Ἰνδική 5.6

5.6

ἐλάσαντα ὀπίσω ἀπονοστῆσαι, Ἰδάνθυρσον δὲ τὸν Σκύθεα ἐκ Σκυθίης ὁρμηθέντα πολλὰ μὲν Ἀσίης ἔθνεα καταστρέψασθαι, ἐπελθεῖν δὲ καὶ τὴν Αἰγυπτίων γῆν κρατέοντα.

Now if anyone wishes to state a reason to account for the number and magnitude of the Indian rivers let him state it. As for myself I have written on this point, as on others, from hearsay; for Megasthenes has given the names even of other rivers which beyond both the Ganges and the Indus pour their waters into the Eastern Ocean and the outer basin of the Southern Ocean, so that he asserts that there are eight-and-fifty Indian rivers which are all of them navigable. But even Megasthenes, so far as appears, did not travel over much of India, though no doubt he saw more of it than those who came with Alexander the son of Philip, for, as he tells us, he resided at the court of Sandrakottos, the greatest king in India, and also at the court of Poros, who was still greater than he. This same Megasthenes then informs us that the Indians neither invade other men, nor do other men invade the Indians: for Sesostris the Egyptian, after having overrun the greater part of Asia, and advanced with his army as far as Europe, returned home; and Idanthyrsos the Skythian issuing from Skythia, subdued many nations of Asia, and carried his victorious arms even to the borders of Egypt; and Semiramis, again, the Assyrian queen, took in hand an expedition against India, but died before she could execute her design: and thus Alexander was the only conqueror who actually invaded the country.
And regarding Dionysos many traditions are current to the effect that he also made an expedition into India, and subjugated the Indians before the days of Alexander. But of Herakles tradition does not say much. Of the expedition, however, which Bakkhos led, the city of Nysa is no mean monument, while Mount Meros is yet another, and the ivy which grows thereon, and the practice observed by the Indians themselves of marching to battle with drums and cymbals, and of wearing a spotted dress such as was worn by the Bacchanals of Dionysos. On the other hand, there are but few memorials of Herakles, and it may be doubted whether even these are genuine: for the assertion that Herakles was not able to take the rock Aornos, which Alexander seized by force of arms, seems to me all a Makedonian vaunt, quite of a piece with their calling Parapamisos—Kaukasos, though it had no connexion at all with Kaukasos.
§ 8. In the same spirit, when they noticed a cave in the dominions of the Parapamisadai, they asserted that it was the cave of Prometheus the Titan, in which he had been suspended for stealing the fire. So also when they came among the Sibai, an Indian tribe, and noticed that they wore skins, they declared that the Sibai were descended from those who belonged to the expedition of Herakles and had been left behind: for, besides being dressed in skins, the Sibai carry a cudgel, and brand on the backs of their oxen the representation of a club, wherein the Makedonians recognized a memorial of the club of Herakles. But if any one believes all this, then this must be another Herakles, — not the Theban, but either the Tyrian or the Egyptian, or even some great king who belonged to the upper country which lies not far from India.