ALEXANDER AND THE GREEKS 336 B.C.E.  - 323 B.C.E. Alexander was the King of Macedonia, a nation north of the city-states of ancient Greece, which was heavily influenced by the Hellenic (Greek) culture.  Alexander was just 21 years old in the year 336 B.C.E., when he decided to invade India, after having conquered much of Asia Minor and the Middle East. At the time, King Taxiles ruled a large area in India.  When he heard that Alexander was coming, Taxiles did not wait, but went in person to meet him in peace.  "Why should we make war on each other," Taxiles said, "if the reason for your coming is not to rob us of our water and our food?  Those are the only things that a wise man has no choice but to fight for.  As for any other riches or possessions, if I have more than you I am ready to share.  But if fortune has been better to you than to me, then I have no objection to being in your debt."     These courteous words pleased Alexander, and he replied: "Do you think your kind words and courteous conduct will avoid a contest between us?  No, I will not let you off so easily.  I will do battle with you on these terms: no matter how much you give me, I will give more in return."   Thereupon Taxiles made many fine presents to Alexander, but Alexander responded with presents of even greater value and topped them off with a thousand talents in gold coins.  This generosity displeased Alexander's old friends but won the hearts of many of the Indians.     King Porus, however, refused to submit, and he took up a position to prevent Alexander from crossing the Hydaspes River.  Porus was a huge man, and when mounted on his war elephant he looked in the same proportion as an ordinary man on a horse.  After a long fight, Alexander won the victory, and Porus came to him as a prisoner.  Alexander asked him how he expected to be treated, and Porus replied: "As a king."  When Alexander asked a second time, Porus explained that in those words was included everything that a man could possibly want.   Alexander not only allowed Porus to keep his kingdom as a satrap, but he also gave him more territory.     This was a costly victory, however.  Many Macedonians died, and so did Alexander's old war horse, Bucephalus.  This grieved Alexander so much that it seemed as though he had lost an old friend.  On that spot he ordered a city to be built, named Bucephalia after his beloved horse, Bucephalus.     Such a difficult victory over only 22,000 Indians [May 326 B.C.] took the edge off the courage of the Macedonians.  They had no enthusiasm for Alexander's proposed crossing of the Ganges, a river said to be four miles wide and six hundred feet deep, to encounter an army on the other side consisting of 200,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots, and 6,000 war elephants.  Alexander was so angry at their reluctance that he shut himself up in his tent, saying that if they would not cross the Ganges, he owed them no thanks for anything they had done so far.  But finally the persuasions of his friends, and the pleas of his soldiers, got Alexander to agree to turn back.     To exaggerate his reputation, Alexander left bridles and armor that were much bigger than normal, and huge altars to the gods.  On a flotilla of rafts and barges, Alexander's army floated down the Indus River.      Along the way, they stopped to take some fortified cities, and at one of them Alexander came very close to losing his life.  Alexander was the first one up the ladders onto the wall of the city of the Mallians, and then he jumped down into the town with only two of his guards behind him. Before the rest of the Macedonians could catch up and save him, Alexander had taken an arrow in the ribs and had been knocked dizzy by a club.  He was unconscious when they carried him away, and he fainted when the doctors cut out the arrow.  Rumors spread that Alexander was dead.     While in India, Alexander took ten of the Brahmins  prisoner.  These men had a great reputation for intelligence, so Alexander decided to give them a test.  He announced that the one who gave the worst answer would be the first to die, and he made the oldest Brahmin the judge of the competition.     Which are more numerous, Alexander asked the first one, the living or the dead?  "The living," said the Brahmin, "because the dead no longer count."     Which produces more creatures, the sea or the land? Alexander asked the second.  "The land," was his answer, "because the sea is only a part of it."     The third was asked which animal was the smartest of all, and the Brahmin replied: "The one we have not found yet."     Alexander asked the fourth what argument he had used to stir up the Indians to fight, and he answered:  "Only that one should either live nobly or die nobly."     Which is older: day or night? was Alexander's question to the fifth, and the answer he got was:  "Day is older, by one day at least."  When he saw that Alexander was not satisfied with this answer, the Brahmin added: "Strange questions get strange answers."     What should a man do to make himself loved? asked Alexander, and the sixth Brahmin replied: "Be powerful without being frightening."     What does a man have to do to become a god? he asked the seventh, who responded: "Do what is impossible for a man."     The question to the eighth was whether death or life was stronger, and his answer: "Life is stronger than death, because it bears so many miseries."     The ninth Brahmin was asked how long it was proper for a man to live, and he said: "Until it seems better to die."     Then Alexander turned to the judge, who decided that each one had answered worse than another.  "You will die first, then, for giving such a decision," said Alexander.  "Not so, mighty king," said the Brahmin, "if you want to remain a man of your word.  You said that you would kill first the one who made the worst answer."  Alexander gave all of the Brahmins presents and set them free, even though they had persuaded the Indians to fight him.     Alexander's voyage down the Indus took seven months.   When he finally arrived at the Indian Ocean, he decided not to take the army home by ship but to march them through the Gedrosian Desert.   After sixty miserable days, they arrived at Gedrosia, where they finally found enough to eat and drink.  Many died in that desert: out of the 120,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry that Alexander took with him into India, only one in four came back.