4. ALEXANDER DESTROYS THE CITY OF THE GETAE – THE AMBASSADORS OF THE CELTS
THEY crossed over by night to a spot where the corn stood high; and therefore they reached the bank more secretly. At the approach of dawn Alexander led his men through the field of standing corn, ordering the infantry to lean upon the corn with their pikes held transversely, and thus to advance into the untilled ground. As long as the phalanx was advancing through the standing corn, the cavalry followed; but when they marched out of the tilled land, Alexander himself led the horse round to the right wing, and commanded Nicanor to lead the phalanx in a square. The Getae did not sustain even the first charge of the cavalry; for Alexander’s audacity seemed incredible to them, in having thus easily crossed the Ister, the largest of rivers, in a single night, without throwing a bridge over the stream. Terrible to them also was the closely-locked order of the phalanx, and violent the charge of the cavalry. At first they fled for refuge into their city, which. was distant about a parasang from the Ister; but when they saw that Alexander was leading his phalanx carefully along the side of the river, to prevent his infantry being anywhere surrounded by the Getae lying in ambush, but that he was sending his cavalry straight on, they again abandoned the city, because it was badly fortified. They carried off as many of their women and children as their horses could bear, and betook themselves into the steppes, in a direction which led as far as possible from the river. Alexander took the city and all the booty which the Getae left behind. This he gave to Meleager and Philip to carry off. After razing the city to the ground, he offered sacrifice upon the bank of the river, to Zeus the preserver, to Heracles, and to Ister himself, because he had allowed him to cross and while it was still day he brought all his men back safe to the camp.
There ambassadors came to him from Syrmus, king of the Triballians, and from the other ind ependent nations dwelling near the Ister. Some even arrived from the Celts who dwelt near the Ionian gulf. These people are of great stature, and of a haughty disposition. All the envoys said that they had come to seek Alexander’s friendship. To all of them he gave pledges of amity, and received pledges from them in return. He then asked the Celts what thing in the world caused them special alarm, expecting that his own great fame had reached the Celts and had penetrated still further, and that they would say that they feared him most of all things. But the answer of the Celts turned out quite contrary to his expectation; for, as they dwelt so far away from Alexander, inhabiting districts difficult of access, and as they saw he was about to set out in another direction, they said they were afraid that the sky would some time or other fall down upon them. These men also he sent back, calling them friends, and ranking them as allies, only adding the remark that the Celts were braggarts.

五
　　 然后他就向阿格瑞安人和培欧尼亚人所住地区前进。
　　 忽然接到消息说克雷塔斯（巴狄利斯之子）造反了；还说陶兰提亚国王格劳西亚斯也参加了叛乱。送信来的人还告诉他说，奥塔瑞亚特人正打算趁他行军之际进行袭 击。由于这些原因，经考虑认为以尽速转移为上策。人们知道，阿格瑞安国王兰加罗斯甚至在腓力还活着的时候就曾向亚历山大表示过好感，还曾亲自派使节晋谒亚 历山大；这时，他正在亚历山大近卫队（亚历山大最精锐的装备最好的部队）中作侍从。当他听说亚历山大正在打听这些奥塔瑞亚特人是些什么人、数目有多少时， 他告诉亚历山大不要担心，说他们是那一带各部族中最不能打仗的。他愿意亲自前往讨伐，让他们自顾不暇。亚历山大同意后，他就领兵侵入他们的国土，所到之处 大肆破坏。
　　 这样，奥塔瑞亚特人果然自顾不暇了。兰加罗斯得到亚历山大授予的很高的荣誉和马其顿朝廷认为最高的奖赏。此外，亚历山大还允许他回到培拉 【 译者注：马其顿首都（腓力二世赫亚历山大时期）。】 时，把他自己的妹妹苏娜嫁给他。
　　 不过，兰加罗斯回到基地之后就得病死去。亚历山大沿埃瑞贡河向坡利亚进军。这个城市在这一带是最牢固的，因此已被克雷塔斯占据。亚历山大到达后就在奥代卡 斯河边宿营，决定第二天攻城。不过克雷塔斯的部队已据守城外四周的高地，不但居高临下，而且林木茂密。如果马其顿人发动进攻，他们可以从四面八方进行阻 击。当时陶兰提亚国王格劳西亚斯还没到达。亚历山大发动了进攻。于是敌方杀死童男童女各三人及黑羊三只祭神，然后冲下山来阻击马其顿右翼。但当希腊人逼近 时，他们就放弃了原来据守的牢固的阵地逃跑了。刚才杀的人和牲口还躺在原处。
　　 那天，亚历山大把他们赶进城里，自己则靠近城墙扎营，准备整修壁垒进行围困。但第二天陶兰提亚国玉率领大军出现了，因此亚历山大放弃了用当时有限的兵力夺 城的计划。因为城里早有许多勇武的战士埋伏，如果他攻城，格劳西亚斯的强大部队也会向他扑来。所以他就派菲罗塔斯以必要的骑兵为掩护，带领所有辎重牲口由 营地出发去征集草料。格劳西亚斯得知菲罗塔斯的动向之后，就领兵向他的人马冲来，并把菲罗塔斯计划取得草料的那片平原四周的高地占领了。有人向亚历山大汇 报说黑夜到来时，那些骑兵和辎重牲口都将遇到很大危险。于是亚历山大立即率领他的近卫队、弓箭手、阿格瑞安部队和四百名骑兵全速前往营救；其余部队留在城 边，因为如果把全部兵力都撤走，恐怕城里的敌人会冲出来和格劳西亚斯的部队会合。格劳西亚斯看见亚历山大来了，就放弃了那些高地，于是菲罗塔斯就率领他的 运输队安全返回营地。即使如此，克雷塔斯和格劳西亚斯所率部队看起来仍然把亚历山大置于不利地位。因为他们据守的是居高临下的高地，又有那么多的骑兵、标 枪手、使用投石器的人以及相当多的重骑兵，而且城里的兵力也准备等亚历山大一撤退，就立即追击。而亚历山大必须路过的地方既狭窄又多沼泽，一边有河水阻 挡，另一边是一座大山，山旁又都是起伏的丘陵。因此，部队只能成四路纵队通过。