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Alexander
By Plutarch

(died 323 B.C.E.)


Translated by John Dryden

IT being my purpose to write the lives of Alexander the king, and
of Caesar, by whom Pompey was destroyed, the multitude of their great
actions affords so large a field that I were to blame if I should
not by way of apology forewarn my reader that I have chosen rather
to epitomize the most celebrated parts of their story, than to insist
at large on every particular circumstance of it. It must be borne
in mind that my design is not to write histories, but lives. And the
most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest
discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment,
an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and
inclinations, than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments,
or the bloodiest battles whatsoever. Therefore as portrait-painters
are more exact in the lines and features of the face, in which the
character is seen, than in the other parts of the body, so I must
be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks and indications
of the souls of men, and while I endeavour by these to portray their
lives, may be free to leave more weighty matters and great battles
to be treated of by others. 

It is agreed on by all hands, that on the father's side, Alexander
descended from Hercules by Caranus, and from Aeacus by Neoptolemus
on the mother's side. His father Philip, being in Samothrace, when
he was quite young, fell in love there with Olympias, in company with
whom he was initiated in the religious ceremonies of the country,
and her father and mother being both dead, soon after, with the consent
of her brother, Arymbas, he married her. The night before the consummation
of their marriage, she dreamed that a thunderbolt fell upon her body,
which kindled a great fire, whose divided flames dispersed themselves
all about, and then were extinguished. And Philip, some time after
he was married, dreamt that he sealed up his wife's body with a seal,
whose impression, as be fancied, was the figure of a lion. Some of
the diviners interpreted this as a warning to Philip to look narrowly
to his wife; but Aristander of Telmessus, considering how unusual
it was to seal up anything that was empty, assured him the meaning
of his dream was that the queen was with child of a boy, who would
one day prove as stout and courageous as a lion. Once, moreover, a
serpent was found lying by Olympias as she slept, which more than
anything else, it is said, abated Philip's passion for her; and whether
he feared her as an enchantress, or thought she had commerce with
some god, and so looked on himself as excluded, he was ever after
less fond of her conversation. Others say, that the women of this
country having always been extremely addicted to the enthusiastic
Orphic rites, and the wild worship of Bacchus (upon which account
they were called Clodones, and Mimallones), imitated in many things
the practices of the Edonian and Thracian women about Mount Haemus,
from whom the word threskeuein seems to have been derived, as a special
term for superfluous and over-curious forms of adoration; and that
Olympias, zealously, affecting these fanatical and enthusiastic inspirations,
to perform them with more barbaric dread, was wont in the dances proper
to these ceremonies to have great tame serpents about her, which sometimes
creeping out of the ivy in the mystic fans, sometimes winding themselves
about the sacred spears, and the women's chaplets, made a spectacle
which men could not look upon without terror. 

Philip, after this vision, sent Chaeron of Megalopolis to consult
the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, by which he was commanded to perform
sacrifice, and henceforth pay particular honour, above all other gods,
to Ammon; and was told he should one day lose that eye with which
he presumed to peep through that chink of the door, when he saw the
god, under the form of a serpent, in the company of his wife. Eratosthenes
says that Olympias, when she attended Alexander on his way to the
army in his first expedition, told him the secret of his birth, and
bade him behave himself with courage suitable to his divine extraction.
Others again affirm that she wholly disclaimed any pretensions of
the kind, and was wont to say, "When will Alexander leave off slandering
me to Juno?" 

Alexander was born the sixth of Hecatombaeon, which month the Macedonians
call Lous, the same day that the temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt;
which Hegesias of Magnesia makes the occasion of a conceit, frigid
enough to have stopped the conflagration. The temple, he says, took
fire and was burnt while its mistress was absent, assisting at the
birth of Alexander. And all the Eastern soothsayers who happened to
be then at Ephesus, looking upon the ruin of this temple to be the
forerunner of some other calamity, ran about the town, beating their
faces, and crying that this day had brought forth something that would
prove fatal and destructive to all Asia. 

Just after Philip had taken Potidaea, he received these three messages
at one time, that Parmenio had overthrown the Illyrians in a great
battle, that his race-horse had won the course at the Olympic games,
and that his wife had given birth to Alexander; with which being naturally
well pleased, as an addition to his satisfaction, he was assured by
the diviners that a son, whose birth was accompanied with three such
successes, could not fail of being invincible. 

