whether he were more esteemed by his sovereign or his country. We are told there appeared to Alexander, in a dream, a dragon, which presented him an herb, as an effectual remedy for his friend's wound; and that upon his waking, he ordered it to be sent for, when laying it upon the wound, it was healed in a few days, to the universal joy of the army.

The king continuing his voyage,* arrived at Patala about the rising of the dog-star, that is, about the end of July, so that the fleet was nine months at least from its setting out, till its arrival at that place. There the river Indus divides into two large arms, and forms an island, but much larger, like the Delta of the Nile; and hence the city above mentioned received its name, Patala, according to Arrian, signifying, in the Indian tongue, the same as Delta in the Greek. Alexander caused a citadel to be built in Patala, as also a harbour, and an arsenal for the shipping. This being done, he embarked on the right arm of the river, in order to sail as far as the ocean, exposing in this manner so many brave men to the mercy of a river with which they were wholly unacquainted. The only consolation they had in this rash enterprise, was Alexander's uninterrupted success. When he had sailed twenty leagues, the pilots told him that they began to perceive the sea-air, and therefore believed that the ocean could not be far off. Upon this news, leaping for joy, he besought the sailors to row with all their strength, and told the soldiers, "That they at last were come to the end of their toils, which they had so earnestly desired; that now nothing could oppose their valour, nor add to their glory; that without fighting any more, or spilling of blood, they were masters of the universe; that their exploits had the same boundaries with nature; and that they would soon be spectators of things, known only to the immortal gods."

Being come nearer the sea, a circumstance new and unheard of by the Macedonians, threw them into the utmost confusion, and exposed the fleet to the greatest danger; and this was the ebbing and flowing of the ocean. Forming a judgment of this vast sea, from that of the Mediterranean, the only one they knew, and whose tides are imperceptible, they were very much astonished when they saw it rise to a great height, and overflow the country; and considered it as a mark of the anger of the gods, who were disposed to punish their rashness. They were no less surprised and terrified, some hours after, when they saw the ebbing of the sea, which now withdrew as it had before advanced, leaving those lands uncovered it had so lately overflowed. The fleet was very much shattered, and the ships being now upon dry land, the fields were covered with clothes, with broken oars and planks, as after a great storm.

At last Alexander, after having spent full nine months in coming down the rivers, arrived at the ocean; where gazing with the

* Strab. 1. xv. p. 692. † Arrian. in Indic. p. 314.

+ Four hundred furlongs

utmost eagerness upon that vast expanse of waters, he imagined that this sight, worthy of so great a conqueror as himself, greatly overpaid all the toils he had undergone, and the many thousand men he had lost, to arrive at it. He then offered sacrifices to the gods, and particularly to Neptune; threw into the sea the bulls he had slaughtered, and a great number of golden cups; and besought the gods not to suffer any mortal after him to exceed the bounds of his expedition. Finding that he had extended his conquests to the extremities of the earth on that side, he imagined he had completed his mighty design; and, highly delighted with himself, he returned to rejoin the rest of his fleet and army, which waited for him atPatala, and in the neighbourhood of that place.

SECT. XVII.

Alexander in his march through deserts, is grievously distressed by famine. He arrives at Pasargada, where Cyrus's monument stood. Orsines, a powerful satrap, is put to death through the clandestine intrigues of Bagoas the eunuch, Calanus the Indian ascends a funeral pile, where he voluntarily meets his death. Alexander marries Statira, the daughter of Darius. Harpalus arrives at Athens; Demosthenes is banished. The Macedonian soldiers make an insurrection, which Alexander appeases. He recalls Antipater from Macedonia, and sends Craterus in his room. The king's sorrow for the death of Hephæstion.

Alexander being returned to Patala, prepared all things for the departure of his fleet. He appointed Ñearchus admiral of it, who was the only officer that had the courage to accept of this commission, which was a very hazardous one, because they were to sail over a sea entirely unknown to them. The king was very much pleased at his accepting of it; and, after testifying his acknowledgment upon that account in the most obliging terms, he commanded him to take the best ships in the fleet, and to go and observe the sea-coast, extending from the Indus to the bottom of the Persian gulf; and, after having given these orders, he set out by land for Babylon.

