finally empties itself into the Inner Sea.[1] In like manner Homer made the river Egypt give its name to the country of Egypt.[2] Accordingly when he wrote to Olympias about the country of India, after mentioning other things, he said that he thought he had discovered the sources of the Nile, forming his conclusions about things so great from such small and trivial premisses. However, when he had made a more careful inquiry into the facts relating to the river Indus, he learned the following details from the natives: — That the Hydaspes unites its water with the Acesines, as the latter does with the Indus, and that they both yield up their names to the Indus; that the last-named river has two mouths, through which it discharges itself into the Great Sea; but that it has no connection with the Egyptian country. He then removed from the letter to his mother the part he had written about the Nile.[3] Planning a voyage down the rivers as far as the Great Sea, he ordered ships for this purpose to be prepared for him. The crews of his ships were fully supplied from the Phoenicians, Cyprians, Carians, and Egyptians who accompanied the army.
CHAPTER II.
Voyage down the Hydaspes.
{{sc|At]} this time Coenus, who was one of Alexander's most faithful Companions, fell ill and. died, and the king buried him with as much magnificence as circumstances allowed. Then collecting the Companions and the Indian envoys who had come to him, he appointed Porus king of the part of India which had already been conquered, seven
- ↑ I.e. the Mediterranean.
- ↑ See Arrian, v. 6 supra. The native name of Egypt was Chem (black). Compare Vergil (Georgic. iv. 291):— Viridem Aegyptum nigrâ, fecundat arenfâ. Usque ooloratis amnis devexus ab Indis.
- ↑ This use of αμφί with the dative is instead of the Attic περί with the genitive or accusative.