The statues that gave the best representation of Alexander's person
were those of Lysippus (by whom alone he would suffer his image to
be made), those peculiarities which many of his successors afterwards
and his friends used to affect to imitate, the inclination of his
head a little on one side towards his left shoulder, and his melting
eye, having been expressed by this artist with great exactness. But
Apelles, who drew him with thunderbolts in his hand, made his complexion
browner and darker than it was naturally; for he was fair and of a
light colour, passing into ruddiness in his face and upon his breast.
Aristoxenus in his Memoirs tells us that a most agreeable odour exhaled
from his skin, and that his breath and body all over was so fragrant
as to perfume the clothes which he wore next him; the cause of which
might probably be the hot and adust temperament of his body. For sweet
smells, Theophrastus conceives, are produced by the concoction of
moist humours by heat, which is the reason that those parts of the
world which are driest and most burnt up afford spices of the best
kind and in the greatest quantity; for the heat of the sun exhausts
all the superfluous moisture which lies in the surface of bodies,
ready to generate putrefaction. And this hot constitution, it may
be, rendered Alexander so addicted to drinking, and so choleric. His
temperance, as to the pleasures of the body, was apparent in him in
his very childhood, as he was with much difficulty incited to them,
and always used them with great moderation; though in other things
be was extremely eager and vehement, and in his love of glory, and
the pursuit of it, he showed a solidity of high spirit and magnanimity
far above his age. For he neither sought nor valued it upon every
occasion, as his father Philip did (who affected to show his eloquence
almost to a degree of pedantry, and took care to have the victories
of his racing chariots at the Olympic games engraven on his coin),
but when he was asked by some about him, whether he would run a race
in the Olympic games, as he was very swift-footed, he answered, he
would, if he might have kings to run with him. Indeed, he seems in
general to have looked with indifference, if not with dislike, upon
the professed athletes. He often appointed prizes, for which not only
tragedians and musicians, pipers and harpers, but rhapsodists also,
strove to outvie one another; and delighted in all manner of hunting
and cudgel-playing, but never gave any encouragement to contests either
of boxing or of the pancratium. 

While he was yet very young, he entertained the ambassadors from the
King of Persia, in the absence of his father, and entering much into
conversation with them, gained so much upon them by his affability,
and the questions he asked them, which were far from being childish
or trifling (for he inquired of them the length of the ways, the nature
of the road into inner Asia, the character of their king, how he carried
himself to his enemies, and what forces he was able to bring into
the field), that they were struck with admiration of him, and looked
upon the ability so much famed of Philip to be nothing in comparison
with the forwardness and high purpose that appeared thus early in
his son. Whenever he heard Philip had taken any town of importance,
or won any signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether,
he would tell his companions that his father would anticipate everything,
and leave him and them no opportunities of performing great and illustrious
actions. For being more bent upon action and glory than either upon
pleasure or riches, he esteemed all that he should receive from his
father as a diminution and prevention of his own future achievements;
and would have chosen rather to succeed to a kingdom involved in troubles
and wars, which would have afforded him frequent exercise of his courage,
and a large field of honour, than to one already flourishing and settled,
where his inheritance would be an inactive life, and the mere enjoyment
of wealth and luxury. 

The care of his education, as it might be presumed, was committed
to a great many attendants, preceptors, and teachers, over the whole
of whom Leonidas, a near kinsman of Olympias, a man of an austere
temper, presided, who did not indeed himself decline the name of what
in reality is a noble and honourable office, but in general his dignity,
and his near relationship, obtained him from other people the title
of Alexander's foster-father and governor. But he who took upon him
the actual place and style of his pedagogue was Lysimachus the Acarnanian,
who, though he had nothing to recommend him, but his lucky fancy of
calling himself Phoenix, Alexander Achilles and Philip Peleus, was
therefore well enough esteemed, and ranked in the next degree after
Leonidas. 

Philonicus the Thessalian brought the horse Bucephalus to Philip,
offering to sell him for thirteen talents; but when they went into
the field to try him, they found him so very vicious and unmanageable,
that he reared up when they endeavoured to mount him, and would not
so much as endure the voice of any of Philip's attendants. Upon which,
as they were leading him away as wholly useless and untractable, Alexander,
who stood by, said, "What an excellent horse do they lose for want
of address and boldness to manage him!" Philip at first took no notice
of what he said; but when he heard him repeat the same thing several
times, and saw he was much vexed to see the horse sent away, "Do you
reproach," said he to him, "those who are older than yourself, as
if you knew more, and were better able to manage him than they?" "I
could manage this horse," replied he, "better than others do." "And
if you do not," said Philip, "what will you forfeit for your rashness?"
"I will pay," answered Alexander, "the whole price of the horse."
At this the whole company fell a-laughing; and as soon as the wager
was settled amongst them, he immediately ran to the horse, and taking
hold of the bridle, turned him directly towards the sun, having, it
seems, observed that he was disturbed at and afraid of the motion
of his own shadow; then letting him go forward a little, still keeping
the reins in his hands, and stroking him gently when he found him
begin to grow eager and fiery, he let fall his upper garment softly,
and with one nimble leap securely mounted him, and when he was seated,
by little and little drew in the bridle, and curbed him without either
striking or spurring him. Presently, when he found him free from all
rebelliousness, and only impatient for the course, he let him go at
full speed, inciting him now with a commanding voice, and urging him
also with his heel. Philip and his friends looked on at first in silence
and anxiety for the result, till seeing him turn at the end of his
career, and come back rejoicing and triumphing for what he had performed,
they all burst out into acclamations of applause; and his father shedding
tears, it is said, for joy, kissed him as he came down from his horse,
and in his transport said, "O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal
to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee."

