Full text of 'CORNELLUNIVERSITYLIBRARYBOUGHT WITH THE INCOMEOF THE SAGE ENDOWMENTFUND GIVEN IN 1891 BYHENRY WILLIAMS SAGECornell University LibraryPA 3935.E5A3 1884Anabasis of Alexander:. The history o3 1924 026 460 752The original of tliis book is intine Cornell University Library.There are no known copyright restrictions inthe United States on the use of the text.OF ALEXANDER.THEANABASIS OF ALEXANDER;OR,i^e Pislorg of tl^e ffiars anir Cottqnjcsts of '^hxmhtx tl^t (irtat.LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH A COMMENTARY,FROM THE GREEK OF ARRIAN THE NICOMEDIAN,BYE. CHINNOCK, M.A., LL.B., L0ND9N,Rector of Dumfries Academy.HODDER AND STOUGHTON,27, PATERNOSTER ROW.MDCCCLXXXIV./. F^5- A3Butler & Tanner.The Selwood Fiintiug Works,Frome, and London.PREFACE.When I began this Translation^ more than two yearsago, I had no intention of publishing it; but as thework progressed, it occurred to me that Arrian is anAuthor deserving of more attention from the English-speaking races than he has yet received. No edition ofhis works has, so far as I am aware, ever appeared inEngland, though on the Continent many have been pub-lished.
Arrian Anabasis Preface
In the following Translation I have tried to giveas literal a rendering of the Greek text as I could with-out transgressing the idioms of our own language. Mytheory of the duty of a Translator is, to give the ipsissimaverba of his Author as nearly as possible, and not putinto his mouth words which he never used, under themistaken notion of improving his diction or his way ofstating his case.
During twelve years of continuous campaigns, Alexander conqueredan empire that stretched from the shores of the Adriatic to the edge ofmodern India. Arrian’s history of those conquests, the most reliableand detailed account to emerge from the ancient world, is a work thatwill fascinate readers interested in classical studies, the history ofwarfare, and the origins of East-West tensions that still simmer todayin Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. Drawing on Ptolemy’s memoirs andother sources that have not survived antiquity, Arrian’s portrait ofAlexander is unmatched for its accuracy and immediacy. Havingserved as a high Roman official with command of an army, Arrian hada unique perspective on Alexander, imbued with a level ofunderstanding that only firsthand military experience can provide.