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Rh well supplied with elephants of superior size and courage.

Alexander, having noticed that his troops no longer followed him with their wonted alacrity, and were indisposed to proceed to more distant adventures, sought to rouse their enthusiasm by an eloquent address, in which he recited the glories of their wondrous conquests from the Hellespont to the Hyphasis, and promised them the dominion and riches of all Asia. But his glowing words fell on unwilling ears, and were received with painful silence, which remained unbroken for a long time.

At last Koinos, the trusted cavalry general, who had led the charge in the battle with Poros, summoned up courage to reply, and argued the expediency of fixing some limit to the toils and dangers of the army. He urged his sovereign to remember that out of the Greeks and Macedonians who had crossed the Hellespont eight years earlier, some had been invalided home, some were unwilling exiles in newly founded cities far from their own land, some were disabled by wounds, and others, the most numerous, had perished by the sword or by disease.

Few indeed were those left to follow the standards, and they were weary wretches, shattered in health, ragged, ill-armed, and despondent. He concluded his oration by saying:—

"Moderation in the midst of success, O king! is the noblest of virtues, for, although, being at the head of so brave an army, you have naught to dread from mortal