After this, considering him to be of a temper easy to be led to his
duty by reason, but by no means to be compelled, he always endeavoured
to persuade rather than to command or force him to anything; and now
looking upon the instruction and tuition of his youth to be of greater
difficulty and importance than to be wholly trusted to the ordinary
masters in music and poetry, and the common school subjects, and to
require, as Sophocles says- 

"The bridle and the rudder too," he sent for Aristotle, the most learned
and most celebrated philosopher of his time, and rewarded him with
a munificence proportionable to and becoming the care he took to instruct
his son. For he repeopled his native city Stagira, which he had caused
to be demolished a little before, and restored all the citizens, who
were in exile or slavery, to their habitations. As a place for the
pursuit of their studies and exercise, he assigned the temple of the
Nymphs, near Mieza, where, to this very day, they show you Aristotle's
stone seats, and the shady walks which he was wont to frequent. It
would appear that Alexander received from him not only his doctrines
of Morals and of Politics, but also something of those more abstruse
and profound theories which these philosophers, by the very names
they gave them, professed to reserve for oral communication to the
initiated, and did not allow many to become acquainted with. For when
he was in Asia, and heard Aristotle had published some treatises of
that kind, he wrote to him, using very plain language to him in behalf
of philosophy, the following letter. "Alexander to Aristotle, greeting.
You have not done well to publish your books of oral doctrine; for
what is there now that we excel others in, if those things which we
have been particularly instructed in be laid open to all? For my part,
I assure you, I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is
excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion. Farewell."
And Aristotle, soothing this passion for pre-eminence, speaks, in
his excuse for himself, of these doctrines as in fact both published
and not published: as indeed, to say the truth, his books on metaphysics
are written in a style which makes them useless for ordinary teaching,
and instructive only, in the way of memoranda, for those who have
been already conversant in that sort of learning. 

Doubtless also it was to Aristotle that he owed the inclination he
had, not to the theory only, but likewise to the practice of the art
of medicine. For when any of his friends were sick, he would often
prescribe them their course of diet, and medicines proper to their
disease, as we may find in his epistles. He was naturally a great
lover of all kinds of learning and reading; and Onesicritus informs
us that he constantly laid Homer's Iliads, according to the copy corrected
by Aristotle, called the casket copy, with his dagger under his pillow,
declaring that he esteemed it a perfect portable treasure of all military
virtue and knowledge. When he was in the upper Asia, being destitute
of other books, he ordered Harpalus to send him some; who furnished
him with Philistus's History, a great many of the plays of Euripides,
Sophocles, and Aeschylus, and some dithyrambic odes, composed by Telestes
and Philoxenus. For a while he loved and cherished Aristotle no less,
as he was wont to say himself, than if he had been his father, giving
this reason for it, that as he had received life from the one, so
the other had taught him to live well. But afterwards, upon some mistrust
of him, yet not so great as to make him do him any hurt, his familiarity
and friendly kindness to him abated so much of its former force and
affectionateness, as to make it evident he was alienated from him.
However, his violent thirst after and passion for learning, which
were once implanted, still grew up with him, and never decayed; as
appears by his veneration of Anaxarchus, by the present of fifty talents
which he sent to Xenocrates, and his particular care and esteem of
Dandamis and Calanus. 

While Philip went on his expedition against the Byzantines, he left
Alexander, then sixteen years old, his lieutenant in Macedonia, committing
the charge of his seal to him; who, not to sit idle, reduced the rebellious
Maedi, and having taken their chief town by storm, drove out the barbarous
inhabitants, and planting a colony of several nations in their room,
called the place after his own name, Alexandropolis. At the battle
of Chaeronea, which his father fought against the Grecians, he is
said to have been the first man that charged the Thebans' sacred band.
And even in my remembrance, there stood an old oak near the river
Cephisus, which people called Alexander's oak, because his tent was
pitched under it. And not far off are to be seen the graves of the
Macedonians who fell in that battle. This early bravery made Philip
so fond of him, that nothing pleased him more than to hear his subjects
call himself their general and Alexander their king. 

But the disorders of his family, chiefly caused by his new marriages
and attachments (the troubles that began in the women's chambers spreading,
so to say, to the whole kingdom), raised various complaints and differences
between them, which the violence of Olympias, a woman of a jealous
and implacable temper, made wider, by exasperating Alexander against
his father. Among the rest, this accident contributed most to their
falling out. At the wedding of Cleopatra, whom Philip fell in love
with and married, she being much too young for him, her uncle Attalus
in his drink desired the Macedonians would implore the gods to give
them a lawful successor to the kingdom by his niece. This so irritated
Alexander, that throwing one of the cups at his head, "You villain,"
said he, "what, am I then a bastard?" Then Philip, taking Attalus's
part, rose up and would have run his son through; but by good fortune
for them both, either his over-hasty rage, or the wine he had drunk,
made his foot slip, so that he fell down on the floor. At which Alexander
reproachfully insulted over him: "See there," said he, "the man who
makes preparations to pass out of Europe into Asia, overturned in
passing from one seat to another." After this debauch, he and his
mother Olympias withdrew from Philip's company, and when he had placed
her in Epirus, he himself retired into Illyria. 

