All his
treasure and all his territory were Alexander's already. As for the
proposed marriage, if he (Alexander) liked to marry a daughter of
Darius, he should of course do so, whether her father consented or not.
If Darius wanted merciful treatment, he had better come and deliver
himself up at once."

The terms of this reply rendered further negotiation impossible.
Darius had probably not hoped much from his pacific overtures, and was
therefore not greatly concerned at their rejection. He knew that the
members of his family were honorably and even kindly treated by their
captor, and that, so far at any rate, Alexander had proved himself a
magnanimous conqueror. He can scarcely have thought that a lasting peace
was possible between himself and his young antagonist, who had only just
fleshed his maiden sword, and was naturally eager to pursue his career
of conquest. Indeed, he seems from the moment of his defeat at Issus to
have looked forward to another battle as inevitable, and to have been
unremitting in his efforts to collect and arm a force which might
contend, with a good hope of victory, against the Macedonians. He
replaced the panoplies lost at Issus with fresh ones; he armed his
forces anew with swords and spears longer than the Persians had been
previously accustomed to employ, on account of the great length of the
Macedonian weapons; he caused to be constructed 200 scythed chariots; he
prepared spiked balls to use against his enemy's cavalry; above all, he
laid under contribution for the supply of troops all the provinces,
even the most remote, of his extensive Empire, and asked and obtained
important aid from allies situated beyond his borders. The forces which
he collected for the final struggle comprised--besides Persians, Medes,
Babylonians, and Susianians from the centre of the Empire--Syrians from
the banks of the Orontes, Armenians from the neighborhood of Ararat,
Cappadocians and Albanians from the regions bordering on the Euxine,
Cadusians from the Caspian, Bactrians from the Upper Oxus, Sogdians from
the Jaxartes, Arachosians from Cabul, Arians from Herat, Indians from
Punjab, and even Sacse from the country about Kashgar and Yarkand, on
the borders of the Great Desert of Gobi. Twenty-five nations followed
the standard of the Great King, and swelled the ranks of his vast army,
which amounted (according to the best authorities) to above a million of
men. Every available resource that the Empire posse