Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/249

ALEXANDER. 241 off his cuirass, they came to cut out the head of it, which was three fingers broad and four long, and stuck fast in the bone. During the operation, he was taken with almost mortal swoonings, but when it was out he came to himself again. Yet though all danger was past, he continued very weak, and confined himself a great while to a regular diet and the method of his cure, till one day hearing the Macedonians clamoring outside in their eager- ness to see him, he took his cloak and went out. And having sacrificed to the gods, without more delay he went on board again, and as he coasted along, subdued a great deal of the country on both sides, and several considera- ble cities. In this voyage, he took ten of the Indian philosophers prisoners, who had been most active in persuading Sabbas to revolt, and had caused the Macedonians a great deal of trouble. These men, called Gymnosophists, were reputed to be extremely ready and succinct in their answers, which he made trial of, by putting difficult questions to them, letting them know that those whose answers were not pertinent, should be put to death, of which he made the eldest of them judge. The first being asked which he thought most numerous, the dead or the living, an- swered, " The living, because those who are dead are not at all." Of the second, he desired to know whether the earth or the sea produced the largest beast; who told him, " The earth, for the sea is but a part of it." His question to the third was, Which is the cunningest of beasts ? " That," said he, " which men have not yet found out." He bade the fourth tell him what argument he used to Sabbas to persuade him to revolt. "No other," said he, "than that he should either live or die nobly." Of the fifth he asked, Which was eldest, night or day ? The philosopher replied, " Day was eldest, by one day at least." But perceiving Alexander not well satisfied with VOL. iv. 16