conquest of the glausians.—embassy from abisares.—passage of the acesines.

when alexander had paid all due honours to those who had been killed in the battle, he offered the customary sacrifices to the gods in gratitude for his victory, and celebrated a gymnastic and horse contest upon the bank of the hydaspes at the place where he first crossed with his army.697 he then left craterus behind with a part of the army, to erect and fortify the cities which he was founding there; but he himself marched against the indians conterminous with the dominion of porus. according to aristobulus the name of this nation was glauganicians; but ptolemy calls them glausians. i am quite indifferent which name it bore. alexander traversed their land with half the companion cavalry, the picked men from each phalanx of the infantry, all the horse-bowmen, the agrianians, and the archers. all the 298inhabitants came over to him on terms of capitulation; and he thus took thirty-seven cities, the inhabitants of which, where they were fewest, amounted to no less than 5,000, and those of many numbered above 10,000. he also took many villages, which were no less populous than the cities. this land also he granted to porus to rule; and sent taxiles back to his own abode after affecting a reconciliation between him and porus. at this time arrived envoys from abisares,698 who told him that their king was ready to surrender himself and the land which he ruled. and yet before the battle which was fought between alexander and porus, abisares intended to join his forces with those of the latter. on this occasion he sent his brother with the other envoys to alexander, taking with them money and forty elephants as a gift. envoys also arrived from the independent indians, and from a certain other indian ruler named porus.699 alexander ordered abisares to come to him as soon as possible, threatening that unless he came he would see him arrive with his army at a place where he would not rejoice to see him. at this time phrataphernes, viceroy of parthia and hyrcania, came to alexander at the head of the thracians who had been left with him. messengers also came from sisicottus, viceroy of the assacenians, to inform him that those people had slain their governor and revolted from alexander. against these he despatched philip and tyriaspes with an army, to arrange and set in order the affairs of their land.

he himself advanced towards the river acesines.700 299ptolemy, son of lagus, has described the size of this river alone of those in india, stating that where alexander crossed it with his army upon boats and skins, the stream was rapid and the channel was full of large and sharp rocks, over which the water being violently carried seethed and dashed. he says also that its breadth amounted to fifteen stades; that those who went over upon skins had an easy passage; but that not a few of those who crossed in the boats perished there in the water, many of the boats being wrecked upon the rocks and dashed to pieces. from this description then it would be possible for one to come to a conclusion by comparison, that the size of the river indus has been stated not far from the fact by those who think that its mean breadth is forty stades, but that it contracts to fifteen stades where it is narrowest and therefore deepest; and that this is the width of the indus in many places. i come then to the conclusion that alexander chose a part of the acesines where the passage was widest, so that he might find the stream slower than elsewhere.