The Difcovery, Settlement, ^/ Commerce Book I. 
W- 
jealous of thofe Advantages that were the Re Suit of their 
refpeci:ive Conftitutions ; which, duly confidered, will 
appear the higheft Character that any People can deferve. 
n . I have purpofely omitted fpeaking hitherto of the 
Indian Philofophers, and of the Treatment they met with 
from Alexander , becaufe I thought, both with re Sped to 
him and them, it was a Subject that required particular 
Consideration. Thefe Men had the Misfortune to incur 
his Difpleafure ; and, in confequence thereof, to be very 
feverely treated for doing their Duty, and adting as it be- 
came Men to ait, who profeffed themfelves Lovers of 
Wifdom. In ihort, thefe Indian Sages, inftead of court- 
ing this victorious Prince, or endeavouring to gain his 
Favour by perfuading the People to Submit to him, exerted 
all their Eloquence, and all their Influence, to incite 
their Countrymen to behave with Courage and Firmnefs in 
the Defence of their Liberties ; and this it was that expofed 
them fo much to his Refen tment ri 
We have already given an Account with what Severity 
he treated S ambus? who was their Prince, and. his Sub- 
jects; and we have li.kewife taken Notice, that Plutarch 
informs us, that many of them preferved their Lives, by 
the fatisfaCtory Anfwers they gave to the Queftions that 
Conqueror propofed to them. As this PafTage has a nearer 
Relation to the Subject of this Chapter, than moft of the 
Adventures of Alexander , it cannot be difagreeable to the 
Reader, if we treat it at large. In the midft of the Vio- 
lences that were committed, on account of the Revolt of 
the Brachmans, Alexander thought fit to make a Trial of 
their boafted Wifdom, by fending for ten of them into his 
Prefence, whom he commanded to anfwer fuch Queftions 
as he propofed to them, threatening fuch as anfwered 
amifs, with Death ; and, appointing the eldeft of them to 
be the Judge, he aSked the firft, ‘ Which, in his Opinion, 
4 were more numerous, the Living, or the Dead ?’ The 
Brachman anfwered, ‘ The Living ; for the Dead are not/ 
He afked another, ‘ Which of all Animals was the moft 
*• fubtle?’ ‘That, faid the Brachman, whatever it be, 
‘ with which Mankind are not yet acquainted/ Of an- 
other, he demanded, ‘What the Arguments were, by which 
4 he perfuaded S ambus to revolt ?’ ‘But one, returned the 
4 Indian ; I told him he ought either to live free, ot to die 
‘ in the Endeavour to live fo/ Another was required to 
tell him, ‘ Whether Night, or Day, was oldeft ?’ 4 Day, 
c anfwered the Philofopher, by one Day, at leaft/ But 
perceiving that Alexander was npt fatisfied with this An- 
fwer, he added, ‘ You ought not to wonder, Sir, if ftrange 
‘ Queftions meet with odd Replies/ One of them he 
afked, ‘How a Man might become exceedingly beloved ?* 
Hi? Anfwer was, ‘ If he be very powerful, and, at the 
4 - fame time, be not very much feared/ To another this 
Queftion was propofed, ‘ How fhall a Man act, to be 
‘ thought a God ?’ ‘ Let him do, replied the Brach- 
‘ man, what by no other Man can be done/ Thelaftof 
them, being aft/d, ‘How long a Man ought to defire 
4 Life V anfwered, ‘ Till Death ftiall become more 
4 eligible/ 
When all had anfwered, Alexander commanded the 
Judge to give Sentence, ‘ All I can fay, replied the old 
‘ Man, is, that every one has anfwered worfe than his Fel- 
4 low / 4 That is falfe, faid Alexander ; and thou fhalt die 
s - firft, for having pafted fo foul a Sentence/ ‘ Not fo, 
\ Sir, replied the Brachman very cooly, if you mean to 
4 keep your Word ; for you faid he ffiould die firft who 
' anfwered worft; which I have not done, becaufe you 
4 have not hitherto afked me any Queftion/ The King, 
furprifed at their Firmnefs, as well as pleafed with the 
Quicknefs of their Parts, and the fhrewd Anfwers they 
had given him, not only difmiffed them without Injury, 
but made them very confiderable Prefents b . 
