Βιβλιοθήκη ἱστορική 17.104.2

17.104.2

αὕτη δὲ τὴν πολιτείαν εἶχε διατεταγμένην ὁμοίως τῇ Σπάρτῃ· ἀπὸ δύο γὰρ οἴκων ἐν αὐτῇ διεδέχοντο δύο βασιλεῖς, αἰεὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἡγούμενοι πραττομένων, τὸ δὲ τῶν γερόντων ἀρχεῖον τῶν ὅλων προειστήκει.

Chapter CIV. — Alexander sails down to the mouth of the Indus — Sails back to Tauala (Patala ?) — Starts on his march homewards, instructing Nearchos to explore the way with his fleet to the head of the Persian Gulf — Ravages the land of the Oritians and founds another Alexandreia
He then sailed down the stream with his friends to the ocean, and when he had there seen two islands he forthwith offered a sacrifice of great splendour to the gods, casting at the same time many large drinking-cups of gold, along with the libations they held, into the bosom of the deep. Having next erected altars to Tethys and Okeanos, he assumed that he had finished the expedition which he had undertaken. He then started on the return voyage, and in sailing up the river came to Tauala, a city of great note, with a political constitution drawn on the same lines as the Spartan; for in this community the command in war was vested in two hereditary kings of two different houses, while a council of elders ruled the whole state with paramount authority. Alexander now burned all the vessels that were worn out, and gave the command of the rest that were still serviceable to Nearchos and some others of his friends, whom he instructed to coast along the shores of the ocean, and after having carefully explored whatever lay on their route, to rejoin him at the mouth of the river Euphrates. He himself with his army traversed a great extent of country, overcoming those who opposed him, and treating humanely those who offered their submission. He thus gained over without any danger being incurred the people called the Arbitai and the inhabitants of Kedrosia. Then, after passing through an extensive waterless tract, of which no inconsiderable part was desert, he reached the borders of Oritis. Here he divided his army into three parts, giving Ptolemy the command of the first division, and Leonnatos of the second, Ptolemy being commissioned to ravage and plunder the seaboard, and Leonnatos the interior, while the third division, under his own command, devastated the plains towards the hills and the hill country itself. While the fury of war was thus at one and the same time let loose over the whole land, conflagration, pillage, and massacre ran riot in every special locality. The soldiers accordingly soon appropriated a vast amount of booty, while the number of the inhabitants cut off by the sword amounted to many myriads. All the neighbours of these unfortunate tribes, appalled by the destruction which had overtaken them, submitted to the king. But Alexander, who was ambitious to found a city by the seaside, discovered a harbour sheltered from the violence of the waves, and which had a convenient site near it, and he built thereon the city of Alexandreia.