About this time, Demaratus the Corinthian, an old friend of the family,
who had the freedom to say anything among them without offence, coming
to visit Philip, after the first compliments and embraces were over,
Philip asked him whether the Grecians were at amity with one another.
"It ill becomes you," replied Demaratus, "to be so solicitous about
Greece, when you have involved your own house in so many dissensions
and calamities." He was so convinced by this seasonable reproach,
that he immediately sent for his son home, and by Demaratus's mediation
prevailed with him to return. But this reconciliation lasted not long;
for when Pixodorus, viceroy of Caria, sent Aristocritus to treat for
a match between his eldest daughter and Philip's son, Arrhidaeus,
hoping by this alliance to secure his assistance upon occasion, Alexander's
mother, and some who pretended to be his friends, presently filled
his head with tales and calumnies, as if Philip, by a splendid marriage
and important alliance, were preparing the way for settling the kingdom
upon Arrhidaeus. In alarm at this, he despatched Thessalus, the tragic
actor, into Caria, to dispose Pixodorus to slight Arrhidaeus, both
illegitimate and a fool, and rather to accept of himself for his son-in-law.
This proposition was much more agreeable to Pixodorus than the former.
But Philip, as soon as he was made acquainted with this transaction,
went to his son's apartment, taking with him Philotas, the son of
Parmenio, one of Alexander's intimate friends and companions, and
there reproved him severely, and reproached him bitterly, that he
should be so degenerate, and unworthy of the power he was to leave
him, as to desire the alliance of a mean Carian, who was at best but
the slave of a barbarous prince. Nor did this satisfy his resentment,
for he wrote to the Corinthians to send Thessalus to him in chains,
and banished Harpalus, Nearchus, Erigyius, and Ptolemy, his son's
friends and favourites, whom Alexander afterwards recalled and raised
to great honour and preferment. 

Not long after this, Pausanias, having had an outrage done to him
at the instance of Attalus and Cleopatra, when he found he could get
no reparation for his disgrace at Philip's hands, watched his opportunity
and murdered him. The guilt of which fact was laid for the most part
upon Olympias, who was said to have encouraged and exasperated the
enraged youth to revenge; and some sort of suspicion attached even
to Alexander himself, who, it was said, when Pausanias came and complained
to him of the injury he had received, repeated the verse out of Euripides's
Medea- 

"On husband, and on father, and on bride." However, he took care to
find out and punish the accomplices of the conspiracy severely, and
was very angry with Olympias for treating Cleopatra inhumanly in his
absence. 

Alexander was but twenty years old when his father was murdered, and
succeeded to a kingdom, beset on all sides with great dangers and
rancorous enemies. For not only the barbarous nations that bordered
on Macedonia were impatient of being governed by any but their own
native princes, but Philip likewise, though he had been victorious
over the Grecians, yet, as the time had not been sufficient for him
to complete his conquest and accustom them to his sway, had simply
left all things in a general disorder and confusion. It seemed to
the Macedonians a very critical time; and some would have persuaded
Alexander to give up all thought of retaining the Grecians in subjection
by force of arms, and rather to apply himself to win back by gentle
means the allegiance of the tribes who were designing revolt, and
try the effect of indulgence in arresting the first motions towards
revolution. But he rejected this counsel as weak and timorous, and
looked upon it to be more prudence to secure himself by resolution
and magnanimity, than, by seeming to truckle to any, to encourage
all to trample on him. In pursuit of this opinion, he reduced the
barbarians to tranquillity, and put an end to all fear of war from
them, he gave rapid expedition into their country as far as the river
Danube, where he gave Syrmus, King of the Triballians, an entire overthrow.
And hearing the Thebans were in revolt, and the Athenians in correspondence
with them, he immediately marched through the pass of Thermopylae,
saying that to Demosthenes, who had called him a child while he was
in Illyria and in the country of the Triballians, and a youth when
he was in Thessaly, he would appear a man before the walls of Athens.

When he came to Thebes, to show how willing he was to accept of their
repentance for what was past, he only demanded of them Phoenix and
Prothytes, the authors of the rebellion, and proclaimed a general
pardon to those who would come over to him. But when the Thebans merely
retorted by demanding Philotas and Antipater to be delivered into
their hands, and by a proclamation on their part invited all who would
assert the liberty of Greece to come over to them, he presently applied
himself to make them feel the last extremities of war. The Thebans
indeed defended themselves with a zeal and courage beyond their strength,
being much outnumbered by their enemies. But when the Macedonian garrison
sallied out upon them from the citadel, they were so hemmed in on
all sides that the greater part of them fell in the battle; the city
itself being taken by storm, was sacked and razed. Alexander's hope
being that so severe an example might terrify the rest of Greece into
obedience, and also in order to gratify the hostility of his confederates,
the Phocians and Plataeans. So that, except the priests, and some
few who had heretofore been the friends and connections of the Macedonians,
the family of the poet Pindar, and those who were known to have opposed
the public vote for the war, all the rest, to the number of thirty
thousand, were publicly sold for slaves; and it is computed that upwards
of six thousand were put to the sword. 

