পাতা:পৃথিবীর ইতিহাস - সপ্তম খণ্ড (দুর্গাদাস লাহিড়ী).pdf/৪৫

মেগাস্থিনীপ । &:్ఫ ণিজ্য-ব্যবসায়ের প্রসার বৃদ্ধি হইয়াছিল। প্রাচীন ঐতিহাসিকগণ মেগাস্থিনীস, নিয়ার্কাস, BBBuBB BBBB BBBBBB BBBBB BBBS BBSBBS BBBBS BBBBB গ্রন্থপত্রের আলোচনায় প্রতিপন্ন হয়, তাহার) যথাসাধ্য সত্য তথ্যই প্রচার করিয়া গিয়াছেন । BBBBB BBB BB BBB BBBBBBB BBB BBBB BBBBBS BBBB BBBBB সঙ্গে সঙ্গে তাঁহাই এক্ষণে সত্য বলিয়া সমাদৃত হইতেছে । মেগাস্থিনীস ও ডিমাকো সিরিয়ার রাজদূতরূপে ভারতে আগমন করেন । মেগাস্থিনীল চন্দ্রগুপ্তের রাজসভায় এবং DDBBS uBBB BBBBBB BBBBB BBBBB BBBB BBBB BBB S ভারতের কেন্দ্রস্থলে, অতীব সমৃদ্ধিশালী রাজ্যের রাজধানীতে, তাহারা বসবাস করিয়াছিলেন। BBDB BBBBB BBBB BBBBBB BBBBSBBB BBBB BBBBBB DBB gg BBBBBBB BBBBB BB BB BBBBB BBBB BBBBS BBBBB BBBBB BBBBS BD DD BBBB B BBBBB BBB BBBBBB BBB BBBB BBBB ঋণী, তদ্বিযয়ে আদৌ সন্দেহ মাই ' + SSS SBSBBSBB BS BBB BBB BBB BBB DDtt BBBBBB BBBDDDSLLLLLLLLLL LLLL I}aimachus had been sent as ambassadors from the King of Syria to Sandrocottus aud his successor Allisirochades ; the capital of India was in that age at Palibothra the situation of which, so long disputed, is finally fixed, by Sir William Jones, at the junctium of the Saone and the Ganges. These ambassadors, therefore, were residents at a court in the very heart of India, and it is to Megasthenes in particular that the Gleeks are indebted for the best account of that country. But what is most particularly remaikable is, that the fables of Ctesius were still retained in his work; the Cynocephali, the Pigmies, and familiar fables were still asserted. as truths. It is for this reason that Strabo presers the testimony of Eratosthenes and Patrokles, though Eratosthenes was resident at Alexandria, and never visited India at all ; and though Patrokles never saw any part of that country beyond the Punjeab, still their intelligence, he thinks, is preferable, because Eratosthenes had the command of all the information treasured in the library of Alexandria, and Patrokies was possessed of the materials which were collected by Alexander himself. and which had been communicated to him by Xeno, the keeper of the archives. “It is inconceivable how men could live and negotiate in a camp on the Ganges, and bring some impossibilities as truth ; how Megasthenes could report that the Hindug had no use of letters when Nearchus had previously noticed the beautiful appearance of their writing and the elegance of character, which we still discover in Shanskreet ; but the fabulous account of Ctesias were repeated by Megasthenes, professedly from the authority of the Brahmins; and whatever reason we have to complain of his judgment or discretion, we ought to acknowledge our obligations