, an Indian prince, disputed his passage, with a
formidable force and many trained elephants--animals which the Macedonians
had never before encountered. By a series of masterly combinations
Alexander succeeded in crossing the river, and the combat commenced. But
the Indians could not long withstand the long pikes and close combats of
the Greeks, and were defeated with great loss. Porus himself, a prince of
gigantic stature, mounted on an elephant, was taken, after having fought
with great courage. Carried into the presence of the conqueror, Alexander
asked him what, he wished to be done for him, for his gallantry and
physical strength excited admiration. Porus replied that he wished to be
treated as a king, which answer still more excited the admiration of the
Greeks. He was accordingly treated with the utmost courtesy and
generosity, and retained as an ally. Alexander was capable of great
magnanimity, when he was not opposed. He was kind to the family of Darius,
both before and after his assassination by the satrap Bessus. And his
munificence to his soldiers was great, and he never lost their affections.
But he was cruel and sanguinary in his treatment of captives who had made
him trouble, putting thousands to the sword in cold blood.

(M756) As before mentioned, the soldiers were wearied with victories and
hardships, without enjoyments, and longed to return to Europe. Hence
Sangala, in India, was the easternmost point to which he penetrated. On
returning to the river Hydaspes, he constructed a fleet of two thousand
boats, in which a part of his army descended the river with himself, while
another part marched along its banks. He sailed slowly down the river to
its junction with the Indus, and then to the Indian ocean. This voyage
occupied nine months, but most of the time was employed in subduing the
various people who opposed his march. On reaching the ocean, he was
astonished and interested by the ebbing and flowing of the tide--a new
phenomenon to him. The fleet was conducted from the mouth of the Indus,
round by the Persian Gulf to the mouth of the Tigris--a great nautical
achievement in those days; but he himself, with the army, marched westward
through deserts, undergoing great fatigues and sufferings, and with a
great loss of men, horses, and baggage. At Carmania he halted, and the
army for seven days was abandoned to drunken festivities.

(M757) On returning to Persepolis, in Persia, he visited and repaired th