great advantages possessed by this place,
which is a long strip of land, stretching between the sea and a large
inland lake, with a large harbour at the end of it, he at once said
that Homer, besides his other admirable qualities, was a splendid
architect, and gave orders to his workmen to mark out a site for a
city suitable to such a situation. There was no chalk or white earth,
with which it is usual to mark the course of the walls, but they took
barley-groats, and marked out a semicircular line with them upon the
black earth, dividing it into equal segments by lines radiating from
the centre, so that it looked like a Macedonian cloak, of which the
walls formed the outer fringe. While the king was looking with
satisfaction at the plan of the new city, suddenly from the lake and
the river, innumerable aquatic birds of every kind flew like great
clouds to the spot, and devoured all the barley. This omen greatly
disturbed Alexander; however, the soothsayers bade him take courage,
and interpreted it to mean that the place would become a very rich and
populous city. Upon this he ordered the workmen at once to begin to
build, while he himself started to visit the shrine and oracle of Zeus
Ammon. This journey is tedious and difficult, and dangerous also,
because the way lies over a waterless desert, where the traveller is
exposed to violent storms of sand whenever the south wind blows. It
was here that fifty thousand men of the army of Cambyses are said to
have been overwhelmed by the sand, which rolled upon them in huge
billows until they were completely ingulfed. All these perils were
present to all men's minds, but it was hard to turn Alexander away
from any project upon which he had once set his heart. The invariable
good fortune which he had enjoyed confirmed his self-will, and his
pride would not allow him to confess himself vanquished either by
human enemies or natural obstacles.

XXVII. During his journey, the signal assistance which he received
from the gods in all his difficulties was more remarkable and more
generally believed than the oracular response which he is said to have
received, although these portents made men more inclined to believe in
the oracle. In the first place, plentiful showers were sent, which
quite dissipated any fears which the expedition had entertained about
suffering from thirst, while the rain cooled the sand and thus
tempered the hot air of the desert to a pleasant warmth. Next, when
th