The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c12.60

c12.60

Āmbhi recognized Alexander as his lord, and received from him investiture as lawful successor of his deceased father the king of Taxila. In return for the favour shown to him by the invader, he provided the Macedonian army with liberal supplies, and presented Alexander with two hundred talents of coined silver,¹ ‘three thousand oxen fatted for the shambles’, ten thousand or more sheep, and thirty elephants.² Alexander, not to be outdone in generosity, bestowed on the donor a thousand talents from the spoils of war, along with many banqueting vessels of gold and silver, a vast quantity of Persian drapery, and thirty chargers caparisoned as when ridden by himself. This lavish generosity, although displeasing to Alexander’s Macedonian officers, probably was prompted more by policy than by sentiment. It purchased a contingent of 5,000 men, and secured the fidelity of a most useful ally (Q. Curtius, viii, 12; Diodorus, xvii, 86; Arrian, v, 8).