3 8 6 The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I. 
probably, thrown in to comply with the Humour of the 
Age, and to make this Story agree with other Accounts 
of £ he Indies : Take it all together, it is an excellent Speci- 
men of the Relations publifhed by Travellers in thofe 
Hays j and is, perhaps, the only one that is to 'be met with. 
It is much to be regretted, that we have none of the 
Phoenician Accounts, or even fo much as Extracts from 
them, preferved by any Authors , for as they were per- 
fectly well acquainted with thefe Seas, and carried on a 
con ft ant and extenfive Trade with the Indians , it is highly 
probable, that whatever they wrote upon the Subject, mult 
1 have been curious and exari, at leaft in Comparifon of what 
we have received from the Greeks , who frequently contra- 
dict each other. Some Indeed have conjectured, that there 
never were any "Writings of that Sort publifhed by that 
Nation, becaufe they looked upon themfelves to be con- 
cerned, in point of Intereft, to conceal what they knew, 
from an Apprehenfion, that divulging their Obfervations 
might be fatal to their Commerce. This indeed has an 
Air of Probability : And yet, if we confider how difficult a 
thing it is to preferve this kind of Knowledge, without 
committing it to Writing, I think it is much more likely, 
that they had forne Memoirs of this Kind amongft them. 
However that may be, certain it is, that the Perfians 
never acquired any great Skill in maritime Affairs, but left 
the Management of them intirely to the Phcenicians , who 
adhered fteadily to the Perfmn Emperors till the Death of 
Artaxerxes Mnemon , for then, finding themfelves oppreffed 
by the Perfian Governors, and dreading the Cruelty of 
Ochus , who fucceeded his Father in the Empire, a great 
Part of them revolted, the Sidonians being the chief in that 
Enterprize : But the Tyrians Hill adhered to the Perfians , 
who had been always very kind to them : Yet, in all Pro- 
bability, the chief thing that determined them upon this 
Occafion to divide themfelves from their Countrymen, was 
their Concern for their Indian Trade, which they could not 
poffibly have carried on but under their Protection, becaufe 
the Paffage of the Ijlhmus was always in their Power. 
Ochus marched with a great Army, in order to lay Siege 
to Sidon a . The Inhabitants prepared to receive him, and 
took ail the neceflary Precautions for making a molt vi- 
gorous Defence. The Place was well fortified ; they had 
a numerous Garifon, and a Fleet of no lefs than one' hun- 
dred Gallies, well manned, in their Port : But, forefeeing 
that, if they fhould be very hard preffed, many might en- 
deavour to make their Efcapes, by the Affiftance of the 
Ships, which would expofe them to certain Ruin, they 
caufed them all to be fet on Fire, that every Man’s pri- 
vate Intereft might engage him to do his Duty to the Pub- 
lic. They had alfo a Body of Greek Mercenaries, under 
the Command of one Mentor , upon whom they chiefly 
depended. In all human Probability, they might have de- 
fended themfelves well enough, if their King, whofe Name 
was Tennes , had not agreed with Mentor , to betray them 
to the Perfians •, which was executed in fuch a manner, that 
the Enemy was within their W alls, before they knew any 
thing of the Matter. When the Sidonians found them- 
felves thus betrayed, every Man retired to his Houfe, and 
fet Fire to it by which means the whole City was con- 
fumed, and in it forty thoufand People. Ochus put their 
King to Death, as he deferved, and fold the A flies of die 
1 own for a vaft Sum of Money, on account of the prodi- 
gious Quantities of Gold and Silver that the Inhabitants 
had amafs’d b . 
