j.io The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I. 
By this Divifion, all the Schemes of Alexander were to- 
tally defeated •, for every one minding his own Intereft, 
there foon arofe four Kingdoms out of Alexander’ s Empire : 
So that, tho’ the Dominions of the Greeks labfifted, yet 
the Form of his Monarchy, was loft within feventeen Years 
after his Deceafe, and there was only an empty Form of it 
preferred during that Space : For tho’ thefe great Officers 
contented themfelves, during that Time, with the modeft 
Name of Governors, yet they had, in effect, as much the 
Power of Kings, as after they affumed the Title. 
It is not my Bufmefs to purfue their Hiftory farther than 
it concerns my Subjeft : And therefore, I am firft to fpeak 
of Seleucus , within whofe Divifion the Indian Provinces 
lay ; and then I am to ftiew by what means Ptolemy , and 
his Succeffors in Egypt, transferred the Trade of the Indies 
Intirely to their own Dominions, by purfuing a Part of 
that vaft Plan which Alexander had laid down, when he 
propofed the Limits of the World to become thofe of his 
Empire : And this will at once anfwer the End of this, and 
the next Seftion, and preferve a proper Connexion between 
the feveral Periods of general Hiftory, which I am com 
ft rained to touch in the Progrefs of this Work*, and with- 
out a due Conception of which, the Indian Story can never 
be thoroughly underftood. 
2 . It is obferved, that the Follies of great Princes are 
much oftener copied than their Virtues. The Humour that 
poffeffed Alexander , of being thought of divine Original, 
was flili ftronger in Seleucus , and the Story he publifhed 
more improbable and abfurd. It was, in few W ords, this. 
His Mother Laudice , being the W ife of Antiochus , one of 
Philip's Captains, pretended fhe dreamed that fhe had con- 
verfed with Apollo , and conceived by him ; and that he 
o-ave her a Ring, on the Stone of which an Anchor was en- 
graved, and directed her to beftow it on her Son, when he 
came to be a Man. This Son was Seleucus , faid to have 
been born with an Anchor on his Thigh, by which alfo 
the whole Race of the Seleucid# were diftinguifhed, and 
which was fuppofed to give them a Title to the Dominion 
of the Sea, for the fake of which, perhaps, the Story 
was invented. However that might be, it was affirmed 
that this Ring was actually found in the Bed of Laudice ; 
and that fhe delivered it to Seleucus , when he went to the 
Perfian War, alluring him that he was not the Son ol An- 
tiochus , but of Apollo. This Notion he took care to in- 
culcate amongft his Soldiers, as much as poffible, and to 
keep up the Credit of it as far as lay in his Power, affefted 
always a great Attention to Naval Affairs 3 . 
But this was after he had eftablifhed himfelf in the 
Kingdom ; for, immediately after Alexander's Death, he 
found himfelf fully employed in fecuring his Share of his 
Mailer’s Territories from being tom from him by the 
Ambition of his Collegues. 
It was during thefe early Difputes, that the Indian Pro- 
vinces were irrecoverably loft. This Blow was given to 
Alexander's Empire by Andracottus , whom we have for- 
merly mentioned, and whom Juft in, and other Authors, fre- 
quently called S andracottus. He was not of Royal Ex- 
traftion, buthe mull have been the Son offome Perfon of 
Biftinftion, fince, being a Youth in Alexander's Camp, he, 
fome way or other, offended that Monarch to fuch a De- 
gree, that he ordered him to be (lain ff which fevere Sen- 
tence he efcaped, by fpeedy Flight. It was on this Occa- 
fxon, that an odd Accident infpired him with the Hopes of 
acquiring the Regal Dignity : Being exceffively tired with 
the Heat of the Weather, and hard Travelling, he lay 
down in a Wood, to deep *, and a Lion having gently 
licked the Sweat off his Body, till he awaked, then left 
him without doing, or endeavouring to do him, the leaf! 
