Just to show you, I should like to tell you the
tale of a Sidonian merchant's idea which disbelief
made ineffectual and profitless to the man who heard
it. Alexander was then ruler of the Persians,
having deposed Darius after the battle of Arbela,
and postmen had to run to every quarter of the
realm carrying Alexander’s orders. The journey
from Persia to Egypt was long, since one had to
make a detour about the mountains, then to go
through Babylonia to Arabia, and then to traverse
a wide expanse of desert before reaching Egypt at
last, after spending in this way, even if one travelled
light, twenty very long days on the road. Well,
this annoyed Alexander, because he had heard that
the Egyptians were showing signs of disaffection,
and he was unable to be expeditious in transmitting
his decisions concerning them to his governors.
At that juncture the Sidonian merchant said: “I
give you my word, King Alexander, to show you a
short route from Persia to Egypt. If a man went
over these mountains—and he could do it in three


 

days—he is in Egypt in no time!” And it was so!
Alexander, however, put no faith in it, but thought
that the merchant was a liar. The Sidonian merchant was exaggerating, but there was truth in his tale. From Persepolis, by crossing the mountains to the head of the Persian Gulf one could pick up a traderoute that led from Alexandria on the Tigris (Charax) to Petra (see Pliny 6, 145), whence one could get to Rhinocolura, and so to Egypt. This would have been much shorter than the normal (Susa, Babylon, Damascus) route, but it might not have been any quicker. So true is it that
amazing promises seem untrustworthy to most
people.