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AN HISTORICAL DISQUISITION

SECT, which he left in three cities which he had builtI. and fortified, and partly by his alliance with Taxilesand Porus . Thefe two Indian princes, won byAlexander’s humanity and beneficence, which, asthey were virtues feldom difplayed in the ancientmode of carrying on war, excited of courfe ahigher degree of admiration and gratitude, hadcontinued fteady in their attachment to the Mace-donians. Re-inforced by their troops, and guidedby their information as well as by the experiencewhich he had acquired in his former campaigns,Alexander mud have made a rapid progrefs in acountry, where every invader, from his time tothe prefent age, has proved fuccefsful.

But this and all his other fplendid fchemes wereterminated at once by his untimely death. Inconfequence of that, however, events took place,which illufirate and confirm the juftnefs of thepreceding fpeculations and conjectures by evidencethe molt ftriking and fatisfa&ory. When thatgreat empire, which the fuperior genius of Alex-ander had kept united and in fubjection, no longerfelt bis fuperintending controul, it broke into pieces,and its various provinces were feized by his prin-cipal officers, and parcelled out among them.From ambition, emulation, and perfonal animofity,they foon turned their arms againft one another;and as feveral of the leaders were equally eminentfor political abilities and for military fkill, theconteft was maintained long, and carried on withfrequent viciffitudes of fortune. Amidft the variousconvulfions and revolutions which thefe occafioned ;