Nearchus did not leave the Indus at the same time with Alexander. It was not yet the season proper for sailing. It was summer, when the southern sea-winds rise; and the season of the northwinds, which blow in winter, was not yet come. He therefore did not set sail till about the end of September, and even that was too soon; and accordingly he was incommoded by adverse winds some days after his departure, and obliged to shelter himself for twenty-four days.

We are obliged for these particulars to Arrian, who has given us an exact journal of this voyage, copied from that of Nearchus the admiral.

Alexander, after having left Patala, marched through the country of the Orita, the capital whereof was called Ora or Rhambacis. Here he was in such want of provision, that he lost a great number † Arrian. p. 335.

* Arrian. in Indic. p. 334.

of soldiers; and brought back from India scarce the fourth part of his army, which had consisted of 120,000 foot and 15,000 horse. Sickness, bad food, and the excessive heats, had swept them away in multitudes; but famine made a still greater havoc among the troops in this barren country, which was neither ploughed nor sowed; its inhabitants being savages, who fared very hard, and led a most uncomfortable life. After they had eaten all the palm-tree roots that could be met with, they were obliged to feed upon the beasts of burden, and next upon their war-horses; and when they had no beasts left to carry their baggage, they were forced to burn those rich spoils, for the sake of which the Macedonians had run to the extremities of the earth. The plague, the usual attendant upon famine, completed the calamity of the soldiers, and destroyed great numbers of them.

After marching threescore days, Alexander arrived on the confines of Gedrosia, where he found plenty of all things: for not only the soil was very fruitful, but the kings and great men, who lay nearest that country, sent him all kind of provisions. He continued some time here, in order to refresh his army. The governors of India having sent, by his order, a great number of horses, and all kinds of beasts of burden, from the several kingdoms subject to him, he remounted his troops; equipped those who had lost every thing; and soon after presented all of them with arms as beautiful as those they had before, which it was very easy for him to do, as they were upon the confines of Persia, at that time in peace, and in a very flourishing condition.

A. M. 3679. He arrived in Carmania, now called Kerman, and Ant. J. C. 325. went through it, not with the air and equipage of a warrior and a conqueror, but in a kind of masquerade and Bacchanalian festivity; committing the most riotous and extravagant actions. He was drawn by eight horses, seated on a magnificent chariot, above which a scaffold was raised, in the form of a square stage, where he passed the days and nights in feasting and carousing. This chariot was preceded and followed by an infinite number of others, some of which, in the shape of tents, were covered with rich carpets and purple coverlets; and others, shaped like cradles, were overshadowed with branches of trees. On the sides of the roads, and at the doors of houses, a great number of casks ready broached were placed, whence the soldiers drew wine in large flagons, cups, and goblets, prepared for that purpose. The whole country echoed with the sound of instruments, and the howling of the Bacchanals, who, with their hair dishevelled, and like so many frantic creatures, ran up and down, abandoning themselves to every kind of licentiousness. All this he did in imitation of the triumph of Bacchus, who, as we are told, crossed all Asia, in this equipage, after he had conquered India. This riotous, dissolute march lasted seven days, during all which time the army was never sober. It was very happy, says Quintus Curtius, for them, that the conquered nations

did not think of attacking them in this condition; for 1000 resolute men, well armed, might with great ease have defeated the conquer ors of the world, whilst thus plunged in wine and excess.

