Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: them to an animal at once docile and furnished not only with hands ready to second all his efforts, but also witb reason and a keen intelligence. 8 The men of greatest learning among the Indians tell certain legends, of which it may be proper to give a brief summary.J They relate that in the most primitive times, when the people of the country were still living in villages, Dionusos made his appearance coming from the regions lying to the west, and at the head of a considerable army. He over- textit{% Fragm. I. B. Diod. III. 63. textit{Concerning Dionusos. Now some, as I have already said, supposing that there were three individuals of this name, who lived in different ages, assign to each appropriate achievements. They say, then, that the most ancient of them was I n d o s, and that as the country, with its genial temperature, produced spontaneously the vine-tree in great abundance, he was the first who crushed grapes and discovered the use of the properties of wine. In like manner he ascertained what culture was requisite for figs and other fruit trees, and transmitted this knowledge to after-times; and, in a word, it was he who found out how these fruits should be gathered in, whence also he was called L e n a i o s. This same Dionusos, however, they call also Katapogdn, since it is a custom among the Indians to nourish their beards with great care to the very end ofran the whole of India, as there was no great city capable of resisting his arms. 2 The heat, however, having become excessive, and the soldiers of Dionusos being afflicted with a pestilence, the leader, who was remarkable for his sagacity, carried his troops away from the plains up to the hills. There the army, recruited by the cool breezes and the waters that flowed fresh from the fountains, recovered ...