stantly retired. Notwithstanding this, Alexander was still desirous to save so brave a prince, and thereupon dispatched other officers, among whom was Merce, one of his intimate friends, who besought him, in the strong, est terms, to wait upon a conqueror, altogether worthy of him. After much entreaty, Porus consented, and accordingly set forward. Alexander, who had been told of his coming, advanced forwards in order to receive him with some of his train. Being come pretty near, Alexander stopped, purposely to take a view of his stature, and noble mien, he being about five cubits in height." Porus did not seem dejected at his misfortune, but came up with a resolute countenance, like a valiant warrior, whose courage in defending his dominions ought to acquire him the esteem of the brave prince who had taken him prisoner. Alexander spoke first, and with an august and gracious air, asked him how he desired to be treated? "Like a king," replied Porus. "But," continued Alexander, "do you ask nothing more ?" "No," replied Porus; "all things are ineluded in that single word." Alexander, struck with this greatness of soul, the magnanimity of which seemed heightened by distress, did not only restore him his kingdom, but annexed other provinces to it, and treated him with the highest testimonies of honour, esteem, and friendship. Porus was faithful to him till his death, It is hard to say, whether the victor or the vanquished best deserved praise on this occasion.

Alexander built a city on the spot where the battle had been fought, and another in that place where he had crossed the river. He called the one Nicea from

w Seven feet and a half.

his victory; and the other Bucephalon, in honour of his horse who died there, not of his wounds, but of old age. After having paid the last duties to such of his soldiers as had lost their lives in battle, he solemnized games, and offered up sacrifices of thanks, in the place where he had passed the Hydaspes.

This prince did not know to whom he was indebted for his victories. We are astonished at the rapidity of Alexander's conquests; the ease with which he surmounts the greatest obstacles, and forces almost impregnable cities; the uninterrupted and unheard of felicity that extricates him out of those dangers into which his rashness plunges him, and in which, one would have concluded, he must an hundred times have perished. But to unravel these mysterious kinds of events, several of which are repugnant to the usual course of things, we must go back to a superior cause, unknown to the profane historians, and to Alexander himself. This monarch was, like Cyrus, the minister and instrument of the sovereign Disposer of empires, who raises and destroys them at pleasure. He had received the same orders to overthrow the Persian and eastern empires, as Cyrus to destroy that of Babylon. The same power conducted their enterprises, assured them of success, protected and preserved them fron all dangers, till they had executed their commission, and completed their ministry. We may apply to Alexander, the words which God spake to Cyrus, in Isaiah,* "Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him ; and I will cause the loins of kings to open before him the two leaved gates, and the gates * Chap. xlv. 1-5.

shall not be shut: I will go before thee, and make the crooked paths straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. And I will give thee treasures of darkness, and hidden treasures of secret places. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." This is the true and only cause of the incredible success with which this conqueror was attended, of his unparalleled bravery, the affection his soldiers had for him, the foreknowledge of his felicity, and his assurance of success, which astonished his most intrepid captains.

SECTION XVI.

ALEXANDER ADVANCES INTO INDIA. HE IS EXPOSED TO GREAT DANGER AT THE SIEGE OF OXYDRACE.

ALEXANDER,' after his famous victory over Porus, advanced into India, where he subdued a great many nations and cities. He looked upon himself as a conqueror by profession, as well as by his dignity, and engaged every day in new exploits with so much ardour and vivacity, that he seemed to fancy himself invested with a personal commission, and that there was an immediate obligation upon him to storm all cities, to lay waste all provinces, to extirpate all nations, which should refuse his yoke; and that he should have considered himself as guilty of a crime, had he forbore visiting every corner of the earth, and carrying terror and desolation wherever he went. He passed thơ Acesines, and afterwards the Hydraotes, two consider

A. M. 3678. Ant. J. C. 326. Q. Curt. 1. ix. c. 1.

able rivers. Advice was then brought him, that a great number of free Indians had made a confederacy to defend their liberties; and among the rest, the Caytheans, who were the most valiant and most skilful of those nations in the art of war; and that they were encamped near a strong city, called Sangala. Alexander set out against these Indians, defeated them in a pitched battle, took the city, and razed it to the very foundations.

* One day, as he was riding at the head of his army, some philosophers, called Brachmans in the language of that country, were conversing together, as they were walking in a meadow. The instant they perceived him, they all stamped against the ground with their feet. Alexander, surprised at this extraordinary gesture, demanded the cause of it. They answered, pointing to the ground with their fingers, "That no man possessed any more of that element, than he could enjoy that the only difference between him and other men, was, that he was more restless, and ambitious than they, and overran all seas and lands, merely to harm others and himself: And yet, he would die at last, and possess no greater part of the earth than was necessary for his interment." The king was not displeased at this answer: but he the torrent of glory, and his actions were the very reverse of what he approved.

was hurried on by

These Brachmans, says Arrian, are in great veneration in their country. They do not pay any tribute to the prince, but assist him with their counsel, and

Arrian. lib. vii. p. 275, 276. Id. in Indic. p. 324. Strab. lib. xv. p. 715-717. Plut. in Alex. p. 701. Q. Curt. lib. viii. c. 9.

perform the same offices as the Magi do to the kings of Persia. They assist at the public sacrifices; and if a person desires to sacrifice in private, one of these must be present, otherwise the Indians afe persuaded they would not be agreeable to the gods. They apply themselves particularly to consulting the stars; none but themselves pretend to divination; and they fortel, chiefly, the change of weather and of the seasons. If a Brachman has failed thrice in his predictions, he is silenced for ever.

Their sentiments, according to Strabo, are not very different from those of the Greeks. They believe that the world had a beginning; that it will end; that its form is circular; that it was created by God, who presides over, and fills it with his majesty, and that water is the principal of all things. With regard to the immortality of the soul, and the punishment of the wicked in hell, they follow the doctrine of Plato; intermixing it, like that philosopher, with some fictions, in order to express or describe those punishments.

Several among them go always naked, whence the Greeks give them the name of Gymnosophists. Many incredible particulars are related, concerning the austerity of their lives and their prodigious patience. Their only meat and drink is roots and water. As they admit the metempsychosis, and believe that the souls of men transmigrate into those of beasts, they abstain from the flesh of animals. It is thought, that Pythagoras borrowed this doctrine from the Brach mans. They continue whole days standing with