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CH. VIII.—The last Victory of Alexander over Darius. AFTEB these events, Darius again went forth to battle with four hundred thousand infantry and a hundred thousand cavalry. Alexander met him, and a battle was fought with great carnage on both sides. In that battle both the kings were wounded, and the battle was a long time in doubt, till at last Darius fled. After that, a great slaughter of the Per sians occurred, for sixty-one thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry were slain, and forty thousand were taken prisoners. But of the Macedonians there fell only a hundred and thirty infantry and a hundred and fifty cavalry. In the Persian camp a great deal of gold and other riches was found ; and among the prisoners who were taken in the camp, was the mother of Darius, and his sister, and two of his daughters ; and though Darius offered half of his kingdom for their ransom, he could not obtain them. But Alexander ordered them to be treated like queens in his camp ; and bade the daughters look forward to a marriage which should be not inferior to the rank of their father. CH. IX.—Darius dies—Alexander takes Tyre—Founds Alexandria—Becomes Master of the East—Dies. AFTEB these events Darius was bound with golden chains by his own relations, who were anxious to gain the favour of the victorious Alexander ; and he ended his life in bondage. But Alexander buried his body as became a king ; and so the Persian kingdom came under the power of the Macedonians, after it had stood for two hundred and thirty-one years. But in the meantime Alexander took Tyre, a moat flourishing city ; and he built Alexandria on the river Thanais, and he marched upon India, in order to extend the boundaries o f his empire as far as the extreme borders of the Eastern ocean ; and there he, on horseback, fought with Porus, the most valiant monarch of the Indian nation, in single combat. But Porus» who was overthrown by the death of his horse, was protected from death by the prompt assistance of his guards. Then Alexander, having subdued all the nations of the East as far as the river Indus and the ocean, determined to return back again. But only five years after the death of king Darius, after his return to Babylon, he was plotted against by th e

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