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

624 SELEUCUS NICATOR.a lieutenant on this perilous mission through the desert, thiswas not Alexander's way. He always undertook the mostdifficult task himself, and saw with his own eyes what neededto be seen.Should the voyage of Nearchus prove that the mouth ofthe Indus could actually be reached by sea from theofmouththe Euphrates, the coast must be explored, wells be dug,and stations built for the purpose of opening the route totravel and commerce. How could the king intelligently directthis to be done unless personally, by a march across Gedrosia,he ascertained the actual conditions ? He may no doubt beaccused of undertaking a great risk without adequate provision,and this is a grave accusation. But such is the sum ofhis lapse, and into the danger he only led the stronger and betterpart of his army, leaving the rest to march under Craterusthrough a well-known district. What had been serious dangersto others he had easily overcome. It was natural thathe should underrate the perils of Gedrosia.The expedition, twenty years later, ofSeleucus Nicator toIndia, for the purpose of stimulating trade between thatcountry and Syria, seems to prove Alexander's views tohavebeen far-sighted. Seleucus went as far as the Ganges—hisroad had alread}'^ been opened by Alexander— and his treatieswith the Indian potentates, which lasted many years, resxdtedin an enormous trade between the two countries. Alexander'sentire scheme seems much easier to explain on thehypothesis of an idea long pondered and as well digestedas the existing knowledge warranted, than on that of anadventurer or knight-errant seeking vast difficulties merelyfor the sake of overcoming them.In this land ofGedrosia there was an abundance of myrrhand other spices, but naught else but suffering and death.As the army marched onward, the desert grew sandier and