with water for the sake of coolness. Harpalus, who was appointed
governor of the district, took an especial delight in adorning the
palace and the public walks with Greek flowers and shrubs; but
although he found no difficulty with most of them, he was unable to
induce ivy to grow, because ivy loves a cold soil, and the earth there
is too hot for it. These digressions, provided they be not too
lengthy, we hope will not be thought tedious by our readers.

XXXVI. When Alexander made himself master of Susa, he found in the
palace forty thousand talents worth of coined money, besides an
immense mass of other valuable treasure. Here we are told was found
five thousand talents weight of cloth dyed with Hermionic[411] purple
cloth, which had been stored up there for a space of two hundred years
save ten, and which nevertheless still kept its colour as brilliantly
as ever. The reason of this is said to be that honey was originally
used in dyeing the cloth purple, and white olive oil for such of it as
was dyed-white: for cloth of these two colours will preserve its
lustre without fading for an equal period of time. Demon also informs
us that amongst other things the Kings of Persia had water brought
from the Nile and the Danube, and laid up in their treasury, as a
confirmation of the greatness of their empire, and to prove that they
were lords of all the world.

XXXVII. As the district of Persis[412] was very hard to invade, both
because of its being mountainous, and because it was defended by the
noblest of the Persians (for Darius had fled thither for refuge),
Alexander forced his way into it by a circuitous path, which was shown
him by a native of the country, the son of a Lykian captive, by a
Persian mother, who was able to speak both the Greek and the Persian
language. It is said that while Alexander was yet a child, the
prophetess at the temple of Apollo at Delphi foretold that a wolf[413]
should some day serve him for a guide when he went to attack the
Persians. When Persis was taken, a terrible slaughter was made of all
the prisoners. A letter written by Alexander himself is still extant,
in which he orders that they should all be put to the sword, thinking
this to be the safest course. He is said to have found as much coined
money here[414] as in Susa, and so much other treasure that it
required ten thousand carts, each drawn by a pair of mules, and five
thousand camels, to carry it away.

Alexander, observing a larg