Among the other calamities that befell the city, it happened that
some Thracian soldiers, having broken into the house of a matron of
high character and repute, named Timoclea, their captain, after he
had used violence with her, to satisfy his avarice as well as lust,
asked her, if she knew of any money concealed; to which she readily
answered she did, and bade him follow her into a garden, where she
showed him a well, into which, she told him, upon the taking of the
city, she had thrown what she had of most value. The greedy Thracian
presently stooping down to view the place where he thought the treasure
lay, she came behind him and pushed him into the well, and then flung
great stones in upon him, till she had killed him. After which, when
the soldiers led her away bound to Alexander, her very mien and gait
showed her to be a woman of dignity, and of a mind no less elevated,
not betraying the least sign of fear or astonishment. And when the
king asked her who she was, "I am," said she, "the sister of Theagenes,
who fought the battle of Chaeronea with your father Philip, and fell
there in command for the liberty of Greece." Alexander was so surprised,
both at what she had done and what she said, that he could not choose
but give her and her children their freedom to go whither they pleased.

After this he received the Athenians into favour, although they had
shown themselves so much concerned at the calamity of Thebes that
out of sorrow they omitted the celebration of the Mysteries, and entertained
those who escaped with all possible humanity. Whether it were, like
the lion, that his passion was now satisfied, or that, after an example
of extreme cruelty, he had a mind to appear merciful, it happened
well for the Athenians; for he not only forgave them all past offences,
but bade them look to their affairs with vigilance, remembering that
if he should miscarry, they were likely to be the arbiters of Greece.
Certain it is, too, that in aftertime he often repented of his severity
to the Thebans, and his remorse had such influence on his temper as
to make him ever after less rigorous to all others. He imputed also
the murder of Clitus, which he committed in his wine, and the unwillingness
of the Macedonians to follow him against the Indians, by which his
enterprise and glory was left imperfect, to the wrath and vengeance
of Bacchus, the protector of Thebes. And it was observed that whatsoever
any Theban, who had the good fortune to survive this victory, asked
of him, he was sure to grant without the least difficulty.

Soon after, the Grecians, being assembled at the Isthmus, declared
their resolution of joining with Alexander in the war against the
Persians, and proclaimed him their general. While he stayed here,
many public ministers and philosophers came from all parts to visit
him and congratulated him on his election, but contrary to his expectation,
Diogenes of Sinope, who then was living at Corinth, thought so little
of him, that instead of coming to compliment him, he never so much
as stirred out of the suburb called the Cranium, where Alexander found
him lying along in the sun. When he saw so much company near him,
he raised himself a little, and vouchsafed to look upon Alexander;
and when he kindly asked him whether he wanted anything, "Yes," said
he, "I would have you stand from between me and the sun." Alexander
was so struck at this answer, and surprised at the greatness of the
man, who had taken so little notice of him, that as he went away he
told his followers, who were laughing at the moroseness of the philosopher,
that if he were not Alexander, he would choose to be Diogenes.

Then he went to Delphi, to consult Apollo concerning the success of
the war he had undertaken, and happening to come on one of the forbidden
days, when it was esteemed improper to give any answer from the oracle,
he sent messengers to desire the priestess to do her office; and when
she refused, on the plea of a law to the contrary, he went up himself,
and began to draw her by force into the temple, until tired and overcome
with his importunity, "My son," said she, "thou art invincible." Alexander
taking hold of what she spoke, declared he had received such an answer
as he wished for, and that it was needless to consult the god any
further. Among other prodigies that attended the departure of his
army, the image of Orpheus at Libethra, made of cypress-wood, was
seen to sweat in great abundance, to the discouragement of many. But
Aristander told him that, far from presaging any ill to him, it signified
he should perform acts so important and glorious as would make the
poets and musicians of future ages labour and sweat to describe and
celebrate them. 

His army, by their computation who make the smallest amount, consisted
of thirty thousand foot and four thousand horse; and those who make
the most of it, speak but of forty-three thousand foot and three thousand
horse. Aristobulus says, he had not a fund of above seventy talents
for their pay, nor had he more than thirty days' provision, if we
may believe Duris; Onesicritus tells us he was two hundred talents
in debt. However narrow and disproportionable the beginnings of so
vast an undertaking might seem to be, yet he would not embark his
army until he had informed himself particularly what means his friends
had to enable them to follow him, and supplied what they wanted, by
giving good farms to some, a village to one, and the revenue of some
hamlet or harbour-town to another. So that at last he had portioned
out or engaged almost all the royal property; which giving Perdiccas
an occasion to ask him what he would leave himself, he replied, his
hopes. "Your soldiers," replied Perdiccas, "will be your partners
in those," and refused to accept of the estate he had assigned him.
Some others of his friends did the like, but to those who willingly
received or desired assistance of him, he liberally granted it, as
far as his patrimony in Macedonia would reach, the most part of which
was spent in these donations. 

