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The Seventeenth Book of Diodorus: in Two Parts
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95chapter 96chapter 97chapter 98chapter 99chapter 100chapter 101chapter 102chapter 103chapter 104chapter 105chapter 106chapter 107chapter 108chapter 109chapter 110chapter 111chapter 112chapter 113chapter 114chapter 115chapter 116chapter 117chapter 118
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[4]
As his formations grew more
confused, Porus observed what was happening. He was mounted on the largest of the elephants and
gathered about him forty others which were not yet out of hand, then attacked the enemy with
their combined weight and inflicted many losses. He was himself outstanding in bodily strength
beyond any of his followers, being five cubits1 in height and with a breadth of chest double that of
his mightiest soldiers.
1 Seven and one-half feet. The same figure is given by Arrian. 5.19.1. Plut. Alexander 60.6, says four cubits and a span; Curtius 8.14.13: "humanae magnitudinis prope modum excesserat." Tarn, however (Alexander the Great, 2, p. 170), thinks that the source was using a short cubit. We may prefer to find here a perhaps only slight exaggeration of Porus's evidently phenomenal height. Arrian. 5.4.4 says that most Indians are of this height, and Curtius 7.4.6 reports that the Dahae were a head taller than the Macedonians. Alexander built beds five cubits long in the camp on the Hyphasis (chap. 95.2).
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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