RELATING TO THE INDIANS. 619 



observing that the Indians are accustomed to naval warfare, and are more 

 formidable at sea than on shore. 



\vhoi yag i&?j[/foh4 saw zvboi[Mou 

 JLivoik'ta, zai [/joKKov agi&vxffi ^oCkaffurj 



These matters carry on the poem to the end of the thirty-sixth book. 



Nothing to our purpose occurs in the two next books, of which one is 

 occupied with the funeral games solemnized by Bacchus — the other in the 

 true style of the Piwanas by a system of Astronomy. A few lines at the 

 beginning of the thirty-seventh book correctly express Hindu sentiments. 

 The Indians, says Nonnus, burned their dead with tearless eyes, consi- 

 dering that the deceased had escaped the bonds of life, and the spirit had 

 returned in its circular revolution to the goal from whence it first set out. 



In the thirty-ninth and fortieth books, the Rhadamanes or Arabs enter 

 the Hydaspes with their fleet, which being manned by the Bacchantes, is 

 encountered under the walls of Deris by the Indian flotilla, commanded 

 by Deriades and Morrheus. A sanguinary conflict ensues — Morrheus 

 is wounded, and retires into the town. Deriades, after retreating to the 

 bank, is also wounded by Bacchus, and falls into the Hydaspes, by which 

 the war is terminated, and Bacchus triumphs. It does not appear that 

 his sovereignty is permanently established, for the poem conducts him 

 back to Asia Minor, and we have no further notice of India. 



From this sketch of the Indian portion of the Dionysiacs, it must be 

 clear that they have nothing in common with the Rdmayana, and little 

 more with the Mahabharat. They no doubt offer some analogies in the 

 names of persons and places, and it is not impossible that their author 

 may have picked up some hints in addition to those afforded by Arrian, 