Hurt. He gathered about him, foon afrer, a Crew of 
Outlaws, and began to make Inroads on the Macedonian 
Colonies. He faw the Difpofition of the People was ab- 
folutely repugnant to the Yoke of Greek Slavery*, and 
therefore, under Pretence of reftoring Liberty, he very 
artfully brought them into Subjeft ion to himfelf \ 
As this was an Age when Prodigies had great Efteds, 
Andracottus produced an Elephant, of a very unufual Size, 
•which, he allured the People, came, of its own Accord, 
a Jufiin, lih. xv. f. 4., b Strabo, lib. v. f. 724. Jnftin , 
Megaflhenes ap. Strabo. 
out of the Woods, and behaved towards him as tamely 
as if it had been long difciplined. This Story ferved his 
Purpofe very extenfively , for it encouraged the People 
every- where to rife *, and induced them to accept of him 
for their Chief : So that, in a very fhort Space, he cut off 
all Alexander's Garifons, and thofe who commanded them, 
breathing, where-ever he marched, the ftrongeft Paffion for 
Liberty j and iniarging, by Degrees, both his Forces and 
Dominions, till he was become much too potent for any of 
his Neighbours, and durft avow publicly his Deiign, not 
only of throwing off the Greek Authority, but of ereding 
a new and powerful Empire in the Indies. 
As foon as Seleucus found himfelf well fixed in the Pof- 
feffion of his Dominions, he determined with himfelf, to 
recover the Indian Provinces, and to reprefs the Pride of 
this new Conqueror, who was the firft Stranger that had 
attempted to rejed the Government of the Greeks. But 
his Endeavour came too late *, Andracottus was become, 
by this time, much too powerful to apprehend any thing 
from one of Alexander s Succeflbrs. Inftead therefore, of 
abandoning his new Conquefts, he was no fooner apprifed 
of Seleucus' s March into the Northern Provinces, than fie 
began to affemble a numerous Army, in order to march 
towards, and give him Battle. Seleucus had been hitherto 
extremely fortunate, and was now at the Head of a great 
Body of excellent Troops, fhafhed with Conqueft ; yet 
when he heard, that S andracottus was moving towards him, 
with a well-difciplined Army of 600,000 Men, and a great 
Number of Elephants *, and that, inftead of inclining to 
part with what he had already obtained, he demanded that 
all the Country, to the River Arbis, mould be reftored to 
the Indians , to whom it formerly belonged, he paufed a 
little, and fhewed an Inclination to treat. 
On the [other hand, the Indian Prince, being, by the 
Landing Maxims of their Policy, reftrained from attacking 
a Foreigner, that did not aft offenfively againft him, rea- 
dily liftened to the Propofal ; and gave Seleucus to under- 
ftand, that he had no Quarrel or Averfion to the Greeks , 
but fought only for the Prefervation of that Freedom, 
which the Indians held dearer than their Lives. An Inci- 
dent happened, at this time, which contributed not a little 
to the bringing this Negotiation to an amicable Conclufion, 
viz. the Apprehenfions Seleucus was under, from the 
Power of Antigonus, which had united the other Kings 
againft him, with whom Seleucus was inclined to confede- 
rate himfelf ; and was, therefore, very defirous of getting 
this Indian War well off his Hands. After fome time 
fpent, therefore, in Conferences, they came, at laft, to 
this Agreement, viz. that Seleucus fhould give up all the 
Frontier Provinces, between the Rivers Arbis and Indus , 
to Sandracottus 5 and that he, on the other hand, fhould 
deliver five hundred of his difciplined Elephants, to Seleu 
cus : And this being complied with by both Parties, San- 
dracottus was left in quiet Poffeffion of his Kingdom, and 
Seleucus marched Weft ward again with his Army, ftrongly 
reinforced by thofe five hundred Elephants c . 
It is impoffible, from the few Circumftances that are 
left us by antient Writers, to pretend to fix the Boundaries 
of this Indian Monarch’s Territories, or to fay, with any 
Degree of Certainty, of what Nation he was King : It is, 
indeed, certain, that he made Choice of the chief City of 
the Prafians, for his Capital *, but I do not think it pro- 
bable, that he was firft King of that People : On the con- 
trary, it feems moft likely, that having firft got together 
an Army, compofed of fuch as Alexander had driven out 
of their Countries, he became ftrong enough, by Degrees, 
to reduce all the Countries between the Rivers Indus and 
Ganges, and many alfo, on the other Side of the laft-men- 
tioned River ; and then fixed the Seat of his Empire at 
Palimbothra. It is true, that Megajlhenes reported, that ; 
Sandracottus was the hundred and fifty-third Monarch, , 
from Bacchus *, and that thofe Princes had reigned for the 1 
Space of fix thoufand and forty-two Years ; which is very 
improbable in itfelf, and not at all agreeable to the other 
Lights we have from Hiftory d . 
As for this City of Palimbothra , which, in many Au- 
thors, is called Palibothra , it ftood at the Confluence of : 
lib. xv, c. 4. P hit arch, in Alexandra , c Strabo, ubi ftepr a. 
