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down the rocky steeps of Aornus ? Can the number of elephants, 

 however great, alarm Grecian soldiers, after the recent proof, 

 exhibited in the battle with Porus, of their utter inutility in the field, 

 or, rather, of the certain destruction, of which they may be made the 

 terrible instruments, against their own party ? Does the broad, the 

 deep, the rapid, Ganges fill you with dismay ? Have you not, then, 

 in your progress hither, crossed the unfathomable deep itself? Or, is 

 it less safe to pass a wide and majestic river, flowing on with an even, 

 though rapid, course, than an impetuous current, confined by steep 

 banks within a narrow channel, like the Hydaspes; or foaming along, 

 over a rocky bed, like the Acesines? Will you desert a general 

 who has shared all your toils, and braved with you every danger, 

 in the full career of glory ; or, rather, when our triumphant warfare 

 is nearly accomplished ; for, we already verge on the Eastern 

 Ocean, and have nearly reached the point whence the sun pours its 

 first beam on the illumined earth? Behold your prince, who could 

 command your obedience, condescends humbly to solicit your con- 

 currence with his ardent wishes ; and conjures you, by every thing 

 sacred, that you will not rend the palm from him in the moment of 

 victory ; nor suffer the laurel, to whose lustre you have so largely 

 contributed, to be tarnished by an untimely and disgraceful re- 

 treat!" After pausing some moments, and observing both officers 

 and men to remain entirely silent, with their eyes stedfastly fixed 

 on the ground, and absorbed in profound melancholy, Alexander 

 again exclaimed, " Where is that burst of applause that formerly 

 used to follow the addresses of your sovereign ? Where is that loyal 

 zeal for my safety, that unbounded attachment to my person, which 

 led you to contend for the distinction of bearing my wounded body 

 from the field ? Where, at this important moment, are the spirit, 

 the ardour, of Macedonian soldiers ? Return, ungenerous men ! to 

 the inglorious pursuits of peace basely purchased by the sacrifice of 



