Chap.III. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 301 



thor that is come down to us : For he has given us an account of 

 that country from Megaftlienes, who was in India wlien Alexander 

 was there, and who travelled through more of the country than any 

 other of thofe who accompanied Alexander in that expedition *" ; and 

 alfo from Nearchus, who commanded Alexander's fleet that failed 

 from the mouth of the Indus to Babylon, and who, as Arrian tells us, 

 wrote a Hiftory of Alexander f. Megafthenes had an opportunity 

 of being better informed of the hiftory and antiquities of India, than 

 any other that was with Alexander; for he was with Sandracottus, a 

 great Indian King, and with Porus, who was ftill a greater King t. 

 What, therefore, he relates of the hiftory of India is, I think, more 

 credible than any thing we have from any other author ; and 

 Sa-abo, though he difbeUeves many of the wonderful ftories, he tells, 

 of the ftrange animals in India, fays nothing againft his hiftory of 

 the men of that country. Arrian muft alfo have got a great deal of 

 information concerning India from Vv-hat Ptolemy, the fon of Lagus, 

 w^ho was afterwards King of Egypt, and Ariftobulus, who, as well 

 as Ptolmey, accompanied Alexander in his Indian expedition, wTOte 

 upon the fubjed of that expedition : And, accordingly, he has 

 mentioned feveral curious particulars, concerning Indian towns which 

 Alexander took, and Kings that he conquered; which he muft have 

 learned from thofe two authors ||. This author, fo well informed, 

 fpeaks of the expeditions of the Egyptians under Ofiris and Hercules, 

 as a fadl of w'hich there could be no doubt ; and mentions many 

 monuments of Ofiris, that were to be found in India when Alexan- 

 der was there : And, particularly, he tells the fame ftory, which 

 Diodorus tells, of his building the town of Nyfta ; to which he adds 

 his planting the Ivy there, a plant to be found in no other part 



of 



* Arrian's Indica, p. 201. 203. and 318. Edit. Gronovii. 



f Arrian, Ibid. 



t Ibid. 



!l Arrian's Expedition of Alexander, lib. 6. cap. 3. & 14. Alfo Indica, cap. 7. &c. 



