i Chap. II. of the East Indies. ' 473 
; Magic : They were likewife a kind of itinerant Phyficians, 
and took a great deal of Pains to make themfelves fuc- 
• cefsful this Way ; but we are informed that their Medicines 
. connfted chiefly, if not wholly, in Draughts, or Fomen- 
tations ; and we are told by Strabo % that they profeffed the 
Knowledge of certain Secrets, that were equally extraor- 
; dinary and ridiculous. 
The Reader, after pertifmg thefe Accounts, will be able 
: to refolve, without much Trouble, moil of thofe DiffR 
( culties, which fome modern Critics b have reprefented as 
inexplicable. For Inftance, when he is told that one Au- 
■ thor fays, that the Brachmans live always in Woods, and 
j another that they were frequently feen at Courts, and ad- 
mitted into the Cabinets of Princes ; inftead of taking this 
for a flat Contradiction* he will perceive, that the former 
fpeaks of the Brachmans that were frill purfuing their Stu- 
1 dies 5 and the latter, of fuch as had completed their Courfe ; 
; and, according to the Rules of the Society, had Liberty to 
retire, to iparry, to live in Cities, and tobe chofen Senators. 
; He will likewife be able to account for the feeming Differ- 
, ■ cnee between living together in a kind of collegiate State, 
; and rambling through the Country like a kind of Doftors ; 
becaufe the former mtift be underftood of the Brachmans 
by Defcent, and the latter of their Affociates, who, at 
their own Requeft, were admitted to the Purfuit of fuch 
Studies. In a Word, it is in this as in moft other Things, 
: a hafly Collection of the various Accounts, given by differ- 
, ent Authors, thrown together without Order or Method, 
ferves no other Purpofe than giving us confided and in- 
diftinft Notions ; whereas when we take the Pains to range 
Things methodically, and under their proper Heads, this 
1 Obfcurity is difpelled, and we fee the whole Matter in a 
clear and true Light. 
7. The Account we have of Alexander's attacking and 
deftroying a Kingdom of the Brachmans , is very extraor- 
dinary : And, from the Lights afforded us from Hiflory, 
not eafily to be accounted for, fince we are no-where told, 
that thefe Philofophers affedled Government, or deflred to 
make themfelves Princes. It is likewife related, that 
Alexander put to Death near fourfeore thoufand of thefe 
People •, which cannot, certainly, be underftood of the 
Brachmans , taken in a ftricl Senfe c . And therefore I am 
apt to think, that in this Country, upon the Death of fome 
hereditary Prince, without Iffue, a Brachman , who, per- 
haps, was a Senator, fucceeded him in his Throne by Elec- 
tion : And in that Cafe, it is natural to believe, there might 
be a more than ordinary Number of his Caft relident in his 
Dominions. It. is true, that Diodorus the Sicilian , and 
many other of the Writers of Antiquity, called the Sub- 
jects of King S ambus exprefsly the Brachman Nation •, but 
from the Account that we have given, the Reader will be 
able to deliver himfelf from this Difficulty, from his Know- 
ledge, that the Brachmans are not a Nation by themfelves, 
but a Clafs or Caft in every Nation ; tho 5 it was very na- 
tural for a Greek Writer, when he heard of a Brachman 
Prince, and a Senate of Brachmans , to conclude that 
this was their Kingdom : But there is no Reafon, that we 
-fhould be milled by his Miftake, efpecially when it can be 
fo eafily accounted for, and plainly fet to Rights, by the 
DiftinClion we havepropofed. 
As it is my Bufinefs to give the Reader all the Informa- 
tion I can, I will take this Opportunity of inferring and 
explaining another Paflage in the Hiflory of Alexander the 
Great, which happened at the time that he deftroyed the 
Kingdom of this Brachman Prince S ambus. It happened, 
that at the Siege of Harmatelia , which was the principal 
City of that Kingdom, the Inhabitants wounded many of 
the Macedonians with poifoned Arrows ; amongft the reft 
Ptolemy Lagus , afterwards King of Egypt ; for whofe Mis- 
fortune Alexander was exceedingly concerned, becaufe all 
who had been hitherto wounded, died, in fpite of all the 
Care that could be taken of them : But the Life of Ptolemy 
was faved by the King’s having a Dream, in which he was 
informed, that a certain Herb, common in the Country, 
would cure this Poifon 5 which it did effjflually d . Now 
this Dream was, undoubtedly, no more than an Artifice^ 
and Alexander received his Information from fome orach* 
man ; for, as we have feen before, no fuch Poifon could 
be ufed, unlefs the Remedy was likewife known ; and this 
gives a fair Account of the Performance of this Cure, 
without a Miracle. This Pretence bf the Dream, how- 
ever, was a weil-chofen Stroke of Policy, becaufe it inti- 
mated, that Alexander was particularly favoured by the 
Gods ; which was an Opinion he always laboured to efta- 
blifh, efpecially among his own People : For, as to the In- 
dians ^ it can hardly be fuppofed, that the Tale of the Dream 
would go down with them, becaufe they knew the Remedy 
before, and could therefore account for the Difcovery of it 
to the King, without the. Interpofition of any Divinity. 
