The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c35.s1.21

c35.s1.21

This pretty picture may be a little overdrawn, although we may accept as true the statement that in the India known to Megasthenes the fighting ordinarily was done by professional soldiers, who interfered little with the work of the harmless and necessary peasant. The fortified towns too, as a rule, were protected by their gates and walls from the injuries of war, and only on rare occasions suffered the horrors of a sack. Thus it was possible for the Tamils, like the mediaeval Florentines and Pisans, to have their fill of fighting and still pay a close attention to careful farming and lucrative trade.