Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander 8.9

8.9.1

Sed ne otium serendis rumoribus natum aleret, in Indiam movit, semper bello quam post victoriam clarior.

Alexander, not to foster repose which naturally sets rumours in circulation, advanced towards India, always adding more to his glory by warfare than by his acts after victory. India lies almost entirely towards the east, and it is of less extent in breadth than in length. The southern parts rise in hills of considerable elevation. The country is elsewhere level, and hence many famous rivers which rise in Mount Caucasus traverse the plains with languid currents. The Indus is colder than the other rivers, and its waters differ but little in colour from those of the sea. The Ganges, which is the greatest of all rivers in the east, flows down to the south country, and running in a straight bed washes great mountain-chains until a barrier of rocks diverts its course towards the east. Both rivers enter the Red Sea. The Indus wears away its banks, absorbing into its waters great numbers of trees and much of the soil. It is besides obstructed with rocks by which it is frequently beaten back. Where it finds the soil soft and yielding it spreads out into pools and forms islands. The Acesines increases its volume. The Ganges, in running downward to the sea, intercepts the Iomanes, and the two streams dash against each other with great violence. The Ganges in fact presents a rough face to the entrance of its affluent, the waters of which though beaten back in eddies, hold their own.

8.9.2

India tota ferme spectat orientem, minus in latitudinem, quam recta regione spatiosa.

8.9.3

Quae austrum accipiunt, in altius terrae fastigium excedunt: plana sunt cetera multisque inclitis amnibus Caucaso monte ortis placidum per campos iter praebent.

8.9.4

Indus gelidior est quam ceteri: aquas vehit a colore maris haud multum abhorrentes.

8.9.5

Ganges, omnium ab Oriente fluvius maximus, ad meridianas regionem decurrit et magnorum montium iuga recto alveo stringit: inde eum obiectae rupes inclinant ad orientem.

8.9.6

Uterque Rubro mari accipitur. Indus ripas multasque arbores cum magna soli parte exorbet,

8.9.7

saxis quoque inpeditus, quis crebro reverberatur: ubi mollius solum repperit, stagnat insulasque molitur. Acesines eum auget.

8.9.8

Ganges decursurum Iomanen intercipit, magnoque motu amnis uterque colliditur: quippe Ganges asperum os influenti obicit, nec repercussae aquae cedunt.

8.9.9

Diardines minus celeber auditu est, quia per ultima Indiae currit: ceterum non crocodillos modo, uti Nilus, sed etiam delphinos ignotasque aliis gentibus beluas alit.

The Dyardanes is less frequently mentioned, as it flows through the remotest parts of India. But it breeds not only crocodiles, like the Nile, but dolphins also, and various aquatic monsters unknown to other nations. The Ethimanthus, which curves time after time in frequent maeanders, is used up for irrigation by the people on its banks. Hence it contributes to the sea but a small and nameless residue of its waters. The country is everywhere intersected with many rivers besides these, but they are obscure, their course being too short to bring them into prominent notice. The maritime tracts, however, are most parched up by the north wind. This wind is prevented by the mountain-summits from penetrating to the interior parts, which for this reason are mild and nourish the crops. But so completely has nature altered the regular changes of the season in these regions that, when other countries are basking under the hot rays of the sun, India is covered with snow; and on the other hand, when the world elsewhere is frost-bound, India is oppressed with intolerable heat. The reason why nature has thus inverted her order is not apparent; the sea, at anyrate, by which India is washed does not differ in colour from other seas. It takes its name from King Erythrus, and hence ignorant people believe that its waters are red.

8.9.10

Ethymantus crebris flexibus subinde curvatus ab accolis rigantibus campos carpitur: ea causa est, cur tenues Reliquias iam sine nomine in mare emittat.

8.9.11

Multis praeter hos amnibus tota regio dividitur, sed ignobilibus, quia non adita interfluunt.

8.9.12

Ceterum quae propiora sunt mari, aquilone maxime deuruntur: is cohibitus iugis montium ad interiora non penetrat, ita alendis frugibus mitia.

8.9.13

Sed adeo in illa plaga mundus statas temporum vices mutat, ut, cum alia fervore solis exaestuant, Indiam nives obruant, rursusque, ubi cetera rigent, illic intolerandus aestus existat.

