at the sight; and the foot would not dare, because the armed soldiers would be ready to gall them on each hand, and the elephants to trample them under their feet. The foot possessed the next rank. They were not, indeed, placed in the same order with the elephants, but so small a way behind that they seemed to fill up the interstices. At the extremities of each wing he placed elephants bearing huge wooden towers, wherein were armed men. The foot were defended on each hand by the horse, and the horse by the chariots, which were placed before them.” “With the caution which is the best characteristic of a skillful general, Alexander resolved to avoid a direct attack upon the main body of the elephants. Perhaps the alarm which his soldiers are described to have felt at ‘those beasts, which, being disposed amongst the men in front, at a distance bore the appearance of towers,’ might have somewhat influenced this determination. The elephant which carried Porus himself, a man of extraordinary stature, was greatly superior to all the lest in height. Alexander is described as rejoicing in the splendid appearance of the enemy which he trusted to subdue. ‘At last I have met with a danger suitable to the greatness of my soul.’ The long pikes of the Macedonian phalanx, the rapid movements of the cavalry, and the cloud of arrows poured in by the light-armed Thracians, soon spread a panic amongst the Indians. But the elephants for a long time sustained the assaults of their impetuous enemies. They trampled the infantry under their feet; and ‘the most dismal thing of all was when these animals took up the armed soldiers with their trunks, and delivered them up to their governors on their backs.’ The day was far spent, and still the fight was doubtful, till at length the Macedonians directed all their power against the sagacious beasts that threatened to baffle the skill and bravery of the most disciplined troops of the earth. The Greeks chopped their legs with axes, and cut off their trunks with a crooked weapon resembling a scythe. While the infantry of Alexander thus encountered the principal strength of the Indians, his cavalry closed round them in overwhelming masses. ‘And the beasts now being pent up in a narrow space, and violently enraged, did no less mischief to their own men than the enemy; and as they tossed and moved about, multitudes were trampled to death; besides, the horse being confined among the elephants, a huge slaughter ensued, for many of the governors of the beasts being slain by the archers, and the elephants themselves, partly enraged with their wounds, and partly for want of riders, no longer kept any certain station in the battle, but running forwards, as if madness had seized them, they pushed down, slew, and trampled under foot friends and foes without distinction; only, the Macedonians, having the advantage of a more free and open space, gave way, and made room for the furious beasts to rush through their ranks,