lexander faint with thirst, as it was the hottest time of the day,
they quickly filled a helmet with water and gave it to him to drink.
He asked them to whom they were carrying the water, to which they
answered, "To our own sons; but provided that you live, even if they
should die, we can beget other children." On hearing this he took the
helmet into his hands; but seeing all the horsemen around him eagerly
watching him and coveting the water, he gave it back without tasting
it. He thanked the men for offering it to him, but said, "If I alone
drink it, all these soldiers will be discontented." The soldiers, when
they saw the noble courage and self-denial of Alexander, bade him lead
them on boldly, and urged forward their horses, saying that they felt
neither hunger nor thirst, and did not think themselves to be mortal
men, so long as they had such a king as Alexander to lead them.

XLIII. The whole of his army was equally enthusiastic; yet the
fatigues of the march were so great, that when Alexander burst into
the enemy's camp, only sixty men are said to have followed him. Here
they passed over great heaps of gold and silver, and pursued a long
line of waggons, full of women and children, which were proceeding
along without any drivers, until they had reached the foremost of
them, because they imagined that Darius might be hidden in them. At
last he was found, lying in his chariot, pierced with innumerable
javelins, and just breathing his last. He was able to ask for drink,
and when given some cold water by Polystratus, he said to him, "My
good sir, this is the worst of all my misfortunes that I am unable to
recompense you for your kindness to me; but Alexander will reward you,
and the gods will reward Alexander for his courteous treatment of my
mother and wife and daughters. Wherefore I pray thee, embrace him, as
I embrace thee." With these words he took Polystratus by the hand and
died. When Alexander came up, he showed great grief at the sight, and
covered the body with his own cloak. He afterwards captured Bessus and
tore him asunder, by bending down the tops of trees and tying
different parts of his body to each, and then letting them spring up
again so that each tore off the limb to which it was attached.
Alexander now had the corpse of Darius adorned as became a prince, and
sent it to his mother, while he received his brother Exathres into the
number of his intimate friends.

XLIV. He himself, with a few picked