Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

ALEXANDER'S EPISTLE TO ARISTOTLE. 1 45
to that district I marched^ into the country round
about India, and I enquired of my guides con-
cerning these regions, and they told me that the
roads therein lay through mountains, and rivers,
and marshy places, and that no one could pass
through them by reason of the immense numbers
of wild beasts which infested them. Now there The army
. ^ . ^ . ^ . 1 divided into
were with me many possessions which the beasts four com-
of burden were unable to carry. And I command-''"'
ed my army to divide itself into four companies,
whereof I appointed one company as a guard
in the rear, and [commanded the men thereof] to
slay whatever came in their way, and I made the
second company to keep watch for the army [by
day], and the third company to keep watch by
night, and the fourth company to carry the arms.
And we marched in this manner for twelve nights,''
until we arrived at a great city which was situated
between two mighty rivers,^ and when we [first]
saw the city, behold, it was at a great distance
from us, and we therefore encamped where we
were, for we were exhausted; and we made en-
quiries concerning the city, and behold it was
' At the tenth hour the trumpet sounded for the evening
meal, after which the soldiers went to bed, at sunrise it again
sounded for marching, and they travelled until the fourth
hour. The soldiers wore leather boots and gaiters to protect
them from the snakes which infested the country.
^ See Muller, p. 121, col. 2.
^ Tiva TToXiv, fiTis f\v neffri tou noTaiuoO.
T
a city in