Alter the DeftruCtion of Sidon , the Perfian Emperor 
undertook the Reduction of , Egypt , where Neblanebus had 
made himfelf King, and had. about him a very formidable 
Army. _ The great Difficulty was to march the Perfian 
i roops into that Kingdom, on account of the fandy De- 
fer ts on its Frontiers. 1 he Tyrians, however, conducted 
him, and his Forces, by the Way of their Colony of 
Rhinocorura , tho 5 not without feme Lofs, into the King- 
dom of Egypt , which he fpeedily reduced, Neblanebus re- 
tiring in time into Ethiopia , carrying with him a vaft 
Quantity of Treafure : Ochus caufed all the reft, that could 
be collected, to be tranfported to Babylon. As he was na- 
turally cruel, he punifhed the Rebellion of the Egyptians 
with great Severity ; and, having been informed, tnat the 
Egyptians were wont to call him the Royal Afs , by way 
oi Contempt, he caufed the Ox, which they worfhipped as 
a God, and which they called Apis, to be facrificed to an 
Afs, and afterwards gave his FJefli to be eaten by his At- 
tendants. I his fo provoked Ragoas, an Eunuch, and his 
fiift Minifter, that he foon after poifoned him, caufed an- 
other Body to be laid in the Royal Tomb, and, having cut 
his Mafter’s Body to-pieces, fed his Cats with it. This 
wicked Minifter fet his Mafter’s youngeft Son upon the 
p hrone, whole Name was Arfes, putting all the reft of 
his Brethren to Death *, and, finding that the young Prince 
began to lulpeCt him, he foon after deftroyed him, and 
his whole Family c . 
Such was the miferable State of this Empire under the 
Government of Strangers and Eunuchs, when the laft 
Emperor mounted the Throne. Fie was of the Royal 
Rood, tnougn not the immediate Son of any of the former 
Emperors ; and his Name Codomannus , while in a private 
Station ; but, upon nis being raifed to the Empire, he 
a flumed that of Darius. He was the handfomeft and 
braveft Man in his Dominions, and endowed with all the 
Virtues worthy of a Prince, which foon gained him the 
Love of his People to fuch a Degree, that the Traitor 
Bagoas, fearing he might be punifhed for what was pafs’d, 
attempted to poifon him ; but Darius, ful periling his 
Defign, obliged him to drink the Poifon lie had prepared, 
which foon difpatched him. 
If the great and good Qualities of a Prince could have 
preferved an Empire fo over-run with Corruption, Darius 
might have died in Peace ; but his Virtues came too late to 
fave his Country d . That War was already concerted, 
which proved his Ruin, before the Diadem was fixed upon 
his Head •, and he was fcarce feated on the Throne, before 
his Empire was invaded by the Macedonians, who, not 
fatisfied with its extenfive Dominions, penetrated beyond 
them into the Indies, and thereby opened the Way to a 
more perferit Knowledge of thofe Countries than hitherto 
had been attained, as Ihall be fliewn more largely in the 
fucceeding Seriion. 
3 Diodor. Sicul ■ IT. xv r i. p. 531, — 533. b Salims , cap. 25. Syncellus ex Africano, p. 256. Orojius, lib. xxxi. cap. y. « TEliani 
maria Hi ft or i a, lib. iv. cap. 8. Diodor. Sicul. lib. XV ii. J Diodor. Sicul. Arrian. Strabo, Plutarch. Ccf c. 
SECTION V. 
An exaB Account of Alexander’s Conquejl of the Perfian Empire , and, more particularly 5 of 
his Indian Expedition , and the Confequences he intended to have drawn from thence . 
1. The State of the Perfian Empire , and that of the Kingdom of Macedon, compared. 2. An Account of 
the Battles of Granicus, Iffus, and Arbela, by which the Perfian Empire was overthrown . 3. Alexander, 
having attained the Power , affefts the Manners of the Perfian Monarchs. 4. His Motives to the under- 
taking an Expedition into India, y. His bejieging the Rock Aornus, and contriving to excel Hercules, who 
formerly attempted it. 6. His Victory over Porus, and Defign of pafjingthe Ganges. 7. His Artifices, in 
order to deceive and amufe Pofterity. 8 . His Retreat Gut 0/ India, and the Circumjlances that attended 
it . 9. His Army fuffers exceedingly , in marching through Gedrofia, until his Arrival on the Confines of 
1 Caramania, 