With such vigorous resolutions, and his mind thus disposed, he passed
the Hellespont, and at Troy sacrificed to Minerva, and honoured the
memory of the heroes who were buried there, with solemn libations;
especially Achilles, whose gravestone he anointed, and with his friends,
as the ancient custom is, ran naked about his sepulchre, and crowned
it with garlands, declaring how happy he esteemed him, in having while
he lived so faithful a friend, and when he was dead, so famous a poet
to proclaim his actions. While he was viewing the rest of the antiquities
and curiosities of the place, being told he might see Paris's harp,
if he pleased, he said he thought it not worth looking on, but he
should be glad to see that of Achilles, to which he used to sing the
glories and great actions of brave men. 

In the meantime, Darius's captains, having collected large forces,
were encamped on the further bank of the river Granicus, and it was
necessary to fight, as it were, in the gate of Asia for an entrance
into it. The depth of the river, with the unevenness and difficult
ascent of the opposite bank, which was to be gained by main force,
was apprehended by most, and some pronounced it an improper time to
engage, because it was unusual for the kings of Macedonia to march
with their forces in the month called Daesius. But Alexander broke
through these scruples, telling them they should call it a second
Artemisius. And when Parmenio advised him not to attempt anything
that day, because it was late, he told him that he should disgrace
the Hellespont should he fear the Granicus. And so, without more saying,
he immediately took the river with thirteen troops of horse, and advanced
against whole showers of darts thrown from the steep opposite side,
which was covered with armed multitudes of the enemy's horse and foot,
notwithstanding the disadvantage of the ground and the rapidity of
the stream; so that the action seemed to have more frenzy and desperation
in it, than of prudent conduct. However, he persisted obstinately
to gain the passage, and at last with much ado making his way up the
banks, which were extremely muddy and slippery, he had instantly to
join in a mere confused hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, before
he could draw up his men, who were still passing over, into any order.
For the enemy pressed upon him with loud and warlike outcries; and
charging horse against horse, with their lances, after they had broken
and spent these, they fell to it with their swords. And Alexander,
being easily known by his buckler, and a large plume of white feathers
on each side of his helmet, was attacked on all sides, yet escaped
wounding, though his cuirass was pierced by a javelin in one of the
joinings. And Rhoesaces and Spithridates, two Persian commanders,
falling upon him at once, he avoided one of them, and struck at Rhoesaces,
who had a good cuirass on, with such force that, his spear breaking
in his hand, he was glad to betake himself to his dagger. While they
were thus engaged, Spithridates came up on one side of him, and raising
himself upon his horse, gave him such a blow with his battle-axe on
the helmet that he cut off the crest of it, with one of his plumes,
and the helmet was only just so far strong enough to save him, that
the edge of the weapon touched the hair of his head. But as he was
about to repeat his stroke, Clitus, called the black Clitus, prevented
him, by running him through the body with his spear. At the same time
Alexander despatched Rhoesaces with his sword. While the horse were
thus dangerously engaged, the Macedonian phalanx passed the river,
and the foot on each side advanced to fight. But the enemy hardly
sustaining the first onset soon gave ground and fled, all but the
mercenary Greeks, who, making a stand upon a rising ground, desired
quarter, which Alexander, guided rather by passion than judgment,
refused to grant, and charging them himself first, had his horse (not
Bucephalus, but another) killed under him. And this obstinacy of his
to cut off these experienced desperate men cost him the lives of more
of his own soldiers than all the battle before, besides those who
were wounded. The Persians lost in this battle twenty thousand foot
and two thousand five hundred horse. On Alexander's side, Aristobulus
says there were not wanting above four-and-thirty, of whom nine were
foot-soldiers; and in memory of them he caused so many statues of
brass, of Lysippus's making, to be erected. And that the Grecians
might participate in the honour of his victory he sent a portion of
the spoils home to them particularly to the Athenians three hundred
bucklers, and upon all the rest he ordered this inscription to be
set: "Alexander the son of Philip, and the Grecians, except the Lacedaemonians,
won these from the barbarians who inhabit Asia." All the plate and
purple garments, and other things of the same kind that he took from
the Persians, except a very small quantity which he reserved for himself,
he sent as a present to his mother. 

