Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/73

Rh by a dart, and the incident so enraged his troops that all the prisoners taken there were massacred, and the town was razed to the ground.

Soon after this tragedy, Alexander again divided his forces, leaving Krateros, "the man most faithful to him, and whom he valued equally with himself," to complete the reduction of the tribesmen of the Kunar valley, while the king in person led a body of picked troops against the Aspasians, who were defeated with great slaughter.

He then crossed the mountains and entered the valley now called Bajaur, where he found a town named Arigaion, which had been burnt and abandoned by the inhabitants. Krateros, having completely executed his task in the Kunar valley, now rejoined his master, and measures were concerted for the reduction of the tribes farther east, whose subjugation was indispensable before an advance into India could be made with safety.

The Aspasians were finally routed in a second great battle, losing, it is said, more than forty thousand prisoners and 230,000 oxen. The perfection of the arrangements by which Alexander maintained communication with his remote European base is strikingly illustrated by the fact that he selected the best and handsomest of the captured cattle, and sent them to Macedonia for use in agriculture.

A fancied connection with Dionysos and the sacred Mount Nysa of Greek legend gave special interest to the town and hill-state called Nysa, which was among