[The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 by William Lisle Bowles]@TWC D-Link bookThe Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 BOOK THE THIRD 1/1
BOOK THE THIRD. Commences with the feelings excited by the conclusion of the last, by a warm wish that England may for ages retain her present elevated rank. This leads to the consideration of her NAVAL OPULENCE, which carries us back to the subject we had left--THE FATE OF TYRE. The history of the empires succeeding Tyre is touched on: the fall of her destroyer, Babylon; the succession of Cyrus; the character of Cyrus, and his want of enlarged policy, having so many means of encouraging commerce; and his ill-fated expedition to the East Indies. ALEXANDER THE GREAT first conceives the idea of establishing a vast MARITIME EMPIRE: in his march of conquest, he proceeds to the last river of the Punjab, the Hyphasis, which descends into the Indus, the sources of which are near the mountains of CAUCASUS, WHERE THE ARK RESTED. The Indian account of the Deluge, it is well known, resembles most wonderfully the history of Moses.
When Alexander can proceed no further, poetical fiction introduces the person of a Brahmin, who relates the history of the Deluge: viz., that _one sacred man was_, in this part of the world, _miraculously preserved by an ark_; the further march of the conqueror towards the holy spot is deprecated: his best glory shall be derived from the sea, and from uniting either world in commerce. Alexander is animated with the idea; and his fleet, under Nearchus, proceeds down the Indus to the sea.
This forms a middle, connected with the account of the Deluge, book first..
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