When he had reached the Hydaspes he built a fleet, in which he sent part of his army down the river, while the rest proceeded along the banks.. The city of the Malli, where Alexander was wounded, is probably Multan ; Puttala is perhaps Haidarabad. The march of 500 miles through the hideous desert of Gedrosia (Ba luchistan), and the voyage of Nearchus, -have given much material to romancers and rhetori cians. At Carmania he was joined by Craterus, who had marched through the Bolan Pass to Kandahar, and by Nearchus, whose voyage, then thought so marvelous a feat, is no more than the short steam run from Karachi to Bunder Abbas. From Carmania he went to Pasargada, and thence to Susa, where he de voted himself with great energy to the task of uniting as far as possible the Macedonian and Persian nations. Alexander married two Per sian princesses, and he gave rewards to those of his staff who followed his example in con tracting Persian alliances. He sent home to Macedonia, with a present of a talent each. about 10,000 Macedonians who by age or wounds were incapacitated for service. These veterans were led by Craterus, who was sent to succeed Antipater as governor of Europe. Antipater seems to have fallen into disfavor, though in 330 he had done service in defeating Agis. the Spartan king who threatened Megalopolis. It was of this exploit that Alexander contemp tuously observed, °So there has been a battle of the mice in Arcadia, while we have been conquering Asia"' In 323 Alexander arrived at Babylon, when he found numberless envoys from nations near and far, come to pay their homage to the young conqueror. He was engaged in very extensive
plans for the future, including the conquest of Arabia and the reorganization of the army, when he fell ill of a fever, shortly after the death of his beloved Hephzstion, which had deeply affected him. He died in 323, after a reign of 12 years and 8 months. The day be fore a rumor had gone abroad that the great general was dead, and that his friends were con cealing the truth. The dying King caused his army to defile past his bed, and feebly waved them a last farewell. Alexander was a great administrator, a second Pericles in his devotion to work, an Alcibiades in his distinguished presence, a Phocion in his simplicity of char acter. He possessed eminent qualities as a statesman as well as a military leader. It is unfortunate that he did not live to carry out his plans for trade development. The Romans enjoyed the fruit of his victories, and his con quests made possible the spread of Christianity in the East.
Bibliography.— Droysen, Alex anders des Grosse& (Gotha 1898) ; Grote, (His tory of Greece' (New York 1853-56) ; Holm, (Griechische Geschichte' (Vol. III, Berlin 1893) ; Mahaffy, J. P., 'Story of Alexander's Empire' (1886) ; id., 'Progress of Hellenism in Alexander's Empire' (1905) ; Wheeler, I.. 'Life of Alexander the Great' (New York 1900).