PhiliptheUniterchaeronea
11-25-2005, 11:50 PM
Alexander's address to his troops before the Battle of Issus (333 BC)
Alexander now sent for his infantry and cavalry commanders and all officers in charge of allied troops and appealed to them jar confidence and courage in the coming fight. 'Remember', he said; 'that already danger has often threatened you and you have looked it triumphantly in the face; this time the struggle will be between a victorious army and an enemy already once vanquished. God himself, moreover, by suggesting to Darius to leave the open ground and cram his great army into a confined space, has taken charge of operations in our behalf. We ourselves shall have room enough to deploy our infantry, while they, no match for us either in bodily strength or resolution, will find their superior numbers of no avail. Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have trained in the hard school of danger and war Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves. There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service - but how different is their cause from ours! They will be fighting for pay - and not much of it at that; we, on the contrary shall fight for Greece, and our hearts will be in it. As for our foreign troops - Thracians, Paeonions, Illyrians, Agrianes - they are the best and stoutest soldiers in Europe, and they will find as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia. And what, finally, of the two men in supreme command? You have Alexander, they Darius!..."
Arrian, "Anabasis of Alexander", (Book 2 .7).
Alexander now sent for his infantry and cavalry commanders and all officers in charge of allied troops and appealed to them jar confidence and courage in the coming fight. 'Remember', he said; 'that already danger has often threatened you and you have looked it triumphantly in the face; this time the struggle will be between a victorious army and an enemy already once vanquished. God himself, moreover, by suggesting to Darius to leave the open ground and cram his great army into a confined space, has taken charge of operations in our behalf. We ourselves shall have room enough to deploy our infantry, while they, no match for us either in bodily strength or resolution, will find their superior numbers of no avail. Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have trained in the hard school of danger and war Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves. There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service - but how different is their cause from ours! They will be fighting for pay - and not much of it at that; we, on the contrary shall fight for Greece, and our hearts will be in it. As for our foreign troops - Thracians, Paeonions, Illyrians, Agrianes - they are the best and stoutest soldiers in Europe, and they will find as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia. And what, finally, of the two men in supreme command? You have Alexander, they Darius!..."
Arrian, "Anabasis of Alexander", (Book 2 .7).