To Darius, Alexander’s reply was haughtier than ever. ‘If thou comest,’ so ran his words, ‘and yield thyself up into my power, I will treat thee with all possible kindness; if not, I will come myself to seek thee.’ Soon after this the wife of Darius died. Alexander had always treated her well, and now he buried her with great honour. One of her servants fled to Darius to tell him the sad tidings. He told him, too, of the kindness Alexander had ever shown to his royal captive. ‘O king,’ said the servant, ‘neither your queen when alive, nor your mother, nor children wanted anything of their former happy condition, unless it were the light of your countenance. And after her decease, Statira, the queen, had not only all due funeral ornaments, but was honoured also with the tears of your very enemies; for Alexander is as gentle after victory as he is terrible in the field.’ CHAPTER XCVII THE BATTLE OF GAUGAMELA It was now almost two years since the battle of Issus, and Alexander determined once more to meet Darius, who had again assembled a large army. In the spring of 331 B.C. the king went back to Tyre, and by August he had reached Thapsacus, a town on the banks of the river Euphrates. He wished to go on to Babylon, the capital of the Persian empire, but the direct way to the city, which was down the Euphrates, was guarded by Cyrus with a large army. So Alexander struck off across the north of Mesopotamia, and reaching the Tigris marched along the river on the eastern side. Above Nineveh he crossed to the other bank, and after marching southward for several days, he heard that Darius was encamped on a plain near Gaugamela, on the river Bumōdus. Even to the brave Macedonian generals, the vast hosts of the Persians looked formidable. Parmenio looking at them begged the king to surprise the enemy by a night attack rather than risk a battle in daylight. ‘I will not steal a victory,’ answered Alexander. The night before the battle the king slept soundly, as though nothing preyed upon his mind. In the morning his generals found him still fast asleep, so without disturbing him they themselves bade the soldiers have breakfast. At length Parmenio went to wake the king, and having with difficulty roused him, he asked how it was possible he could sleep so soundly when the most important battle of his life had to be fought that day. ‘You slept, sire, as though you were already victorious,’ said the anxious general. ‘Are we not so indeed,’ answered the king, ‘since we are at last relieved from the trouble of wandering in pursuit of Darius, through a wide and wasted country, hoping in vain that he would fight us?’