8.9.14

Nec, cur verterit se natura, causa. Mare certe, quo adluitur, ne colore quidem abhorret a ceteris. Ab Erythro rege inditum est nomen: propter quod ignari rubere aquas credunt.

8.9.15

Terra lini ferax: inde plerisque sunt vestes. Libri arborum teneri haud secus quam chartae litterarum notas capiunt.

The soil produces flax from which the dress ordinarily worn by the natives is made. The tender side of the barks of trees receives written characters like paper. The birds can be readily trained to imitate the sounds of human speech. The animals except those imported are unknown among other nations. The same country yields fit food for the rhinoceros, but this animal is not indigenous. The elephants are more powerful than those tamed in Africa, and their size corresponds to their strength. Gold is carried down by several rivers, whose loitering waters glide with slow and gentle currents. The sea casts upon the shores precious stones and pearls, nor has anything contributed more to the opulence of the natives, especially since they spread the community of evil to foreign nations; for these offscourings of the boiling sea are valued at the price which fashion sets on coveted luxuries.

8.9.16

Aves ad imitandum humanae vocis sonum dociles sunt. Animalia invisitata ceteris gentibus nisi invecta. Eadem terra rhinocerotas aliis ignotos generat.

8.9.17

Elephantorum maior est vis quam, quos in Africa domitant, et viribus magnitudo respondet.

8.9.18

Aurum flumina vehunt, quae leni modicoque lapsu segnes aquas ducunt.

8.9.19

Gemmas margaritasque mare litoribus infundit: neque alia illis maior opulentiae causa est, utique postquam vitiorum commercium vulgavere in exteras gentes. Quippe aestimantur purgamenta exaestuantis freti pretio, quod libido constituit.

8.9.20

Ingenia hominum, sicut ubique, apud illos locorum quoque situs format.

The character of the people is here, as elsewhere, formed by the position of their country and its climate. They cover their persons down to the feet with fine muslin, are shod with sandals, and coil round their heads cloths of linen (cotton). They hang precious stones as pendants from their ears, and persons of high social rank, or of great wealth, deck their wrist and upper arm with bracelets of gold. They frequently comb, but seldom cut, the hair of their head. The beard of the chin they never cut at all, but they shave off the hair from the rest of the face, so that it looks polished. The luxury of their kings, or as they call it, their magnificence, is carried to a vicious excess without a parallel in the world. When the king condescends to show himself in public his attendants carry in their hands silver censers, and perfume with incense all the road by which it is his pleasure to be conveyed. He lolls in a golden palanquin, garnished with pearls, which dangle all round it, and he is robed in fine muslin embroidered with purple and gold. Behind his palanquin follow men-at-arms and his bodyguards, of whom some carry boughs of trees, on which birds are perched trained to interrupt business with their cries. The palace is adorned with gilded pillars clasped all round by a vine embossed in gold, while silver images of those birds which most charm the eye diversify the workmanship. The palace is open to all comers even when the king is having his hair combed and dressed.

8.9.21

Corpora usque pedes carbaso velant, soleis pedes, capita linteis vinciunt, lapilli ex auribus pendent: brachia quoque et lacertos auro colunt, quibus inter populares aut nobilitas aut opes eminent.

8.9.22

Capillum pectunt saepius quam tondent: men tum semper intonsum est, reliquam oris cutem ad speciem levitatis exaequant.

8.9.23

Regum tamen luxuria, quam ipsi magnificentiam appellant, super omnium gentium vitia. Cum rex semet in publico conspici patitur, turibula argentea ministri ferunt totumque iter, per quod ferri destinavit, odoribus conplent.

8.9.24

Aurea lectica margaritis circumpendentibus recubat: distincta sunt auro et purpura carbasa, quae indutus est: lecticam sequuntur armati corporisque custodes,

8.9.25

inter quos ramis aves pendent, quas cantu seriis rebus obstrepere docuerunt.

8.9.26

Regia auratas columnas habet: totas eas vitis auro caelata percurrit, aviumque, quarum visu maxime gaudent, argenteae effigies opera distinguant.

8.9.27

Regia adeuntibus patet, cum capillum pectit atque ornat: tunc responsa legationibus, tunc iura popularibus reddit. Demptis soleis odoribus inlinuntur pedes.