Nearchus,* still keeping along the sea-coast, from the mouth of the Indus, came at last into the Persian gulf, and arrived at the island of Harmusia, now called Ormus. He there was informed, that Alexander was not above five days' journey from him. Having left the fleet in a secure place, he went to meet Alexander, accompanied only by four persons. The king was very anxious about his fleet. When news was brought him that Nearchus was arrived almost alone, he imagined that it had been entirely destroyed, and that Nearchus had been so very happy as to escape from the general misfortune. His arrival confirmed him still more in his opinion, when he beheld a company of pale, lean creatures, whose countenances were so much changed, that it was scarce possible to know them again. Taking Nearchus aside, he told him, that he was overjoyed at his return, but at the same time was inconsolable for the loss of his fleet. "Your fleet, royal Sir," cried he immediately," thanks to the gods, is not lost:" upon which he related the condition in which he had left it. Alexander could not refrain from tears, and confessed that this happy news gave him greater pleasure than the conquest of all Asia. He heard, with uncommon delight, the account Nearchus gave of his voyage, and the discoveries he had made; and bid him return back, and go quite up the Euphrates as far as Babylon, pursuant to the first orders he had given him.

In Carmania, many complaints were made to Alexander, concerning governors and other officers, who had grievously oppressed the people of various provinces during his absence: for, fully persuaded he would never return, they had exercised every species of rapine, tyranny, cruelty, and oppression. Alexander, strongly affected with their grievances, and pierced to the very soul with their just complaints, put to death as many as were found guilty of maladministration, and with them 600 soldiers, who had been the in struments of their exactions and other crimes. He ever afterwards treated with the same severity all such of his officers as were convicted of the like guilt, so that his government was beloved by all the conquered nations. He was of opinion, that a prince owes these examples of severity to his equity, which ought to check every kind of irregularity; to his glory, to prove he does not connive, or share in the injustice committed in his name; to the consolation of his subjects, whom he supplies with a vengeance which themselves ought never to exercise; in fine, to the safety of his dominions, which, by so equitable an administration, is secured from many dangers, and very often from insurrections. It is a great unhappiness to a kingdom, when every part of it resounds with exactions, vexations, oppressions, and corruption, and not so much as a single man

*Arrian. in Indic. p. 348-352.

is punished, as a terror to the rest; and that the whole weight of the public authority falls only upon the people, and never on those who ruin them.

The great pleasure Alexander took, in the account which Nearchus gave him of his successful voyage, inspired that prince with a great inclination for navigation and voyages by sea. He proposed no less than to sail from the Persian gulf, round Arabia and Africa, and to return into the Mediterranean by the Straits of Gibraltar, called at that time Hercules's Pillars; a voyage which had been several times attempted, and once performed, by order of a king of Egypt, called Necho, as I have observed elsewhere. It was afterwards his design, when he should have humbled the pride of Carthage, against which he was greatly exasperated, to cross into Spain, called by the Greeks Iberia, from the river Iberus: he next was to go over the Alps, and coast along Italy, where he would have had but a short passage into Epirus, and from thence into Macedonia. For this purpose, he sent orders to the viceroys of Mesopotamia and Syria, to build in several parts of the Euphrates, and particularly at Thapsacus, ships sufficient for that enterprise; and he caused to be felled, on Mount Libanus, a great number of trees, which were to be carried into the above-mentioned city. But this project, as well as a great many more which he meditated, were all defeated by his early death.

Continuing his march, he went to Pasargada, a city of Persia. Orsines was governor of the country, and the greatest nobleman in it. He was a descendant of Cyrus; and, besides the wealth he inherited from his ancestors, he himself had amassed great treasures, having, for many years, ruled a considerable extent of country. He had done the king a signal piece of service. The person who governed the province during Alexander's expedition into India, happened to die; when Orsines, observing, that for want of a governor, all things were running to confusion, took the administration upon himself, composed matters very happily, and preserved them in the utmost tranquillity till Alexander's arrival. He went to meet him, with presents of all kinds for himself, as well as his officers. These consisted of a great number of fine and well-trained horses, chariots enriched with gold and silver, precious furniture, jewels, gold vases of prodigious weight, purple robes, and 4000 talents of silver in specie.* However, this generous magnificence proved fatal to him; for when he presented such gifts to the principal grandees of the court, as infinitely exceeded their expectations, he passed by the eunuch Bagoas, the king's favourite; and this not through forgetfulness, but out of contempt. Some persons telling him how much the king loved Bagoas, he answered, "I honour the king's friends, but not an infamous eunuch." These words being told Bagoas, he employed all his credit to ruin a prince descended from

*About 600,000%.