( MAR 19 1891 



JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL. 



Part I.— HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e. 



No. III.— 1889. 



Grwco-Roman Influence on the Civilization of Ancient India. — By Vincent 

 A. Smith, Bengal Giuil Service. (With several Plates.) 



Section I. Introduction. 



When the wearied veterans of " the great Emathian conqueror ", 

 laden with plunder and sated with conquest, refused to cross the 

 Hyphasis and to try the fortune of war in the valley of the Ganges, the 

 exclusive, conservative East won a victory over the intruding, progres- 

 sive West, which must have appeared to the actors on the scene as final 

 and decisive. 



But it was neither final nor decisive, for, though the obstacles op- 

 posed by hostile man and nature could stop the onward march of the 

 Macedonian phalanx, nothing could arrest the sure and world-wide 

 progress of the ideas and culture, which constituted the real strength of 

 Hellas and were but rudely expressed by the disciplined array of 

 Alexander's armies. 



India has not willingly sought the treasures of foreign wisdom, and, 

 guarded by her encircling seas and mountains, she has tried, throughout 

 the long course of ages, to work out her own salvation. She has tried, 

 but has not succeeded. Again and again, both before and after Alexan- 

 der, the barriers have been broken through, and her children, who would 

 o 



