Note 306 — Chapter XCIII · SECOND AND THIRD ASIATIC CAMPAIGNS OF ALEXANDER — BATTLE OF ISSUS — SIEGE OF TYRE.

Curtius (ut suprà) adds these motives: Arrian asserts nothing beyond the simple request. The statement of Curtius represents what is likely to have been the real fact and real feeling of Alexander.

It is certainly true that Curtius overloads his narrative with rhetorical and dramatic amplification; but it is not less true that Arrian falls into the opposite extreme—squeezing out his narrative until little is left beyond the dry skeleton.