28.3
He took the field with more than seventy thousand infantry, ten thousand horse, and seventy-five elephants; while his adversaries had sixty-four thousand infantry, five hundred more horse than he, four hundred elephants, and a hundred and twenty chariots. After he had drawn near them, the cast of his expectations rather than of his purposes underwent a change.
28.4
For he was wont to be lofty and boastful as he engaged in his conflicts, making pompous speeches in a loud voice, and many times also by the utterance of a casual jest or joke when the enemy was close at hand he would show the firmness of his own spirit and his contempt for them; but now he was observed to be thoughtful and silent for the most part, and he presented his son to the army and pronounced him his successor.
28.5
But what more than anything else astonished everybody was his conversing alone in his tent with his son, although it was not his custom to have secret conferences even with him; instead, he made his own plans, followed his own counsels, and then gave his orders openly. At all events, we are told that Demetrius, when he was still a stripling, asked his father when they were going to break camp; and that Antigonus replied in anger: Art thou in distress lest thou alone shouldst not hear the trumpet?
29.1
At this time, moreover, bad omens also subdued their spirits. For Demetrius dreamed that Alexander, in brilliant array of armour, asked him what watchword they were going to give for the battle; and when he replied, Zeus and Victory, Alexander said: Then I will go away and join your adversaries; they surely will receive me.The watchword should have been Alexander and Victory.
29.2
Moreover, Antigonus, when his phalanx was already forming and he was leaving his tent, stumbled and fell prone upon his face, injuring himself severely; but he rose to his feet, and stretching out his hands towards heaven prayed that the gods would grant him victory, or a painless death before his defeat.
