does not clearly appear[1]. There is, however, no doubt about the result of his action. Chandragupta became the first strictly historical emperor of India and ruled the land from sea to sea.
Seleukos, surnamed Nikator, or the Conqueror, by reason of his many victories, had established himself as Satrap of Babylon after the partition of Triparadeisos in b. c. 321, but six years later was driven out by his rival Antigonos and compelled to flee to Egypt. After three years' exile he recovered Babylon in b. c. 312, and devoted himself to the consolidation and extension of his power. He attacked and subjugated the Bactrians, and in b. c. 306 assumed the royal title. He is known to historians as King of Syria, although that province formed only a small part of his wide dominions, which included all western Asia.
About the same time (b. c. 305) he crossed the Indus, and directed his victorious arms against India in the hope of regaining the provinces which had been held
- ↑ 'Auctor libertatis Sandrocottus fuerat: sed titulum libertatis post victoriam in servitutem verterat. Siquidem occupato regno, populum, quem ab externa dominatione vindicaverat, ipse servitio premebat. Fuit hic quidem humili genere natus . . . contractis latronibus, Indos ad novitatem regni sollicitavit. Molienti deinde bellum adversus praefectos Alexandri. . . . Sic acquisito regno, Sandrocottus ea tempestate, qua Seleucus futurae magnitudinis fundamenta iaciebat, Indiam possidebat: cum quo facta pactione Seleucus.' The miracles are omitted from the quotation. The word deinde seems to indicate that the war with Alexander's officers followed the usurpation (Justin, xv. 4).