This battle presently made a great change of affairs to Alexander's
advantage. For Sardis itself, the chief seat of the barbarian's power
in the maritime provinces, and many other considerable places, were
surrendered to him; only Halicarnassus and Miletus stood out, which
he took by force, together with the territory about them. After which
he was a little unsettled in his opinion how to proceed. Sometimes
he thought it best to find out Darius as soon as he could, and put
all to the hazard of a battle; another while he looked upon it as
a more prudent course to make an entire reduction of the sea-coast,
and not to seek the enemy till he had first exercised his power here
and made himself secure of the resources of these provinces. While
he was thus deliberating what to do, it happened that a spring of
water near the city of Xanthus in Lycia, of its own accord, swelled
over its banks, and threw up a copper plate, upon the margin of which
was engraven in ancient characters, that the time would come when
the Persian empire should be destroyed by the Grecians. Encouraged
by this accident, he proceeded to reduce the maritime parts of Cilicia
and Phoenicia, and passed his army along the sea-coasts of Pamphylia
with such expedition that many historians have described and extolled
it with that height of admiration, as if it were no less than a miracle,
and an extraordinary effect of divine favour, that the waves which
usually come rolling in violently from the main, and hardly ever leave
so much as a narrow beach under the steep, broken cliffs at any time
uncovered, should on a sudden retire to afford him passage. Menander,
in one of his comedies, alludes to this marvel when he says-

"Was Alexander ever favoured more? 
Each man I wish for meets me at my door, 
And should I ask for passage through the sea, 
The sea I doubt not would retire for me." 

But Alexander himself in his epistles mentions nothing unusual in
this at all, but says he went from Phaselis, and passed through what
they call the Ladders. At Phaselis he stayed some time, and finding
the statue of Theodectes, who was a native of this town and was now
dead, erected in the market-place, after he had supped, having drunk
pretty plentifully, he went and danced about it, and crowned it with
garlands, honouring not ungracefully, in his sport, the memory of
a philosopher whose conversation he had formerly enjoyed when he was
Aristotle's scholar. 

Then he subdued the Pisidians who made head against him, and conquered
the Phrygians, at whose chief city, Gordium, which is said to be the
seat of the ancient Midas, he saw the famous chariot fastened with
cords made of the rind of the cornel-tree, which whosoever should
untie, the inhabitants had a tradition, that for him was reserved
the empire of the world. Most authors tell the story that Alexander
finding himself unable to untie the knot, the ends of which were secretly
twisted round and folded up within it, cut it asunder with his sword.
But Aristobulus tells us it was easy for him to undo it, by only pulling
the pin out of the pole, to which the yoke was tied, and afterwards
drawing off the yoke itself from below. From hence he advanced into
Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, both which countries he soon reduced to
obedience, and then hearing of the death of Memnon, the best commander
Darius had upon the sea-coasts, who, if he had lived, might, it was
supposed, have put many impediments and difficulties in the way of
the progress of his arms, he was the rather encouraged to carry the
war into the upper provinces of Asia. 

Darius was by this time upon his march from Susa, very confident,
not only in the number of his men, which amounted to six hundred thousand,
but likewise in a dream, which the Persian soothsayers interpreted
rather in flattery to him than according to the natural probability.
He dreamed that he saw the Macedonian phalanx all on fire, and Alexander
waiting on him, clad in the same dress which he himself had been used
to wear when he was courier to the late king; after which, going into
the temple of Belus, he vanished out of his sight. The dream would
appear to have supernaturally signified to him the illustrious actions
the Macedonians were to perform, and that as he, from a courier's
place, had risen to the throne, so Alexander should come to be master
of Asia, and not long surviving his conquests, conclude his life with
glory. Darius's confidence increased the more, because Alexander spent
so much time in Cilicia, which he imputed to his cowardice. But it
was sickness that detained him there, which some say he contracted
from his fatigues, others from bathing in the river Cydnus, whose
waters were exceedingly cold. However it happened, none of his physicians
would venture to give him any remedies, they thought his case so desperate,
and were so afraid of the suspicions and ill-will of the Macedonians
if they should fail in the cure; till Philip, the Acarnanian, seeing
how critical his case was, but relying on his own well-known friendship
for him, resolved to try the last efforts of his art, and rather hazard
his own credit and life than suffer him to perish for want of physic,
which he confidently administered to him, encouraging him to take
it boldly, if he desired a speedy recovery, in order to prosecute
the war. At this very time, Parmenio wrote to Alexander from the camp,
bidding him have a care of Philip, as one who was bribed by Darius
to kill him, with great sums of money, and a promise of his daughter
in marriage. When he had perused the letter, he put it under his pillow,
without showing it so much as to any of his most intimate friends,
and when Philip came in with the potion, he took it with great cheerfulness
and assurance, giving him meantime the letter to read. This was a
spectacle well worth being present at, to see Alexander take the draught
and Philip read the letter at the same time, and then turn and look
upon one another, but with different sentiments; for Alexander's looks
were cheerful and open, to show his kindness to and confidence in
his physician, while the other was full of surprise and alarm at the
accusation, appealing to the gods to witness his innocence, sometimes
lifting up his hands to heaven, and then throwing himself down by
the bedside, and beseeching Alexander to lay aside all fear, and follow
his directions without apprehension. For the medicine at first worked
so strongly as to drive, so to say, the vital forces into the interior;
he lost his speech, and falling into a swoon, had scarce any sense
or pulse left. However in no long time, by Philip's means, his health
and strength returned, and he showed himself in public to the Macedonians,
who were in continual fear and dejection until they saw him abroad
again. 

