CONCERNING ANCIENT INDIA 29

a favorite measure on which he had been long s E c T.intent. If he had invaded India a second time, I.he would not, as formerly, have been obliged toforce his way through hostile and unexplored re-gions, opposed at every step by nations and tribesof Barbarians, whose names had never reachedGreece. Al! Asia, from the shores of the Ioniansea to the banks of the Hyphasis, would then havebeen subject to his dominion; and through thatimmense stretch of country he had established sucha chain of cities, or fortified stations". that hisarmies might have continued their march withsafety, and have found a regular succession ofmagazines provided for their subsistence. Norwould it have been difficult for him to bring intothe field forces sufficient to have achieved theconquest of a country so populous and extensiveas India. Having armed and disciplined his sub-jects in the East like Europeans , diey wouldhave been ambitious to imitate and to equal theirinstructors, and Alexander might have drawn re-cruits, not from his stanty domains in Macedoniaand Greece, but from the vast regions of Asia,which, in every age, has covered the earth, andastonished mankind with its numerous armies.

When at the head of such a formidable power hehad reached the confines of India, he might have pentered it under circumstances very different fromthose in his first expedition. He had secured a firmfooting there, partly by means of the garrisons

41

See NOTE X.