Chap. II. of the E a s 
what feems to confirm this laft Opinion is a Fad, in which 
all Writers agree, that his Body was interred at Pafagarda 
in Per fia a . 
3. On his Demife, his Son Camhyfes fucceeded, from 
whom Amafis , King of Perfia , withdrew his Obedience ; 
which produced a War, in which Camhyfes became victo- 
rious, chiefly by following his Father’s Maxims : For, upon 
this Occafion, he made ufe of the Fleets of the Phoeni- 
cian. s, who furnifhed him with as great a Force as he could 
wifh ; probably, becaufe they were defirous of getting 
rid of thefe Rivals in Trade, which effectually anfwered 
their End, fince the Egyptians never after recovered their 
Freedom, nor were permitted to meddle with the Indian 
Commerce. This Egyptian War gave Occafion alfo to a 
Treaty between this Perfian Emperor, and the King of 
that Part of Arabia which lies between Palefiine and Egypt, 
who, in Confideration of a Subfidy paid him by Camhyfes , 
furnifhed his Army, with Water, which enabled him to 
march thro’ the Deferts without any Difficulty b . 
His Succefs in this Expedition, engaged him in an- 
other again ft the Ethiopians , in which, however, he was 
very unfortunate, lofing the- heft Part of his Army, and 
being obliged to retire, without doing any thing consider- 
able. He had an only Brother, whofe Name was Smerdis ; 
and him, from an ill-grounded Jealoufy, he caufed to be 
murdered: The Fa£t was done privately, which gave an 
Opportunity to one of the Magi, of the fame Name, to 
perfonate that Brother, and excite a Rebellion. Camhyfes 
returned into Perfia, and, going to attack the Rebels, had 
the Misfortune, as he was mounting his Horfe, to have 
his Sword fall out of the Scabbard *, by which he received 
a Wound in the Thigh, and died of it in a few Days. 
Smerdis enjoyed the Empire for fome time ; but the Cheat 
being difcovered, he was cut off by the Princes of Perfia, 
and Darius, the Son of Hyjiafpes , who was Governor of 
Perfia, was raifed to the Throne, in the Year before Chriji 
521 : And, to give an Air of hereditary Right to his Fa- 
mily, he married Atojfa the Daughter of Cyrus c . 
4. This Darius was a Prince of great Capacity, and 
great Ambition. He had always abundance of Strangers 
about his Court, efpecially Greeks and Phoenicians , whom 
he employed preferably to his own Subjects, in many of 
his Defigns. He was particularly ftubious in the Inlarge- 
ment of his Dominions ; and, having already extended them 
as far as the Borders of Scythia, he formed a Defign of in- 
vading and Subduing the neighbouring Nations of India: 
But, before he proceeded on fo hardy an Undertaking, he 
was determined to be better acquainted with that Country 
than other Princes had been and therefore, in the thir- 
teenth Year of his Reign, he ordered a Fleet to be built at 
Cafpatyrus, a City on the River Indus, but on the Frontiers 
of Scythia -, and employed one Scylax , a Carian by Birth, 
of the City of Caryandia , to fail down the River into the 
Southern Ocean •, and then to return, by fleering Weft- 
ward *, giving him Orders to make the beft Difcoveries he 
could, as to the Strength and Riches of the Countries on 
both Sides of the River, as alfo of the Sea-coaft, that he 
might be well apprifed of the Force neeeffary to execute 
this Defign, and of the Value of the Conqueft, when made d . 
This, I take to have been the firft regular Expedition 
that was ever made againft the Indians ; and, without 
. doubt, it was very wifely contrived. This great Prince, 
had been before difappointed, in an Expedition he had 
made againft the Scythians, from which he narrowly 
efcaped ^ but, having conquered Thrace, in which were the 
richeft Silver Mines then known in the World, he was very 
defirous of being Matter alfo of thofe Countries, in which 
Gold was found. And this appears to have been the prin- 
cipal Motive to his undertaking the Conqueft of the neareft 
Part of India. 
5 . Scylax executed the Commiffion, with which he was 
; intrufted, with equal Skill and Fidelity : And, having 
paffed down the River Indus into the Ocean, he returned 
by the Streights of Babelmandel , and the Red Sea, landing 
on the Coaft of Egypt , near the Place where the Town of 
Sues now Hands, and from whence Necho King of Egypt 
; had formerly fent a Fleet, manned by Phoenicians , to fail 
t Indies. 38 f 
round the Coafts of Africa . This Voyage Scylax per- 4 
formed in thirty Months •, and, going from thence to Sit- 
fa, where Darius then kept his Court, he ’made a full Re- 
port to him of his Difcoveries ; and laid before him a 
Plan for the effiedling his defigned Conqueft. In order to 
this, it was requifite to have a confiderable Naval Force, 
and that, too, manned by Perfons of Experience : And 
therefore Darius made ufe of the Tyrians , who were beft 
acquainted with that Navigation, and, with their Affift- 
ance, brought a numerous Fleet upon the Coaft, at the 
fame time that he entered the Country with a great Army 
by Land. 
