν ἐπίθηται, τοῖς μὲν σαλπιγκταῖς παρεκελεύσατο σημαίνειν τὸ πολεμικόν, τοὺς δὲ στρατιώτας ἐκτάξας ἀπήντα τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς.
But Alexander, seeing a great army approaching drawn up in warlike order, and thinking that the Indian had made his promises deceitfully, so that he might attack the Macedonians while they were unprepared, ordered his trumpeters to sound the call to arms, and having drawn up his soldiers, went to meet the Indians.
§17.86.6ὁ δὲ Μῶφις ὁρῶν τὴν ταραχὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων καὶ τὸ γεγονὸς συλλογιζόμενος τὴν μὲν δύναμιν κατέλιπεν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ ὀλίγων προϊππεύσας καὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν Μακεδόνων διορθωσάμενος παρέδωκεν ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῷ βασιλεῖ.
But Mophis, seeing the confusion of the Macedonians and deducing what had occurred, left his army behind, and riding forward himself with a few men, corrected the misunderstanding of the Macedonians and surrendered both himself and his army to the king.
§17.86.7ἡσθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος τήν τε βασιλείαν ἀπέδωκεν αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν διετέλει τούτῳ φίλῳ καὶ συμμάχῳ χρώμενος καὶ μετωνόμασεν αὐτὸν Ταξίλην.
And Alexander, being pleased, restored his kingdom to him and for the future continued to employ him as a friend and ally, and renamed him Taxiles.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
These things, then, were transacted during this year.

Notes

  1. 17.86.1τοῖς κενοῖς τοῦ πολέμου — The neuter plural noun phrase τὰ κενὰ followed by the genitive τοῦ πολέμου means literally 'the empty things of war', implying 'empty feints' or 'illusory tactics'. Contextually, it refers to Alexander's cunning move in 17.85.7 where he purposely left an exit open to lure the enemies into retreating without a fight.
  2. 17.86.3καταλαβὼν τάς τε τριακοντόρους κατεσκευασμένας καὶ τὸν πόρον ἐζευγμένον — The participle καταλαβὼν ('having found') governs two coordinate clauses with accusatives and modifying participles: [τάς τε τριακοντόρους κατεσκευασμένας] and [τὸν πόρον ἐζευγμένον]. This structure denotes physical discovery or verification: 'having found both the thirty-oared ships equipped and the crossing bridged'.
  3. 17.86.4Ταξίλου γὰρ τοῦ βασιλέως προτετελευτηκότος — A genitive absolute construction. The use of the perfect participle προτετελευτηκότος indicates that the death of King Taxiles had already taken place prior to the current narrative timeframe (i.e., before Alexander's arrival).
  4. 17.86.5ἀπέχοντος δὲ τεσσαράκοντα σταδίους τοῦ βασιλέως — A genitive absolute clause. The logical subject of this clause is τοῦ βασιλέως ('the king', meaning Alexander), whereas the main subject of the principal verb ἀπήντα is Mophis, carried over from the previous section. One must distinguish the two different subjects.
  5. 17.86.5δόξας τὸν Ἰνδὸν ἐπιβούλως πεποιῆσθαι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας — The participle δόξας ('thinking'), which agrees with the main subject Alexander, governs the accusative-with-infinitve clause [τὸν Ἰνδὸν ἐπιβούλως πεποιῆσθαι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας]. The accusative subject of the infinitive is τὸν Ἰνδὸν ('the Indian', i.e., Mophis), and πεποιῆσθαι is the perfect deponent infinitive of ποιέομαι.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §17.86.1-17.86.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:17.86.1-17.86.7

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