It is to be remembered, that, in thofe Days, the com- 
mon Method of putting Wifdom to the Teft was by afk- 
Ing difficult Queftions •, as the common Method of Teach- 
ing was by ffiort Sentences, which the Greeks called 
Aphorifms, and we Proverbs, taking that Word in its 
ftrifteft and graved: Senfe, which, even vulgarly ufed, im- 
plies a Saying grown into Credit, by the Experience of its 
Truth. In this, undoubtedly the Brachmans were much 
happier than moft other Philofophers, that hitherto they have 
efcaped Cenfure, the wifeft Men, in all Ages, having af- 
forded them a juft Tribute of Applaufe 5 which feems to 
have been chiefly derived from this Maxim, which regu- 
lated their whole Conduct, viz. to referve fpeculative 
Dodlrines for their private Conventions, and to teach the 
People fuch Things only as regarded the right Ufe cf 
Life. It was owing to this Regulation, that the Brach- 
mans themlelves maintained their Characters unfpotted 5 
and that the Indians in general, of every Rank, were Men 
of Principle, and aCted, on all Occaflons, as became them. 
We fhall have another Opportunity of defcribing more 
largely the Learning of thefe Sages, and their Manner of 
Living : At prefent, all I aim at, is to reprefent truly 
their Conduct, with refpedt to Alexander , and his Beha- ' 
viour towards tjiem, as a Point very curious and entertain- 
ing in itfelf ; and which is of no fmall Confequence to this 
Hiftory c . 
12. It was a Cuftom, inviolably obferved amongft the' 
Brachmans , never to vifit any Man, let his Rank be what 
it would ; and that upon this Principle, that others had 
need of them, and they of none. In their Schools or 
Affemblies they fpoke freely ; but one thing they required 
of their Difciples, as well as practiied themfelves, which 
was, to appear quite naked ; and in this refpecft they were 
fo ftrift, that when Alexander fent O.nejicritus , who was a 
Philofopher himfelf of the Sed of the Stoics, to hear 
one of them, who had the higheft Reputation, the Brach- 
man ordered him to ft rip, and hear what he had to fay, 
naked ; otherwife he would not open his Mouth, if he 
came from Jupiter himfelf. Thus the Story is told by 
Plutarch ; but Qneficriius himfelf told it in another Man- 
ner d . 
He faid, that he found fifteen of thefe Brachmans fitting 
together, at feme Diftance from the Town ; to whom 
having told his Mefiage, one of them, having confidered 
his Garb, could not forbear fouling, and then proceeded 
thus : There was a Time when Corn and Flour was as 
plenty as the Duft that covers, the Earth ; when the Foun- 
tains ran, feme with Milk, feme with Water, feme with 
Honey, feme with Wine, and feme with Oil : But when, 
through Plenty and Luxury, Men grew vain and proud, 
the great. God took away thofe Benefits; and decreed, that 
the Neceftaries of Life fhould be obtained by Labour.* 
Then Temperance, and other Virtues, produced once 
again Plenty of all Things ; but now, that this Plenty 
feems to have begotten Vanity and Pride again, we are in 
Danger of being reduced once more to Penury and Want. 
He therefore who would hear me, muft throw off his 
Clothes, and lie naked on the Stones, as we do e . 
The Name of this Indian Philofopher was Splines.-, but, 
when he became better known to the Macedonians , and 
they obferved that he fainted them always with the Word 
Cale , which, in the Indian Tongue, fignifi.es Godfave you, 
they called him from thence Ca.ldnus. It was Taxiles who 
prevailed upon him to vifit Alexander , and to converfe with 
him ; and, by degrees, he became more tradable. He was 
an old Man, and naturally of a fevere Difpofition, but 
withal very communicative ; and, when he faw that Alex- 
ander delighted in phil.ofophical Difcourfes, he no longer 
fhunned his Company, or thought it a Difgrace to attend 
him f . 
On the contrary, when he left India , he followed him 
into Perjia , where he made him, and the Macedonians , as 
they had been long Admirers of his Virtue and Wifdom, 
Witneffes alfo of his Death ; For, being upwards of 
feventy-three, and being attacked by a Loofenefs, he took 
a Refolution of putting an End to his Life ; from which 
Alexander laboured to difluade him, by reprefenring, that 
Medicines, and a proper Diet, might produce a Cure. 
The Philofopher anfwered, that poilibly it might be fo ; 
but that, according to the Cuftom of his Brethren, he 
looked upon this. as a Summons from Nature ; and that it 
became a wife Man not to wait, till the Force of his Reafon 
s Diodor. Si cut. lib- xvii. Plutarch, ubi fupra . b Plutarch, in Alexandra. Clem. Alex an. Strom . lib. vi. f. 457. _ c Strabo? 
Bl. XV. Apuleitu Florid, lib. i. Porphyr. de Abftinentia? lib. iv. felt. 17. Bar difanes Syrus apttd. Eufek Preparat. Evangel lib. vi. cap. 8. 
d Plutarch . in Alexandra . « Onejtcritus ap. Strab . lib . xv, Palladius de morihut Brachman. f Arrian. %. Curt, Plutarch, 
was 
