Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/247

ALEXANDER. 239 men subdued all India. Alexander at first was so grieved and enraged at his men's reluctancy, that he shut himself up in his tent, and threw himself upon the ground, de- claring, if they would not pass the Ganges, he owed them no thanks for any thing they had hitherto done, and that to retreat now, was plainly to confess himself vanquished. But at last the reasonable persuasions of his friends and the cries and lamentations of his soldiers, who in a sup- pliant manner crowded about the entrance of his tent, prevailed with him to think of returning. Yet he could not refrain from leaving behind him various deceptive memorials of his expedition, to impose upon after-times, and to exaggerate his glory with posterity, such as arms larger than were really worn, and mangers for horses, with bits of bridles above the usual size, which he set up, and distributed in several places. He erected altars, also, to the gods, which the kings of the Prsesians even in our time do honor to when they pass the river, and offer sac- rifice upon them after the Grecian manner. Androcot- tus, then a boy, saw Alexander there, and is said cften afterwards to have been heard to say, that he missed but little of making himself master of those countries ; their king, who then reigned, was so hated and despised for the viciousness of his life, and the meanness of his extrac- tion. Alexander was now eager to see the ocean. To which purpose he caused a great many row-boats and rafts to be built, in which he fell gently down the rivers at his leisure, yet so that his navigation was neither unprofita- ble nor inactive. For by several descents upon the banks, he made himself master of the fortified towns, and consequently of the country on both sides. But at a piege of a town of the Mallians. who have the repute of being the bravest people of India, he ran in great danger of his life. For having beaten off the defendants with