Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c9.40

c9.40

“ There is, in the country of the Yonakas, a great centre of trade, a city that is called Sāgala, situated in a delightful country, well-watered and hilly, abounding in parks and gardens and groves and lakes and tanks, a paradise of rivers and mountains and woods. Wise architects have laid it out, and its people know of no oppression, since all *their enemies and adversaries have been put down*¹. Brave is its defence, with many and various strong towers and ramparts with superb gates and entrance archways, and with the royal citadel in its midst, white-walled and deeply-moated. Well laid-out are its streets, squares, cross-roads, and market-places. Well-displayed are the innumerable sorts of costly merchandise with which its shops are filled². It is richly