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much arable land was cultivated upon its summit as would furnish 

 provisions for a thousand men. 



Alexander, on finding Bazira deserted, immediately pursued the 

 fugitives to Aornus, and nothing could equal his astonishment on 

 beholding its vast elevation and great natural strength, except the 

 ardour of his resolve to become the master of it. Besides, every 

 secret spring of glory and emulation was awakened afresh in his soul 

 on the contemplation of that renowned fortress ; for, either tradition, 

 or Greek adulation, had circulated a report, that Hercules, on his 

 invasion of India, was baffled in every attempt to make himself 

 master of this rock. This story may possibly have been founded on 

 some military exploits carried on in these regions by Rostam, the Per- 

 sian, or Rama, the Indian, Hercules, during the conquests that ren- 

 dered them so famous in their respective countries. Fired with the 

 hope of succeeding where Hercules himself had failed, Alexander was 

 determined to take Aornus, or perish before it. He, therefore, or- 

 dered the most active preparations to be immediately commenced 

 for a regular siege; but, knowing that these and the siege itself 

 would take up much time, he, in the interim, employed that part of 

 the army, which was not thus engaged, in more permanently se- 

 curing the countries which he had left behind, as well as in adding 

 to his conquests a city in those parts, called Ecbolina, which ca- 

 pitulated without much opposition. The preparations for the attack 

 upon Aornus being completed, and the cavities that rendered it in- 

 accessible on one side being filled up, in the same manner as the 

 fosse of Massaga, by felling the timber of an adjacent forest, he 

 selected thirty young men, the bravest and most alert among those 

 who formed his body-guard, as leaders of the determined band, 

 which had orders to make the first attempt at scaling the rock. 

 The king seemed to his officers so ardent in the affair, that they 



