[ 231 ] 



this battle, denominated that of Arbela, but fought, in reality, at 

 Gaugamela, a village on the banks of the river Bumelus, according 

 to Arrian, no fewer than three hundred thousand of the enemy were 

 slain, while the loss of the Macedonians and auxiliaries together is 

 most absurdly and incredibly stated to have amounted to only one 

 hundred horsemen, and a thousand horses, who died in the heat 

 and fatigue of pursuit, or of wounds received during the engage- 

 ment*. 



After this important victory, Alexander, still adhering firmly to 

 his original opinion, that religion was essential to the raise government 

 of a great empire, returned thanks to heaven in a profusion of 

 splendid and costly sacrifices. Despairing at that time to overtake 

 Darius, he afterwards marched to Babylon, of which city the gates 

 were thrown open to him by Maza3us, the Persian governor, and 

 where he was joyfully received by the inhabitants ; for, the intolerant 

 spirit of their former masters, in point of religion, had induced 

 them to act with the same hostility towards the magnificent temple 

 of Belus with which they had acted towards the temples of Egypt 

 and of Greece. In this great city he refreshed himself and his 

 army thirty days ; admiring its lofty walls and superb edifices, taking 

 possession of its immense treasures, and unhappily too much in- 

 dulging in those voluptuous excesses so customary in great cities, 

 and, in fact, so congenial to his time of life. His conduct began 

 to be visibly affected by the mighty change in his fortune, which 

 converted the humble sovereign of Macedon into the uncontrolled 

 emperor of Asia: he assumed all the pomp and magnificence of 

 the ancient Persian monarchs, and, still indulging the favourite 

 idea of his descent from Jupiter, he wished to engraft divine upon 

 human honours. Excuses have in vain been urged for this altered 



* Arrian, lib. iii. cap. 14, 15, ubi supra. 



