How King Alexander sent some of his captains on a foraging mission to the city of Gaza.

While this castle was being built before Tyre, Alexander realised his army's supplies were running out. So he ordered Emenidus of Arcadia, Perdicas, Leones, Caulus, Licanor, Philotas and Sanson, along with seven hundred of the army's best-mounted and bravest men-at-arms, to go and forage for fresh supplies for their men and horses and to ward off the risk of starvation.

These captains set off as bidden, and kept riding till they entered the valley of Josaphat, which at that time was a populous and prosperous land, rich in all manner of crops and livestock. But the men of those parts have their thoughts always turned to war: they go permanently armed and armour-clad and are fiercely protective of all they own, fighting mercilessly, doing whatever is needed to defend themselves and their lands and possessions. Now, it so happened that the Greeks caught sight of rich quarry here: great herds of cattle, sheep and pigs; down they rode at once to round them up and drive them off. But at the very moment they were doing this there was a captain from those parts, by the name of Otheserie, leading a patrol to guard the land on behalf of the duke of Gaza. He spotted the Greeks driving the herds away and launched a bold and fierce attack.