Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

PORUS AND HIS ELEPHANTS. I 1
reached Poms, the king of India, he read it to
his soldiers, and they gathered themselves together.
Then he commanded them to bring forth many
elephants and fierce lions which had been trained
[p. 67] to fight in battle, and he gave orders that
they should be used to fight against Alexander;
and they went forth and stood in their companies, Porus
and they kindled many very large fires. ready for
And it came to pass that when Alexander's men'"^"''
perceived these things they were sore afraid, and
when they saw the elephants and lions standing
[there they trembled]. And, moreover, a mighty
fear came upon Alexander also, for he knew not
how to fight with lions and elephants, and he had
never before had experience with such [warfare]. ""
Now he saw that the bears and the lions were
covered over with iron armour, and that the sold-
iers were provided with weapons the like of which
he had never seen. And when Alexander saw The wacethis,
mighty dread came into his heart,
donians
and having afraw"
are
' The object of the fires being to frighten the wild ani-
mals and to make them more savage.
^ According to Pseudo-Callisthenes, Alexander, dressed
as a Greek messenger, went to the town where Porus was,
and was straightway taken by the Indians into the presence
of their king. Porus made enquiries about Alexander, and
when the supposed messenger told him that he was alive
and well, and wished to see Porus the king, Porus took him
out and shewed him his camp and the wild beasts, and said,
Go, and tell Alexander that I will bring such beasts as these
to fight against him OTi ifdi Toiiq 6)ioioui; crou Grjpag eSdYuu
croi TToXeiaeTv. See Meusel, p. 771.