ought
back home from India the fourth part of his army, which originally
amounted to a hundred and twenty thousand foot, and fifteen thousand
horse. Most of the men perished from sickness, bad food, and the
excessive heat of the sun, and many from sheer hunger, as they had to
march through an uncultivated region, inhabited only by a few
miserable savages, with a stunted breed of cattle whose flesh had
acquired a rank and disagreeable taste through their habit of feeding
on sea-fish.

After a terrible march of sixty days, the army passed through this
desert region, and reached Gedrosia, where the men at once received
abundant supplies of food, which were furnished by the chiefs of the
provinces which they entered.

LXVII. After he had refreshed his troops here for a little, Alexander
led them in a joyous revel for seven days through Karmania.[426] He,
himself, feasted continually, night and day, with his companions, who
sat at table with him upon a lofty stage drawn by eight horses, so
that all men could see them. After the king's equipage followed
numberless other waggons, some with hangings of purple and embroidered
work, and others with canopies of green boughs, which were constantly
renewed, containing the rest of Alexander's friends and officers, all
crowned with flowers and drinking wine. There was not a shield, a
helmet, or a pike, to be seen, but all along the road the soldiers
were dipping cups, and horns, and earthenware vessels into great jars
of liquor and drinking one another's healths, some drinking as they
marched along, while others sat by the roadside. Everywhere might be
heard the sound of flutes and pipes, and women singing and dancing;
while with all this dissolute march the soldiers mingled rough jokes,
as if the god Dionysus himself were amongst them and attended on their
merry procession. At the capital of Gedrosia, Alexander again halted
his army, and refreshed them with feasting and revelry. It is said
that he himself, after having drunk hard, was watching a contest
between several choruses, and that his favourite Bagoas won the prize,
and then came across the theatre and seated himself beside him,
dressed as he was and wearing his crown as victor. The Macedonians,
when they saw this, applauded vehemently, and cried out to Alexander
to kiss him, until at length he threw his arms round him and kissed
him.

LXVIII. He was now much pleased at being joined by Nearchus and his
officers, and took