---
title: "Seven Books of History against the Pagans"
author: "Paulus Orosius"
translator: "S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)"
title_ru: "История против язычников"
title_fr: "Histoires contre les païens"
title_de: "Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Church Fathers"
section: 56 of 177
url: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/56/
cite: "Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026), Seven Books of History against the Pagans, section 56. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/56/"
---

# Seven Books of History against the Pagans

*Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)*

Russian: История против язычников · French: Histoires contre les païens · German: Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden

Augustine's pupil tells the whole of world history to prove that the Christian times are not the worst.

## 56. Book 3 · Chapter 16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/56/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/56/#p-N

[¶0] So in the year 426 from the founding of the City, Alexander succeeded his father Philip in the kingdom: he gave the first proof of his spirit and valour by swiftly crushing the risings of the Greeks, whom the orator Demosthenes, bribed with Persian gold, had urged to revolt from the rule of the Macedonians.

> Latin: 1 Igitur Alexander anno ab urbe condita CCCCXXVI patri Philippo successit in regnum: qui primam experientiam animi et uirtutis suae conpressis celeriter Graecorum motibus dedit, quibus auctor, ut ab imperio Macedonum deficerent, Demosthenes orator auro Persarum corruptus exstiterat.

[¶1] And so, when the Athenians begged to be spared the war, he remitted it, and moreover even released them from fear of a fine; the Thebans he wiped out together with their demolished city, and sold the survivors into slavery; the other cities of Achaea and Thessaly he made tributary; the Illyrians and Thracians too, soon shifting the war from there, he subdued.

> Latin: 2 itaque Atheniensibus bellum deprecantibus remisit, quos insuper etiam multae metu soluit; Thebanos cum diruta ciuitate deleuit, reliquos sub corona uendidit; ceteras urbes Achaiae et Thessaliae uectigales fecit; Illyrios quoque et Thracas translato mox abhinc bello domuit.

[¶2] Then, as he was about to set out for the Persian war, he killed all his kinsmen and nearest relatives. In his army there were 32,000 foot, 4,500 horse and 180 ships. With so small a band, it is uncertain which is the more to be wondered at: that he conquered the whole world, or that he dared to attack it.

> Latin: 3 inde profecturus ad Persicum bellum omnes cognatos ac proximos suos interfecit. in exercitu eius fuere peditum XXXII milia, equitum IIII milia quingenti, naues CLXXX. hac tam parua manu uniuersum terrarum orbem utrum admirabilius sit quia uicerit an quia adgredi ausus fuerit incertum est.

[¶3] At his first encounter with King Darius six hundred thousand Persians were in the battle line, and they turned their backs, overcome no less by Alexander’s skill than by the valour of the Macedonians. Great, therefore, was the slaughter of the Persians. Alexander’s army lost only 120 horsemen and 9 foot soldiers.

> Latin: 4 primo eius cum Dario rege congressu sescenta milia Persarum in acie fuere, quae non minus arte Alexandri superata quam uirtute Macedonum terga uerterunt. magna igitur caedes Persarum fuit. in exercitu Alexandri CXX equites et nouem tantum pedites defuere.

*Note: The battle of the Granicus (334 BC). Darius was not present; the Persian army was commanded by his satraps.*

[¶4] Next he besieged, stormed and took Gordium, a city of Phrygia, which is now called Sardis, and gave it over to plunder. Then, when the approach of Darius with great forces was reported to him, fearing the narrow passes in which he found himself, he crossed the Taurus range with marvellous speed and, covering five hundred stades in a single day’s march, came to Tarsus; and there, when he had gone down sweating into the ice-cold river Cydnus, he grew stiff, and with the contraction of his sinews came very near to death.

> Latin: 5 deinde Gordien Phrygiae ciuitatem, quae nunc Sardis uocitatur, obsessam oppugnatamque cepit ac direptioni dedit. inde nuntiato sibi Darii cum magnis copiis aduentu, timens angustias quibus inerat locorum, Taurum montem mira celeritate transcendit et quingentis stadiis sub una die cursu transmissis, Tarsum uenit, ibique cum sudans in Cydnum praefrigidum amnem descendisset, obriguit contractuque neruorum proximus morti fuit.

*Note: Gordium and Sardis were different cities: Gordium was the old Phrygian capital, Sardis the capital of Lydia.*

[¶5] Meanwhile Darius advanced into battle with three hundred thousand foot and a hundred thousand horse. This multitude of enemies alarmed even Alexander, chiefly in view of his own small numbers, although, having long since overcome six hundred thousand enemies with the same small numbers, he had learned not only not to fear battle but even to hope for victory.