It is then that he gives audience to ambassadors, and administers justice to his subjects. His slippers being after this taken off, his feet are rubbed with scented ointments. His principal exercise is hunting; amid the vows and songs of his courtesans he shoots the game enclosed within the royal park. The arrows, which are two cubits long, are discharged with more effort than effect, for though the force of these missiles depends on their lightness they are loaded with an obnoxious weight. He rides on horseback when making short journeys, but when bound on a distant expedition he rides in a chariot (howdah) mounted on elephants, and, huge as these animals are, their bodies are covered completely over with trappings of gold. That no form of shameless profligacy may be wanting, he is accompanied by a long train of courtesans carried in golden palanquins, and this troop holds a separate place in the procession from the queen's retinue, and is as sumptuously appointed. His food is prepared by women, who also serve him with wine, which is much used by all the Indians. When the king falls into a drunken sleep his courtesans carry him away to his bedchamber, invoking the gods of the night in their native hymns.

8.9.28

Venatus maximus labor est inclusa vivario animalia inter vota cantusque pelicum figere. Binum cubitorum sagittae sunt, quas emittunt maiore nisu quam effectu: quippe telum, cuius in levitate vis omnis est, inhabili pondere oneratur.

8.9.29

Breviora itinera equo conficit: longior ubi expeditio est, elephanti vehunt currum, et tantarum beluarum corpora tota contegunt auro. Ac, ne quid perditis moribus desit, lecticis aureis pelicum longus ordo sequitur: separatum a reginae ordine agmen est aequatque hixuriam.

8.9.30

Feminae epulas parant. Ab isdem vinum ministratur, cuius omnibus Indis largus est usus. Regem mero somnoque sopitum in cubiculum pelices referunt patrio carmine noctium invocantes deos.

8.9.31

Quis credat inter haec vitia curam esse sapientiae? Unum agreste et horridum genus est, quod sapientes vocant.

Amid this corruption of morals who would expect to find the culture of philosophy? Notwithstanding, they have men whom they call philosophers, of whom one class lives in the woods and fields, and is extremely uncouth. These think it glorious to anticipate the hour of destiny, and arrange to have themselves burned alive when age has destroyed their activity, or the failure of health has made life burdensome. They regard death if waited for as a disgrace to their life, and when dissolution is simply the effect of old age funeral honours are denied to the dead body. They think that the fire is polluted unless the pyre receives the body before the breath has yet left it. Those philosophers again who lead a civilised life in cities are said to observe the motions of the heavenly bodies, and to predict future events on scientific principles. These believe that no one accelerates the day of his death who can without fear await its coming.

8.9.32

Apud hos occupare fati diem pulchrum, et vivos se cremari iubent, quibus aut segnis aetas aut incommoda valitudo est: expectatam mortem pro dedecore vitae habent, nec ullus corporibus, quae senectus solvit, honos redditur: inquinari putant ignem, nisi qui spirantes recipit.

8.9.33

Illi, qui in urbibus publicis muneribus degunt, siderum motus scite spectare dicuntur et futura praedicere.

8.9.34

Nec quem quam admovere leti diem credunt, cui expectare interrito liceat. Deos putant, quidquid colere coeperunt, arbores maxime, quas violare capital est.

They regard as gods whatever objects they value, especially trees, to violate which is a capital offence. Their months they make to consist each of fifteen days, but they nevertheless assign to the year its full duration. They mark the divisions of time by the course of the moon, not like most nations when that planet shows a full face, but when she begins to appear horned, and hence, by fixing the duration of a month to correspond with this phase of the moon, they have their months one-half shorter than the months of other people. Many other things have been related of them, but to interrupt with them the progress of the narrative I consider quite out of place.

8.9.35

Menses in quinos denos discripserunt dies, anni plena spatia servantur.

8.9.36

Lunae cursu notant tempora, non, ut plerique, cum orbem sidus inplevit, sed cum se curvare coepit in cornua, et idcirco breviores habent menses, quia spatium eorum ad hunc lunae modum dirigunt.

8.9.37

Multa et alia traduntur, quibus morari ordinem rerum haud sane operae videbatur.