414 7 he Diicovery^ Settlement, and Commerce Book! 
his Affairs took once a wrong Turn in Syria , Thoufands 
followed him- into Egypt , chufing rather to live tinder him in 
any Condition, than to fubmit a fecond time to Antig nus . 
He likewife imitated his Mailer, in his Care of having a 
Maritime Force, which he chiefly maintained by the Kind- 
nefs he fhewed to the Rhodians , and others, who, in thofe 
Day's Were efteemed molt fkilful in whatever regarded Na- 
vigation or Commerce. Fie was alfo very acceffible by, 
and made large Presents to fuch Strangers, as, being evil- 
treated in their own Country, came to take Shelter in 
Egypt ; by which he gained Multitudes of induftrious, and 
of mercantile People efpecially, who were better fasisfied 
under his mild Adminiftration, than with the Haughtinefs 
of his Rivals, and the many Revolutions, which, thro’ the 
Abufe of their Authorities, happened frequently in Places 
under their Dominion. 
But what principally manifefted his Attention to the De- 
figns of Alexander , was his extraordinary Application to 
finishing and adorning his new City of Alexandria, which 
Ptolemy not only performed fuccefsfully, and peopled it 
abundantly, but made it the Capital of Egypt , and the Seat 
of his Empire, as it continued (with continual Improve- 
ments and Augmentations) under his Succeffors. This 
City, as the Rriidence of that Monarch, who reftored the 
antient Commerce of the Indies , by the Route of the Ara- 
bian and as being itfelf the great Staple of that 
Commerce for many Centuries, it will be requifite for us 
todefcribe; and that more largely, and with greater Re- 
gard to antient Writers, than is ufual with modern Collec- 
tors of Hiftory, becaufe it has a very near Relation to our 
Subjeft, and will enable the Reader to underhand the more 
clearly what follows. 
3. While Egypt continued a Province of the Perftan 
Empire, fine was always oppreffed and exhaufted. The 
Monarchs of Perfia were fo jealous of the Egyptians , that 
they reckoned their Poverty a profitable Thing to the 
Empire, as tending to keep them quiet, and within the 
Bounds of their Duty : And it was for this Reafon, that 
they difcouraged, as much as poiiible, any Settlements on 
the Coaft of the Red Sea ; and were far enough from pro- 
moting their Traffick in the Mediterranean. But Alex- 
ander was of quite another Difpofition, and no fooner pof- 
feffed himfelf of this noble Country, than he began to con- 
lider how it might be bed improved, and in what manner 
his Power might be employed, in reftoring its antient 
W ealth and Splendor. 
In his March to the Temple of Jupiter Ammon , in Li- 
bya , he took notice of a Space of Ground, lying along the 
Coaft, and uireftly oppofite to the little Bland of Pharos ; 
which he judged a very convenient Situation for a City, as 
having the Mediterranean in Front, the Lake Mareotis be- 
hind, and the River Nile , and the Red Sea , on one Side 
of it. After confidering the Thing a little, he entered fo 
thoroughly into all Advantages that might be derived from 
thefe Circumftances, and forefaw fo exaftly all that after- 
wards this City arrived at, that, poftponing his Journey for 
the prefont, he refolved, without Delay, to caufe the Out- 
lines of . the City to be drawn, under his own immediate 
Xnfpeftion, and to call it Alexandria a . 
His fir ft Care was for Health : And, hearing the grofs 
Air, from the neighbouring Marfhes, was looked upon as 
unwholfome, he fo contrived the Streets, that they re- 
ceived the Etefian Winds quite through them ; which fo 
purified the Air, and purged the Vapours, that the Inha- 
bitants found the Situation healthy, and the Breezes pleafant. 
Fie provided next for Strength ; and laid down the Plan 
in fuch a manner, that there were only two Roads to it, 
each of them very commodious ; but fo fituated, one to- 
wards the Sea, and the other by the Lake, that a fmall 
Body of Forces might be able to defend it, in any time of 
Danger. It was laid out in the Form of a Soldier’s Coat, 
being about thirty Stadia in Length, and ten in Breadth : 
There ran through the midft of it a 'fine open Street, one 
hundred Feet in Breadth, wherein the principal Buildings 
for public Ufes were to ftand : And he likewife caufed 
the Foundations of a Royal Palace to be marked out 
and then, committing the Care of building this City to 
Dinochares , a famous Architect, he continued his Expe- 
dition into Libya . 
