consolation they had in this rash enterprise, was, Alex. ander'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 valor, 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 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 ebbings 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, 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

Four hundred furlongs.

clothes, with broken oars and planks, as after a great

storm.

At last Alexander, after having sailed full nine months in rivers, arrived at the ocean, where gazing with the utmost eagerness upon that vast expanse of waters, he imagined that this sight, worthy 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 at Patala, and in the neighbourhood of it.

SECTION XVII.

ALEXANDER IS GREVIOUSLY DISTRESSED BY FAMINE. HE MARRIES STATIRA, THE DAUGHTER OF DARIUS.

ALEXANDER,' being returned to Patala, prepared all things for the departure of his fleet. He appointed Nearchus 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

Arrian. in Indi c. p.334.

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 sound 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.

m 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 north winds, which blow in winter, was not yet come. He therefore did not set sail till about the end of September, which was too soon; and accordingly he was incommoded by 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 Oritæ, the capital whereof was called Ora, or Rhambacis. Here he was in such want of provision, that he lost a great number of soldiers; and brought back from India scarce the fourth part of his army, which had consisted of one hundred and twenty thousand foot, and fifteen thousand 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

Arrian. in Indic. p. 335.

uncomfortable life. After they had ate 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 ran to the extremities of the earth. The plague, a disease which generally accompanies famine, completed the calamity of the soldiers, and destroyed great numbers of them.

After marching sixty days, Alexander arrived on the confines of Gedrosia, where he found plenty of all things; for the soil was not only 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.

He arrived in Carmania, now called Kerman, and 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, himself being 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

feasts 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 flaggons, 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 crea. tures, ran up and down, abandoning themselves to every kind of licentiousness. All this he did in imita. tion of the triumph of Bacchus, who, as we are told, crossed all Asia in this equipage, after he had conquer. ed 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 a thousand resolute men, well armed, might with great ease have defeated the conquerors 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,