Alexander’s Plans.—The Indian Philosophers. When Alexander arrived at Pasargadae and Persepolis,824 he was seized with an ardent desire to sail down the Euphrates and Tigres825 to the Persian Sea, and to see the mouths of those rivers as he had already seen those of the Indus as well as the sea into which it flows. Some authors826 also have stated that he was meditating a voyage round the larger portion of Arabia, the country of the Ethiopians, Libya (i.e. Africa), and Numidia beyond Mount Atlas to Gadeira (i.e. Cadiz),827 inward into our sea 370(i.e. the Mediterranean); thinking that after he had subdued both Libya and Carchedon (i.e. Carthage), he might with justice be called king of all Asia.828 For he said that the kings of the Persians and Medes called themselves Great Kings without any right, since they did not rule the larger part of Asia. Some say that he was meditating a voyage thence into the Euxine Sea, to Scythia and the Lake Maeotis (i.e. the Sea of Azov); while others assert that he intended to go to Sicily and the Iapygian Cape,829 for the fame of the Romans spreading far and wide was now exciting his jealousy. For my own part I cannot conjecture with any certainty what were his plans; and I do not care to guess. But this I think I............