9 
the East Indies. 
offered magnificent Sacrifices, and celebrated Games. Du- 
ring thefe Rejoicings, where-ever Nearchus went through 
the Camp, the Soldiers covered him with Garlands and 
Flowers. Alexander himfelf alfo, as a Mark of his Fa- 
vour, and by way of Diftinftion, honoured Nearchus , and 
Leonnatus , by prefenting to each of them a gold Crown ; 
to the former, on account of his good Service on board the 
Fleet ; to the latter, by reafon of the Vidtory obtained by 
him over the Oritans , and other barbarous Nations, in 
their Neighbourhood. Thus the Reader has received a full 
Account of the Manner, in which his Fleet and Army return- 
ed fafe to Alexander , from the Mouth of the River Indus. 
Here, properly fpeaking, ends the Voyage of Nearchus , 
as it is preferved by Arrian , in his Indian Hiftory ; which 
ferves as an Appendix to his noble Memoirs of the Life of 
Alexander the Great. A Work highly, and very ji.ftjy, 
commended both by antient and modern Writers, for its 
Elegance, and excellent Method •, but more efpecially for 
the ftrift Regard the Author every- where pays to Truth. 
His Indian Hiftory is written with the like Care ; in which 
he profeffes to have read, with the utmoft Diligence and 
Circumfpecfion, the Works of Onejicritus , and Megajihe- 
tteSy as well as thofe of Nearchus , 
As to the firft of thefe, I mean Onejicritus , he was the 
Captain of Alexander's own Ship, and wrote a large Ac- 
count of the Indies ; from which, in the Beginning of his 
Hiftory, Arrian has taken many Things, but with great 
Caution, on account of the bad Character he had, as a 
fabulous Writer : And here, by the way, it may not be 
amifs to take notice of one of Arrian' s Obfervations : He 
fays, that Ctefias the Cnidian afferted India to be as big as 
all the reft o i Afia: In which he err’d ; for Onejicritus ac- 
counted it to be no more than the third Part of Afia. In 
this, however, there is good Reafon to believe, that Ar- 
rian himfelf is offtake n ; for both of his Authors might 
have been in the right. Ctefias , who wrote from the Me- 
moirs he collected in the Perfian Court, meant very pro- 
bably the whole Continent of India, from the River Indus 
to the Sea ol japan ; and, on the other hand, Oneficritus 
could only fpeak of that Part of India, which was known 
from Alexander's Expedition : And, taken in this Senfe, the 
Account given by each of thefe Authors* may be pretty 
well reconciled to Truth ; and their Opinions, inftead of 
-contradibting, appear, thus confidered, very agreeable to 
< each other. This fhews how unfafe a Thing it is to run 
down Authors at random •, and, by burying their Repu- 
tation under a heavy Load of Cenfure, to pave the Way 
for the Deftrudlion alfo of their Works, as has happened in 
the Cafe or Oneficritus , and many other Authors. But Me- 
; gafihenes was ft ill lower in the Efteem of Arrian , who 
l therefore borrows from him but fparingly ; whereas he 
has given us the Indian Expedition, by Nearchus , at full 
Length, and, as near as might be, in his own Words : But 
of his Credit, we (hall have an Opportunity to fay more 
hereafter. At prefent, therefore, let us confine ourfelves to 
: the Author who has preferved this noble Fragment of An- 
! Equity ; I mean Arrian , whom we have fo often quoted, 
and on whofe Credit this Part of our Work muft depend. 
He was a Man of dtftinguifhed Quality, as well as excel- 
lent Learning, a Native of the City of Nicomedia in Bithy- 
nia, fiourifhed under the Emperor Adrian , and was by him 
made Governor of Cappadocia : He was an excellent Phi- 
lofopher, as appears by the four Books, that are ftill left, 
of his Commentaries upon the Works of Epifietus : He 
wrote alfo, befides his Memoirs of the Life of Alex- 
ander the Great, a large Hiftory of the Parihians ; of 
1 which there are now only a few Fragments left : He pub- 
lifined likewife hiftorical Colledlions in relation to the Bithy- 
ftians and Alans , as we are informed by Photius , who cites 
the former * but thefe are now loft, as the Indian Hiftory 
' was fuppofed to be, till, by the Induftry of fome learned 
• Critics, it was difeovered, that what had been long re- 
; gai ded as the eighth Book of the Life of Alexander , was, 
in reality, this Indian Hiftory : And fo, undoubtedly, it 
is-, for whoever is acquainted with antient Authors, and 
has read the Works of Xenophon and Arrian , will eaiily 
difeern, that the former ferved for a Model to the latter ; 
and that the Expedition of Alexander (for fo Arrian mo- 
j 
deftly intitles his Hiftory) was, in reality, a Copy of the 
Expedition of Cyrus , written by Xenophon ; and, for that 
very Reafon, divided into no more than Even Books. 
