40 PLINY'S NATTJBAL HISTOKY. [Book VI. 



vanquished by force of arms, not one of which was smaller than 

 that of Cos ; 2U that its nations were eight in number, that India 

 forms one -third of the whole earth, and that its populations 

 are innumerable a thing which is certainly far from impro- 

 bable, seeing that the Indians are nearly the only race of people 

 who have never migrated from their own territories. From 

 the time of Father Liber 21 to that of Alexander the Great, one 

 hundred and fifty- three kings of India are reckoned, extending 

 over a period of six thousand four hundred and fifty-one years 

 and three months. The vast extent of their rivers is quite 

 marvellous ; it is stated that on no one day did Alexander the 

 Great sail less than six hundred stadia 22 on the Indus, and still 

 was unable to reach its mouth in less than five months and 

 some few days : and yet it is a well-known fact that this 

 river is not so large as the Ganges. 23 Seneca, one of our fellow- 

 countrymen, who has written a treatise 24 upon the subject of 

 India, has given its rivers as sixty-five in number, and its 

 nations as one hundred and eighteen. The difficulty too would 

 be quite as great, if we were to attempt to enumerate its moun- 

 tains. The chains of Emails, of Emodus, of Paropanisus, 

 and of Caucasus, are all connected, the one with the other ; 

 and from their foot, the country of India runs down in the 

 form of a vast plain, bearing a very considerable resemblance to 

 that of Egypt. 



However, that we may come to a better understanding re- 

 lative to the description of these regions, we will follow in 

 the track of Alexander the Great. Diognetus and Baston, whose 

 duty it was to ascertain the distances and length of his 

 expeditions, have written that from the Caspian Gates to 

 Hecatompylon, the city of the Parthians, the distance is the 

 number of miles which we have already 26 stated ; and that from 

 thence to Alexandria, 26 of the Arii, which city was founded by the 

 same king, the distance is five hundred and seventy-five miles ; 

 from thence to Prophthasia, 27 the city of the Drangse, one 



20 See B. v. c. 36. 21 Or Bacchus. 



22 Or seventy-five miles. 23 This is the statement of Arrian. 



24 Among the lost works of that philosopher. 



25 In c. 17 of the present Book. 



26 See c. 25 of the present Book. 



27 See c. 25 of the present Book. 