Some Writers, indeed, fay, that it was not till after his 
Return from the Temple of Jupiter Ammon, that he built 
this City ; which is very eafily accounted for, fince it is 
certain, that, upon his Return into Egypt , he vifited the 
rifing City ; and was extremely pleafed at the Progrefs that 
had been made, and at the Beauty of the Port-, which, 
when fenced with a Wall, and cleaned, appeared to be one 
of the rrioft capacious in that Part of the World. It may 
feem fomewhat extraordinary, that the antient Egyptian. 
Kings, who were fo much famed for their Wifdom, Ihould 
not difeover a Port that lay fo conveniently for embracing 
the whole Trade of the Mediterranean : But the Truth is, 
that they were well enough acquainted with it, and actually 
built a Town called Rhacotis, in its Neighbourhood-, not 
with any View to the making ufe of the Port, but quite 
the contrary, with Intention to have filled it up, and fpoiled 
it, from the Fear they were under of the Greeks , whom 
they confidered as a needy, and, at the fame time, an en- 
terprifing Nation, who were ready to improve any Op- 
portunity that offered, of bettering their own Condition, at 
the Expence of their Neighbours. 
When the Form and Extent of the new City was fully 
fettled, Alexander took care to people it, by granting ex- 
traordinary Privileges to fuch as Ihould inhabit it. Thefe 
Inhabitants were of three Sorts : 1 ft, Macedonians , who 
had the higheft Privileges ; and in this Rank alfo, the Jews 
were inrolled, which, as their Affairs were in a dift rafted 
Condition at home, drew Multitudes of them thither. 
'id, The Mercenaries, who were old and unfit for Service, 
and were defirous of obtaining a Settlement. The 
native Egyptians , who, tho’ the leaft favoured with re- 
fpeft to Immunities, yet being offered much more advan- 
tageous Conditions in this new City, than they had in any 
of their own, reforted thither in Crouds : So that, in a Ihort 
time, the Place was not only built, but thoroughly inha- 
bited ; which was greatly promoted by the Care that Alex- 
ander took, even when at the greateft Diftance, for the 
Improvement of this favourite Colony b . 
4. At the Time that Ptolemy came to take Pofieffion of 
his Province of Egypt , he found Alexandria in a very 
flourifhing Condition ; for which Reafon he chofe it for 
the Capital of his Dominions -, and, all his Life long, ftudied 
to adorn it, and increafe the Number of its Inhabitants. 
FI is long Reign of 39 Years gave him various Opportu- 
nities of fulfilling his Intentions, and of executing, in that 
City, what Alexander had propofed to have done through- 
out his Dominions, as we fhall fhew as fuccinftly as maty 
be : His firft Care was, to eftablifh a great Maritime Force; 
in which, notwithftanding the many Checks he met with in 
his Reign, he fucceeded beyond any of the Succeffors of 
his Mafter ; and, at the time of his Deceafo, might be 
faid to be Mafter of the Sea. It was this that occafioned 
his inlarging and improving the Port of Alexandria , which, 
even in its Beginning, alarmed the Carthaginians fo much, 
that they font one Hamilcar , who was furnamed Rhodanus , 
to the Court of Alexander the Great, to get certain Infor- 
mation as to the Defigns of that wife Prince, with refpect 
to this new Port, and the Communication they fufpefted 
he meant to open between it and his Dominions on the 
Eaft. 
Hamilcar was inftrufted to pretend, that he was an 
Exile from Carthage , and came to feek Refuge in the 
King’s Court, where he was to endeavour to infinuate 
himfelf into his Confidence, in order to execute his Com- 
miffion the better ; and, under the Protection of Parmenk 
he fucceeded perfeftlv : But, after the King’s Death, re- 
turning home, and making a Report of the Poftibility ot 
uniting the Eaftern and Weftern Commerce of the World 
at Alexandria , his Countrymen, difpleafed with his Dif- 
coveries, or thinking i' dangerous to let a Man live, who 
knew fo much, by an extraordinary Stroke of Republican 
Gratitude, they put him to Death, as the fhorteft W ay 
of fecur’mg themfelves from the Mifchiefs he might do 
them c . 
c JuJHn, lib. x:vi. c. 6, 
* Diod. Si oil, lib. xvii. Strabo, lib. xvii, Plutarch, in Alexandra. 
fe Arrian . -9. Curt , Jujlin. 
4 
But 
