Encouragement for the unwounded
Cambridge, sometime in February 2018.
My friend died two weeks ago. It feels like yesterday and it feels like it didn’t happen. When I left at the end of August, she gave me Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin. The inscription said she hoped the title was inappropriate and that I would have not just one safe journey to Prague, but many. I have a postcard still to send her.
Below, a passage which she quoted in her book on the treatment of war wounds.
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‘…Then the Macedonians turned the battle around against the barbarians and once they were defeated, they brought the city down on top of them. This was no help to Alexander, however. He was taken from the field along with the missile: the shaft of the arrow pierced his vital organs, and the arrow bound and fixed his breastplate to his body.
‘When they tried forcing it out from the root, as it were, of the wound, the iron would not yield to them. It was lodged in the solid part of his breast in front of the heart. They did not dare to saw off the part of the shaft that was projecting out for fear it would cause excruciating pain and a rush of internal bleeding if the bone were to be split by the force.
‘Having noticed the great difficulty and hesitation, Alexander himself tried to cut the arrow off close to his body using his dagger, but his hand was too weak and heavy with numbness due to the inflammation of the wound. So he encouraged them. He commanded the unwounded to take hold and not fear. He railed against those who were in tears with concern for him, while others he called out as deserters since they did not dare to help him. And to his companions he cried out: “Let no one be wretched on my account. It will not be believed that I do not fear death if you fear for my death.”’
ἐτρέψαντο μὲν οὖν τοὺς βαρβάρους οἱ Μακεδόνες, καὶ πεσοῦσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπικατέσκαψαν τὴν πόλιν. Ἀλεξάνδρῳ δ' οὐδὲν ἦν ὄφελος· <ἀν>ήρπαστο γὰρ μετὰ τοῦ βέλους, καὶ τὸν κάλαμον ἐν τοῖς σπλάγχνοις εἶχε, καὶ δεσμὸς ἦν αὐτῷ καὶ ἧλος τὸ τόξευμα τοῦ θώρακος πρὸς τὸ σῶμα. καὶ σπάσαι μὲν ὥσπερ ἐκ ῥίζης τοῦ τραύματος βιαζομένοις οὐχ ὑπήκουεν ὁ σίδηρος, ἕδραν ἔχων τὰ πρὸ τῆς καρδίας στερεὰ τοῦ στήθους· ἐκπρῖσαι δὲ τοῦ δόνακος οὐκ ἐθάρρουν τὸ προῦχον, ἀλλ' ἐφοβοῦντο, μήπως σπαραγμῷ σχιζόμενον τὸ ὀστέον ὑπερβολὰς ἀλγηδόνων παράσχῃ καὶ ῥῆξις αἵματος ἐκ βάθους γένηται. πολλὴν δ' ἀπορίαν καὶ διατριβὴν ὁρῶν αὐτὸς ἐπεχείρησεν ἐν χρῷ τοῦ σώματος ἀποτέμνειν τῷ ξιφιδίῳ τὸν οἰστόν· ἠτόνει δ' ἡ χεὶρ καὶ βάρος εἶχε ναρκῶδες ὑπὸ φλεγμονῆς τοῦ τραύματος. ἐκέλευεν οὖν ἅπτεσθαι καὶ μὴ δεδιέναι θαρρύνων τοὺς ἀτρώτους· καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἐλοιδορεῖτο κλαίουσι καὶ περιπαθοῦσι, τοὺς δὲ λιποτάκτας ἀπεκάλει, μὴ τολμῶντας αὐτῷ βοηθεῖν· ἐβόα δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἑταίρους «μηδεὶς ἔστω μηδ' ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ δειλός· ἀπιστοῦμαι μὴ φοβεῖσθαι θάνατον, εἰ τὸν ἐμὸν φοβεῖσθ' ὑμεῖς.»