the enemies of my country. These are my ftatues. Thefe are the honours I boaft of; not left me by inheritance, as theirs; but earned by toil, by abstinence, by valour, amidst clouds of duft, and feas of blood; fcenes of action, where thofe effeminate Patricians, who endeavour, by indirect means, to depreciate me in your esteem, have never dared to fhew their faces. SALLUST.

CHAP. IV.

CALISTHENES'S REPROOF OF CLEON'S FLATTERY TO ALEXANDER.

Ir the king were prefent, Cleon, there would be no need of my answering to what you have juft propofed. He would himself reprove you for endeavouring to draw him into an imitation of foreign abfurdities, and for bringing envy upon him by fuch unmanly flattery. As he is abfent, I take upon me to tell you in his name, that no praise is lafting, but what is rational; and that you I do what you can to leffen his glory, instead of adding to it. Heroes have never, among us, been deified, till after their death. And whatever may be your way of thinking, Cleon, for my part, I wish the king may not, for many years to come, obtain that honour. You have mentioned, as precedents of what you propofe, Hercules and Bacchus. Do you imagine, Cleon, that they were deified over a cup of wine? And are you and I qualified to make gods ? Is the king, our fovereign, to receive his divinity from you and me, who are his fubjects? First try your power, whether you can make a king. It is furely easier to make a king than a god! to give an earthly dominion, than a throne in heaven. I only wish, that the gods may have heard, without offence, the arrogant propofal you have made, of adding one to their number; and that they may ftill be fo propitious to us, as to grant the continuance of that fuccefs to our affairs, with which they have hitherto favoured us. For my part, I am

not

not afhamed of my country; nor do I approve of our adopting the rites of foreign nations, or learning from them how we ought to reverence our kings. To receive laws, or rules of conduct, from them, what is it, but to confefs ourfelves inferior to them? QUINTUS CURTIUS.

CHAP. V.

THE SCYTHIAN AMBASSADOR TO

ALEXANDER.

F your perfon were as gigantic as your defires, the world would not contain you. Your right hand would touch the eaft, and your left the weft, at the fame time. You grafp at more than you are equal to. From Europe you reach Afia: from Afia you lay hold on Europe. And if you should conquer all mankind, you feem difpofed to wage war with woods and fnows, with rivers and wild beafts, and to attempt to fubdue nature. But have you confidered the ufual courfe of things? Have you reflected that great trees are many years in growing to their height, and are cut down in an hour. It is foolish to think of the fruit only, without confidering the height you have to climb, to come at it. Take care left, while you ftrive to reach the top, you fall to the ground with the branches you have laid hold on. The lion, when dead, is devoured by ravens; and ruft confumes the hardness of iron. There is nothing fo ftrong, but it is in danger from what is weak. It will, therefore, be your wisdom to take care how you venture beyond your reach. Befides, what have you to do with the Scythians, or the Scythians with you? We have never invaded Macedon: why fhould you attack Scythia? We inhabit vaft deferts, and

pathlefs woods, where we do not want to hear of the name of Alexander. We are not difpofed to fubmit to flavery; and we have no ambition to tyrannize over any nation. That you may understand the genius of the Scythians, we present you with a yoke of oxen, an arrow, and a goblet.

We use these respectively in our commerce with friends, and with foes. We give to our friends the corn, which we raise by the labour of our oxen. With the goblet we join with them in pouring drink-offerings to the gods; and with arrows we attack our enemies. We have conquered those who have attempted to tyrannize over us in our own country, and likewise the kings of the Medes and Perfians, when they made unjust war upon us; and we have opened to ourfelves a way into Egypt. You pretend to be the punifher of robbers; and are yourself the general robber of mankind. You have taken Lydia: you have feized Syria: you are mafter of Perfia: you have fubdued the Bactrians; and attacked India. All this will not fatisfy you, unlefs you lay your greedy and infatiable hands upon our flocks and our herds. How imprudent is your conduct! You grafp at riches, the poffeffion of which only increafes your avarice. You increafe" your hunger by what should produce fatiety; fo that the more you have, the more you defire. But have you forgot how long the conqueft of the Bactrians detained you? While you were fubduing them, the Sogdians revolted. Your victories ferve no other purpose, than to find you employment by producing new wars. For the bufinefs of every conqueft is twofold; to win, and to preferve. And though you may be the greatest of warriors, you must expect that the nations you conquer will endeavour to shake off the yoke as fast as poffible. For what people chufes to be under foreign dominion? If you will cross the Tanais, you may travel over Scythia, and obferve how extenfive a territory we inhabit. But to conquer us is quite another.bufinefs. Your army is loaded with the cumbrous fpoils of many nations. You will find the poverty of the Scythians, at one time, too nimble for your pursuit; and at another time, when you think we are fled far enough from you, you will have us furprize you in your camp. For the Scythians attack with no less vigour than they fly. Why should we put you in mind of the vast

