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prince, he immediately ordered a general assembly of the army to 

 be summoned, and, by the most affable and condescending be- 

 haviour, endeavoured to allay the ferment, to tranquillize their 

 minds, and win them over to his purpose. His august presence at 

 once awed them to respectful silence, and his assumed benignity 

 revived all their affection for him ; but still they were inflexible in 

 their purpose of not proceeding beyond the Hyphasis. In a speech 

 of great subtilty and varied eloquence, he touched every chord of 

 passion that strongly vibrates on the human heart. He aimed princi- 

 pally to work upon that high sense of honour which the Greeks ever 

 cherished both individually and nationally; to wake in their minds 

 the dormant spark of expiring ambition ; to provoke the emulation 

 of generous youth, and stimulate the avarice of frozen age. He 

 strove, by recounting all their past glories, to animate them to 

 attempt the acquisition of still nobler and more substantial renown; 

 to exceed the boasted exploits of Hercules and Bacchus ; and reach 

 the limits of the habitable world . He painted, in the most glowing 

 colours, the immense magnitude of the spoil that awaited them 

 beyond the Ganges; kingdoms overflowing with wealth, the ac- 

 cumulated wealth of ages, the concentrated treasures of Asia. 

 He ridiculed the idea of the innumerable force in infantry, in 

 cavalry, and elephants, which the Gangaridae could bring into the 

 field, and with the magnified details of which their enemies aimed 

 to terrify them and arrest their progress. " Have you forgotten," 

 exclaimed this prince, " the still greater armies of Darius ; the 

 uncounted multitudes who perished, oppressed by their own numbers, 

 at Issus and in the defiles of Cilicia; and the myriads, in vain op- 

 posed to Macedonian valour, on the plains of Arbela ? Are the Gan- 

 garidae a braver or hardier race than those whom you conquered on 

 the Bactrian hills ; those who drenched with blood the Sogdian plains ; 

 or those who, in terror of your vengeance, precipitated themselves 



