THE BATTLE FIELD AND THE DISPOSITION OF THE TWO ARMIES
The river was not yet at its full size, but the rains would soon begin; and Porus with his army, including many elephants, held the farther bank. Alexander had the flotilla from the Indus brought across in sections, and made ostentatious preparations for crossing to hold Porus' attention, though he knew that the cavalry could not cross in the face of the elephants. Under cover of these preparations he reconnoitred the bank, and selected a place 18 miles above
{1} Jhelum, at the great bend of the river, where was a wooded island in mid-stream. The rains had begun, and there was need of haste. The boats were brought to the selected point and put together; meanwhile Alexander made numerous feints at crossing elsewhere, keeping Porus perpetually on the move; the Indian finally grew weary of meeting threats that never materialised. Shortly after the summer solstice, Alexander joined his flotilla by a wide detour, leaving Craterus at Jhelum with his hipparchy, two battalions of the phalanx (those of Alcetas and Polyperchon), and the Indian contingents from Gandhara, who, however, took no part in the battle; his orders were not to cross unless Porus were defeated or the elephants withdrawn from the bank. To guard against a surprise crossing, three battalions of the phalanx, those of Meleager, Attalus and Gorgias, were strung out along the bank between Jhelum and the crossing-point; their orders
{2} were to cross in turn and join Alexander as he successively came level with them on his march towards Porus' camp. The following night was especially stormy.
Alexander had with him the agema of the Companions, the hipparchies of Hephaestion, Perdiccas, Coenus and Demetrius, and the horse-archers, nominaly 5,300 horse. Of infantry, he had the hypaspists, two battalions of the phalanx, those of Coenus (Antigenes) and Cleitus, the Agrianians, archers and javelin-men, somewhere about 10,000 men. Ptolemy's statement (if it be his) that he had under 6,000 foot is, for once, demonstrably wrong
{3}; if taken from the Journal, it was given there simply with the object of minimising the effect of the enemy's elephants. In the morning, the force crossed to the island; but as soon as they left it, they were seen by Porus' scouts. They landed safely, only to find themselves on another island; with great difficulty, they waded ashore, and Alexander at once advanced downstream towards Porus' position, on the way defeating and killing Porus' son, who had been sent forward with 2,000 horse to reconnoitre. Porus himself, leaving a few elephants to prevent Craterus crossing, had followed, and drew up his army at right angles to the river; his left, however, did not rest on the river, but gave ample space for cavalry to manoeuvre. As Alexander was superior in cavalry, Porus' reason is obscure, unless it was to obtain drier ground for his archers. His centre was formed by 200 elephants; behind and between them the infantry were drawn up, with a body of infantry on each wing unprotected by elephants. His best infantry, the archers, carried huge bows capable of shooting a long arrow with great force; but one end of the bow had to be rested on the ground, and the slippery mud handicapped them badly. On either flank were his cavalry, some 3,000 - 4,000 altogether.
Cut the arrogance.