nefs

H

1

"nefs of the country you will have to conquer ! The deserts of Scythia are commonly talked of in Greece; and all the world knows, that our delight is to dwell at large, and not in towns, or plantations. It will therefore be your wildom to keep with ftrict attention what you have gained. Catching at more you may lofe what you have. We have a proverbial faying in Scythia, That fortune has no feet, and is furnished only with hands, to diftribute her capricious favours, and with fins, to elude the grafp of thofe, to whom she has been bountiful. You give yourself out to be a god, the fon of Jupiter Hammon. It fuits the character of a god to beftow favours on mortals; not to deprive them of what good they have. But if you are no god, reflect on the precarious condition of humanity. You will thus fhew more wifdom, than by dwelling on thofe fubjects which have puffed up your pride, and made you forget yourfelf. You fee how little you are likely to gain by attempting the conqueft of Scythia. On the other hand, you may, if you please, have in us, a valuable alliance. We command the borders of both Europe and Afia, There is nothing between us and Bactria, but the river Tanais; and our territory extends to Thrace, which, as we have heard, borders on Macedon. If you decline attacking us in a hoftile manner you may have our friendship. Nations which have never been at war are on an equal footing. But it is in vain, that confidence is repofed in a conquered people. There can be no fincere friendship between the oppreffor and the oppreffed. Even in peace, the latter think themselves entitled to the rights of war against the former. We will, if you think good, enter into a treaty with you, according to our manner, which is, not by figning, fealing, and taking the gods to witness, as is the Grecian custom; but by doing actual fervices. The Scythians are not used, to promise; but to perform without promifing. And they think an appeal to the gods fuperfluous; for that those who have no regard for the esteem of

men, will not hesitate to offend the gods by perjury. You may therefore confider with yourself, whether you had better have a people of such a character, and fo fituated as to have it in their power either to ferve you, or to annoy you, according as you treat them, for allies, or for enemies.

QUINTUS CURTIUS.

CHAP. VI.

GALGACUS THE GENERAL OF THE CALEDONII

ΤΟ HIS ARMY, TO INCITE THEM TO ACTION AGAINST THE ROMANS.

WHEN I reflect on the causes of the war, and the circumftances of our fituation, I feel a ftrong perfuafion that our united efforts on the prefent day will prove the beginning of univerfal liberty to Britain. For none of us are hitherto debafed by flavery; and we have no profpe&t of a fecure retreat behind us, either by land or fea, whilst the Roman fleet hovers around. Thus the ufe of arms, which is at all times honourable to the brave, here offers the only fafety even to cowards. In all the battles which have yet been fought with various fuccefs against the Romans, the refources of hope and aid were in our hands; for we, the nobleft inhabitants of Britain, and therefore ftationed in its deepest receffes, far from the view of fervile fhores, have preferved even our eyes unpolluted by the contact of fubjection. We, at the farthest limits both of land and liberty, have been defended to this day by the obfcurity of our fituation and of our fame. The extremity of Britain is now disclosed; and whatever is unknown becomes an object of importance. But there is no nation beyond us; nothing but waves and rocks; and the Romans are before us. The arrogance of these invaders it will be in vain to encounter by obfequioufnefs and fubmiffion. Thefe plunderers of the world, after exhaufting the land by their devaftations, are

rifling