Treat Me Like a King!, by Flavius Arrianus

❰

1 2

❱

AFTER he had drunk water and felt refreshed, he ordered Meroës to lead him without delay to Alexander.

And Alexander rode in front of the line with a few of the Companions to meet him, and stopping his horse, admired the handsome figure and the stature of Porus, which reached somewhat about 5 cubits.* He was also surprised that he did not seem to be cowed in spirit, but advanced to meet him as one brave man would meet another brave man. Then, indeed, Alexander was the first to speak, bidding him say what treatment he would like to receive.

The report goes that Porus replied: ‘Treat me, O Alexander, in a kingly way!’ Alexander, pleased, said: ‘For my own sake, O Porus, I do that, but for thine, do thou demand what is pleasing unto thee.’

But Porus said all things were included in that, whereupon Alexander, being still more pleased, not only granted him the rule over his own Indians, but also added another country of larger extent than the former to what he had before. Thus he treated the brave man in a kingly way, and from that time found him faithful in all things.

by Flavius Arrianus 2nd century AD

abridged

From ‘The Anabasis of Alexander’ by Arrian (Flavius Arrianus, 2nd century AD), translated (1884) Edward James Chinnock, and abridged by Flora Annie Steel (1847-1929) in ‘India Through the Ages’ (1911). Arrian’s original can be read in Greek and English at ‘Arrian: With an English Translation’ (1949), by E. Iliff Robson.

* Flora Annie Steel (1847-1929), whose abridgement is the basis of this extract, states that five cubits was a length equivalent to 6ft 6in. Modern dictionaries typically put a cubit at 18in, which would make the Indian king almost a foot taller than this. The word cubit derives from the Latin for ‘elbow’ and represented the distance from a man’s elbow to the tip of his fingers.

Précis

Alexander was much taken by Porus’s imposing stature and noble bearing. He asked Porus to name his terms of surrender, and the Indian replied that he wished to be treated as befitted a king. That went without saying, said Alexander; but it was Porus’s only demand. Much impressed, Alexander not only restored Porus’s kingdom but granted him another, even larger.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

Questions for Critics

Tags

Read Next