subdued.
These hostages consisted chiefly, as was usual in such cases, of
children. At length, in the course of the war, an occasion arose in
which it was necessary, for the protection of his troops, to encamp
them on three hills which were situated very near to each other.
These hills were separated by low interval lands and a small stream;
but at the time when Alexander established his encampment, the stream
constituted no impediment to free intercommunication between the
different divisions of his army. There came on, however, a powerful
rain; the stream overflowed its banks; the intervals were inundated.
This enabled the enemy to attack two of Alexander's encampments, while
it was utterly impossible for Alexander himself to render them any
aid. The enemy made the attack, and were successful in it. The two
camps were broken up, and the troops stationed in them were put to
flight. Those that remained with Alexander, becoming discouraged by
the hopeless condition in which they found themselves placed,
mutinied, and sent to the camp of the enemy, offering to deliver up
Alexander to them, dead or alive, as they should choose, on condition
that they themselves might be allowed to return to their native land
in peace. This proposal was accepted; but, before it was put in
execution, Alexander, having discovered the plot, placed himself at
the head of a determined and desperate band of followers, broke
through the ranks of the enemies that surrounded him, and made his
escape to a neighboring wood. From this wood he took a route which
led him to a river, intending to pass the river by a bridge which he
expected to find there, and then to destroy the bridge as soon as he
had crossed it, so as to prevent his enemies from following him. By
this means he hoped to make his way to some place of safety. He found,
on arriving at the brink of the stream, that the bridge had been
carried away by the inundation. He, however, pressed forward into the
water on horseback, intending to ford the stream. The torrent was
wild, and the danger was imminent, but Alexander pressed on. At length
one of the attendants, seeing his master in imminent danger of being
drowned, exclaimed aloud, "This cursed river! well is it named
Acheron." The word Acheron, in the original language, signifies River
of Sorrow.

By this exclamation Alexander learned, for the first time, that the
river he was crossing bore the same name with the one in Epirus, which
he