An Expedition, undertaken with fo much Care and 
Precaution, could hardly mifearry e . In fhort, the Indians 
were fubdued, became Tributaries to the Perfian Emperor, 
and promifed to furnifh him with a confiderable Body 
of Troops, whenever they were required fo to do : And, 
befides this, they paid him yearly 360 Talents of Gold ; 
that is, a Talent for every Day, the Perfian Year con- 
fiding then of 360 Days only. The Euboic Talent, ac- 
cording to which this Tribute was to be paid, was, by 
the lowed Computation, worth upwards of 3000 /. of 
our Money-, and, confequently, this Tribute amounted to 
1,095,000 /. Sterl. which is one of the Proofs, we pro- 
mifed to give, of the Wealth of this Country ; and how 
great an Acceffion of Power the bringing in fuch an an- 
nual Supply of Riches muft create, at a Time too, when 
Money had as great an Influence as at this Day, we may 
eafiiy conceive. There is no doubt, that this Conqueft 
made way alfo for a much freer Commerce among the 
Sub; eels of the Perfian Provinces bordering upon India , 
and their Neighbours the Indians , than in former Times ; 
which greatly contributed to the Advantage of all the 
Subjects of that Empire, even thofe who lay at the greateft 
Drftance from the Indies. W e need not only confult the 
Greek Hiftorians, to be thoroughly perfuaded of this, who 
every-where complain of the Force of the Perfian Gold, 
the Influence of which had more dreadful Effedts, than all 
the military Power of that mighty Empire f . 
6. Xerxes, the Son and Succeffor of Darius, fpent the 
greateft Part of his Reign, in Contefts with the Greeks \ 
and, raffing, on this Occafion, many puiffant Armies, he 
demanded, and obtained from the Indians, a Body of 
Troops, which ferved in feveral Expeditions. He was a 
Prince of great perfonal Abilities, and feems to have had 
better Notions of the Confequence of a Naval Force, than 
any of his Succeffors : For he intended to have fent Sataf- 
pes, his Sifter’s Son, with a Fleet, to have furrounded 
Africa but, being occupied by other Affairs, he let fall 
that Expedition, and with it feems ‘to have funk all 
Thoughts of making a Figure on this Side : For, notwith- 
ftanding TvsiPerfia is exceedingly wellfituated for Trade, and 
that thefe Emperors might eafiiy have made it the Centre 
of all the Commerce of the Eaft, yet, turning their 
Thoughts intirely towards Europe, they negledted what 
might have been fo very advantageous s . 
Nay, they carried their Indifcretion, in this refpecl, to 
a Degree much beyond Negligence ^ for they made it a 
Maxim of their Policy, to hinder, as far as they were able, 
all Navigation on the Perfian and Indian Coafts, by choak- 
ing fome of the principal Rivers. But, on the other hand, 
they encouraged the Commerce of their Subjedls with the 
Indians by Land, perfuading themfelves, that, by this 
Management, they fliould fecure to their Subjects the Poffef- 
fion of the immenfe Wealth they drew from the Indies 5 
and, at the fame time, prevent any Invafions by Sea. I 
is highly probable, they were led to take fuch Meafures, 
by the frequent Rebellions of the Egyptians, who, they 
apprehended, might be too powerful for them by Sea, in 
cafe the free Navigation of thofe Coafts had been allowed 
them : And this accounts for the little Knowledge the 
Greeks, and all the reft of the World, had of the Indies, 
notwithftanding that a Part of them was actually become a 
Province of an Empire, with which they were fo well ac- 
quainted h . 
7. It is very difficult, notwithftanding thefe Keafons, to 
comprehend how the Spirit and Genius of this Empire 
a Cyropasdia, lib. viii. b Strabo, lib. xv. c Uerodot. lib. iii. d Ibid. lib. iv. e Id. ibid . f 'Xenophon 9 
' Phucfd. Plutarch. s Hero dot. lib. ii. iii. JuJlin , lib. i. Athena: us , lib. xiii. h Herodot. Ctejias apud Athenanm. 
Numb. XXVII. g E ' ihould 