But as his Indian Hiftory had fo near a Relation to that. 
Work, it was joined to it as a Supplement ; and, at lafi* 
through the Ignorance of Tranfcribers, came to be reckoned 
a Part of it, and was called the eighth Book, directly 
contrary to the Intention of its Author, as appears, both 
from the Beginning, and the End of it. He wrote alfo, 
in ten Books, the Hiftory of what followed after the Death 
of Alexander , which, to the irreparable Damage of the 
learned World, have wholly perifhed. We have, however, 
ftill remaining a Periplus , or Defcription of the Buying 
Sea, addreffed to the Emperor Adrian , which the learned 
Mr. Do dwell, with great Probability, conjectures to have 
been written about the Year of Chrijl There is alfo 
a Periplus of the Red Sea , which goes under his Name, 
and, as a Work of his, has been tranflated by the learned 
Battifta Ramufio , and inferted in his excellent Collection. 
Yet many great Critics have been of Opinion, that it 
was none of his, but belonged to an Amthor of great An- 
tiquity. Mr. Dodwell has very fully proved the former, 
and denies the latter with good Reafon, having fhewn as 
clearly, as a thing of that Nature can be fhewn, that the 
Author of that Work lived much later than Arrian. It 
may not be amifs to add one Obfervation more, before we 
quit this Subjed which is, that we have given a Place 
here to the Voyage of Nearchus , as it is taken from his 
own Work; for, otherwife, it muft have come in later; 
and this naturally leads us to fay fomething more as to the 
Charader of this original Author. 
13. Nearchus, the Son of Androtimus a Cretan, attended 
Alexander in his Indian Expedition, and behaved with fo 
much Fidelity, giving, at the fame time, fuch Inftances 
of his Capacity, that when Alexander fettled the Embar- 
kation ot his Forces, and appointed Oneficritus Com- 
mander of his own Veffel, he made Nearchus his Admiral, 
and Euagoras , the Son of Euclion a Corinthian , Secretary to 
the Fleet. There is very great Reafon to believe Nearchus 
had been the King’s old Servant, fince it appears, that, 
before the Afum Expedition, he was fettled at Amphipolis , 
on the River Strymon , one of the moft confiderable Places 
in the Macedonian Dominions ; where, very probably, he 
had been employed in the Sea-fervice ; otherwife one can 
hardly fuppofe, that Alexander fhould give him the Com- 
mand of his Fleet. 
How well he performed that Service, the Reader is able 
to judge from his own Relation ; and, that he might be 
able to judge of it, was one great Reafon of our giving 
it a Place here. That his Mafter was extremely well fatif- 
fied with his Conduct, appears not only from the Praifts 
and Rewards he beftowed upon him, but alfo from his 
liftening to this very Journal, in the very laft Moments of 
his Life, After the Deceafe of Alexander , when the 
Provinces of his great Empire were divided, he had Lycia 
and Pamphylia afiigned him. 
It is not very clear what other Books he wrote ; but as 
to this Journal, it is very evident, that it was compofed 
immediately after his Return from the Voyage, and while 
things were frefli in his Memory : Neither does it to me 
appear probable, in the leaft, that he fhould either attempt 
or defire to impofe upon Alexander , who does not feem to 
have fought Entertainment from fuch Expeditions fo much 
as InftruCticn. It is true, that Strabo fometimes que- 
ftions the Credit of our Author, and has even treated 
this Journal with fome Severity, particularly with regard 
to what is related of the Whales, which to him appears 
incredible ; but I doubt very much, whetiier it will ap- 
pear in that Light to fuch as Experience has rendered 
better Judges, fince it is very certain, that there are Whales 
in thefe Seas, and that the Size he fpeaks of is far from 
being extraordinary. Another Obfervation of Strabo's is, 
that Nearchus was rather terrified with his own Fears, than 
with real Dangers ; to which it may be anfwered, that, as 
thofe Seas were then unknown, the Coaft extremely bad, 
and the V effels, of which the Fleet was compofed, very 
indifferent, there is nothing aftonifhing in what our Author 
fays oi his Apprehenftons. In refpect to what other Au- 
thors 
