back against the wall, defied the entire host. The foremost of his assailants were cut down, and the barbarians gave back from the reach of his arm, but showered their missiles on him from a distance. An arrow at length penetrated his cuirass and sunk deep in the bone, but at this moment he was joined by three faithful followers, who threw themselves between the king and the weapons of his enemies. One of them soon fell, the other two were severely wounded, and Alexander himself was fainting from loss of blood, when his soldiers, having repaired their ladders, succeeded in scaling the wall. The sight of their beloved sovereign bleeding, as they supposed, to death, roused them to vengeance. They refused all quarter to the garrison, and spared not even the women and children. 27. Alexander did not easily recover from this wound, but he was consoled in his sufferings by the sympathy of his army; every soldier evinced the most lively interest in his recovery, and his restoration to health was voluntarily celebrated as a festival. (B. C. 325.) The progress of the army down the Indus was marked by several victories over the adjacent Indian nations; but at length their toils were rewarded by the sight of the ocean, which they had so long ardently desired. Questions. 1. What species of reverence did Alexander claim with which his soldiers were displeased? 2. Why were the Greeks indignant at the conduct of their monarch? 3. What was the consequence of these feelings of disunion? 4. Were there any persons in the camp who increased these feelings? 5. How did Alexander conduct himself under these circumstances? 6. What bad Persian custom did Alexander imitate ? 7. Had Cleitus any peculiar claims on Alexander? 8. How did he provoke the king to slay him? 9. Did Alexander deeply regret his violent passion? 10. Was there any conspiracy detected and punished about this time? 11. By what route did Alexander invade India? 12. Why is the capture of Aornos remarkable ? 13. How was the passage of the Hydaspes made difficult to Alexander? 14. By whom was the river defended? 15. How did Alexander throw the Indians off their guard? 16. By what natural event was the passage of the river facilitated? 17. How did Porus act when he heard of this passage? 18. In what manner did Porus form his line of battle? 19. With what movements did Alexander commence the fight? 20. How were the Indian lines thrown into confusion ? 21. In what manner was the victory completed? 22. How did Porus behave? 23. In what manner was Porus treated by Alexander ? 24. What prevented Alexander from penetrating into India? 25. Did Alexander meet any enemies in his passage down the Indus? 26. Was not Alexander exposed to great danger in the storming of an Indian town? 27. Did any other remarkable circumstances occur in the voyage down the Indus ? 1. ALEXANDER had from the very beginning of his career, designed a plan of commercial intercourse between Greece and southern Asia. The route which he had determined on was that which was subsequently established between India and Egypt. He planned several naval stations on the branches of the Indus, and sent out a fleet under Near'chus, to examine the coast between the mouth of the Indus and the Persian Gulf. 2. At the same time he resolved to return to Persia along the sea-coast, both for the purpose of keeping up a connection with his fleet, and subduing the intervening nations. 3. Between India and Carma'nia lay the deserts of Gedro'sia, which the army traversed with great difficulty. Their sufferings from thirst, the heat of the sun, and the burning sand, exceeded any thing that they had hitherto experienced, but the sight of their sovereign sharing in their toils, and submitting to equal privations without a murmur, cheered them to fresh exertions. At length they reached the shores of the Persian Gulf, and were soon after rejoined by the fleet under Near'chus. 4. The march of the army through Carmania resembled a triumphant procession; the soldiers, once more in a fertile and friendly country, believed that all their toils were over, and gladly gave themselves up to enjoyment. 5. On his return to Persia, Alexander heard with great regret, that the tomb of Cyrus had been broken open during his absence, and the remains of that great sovereign shamefully insulted. The Macedonian king always felt a deep veneration for the memory of the founder of the Persian monarchy, whose character and career were very similar to his own; he, therefore, ordered the tomb to be repaired, and severely punished those to whose charge it had been entrusted. 6. The prudent measures already taken to conciliate the Persian nobility had produced a very powerful effect in fact, Alexander was as much beloved by the Asiatic lords, as if he had been one of their native princes. To increase and strengthen this attachment, Alexander married Statei'ra, the daughter of the late king, and gave several of his generals wives from the noble families of Persia. These nuptials were celebrated with unusual splendour, the refinements of European taste were added to Asiatic magnificence, and the whole was concluded with a munificent distribution of rewards to all who had distinguished themselves in the war. 7. On this occasion Alexander paid off all the debts that his soldiers had contracted. These splendid gifts did not diminish the dislike with which the army viewed the adoption of eastern customs; and the Macedonians were still more indignant when they saw a band of 30,000 young men, who had been raised in the upper provinces, and carefully instructed in Grecian discipline, enrolled in the regular army. These new soldiers were called Epig'oni, a name derived from the heroes who subdued Thebes in the fabulous ages of Grecian history. 8. The discontent of the Macedonians broke out in a dangerous mutiny, which was suppressed with great difficulty. But Alexander was not to be made a slave by his own soldiers; he acted with equal firmness and moderation, punishing only the ringleaders, and granting the rest not merely pardon, but favour. Soon after, he sent home the veterans whom age or wounds incapacitated for further service; they were loaded with favours, and entrusted to the guidance of Crat'erus, one of their most popular generals. 9. Soon after this, Alexander lost his beloved friend Hephaestion, the cherished companion of all his toils; his grief on the occasion is described as most extravagant : he, perhaps, involuntarily imitated the conduct of Achilles. on the death of Patroclus, and for some time it was doubtful whether he could survive such excessive sorrow. 20. Having arranged the different satrapies in Media and Persia, he resolved to visit Babylon, which he had long designed to make the capital of his extensive dominions. On his road thither, he received ambassadors from every part of the then known world; it is recorded by credible historians, that even the Romans sent a deputation to congratulate him on his success, and solicit his friendship. He little thought when he received these deputies from an almost unknown city, that there stood before him the representatives of a people destined, at no very distant period, to inherit his empire, and destroy his paternal kingdom. 11. Babylon still possessed the outward form of that greatness which had rendered it the wonder of the world; the Euphrates, spanned by a bridge of extraordinary beauty, flowed through the midst of the city; the tower of Belus seemed still to threaten heaven, the hanging gardens and the royal palaces still witnessed to the riches and luxury of the Babylonish monarchs, but this was the last hour of its greatness. The accompanying view faintly shows what it was when visited by Alexander; many generations had not passed before it became a barren waste, and a howling wilderness. (B. C. 323.) As Alexander approached the city, he was met by deputies from the Chaldean soothsayers, warning him not to approach the city in the name of their god Belus. They were probably afraid of an examination into the manner in which they had dissipated the revenues assigned for the support of the temples, and hoped to ter rify the king by their prophecies of evil. 12. Other unfavourable omens and prodigies were also mentioned, but |