The spread of knowledge.
But, beyond numerous commercial advantages, the
Macedonian campaigns opened a large and beautiful
portion of the earth to the influence of a highly-gifted
race, who courted the society of the most
learned men of the countries they conquered. Hence
the geographical knowledge of the Greeks was more
than doubled in the course of a very few years by
the extraordinary and enlightened conquests of their
chief.
While the comparison of notes between the geometricians, naturalists, and astronomers of two of the most learned nations of ancient times proved of immense benefit to mankind, we cannot doubt that the scientific knowledge of the Greeks, when brought to bear upon the practical experience of the Hindus with regard to the prevailing winds, mainly induced Nearchus to start without fear on his celebrated voyage, and, at the same time, encouraged the merchants of Europe to seek out new means of communication with a country producing in such abundance the articles they prized so highly.
His march into India. The expedition through the northern portions of India, and the voyage from the Indus to the Euphrates, if not the greatest of the exploits of Alexander, were certainly, in many ways, the most important up to that time in the history of commerce and navigation.
Arrian, whom we have had so often the pleasure of quoting, has preserved copious extracts from the journal of Nearchus, and the information thus obtained has been thoroughly investigated by Dr. Robertson, in his "Disquisition on the Knowledge the Ancients had of India"; by Heeren in his "Asiatic Nations"; and most fully of all by Dr. Vincent in
