ALEXANDER AND NEARCHUS. 



91 



asked him who he was and what country he was from. He re- 

 plied that he belonged to the army of Alexander, and that the 

 camp was not far off. Transported with delight, they took the 

 stranger to Nearchus, whom he told that Alexander was at five 

 days' journey from the sea. 



Nearchus, upon receiving this intelligence, caused his ships to 

 be drawn on shore, a rampart to be built round them, and repairs 

 to be commenced upon them, while he, Archius, a lieutenant, 

 and six sailors should set out to find the camp of the king. As 

 they approached the outposts, soldiers sent forward to meet 

 them by Alexander, who had been informed of their coming, did 

 not recognise them, on account of their changed dress and hag- 

 gard aspect. Alexander received them with kindness, but in 

 deep sorrow, for he had conceived the idea that the eight persons 

 before him were all that had survived the perils of the sea. 

 "You two have returned," he said, "you and Archius, safe and 

 sound, and this alone renders the loss of my fleet endurable : 

 tell me in what manner perished my vessels and my army." 

 Upon learning the safety of the entire expedition, he is said to 

 have burst into a flood of tears, and to have sworn that he de- 

 rived more pleasure from this event than from the entire con- 

 quest of Asia. He offered sacrifices to Jupiter, Hercules, Apollo, 

 and Neptune. He then proposed that Nearchus should repose 

 from his trials, and that another should conduct the fleet to Susa, 

 the capital of Susiana. Nearchus thought it unjust, however, 

 that the glory of completing a task which he had so successfully 

 begun should be taken from him, and retained the command. 

 He was obliged to fight his way back to the sea through warlike 

 and hostile tribes. 



The rest of the voyage, along the coasts of Caramania and 

 Persis, — the modern Fars, — was comparatively easy, orders 

 having been given by Alexander that Nearchus should find at 

 intervals supplies of every species of provisions. On the 

 24th of February, in the year 325 B.C., the fleet arrived at 



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