12.07.2015 Views

Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

LOCATION OF AORNUS. 629But <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r aspect <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> case was equally important. If<strong>Alex<strong>and</strong>er</strong> could but do what Hercules had been unable toaccomplish, was not his divine <strong>origin</strong> more surely made manifestto his Eastern subjects ? And though this was alwaysone <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strongest <strong>of</strong> motives with <strong>Alex<strong>and</strong>er</strong>, it is verynoteworthy that it was uniformly secondary to military commonsense. Thisfact alone, <strong>and</strong> itis indisputable, silencesmuch <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>unreasoningcriticism<strong>of</strong> <strong>Alex<strong>and</strong>er</strong>'sweaknesses.Situated, as identifiedby Major Abbot(though itswhereaboutscannotbe surely determined),on <strong>the</strong>Indus about sixtymiles<strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> Cophen,<strong>the</strong> last outpost<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mountainranges, <strong>the</strong> rock <strong>of</strong>Aornus (Mount Mahabun)was sometwenty-three milesRock <strong>of</strong> Aoruus.in circumference at <strong>the</strong> base, <strong>and</strong> stood vip, it is said, fivethous<strong>and</strong> feet at its summit above <strong>the</strong> plain. This made thisfastness much larger <strong>and</strong> more formidable than Gibraltar,which is about six miles around <strong>the</strong> base, <strong>and</strong> but fourteenhundred feet high. According to General Cunningham,Aornus is <strong>the</strong> rock <strong>of</strong> Rani-gat, which is but twelve hun-

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!