Note 373 — RADICALS.

Gau likewise is a term which signifies a house; as we learn from Plutarch. The great and decisive battle between Alexander and Darius is generally said to have been fought at Arbela. But we are assured by this writer, that it was decided at Gaugamela[373]. He says, that Gau signified in the language of the country a house: and that the purport of the word Gaugamela was the house of a camel. This name, it seems, was given to the town on account of a tribute exacted for the maintenance of a camel, which had saved the life of some king, when he fled from battle: and the reason why the victory of Alexander was adjudged to Arbela, arose from its being more famous than the other place: for Gaugamela was not of sufficient repute: therefore the honour of this victory was given to Arbela, though it was according to some five hundred, according to others six hundred stadia[374] from the field of battle. I have not now time, nor is it to my purpose, to enter into a thorough discussion of this point: I will only mention it as my opinion, that Arbela and Gaugamela were the same place. The king alluded to is said by [375]Strabo to have been Darius the son of Hystaspes. But is it credible, that so great a prince, who had horses of the famous breed of Nysa, as well as those of Persis and Arabia, the most fleet of their kind, should be so circumstanced in battle, as to be forced to mount a camel, that could scarce move six miles in an hour: and this at a time when the greatest dispatch was necessary? This author gives a different reason for the place being thus denominated. He says, that it was allotted for the maintenance of a camel, which used to bring the king's provisions from Scythia, but was tired and failed upon the road. I know not which of the two circumstances in this short detail is most exceptionable; a king of Persia's provisions being brought to Babylon, or Sushan from Scythia; or a tired camel having such a pension. The truth is this: the Grecians misinterpreted the name, and then forged these legendary stories to support their [376]mistake. Had they understood the term, they would have been consistent in their history. Gau, and, as it was at times expressed, Cau, certainly signifies a house, or temple: also a cave, or hollow; near which the temple of the Deity was founded. For the Amonians erected most of their sacred edifices near caverns, and deep openings of the earth. Gaugamela was not the house of a camel, as Plutarch and Strabo would persuade us, notwithstanding the stories alleged in support of the notion: but it was the house and temple of Cam-El, the Deity of the country. Arbela was a place sacred to Bel, called Arbel, אור בל of the Chaldeans. It was the same as Beth Arbel of [377]Hosea: and Gaugamela is of the same purport, relating to the same God under different titles. The Grecians were grossly ignorant in respect to foreign events, as Strabo repeatedly confesses: and other writers do not scruple to own it. Lysimachus had been an attendant upon Alexander during the whole series of his conquests in Asia: there had been nothing of moment transacted, in the success of which he had not partaken. Yet even in his days, when he was king of Thrace, the accounts of those great actions had been so misrepresented, that when a history of them was read in his presence, they seemed quite new to him. It is all very fine, says the prince; but where was I when all this happened? There was a series of events exhibited, with which the person most interested was least acquainted. We may then well imagine, that there existed in the time of Plutarch many mistakes, both in respect to the geography of countries very remote, and to the [378]language of nations, with whom the Romans were little acquainted. The great battle, of which we have been speaking, was confessedly fought at Gaugamela. Ptolemy Ceraunus, who was present, averred it: as did Aristobulus: and it has been recorded by Plutarch and others. It is also adjudged to Arbela by persons of equal credit: and it must certainly have been really there transacted: for notwithstanding the palliating excuse of Plutarch, it is utterly incredible in respect to so great a victory, that the scene of action should be determined by this place, if it were sixty, or, as some say, seventy miles out of the way. But in reality it was at no such distance. Diodorus Siculus says, that Alexander immediately after the victory attacked Arbela, and took it: and found in it many evidences of its being a place of consequence. [379]Θαψας τους τετελευτηκοτας επεβαλε τοις Αρβηλοις, και πολλην μεν ἑυρεν αφθονιαν της τροφης, ουκ ολιγον δε κοσμον, και γαζαν βαρβαρικην, αργυριου δε ταλαντα δισχιλια. The battle was fought so near the city, that Alexander was afraid of some contagion from the dead bodies of the enemy, which lay close by it in great abundance.