DISCOVERIES OF THE ANCIENTS. 15 
new and unobstructed route to India could not 
fail to excite the highest interest. On his way 
from Alexandria he passed by Marseilles, and a 
number of the other maritime states, where he 
loudly announced his intention, and invited all 
who were animated by any spirit of enterprise to 
take a share in its execution. He accordingly 
succeeded in fitting out an expedition on a very 
large scale, and equipped almost with regal pomp. 
He had one large and two small vessels ; on board 
of which were embarked, not only provisions and 
merchandize, but medical men, persons skilled in 
various arts, and even a large band of musicians. 
A crew composed chiefly of volunteers, full, 
doubtless, of extravagant hopes, were not likely to 
submit to regular discipline, or to endure cheer- 
fully the hardships of such a voyage. They soon 
became fatigued with navigating in the open sea, 
and insisted that Eudoxus should draw near to the 
coast. Here the event happened, which that na- 
vigator had foreseen. The ships struck upon a 
sand-bank, and could not be got off. The cargo, 
however, and even part of the timber belonging to 
them, were brought on shore ; and, from their ma- 
terials, a new vessel was constructed on a smaller 
scale, with which Eudoxus resumed his voyage. 
He soon after came to nations, speaking, as he 
fancied, the same language with those whom he 
had seen on the eastern coast. The smallness of 