8. As the Brachmans were, in reality, a very extraor- 
dinary People, and had amongft them fome very ftrange 
Cuftoms, it was natural enough for Authors, who delight 
in relating Wonders, to give us fome very improbable 
Stories about them. It appears from a Paffage in Strabo , 
that they inured themfelves to Fatigue *, for he fpeaks oi 
two Brachmans , one of whom gave a Proof of Patience, 
by lying on the hard Ground, and there fullering what- 
ever the Sun and the Rain pleafed. The other, who was 
not fo far advanced in Years, exhibited his Prools, by 
Handing a whole Day, fometimes on the Right Foot, fame- 
times on the Left, while, with both his Hands, he bore up 
a large Piece of Wood in the Air e . 
All this is very credible ; and the Greek Writers tells us 
fomething of the fame Kind, with regard to their great 
Philofopher Socrates ; but Pliny carries thefe Exercifes of 
Patience beyond all Bounds, when he fays, that the Brach- 
mans gazed upon the Sun with fixed and fiedfaft Eyes, 
from his Rifing to his Setting ; and that they fometimes 
flood whole Days upon one Foot, in the midft cf burning 
Sands h Yet Solinus advances this a Step farther ; and for 
Fear it fhould be thought, that they did all this to no Pur- 
pofe, he is fo kind as to affure us, that they difeovered 
mighty Secrets by thus furveying the Sun g . 
We have already given an Account of the Marriages of 
the Brachmans , and have affigned the true Reafon why ' 
their Caft was lefs numerous than the reft, notwithftanding 
that the Indian Women are generally very prolific. But 
Suidas hath a very extraordinary Story upon this Subject 11 : 
He fays, that the Brachmans dwelt in an Ifiand in the 
Ocean, where the Air is fo pure, that they lived one hun- 
dred and fifty Years; they are obliged to be contented 
there, not with Bread and Water, but with Water, and a 
few Apples : They do nothing but pray to God. In the 
Months of July and Auguft , the Fruits being more plenti- 
ful, warm them with the Fire of Love ; fo that they go to 
find out their Wives beyond the Ganges , and flay with them 
forty Days, and then repafs into their Eland. So foon as 
a Woman hath brought forth two Children, her Husband 
goes to fee her no more : She, on her fide, comes not 
near any Man more ; and if any Woman has been barren for 
five Years together, her Plusband makes no farther Trial 
of her, and repaffes the Sea no more with the others. This 
was not the Way to flock the Country greatly ; nor was 
it very populous, as Suidas obferves : But he fhould not have 
forgotten to acquaint us, that thefe are Stories made at 
Pleafure, and Romances, which idle Scrbiblers have forged. 
But, notwithftanding ail thefe Fables that disfigured their 
Hiflory, we find, in all Ages, the moft intelligent and po- 
lite Writers extremely favourable to thefe Sages ; and 
Apuleius \ who was both an elegant and candid Writer, 
has left us fuch a Character of thefe Men, as extremely 
deferves our Notice ; and therefore I ftiall finifh my Citations 
with his judicious Account of our Philofophers: 6 There 
4 is alfo, fays he, among the Indians, a noble fort of Men 
6 called Gymnofophifts. I have a very great Value for them, 
4 becaufe they are fkilful Men, not, indeed, in laying the 
4 Vine, nor in grafting a Tree, nor in tilling the Ground. 
4 They do not know how to cultivate a Piece of Land, or 
4 to melt Gold, or to break a Horfe, or to tame a Bull, or 
4 to fhear a Sheep or a Goat, or to lead them to the Failure. 
a Geograph, lib . xv. p. 491. where he fays, that by their Medicines they could make a Perfon beget many Children ; and thofe either Boys or 
Girls, as they chofe themfelves. b See the Article oi Gymnofophifts, in Boyle's Dictionary. c Diodor. Sicul. lib, xvii. Strabo lib. 
xv. Plutarch . in Alexandra. d Diodor . Sicul. ubi fupra. e Strabo 3 lib, xv, f P/in. Nat. lift. lib. vii. c. 2. s Solin. 
cap. 52. 
Numb. 
Sub voce BociyjAlvu. 
In Floridis , 
5 Z 
What 