> Latin: 6 interea Darius cum CCC milibus peditum et C milibus equitum in aciem procedit. mouebat haec multitudo hostium etiam Alexandrum maxime respectu paucitatis suae, quamuis iam pridem DC milibus hostium eadem paucitate superatis non solum non timere pugnam sed etiam uictoriam sperare didicisset.

[¶6] So when both armies had taken their stand within a spear’s throw of each other, and the leaders, riding to and fro, were whetting with various incitements the peoples intent on the signal for battle, the fight was joined with mighty spirit on both sides:

> Latin: 7 itaque cum intra iactum teli uterque constitisset exercitus et intentos ad signum belli populos discurrentes principes uariis incitamentis acuerent, ingentibus utrimque animis pugna committitur:

[¶7] in it both kings, Alexander and Darius, were wounded, and the contest remained doubtful until Darius fled; thereafter a slaughter of the Persians followed.

> Latin: 8 in qua ambo reges et Alexander et Darius uulnerantur, ac tam diu certamen anceps fuit, quoad fugeret Darius; exinde caedes Persarum secuta est.

[¶8] There eighty thousand foot and ten thousand horse were slain, and forty thousand were captured. Of the Macedonians there fell 130 foot and 150 horse. In the Persian camp much gold and other wealth was found. Among the captives of the camp were Darius’s mother, his wife, who was also his sister, and his two daughters;

> Latin: 9 ibi tum peditum LXXX milia, equitum X milia caesa, capta autem XL milia fuere. ex Macedonibus uero cecidere pedites CXXX, equites CL. in castris Persarum multum auri ceterarumque opum repertum. inter captiuos castrorum mater et uxor eademque soror et filiae duae Darii fuere;

[¶9] and when Darius failed to obtain their ransom, even after offering half of his kingdom, he gathered for a third time all the forces of the Persians and the auxiliaries of his allies and renewed the war.

> Latin: 10 quarum redemptionem Darius cum etiam oblata regni dimidia parte non inpetrauisset, tertio cunctis Persarum uiribus sociorumque auxiliis contractis, bellum instaurat.

[¶10] But while Darius was doing this, Alexander sent Parmenion with forces to attack the Persian fleet, and himself set out for Syria; there, of the many kings who came of their own accord to meet him wearing fillets, some he chose as allies, some he replaced, some he destroyed; and Tyre, a most ancient and flourishing city, which resisted him trusting in the Carthaginians, its kinsmen, he overwhelmed and took.

> Latin: 11 sed dum haec Darius agit, Alexander Parmenionem ad inuadendam Persicam classem cum copiis mittit, ipse in Syriam proficiscitur, ibi ex multis sibi regibus cum infulis ultro occurrentibus alios allegit, alios mutauit, alios perdidit, Tyrum urbem antiquissimam et florentissimam, fiducia Carthaginiensium sibi cognatorum obsistentem, oppressit et cepit.

[¶11] From there he overran Cilicia, Rhodes and Egypt with persistent fury. Then he went on to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, so that by a lie contrived for the occasion he might wipe out the shame of an uncertain father and the infamy of an adulterous mother.

> Latin: 12 exim Ciliciam Rhodum atque Aegyptum pertinaci furore peruadit. inde ad templum Iouis Hammonis pergit, ut mendacio ad tempus conposito ignominiam sibi patris incerti et infamiam adulterae matris aboleret.

[¶12] For he summoned to him the priest of the shrine itself and secretly instructed him what answer he wished to be given when he consulted it, as their own historians say. Thus Alexander was certain, and has disclosed to us, that since the gods themselves are dumb and deaf, it lies either in the power of the priest to invent what he wishes or in the will of the one consulting to hear what he prefers.

> Latin: 13 nam arcessitum ad se fani ipsius antistitem ex occulto monuit, quid sibi tamquam consulenti responderi uelit, sicut historici eorum dicunt. ita certus Alexander fuit nobisque prodidit, dis ipsis mutis et surdis uel in potestate esse antistitis quid uelit fingere uel in uoluntate consulentis quid malit audire.

[¶13] Returning from Ammon to the third Persian war, he founded Alexandria in Egypt.

> Latin: 14 reuertens ab Hammone ad tertium Persicum bellum Alexandriam in Aegypto condidit.