as, who was well acquainted with Alexander's character. This man,
when he found that Darius wished to enter the hilly country to fight
Alexander amongst its narrow valleys, besought him to remain where he
was, upon the flat open plains, where the enormous numbers of his
troops could be advantageously used against the small Macedonian army.
When Darius answered that he feared Alexander and his men would escape
unless he attacked, Amyntas said, "O king, have no fears on that
score; for he will come and fight you, and I warrant he is not far off
now." However, Amyntas made no impression on Darius, who marched
forward into Kilikia, while at the same time Alexander marched into
Syria to meet him. During the night they missed one another, and each
turned back, Alexander rejoicing at this incident, and hurrying to
catch Darius in the narrow defile leading into Kilikia, while Darius
was glad of the opportunity of recovering his former ground, and of
disentangling his army from the narrow passes through the mountains.
He already had perceived the mistake which he had committed in
entering a country where the sea, the mountains, and the river Pyramus
which ran between them, made it impossible for his army to act, while
on the other hand it afforded great advantages to his enemies, who
were mostly foot soldiers, and whose numbers were not so great as to
encumber their movements.

Fortune, no doubt, greatly favoured Alexander, but yet he owed much of
his success to his excellent generalship; for although enormously
outnumbered by the enemy, he not only avoided being surrounded by
them, but was able to outflank their left with his own right wing, and
by this manoeuvre completely defeated the Persians. He himself fought
among the foremost, and, according to Chares, was wounded in the thigh
by Darius himself. Alexander in the account of the battle which he
despatched to Antipater, does not mention the name of the man who
wounded him, but states that he received a stab in the thigh with a
dagger, and that the wound was not a dangerous one.

He won a most decisive victory, and slew more than a hundred thousand
of the enemy, but could not come up with Darius himself, as he gained
a start of nearly a mile. He captured his chariot, however, and his
bow and arrows, and on his return found the Macedonians revelling in
the rich plunder which they had won, although the Persians had been in
light marching order, and had left most of their heav