to expose himself
to danger, but crossed the river Orexartes, which he himself thought
to be the Tanais or Don, and, although suffering from an attack of
dysentery, defeated the Scythians and chased them for many miles.

XLVI. Most historians, amongst whom are Kleitarchus, Polykleitus,
Onesikritus, Antigenes, and Istrus, say that while in this country he
met an Amazon: while Aristobulus, Chares the court-usher, Ptolemy,
Antikleides, Philon of Thebes, and Philippus the herald of festivals,
besides Hekataeus of Eretria, Philip of Chalkis, and Douris of Samos,
say that this is a mere fiction. And this opinion seems to be
corroborated by Alexander himself: for he wrote to Antipater an exact
account of his Scythian campaign, and mentioned that the King of the
Scythians offered him his daughter in marriage, but says nothing about
Amazons. It is said that many years afterwards, when Lysimachus had
made himself king, Onesikritus was reading aloud to him the fourth
book of his History of Alexander, in which mention is made of the
Amazon. Lysimachus asked him with a quiet smile, "And where was I all
the time?" However, Alexander's fame is not impaired if we disbelieve
this story, nor is it increased if we regard it as true.

XLVII. As he feared that the Macedonians would refuse to follow him
any farther, he allowed the great mass of his army to repose itself,
and advanced through Hyrkania with a force of twenty thousand infantry
and three thousand cavalry, all picked men. In a speech addressed to
these select regiments, he declared that the natives of Asia had only
seen them hitherto as if in a dream; and that, if they merely threw
the whole country into disorder and then retired from it, the Asiatics
would attack them as boldly as if they were so many women. Yet he
said, that he permitted those who desired it to leave his service and
return home, merely protesting against being left, with only his
personal friends and a few volunteers, to carry on the noble
enterprise of making Macedonia mistress of the whole world. These are
almost the exact words which he uses in a letter to Antipater, and he
further says that when he had spoken thus, the soldiers burst into a
universal shout, bidding him lead them whithersoever he would. After
this experiment had succeeded with the select troops, it was no
difficult matter to induce the remainder to follow him, but they came
almost of their own accord. He now began to imitate the Asiatic ha