[ 233 ] 



perial residence of the conqueror of the East. His conduct at Perse- 

 polis, the ancient capital of the kings of Persia, clearly, I think, 

 demonstrates this project to have been formed in his mind before he 

 quitted Babylon to pursue Darius and Bessus. Another circum- 

 stance occurred at Babylon, greatly to the honour of Alexander 

 and the advantage of that literature which he was ever forward to 

 patronize ; a circumstance, which, by some, may be thought to 

 counter-balance the excesses committed at that metropolis, I mean 

 his researches relative to the astronomical observations made by the 

 Chaldrean priests, at the observatory of Belus, during a period of 

 . one thousand nine hundred and three years, and the transmission of 

 the table of them by Calisthenes to Aristotle. As that period extends 

 back as far as the age of Nimrod, the discovery has proved of the 

 last importance to history, science, and religion ; but the subject has 

 been too amply discussed in the former volume, and its consequence 

 to the systems, both of sacred and pagan chronology, too frequently 

 pointed out, to require being farther dwelt upon in this place*. 



His army being reinforced from Greece with thirteen thousand 

 five hundred foot and about two thousand horse, Alexander com- 

 menced his inarch to Susa, that immense store-house of the wealth 

 of the Persian monarchs, which now became the reward of Macedo- 

 nian perseverance and valour. On his approach to the city he 

 was met by Abulites, the Persian governor, with presents of great 

 value, among which are again enumerated elephants which Darius 

 had procured from the tributary provinces of India; an animal, adds 



* I request, also, the reader's particular attention to what is said, on this subject, in 

 the preceding pages of the present volume. Had this acquisition been the only fruit of 

 Alexander's expedition, it would have been of incalculable benefit to science; but it also 

 opened to the Greeks, for the first time, an acquaintance with Asia beyond the Euphrates; 

 and it certainly laid the foundation of all our knowledge of India, which will, I trust, 

 prove no inadequate apology for my detailing that expedition at such length. 



2 G 



