Others hurried away in search of
Alexander, to bring him to the spot where the great object of his
hostility, and of his long and protracted pursuit, was dying.

Darius received the drink. He then said that he was extremely glad
that they had an interpreter with them, who could understand him, and
bear his message to Alexander. He had been afraid that he should have
had to die without being able to communicate what he had to say. "Tell
Alexander," said he, then, "that I feel under the strongest
obligations to him which I can now never repay, for his kindness to my
wife, my mother, and my children. He not only spared their lives, but
treated them with the greatest consideration and care, and did all in
his power to make them happy. The last feeling in my heart is
gratitude to him for these favors. I hope now that he will go on
prosperously, and finish his conquests as triumphantly as he has begun
them." He would have made one last request, he added, if he had
thought it necessary, and that was, that Alexander would pursue the
traitor Bessus, and avenge the murder he had committed; but he was
sure that Alexander would do this of his own accord, as the punishment
of such treachery was an object of common interest for every king.

Darius then took Polystratus, the Macedonian who had brought him the
water, by the hand, saying, "Give Alexander thy hand as I now give
thee mine; it is the pledge of my gratitude and affection."

Darius was too weak to say much more. They gathered around him,
endeavoring to sustain his strength until Alexander should arrive; but
it was all in vain. He sank gradually, and soon ceased to breathe.
Alexander came up a few minutes after all was over. He was at first
shocked at the spectacle before him, and then overwhelmed with grief.
He wept bitterly. Some compunctions of conscience may have visited his
heart at seeing thus before him the ruin he had made. Darius had never
injured him or done him any wrong, and yet here he lay, hunted to
death by a persevering and relentless hostility, for which his
conqueror had no excuse but his innate love of dominion over his
fellow-men. Alexander spread his own military cloak over the dead
body. He immediately made arrangements for having the body embalmed,
and then sent it to Susa, for Sysigambis, in a very costly coffin, and
with a procession of royal magnificence. He sent it to her that she
might have the satisfaction of seeing it deposited in the tombs of