There was at this time in Darius's army a Macedonian refugee, named
Amyntas, one who was pretty well acquainted with Alexander's character.
This man, when he saw Darius intended to fall upon the enemy in the
passes and defiles, advised him earnestly to keep where he was, in
the open and extensive plains, it being the advantage of a numerous
army to have field-room enough when it engaged with a lesser force.
Darius, instead of taking his counsel, told him he was afraid the
enemy would endeavour to run away, and so Alexander would escape out
of his hands. "That fear," replied Amyntas, "is needless, for assure
yourself that far from avoiding you, he will make all the speed he
can to meet you, and is now most likely on his march toward you."
But Amyntas's counsel was to no purpose, for Darius immediately decamping,
marched into Cilicia at the same time that Alexander advanced into
Syria to meet him; and missing one another in the night, they both
turned back again. Alexander, greatly pleased with the event, made
all the haste he could to fight in the defiles, and Darius to recover
his former ground, and draw his army out of so disadvantageous a place.
For now he began to perceive his error in engaging himself too far
in a country in which the sea, the mountains, and the river Pinarus
running through the midst of it, would necessitate him to divide his
forces, render his horse almost unserviceable, and only cover and
support the weakness of the enemy. Fortune was not kinder to Alexander
in the choice of the ground, than he was careful to improve it to
his advantage. For being much inferior in numbers, so far from allowing
himself to be outflanked, he stretched his right wing much further
out than the left wing of his enemies, and fighting there himself
in the very foremost ranks, put the barbarians to flight. In this
battle he was wounded in the thigh, Chares says, by Darius, with whom
he fought hand-to-hand. But in the account which he gave Antipater
of the battle, though indeed he owns he was wounded in the thigh with
a sword, though not dangerously, yet he takes no notice who it was
that wounded him. 

Nothing was wanting to complete this victory, in which he overthrew
above an hundred and ten thousand of his enemies, but the taking the
person of Darius, who escaped very narrowly by flight. However, having
taken his chariot and his bow, he returned from pursuing him, and
found his own men busy in pillaging the barbarians' camp, which (though
to disburden themselves they had left most of their baggage at Damascus)
was exceedingly rich. But Darius's tent, which was full of splendid
furniture and quantities of gold and silver, they reserved for Alexander
himself, who, after he had put off his arms, went to bathe himself
saying, "Let us now cleanse ourselves from the toils of war in the
bath of Darius." "Not so," replied one of his followers, "but in Alexander's
rather; for the property of the conquered is and should be called
the conqueror's." Here, when he beheld the bathing vessels, the water-pots,
the pans, and the ointment boxes, all of gold curiously wrought, and
smelt the fragrant odours with which the whole place was exquisitely
perfumed, and from thence passed into a pavilion of great size and
height, where the couches and tables and preparations for an entertainment
were perfectly magnificent, he turned to those about him and said,
"This, it seems, is royalty." 

But as he was going to supper, word was brought him that Darius's
mother and wife and two unmarried daughters, being taken among the
rest of the prisoners, upon the sight of his chariot and bow, were
all in mourning and sorrow, imagining him to be dead. After a little
pause, more lively affected with their affliction than with his own
success, he sent Leonnatus to them, to let them know Darius was not
dead, and that they need not fear any harm from Alexander, who made
war upon him only for dominion; they should themselves be provided
with everything they had been used to receive from Darius. This kind
message could not but be very welcome to the captive ladies, especially
being made good by actions no less humane and generous. For he gave
them leave to bury whom they pleased of the Persians, and to make
use for this purpose of what garments and furniture they thought fit
out of the booty. He diminished nothing of their equipage, or of the
attentions and respect formerly paid them, and allowed larger pensions
for their maintenance than they had before. But the noblest and most
royal part of their usage was, that he treated these illustrious prisoners
according to their virtue and character, not suffering them to hear,
or receive, or so much as to apprehend anything that was unbecoming.
So that they seemed rather lodged in some temple, or some holy virgin
chambers, where they enjoyed their privacy sacred and uninterrupted,
than in the camp of an enemy. Nevertheless Darius's wife was accounted
the most beautiful princess then living, as her husband the tallest
and handsomest man of his time, and the daughters were not unworthy
of their parents. But Alexander, esteeming it more kingly to govern
himself than to conquer his enemies, sought no intimacy with any one
of them, nor indeed with any other women before marriage, except Barsine,
Memnon's widow, who was taken prisoner at Damascus. She had been instructed
in the Grecian learning, was of a gentle temper, and by her father,
Artabazus, royally descended, with good qualities, added to the solicitations
and encouragement of Parmenio, as Aristobulus tells us, made him the
more willing to attach himself to so agreeable and illustrious a woman.
Of the rest of the female captives, though remarkably handsome and
well proportioned, he took no further notice than to say jestingly
that Persian women were terrible eyesores. And he himself, retaliating,
as it were, by the display of the beauty of his own temperance and
self-control, bade them be removed, as he would have done so many
lifeless images. When Philoxenus, his lieutenant on the sea-coast,
wrote to him to know if he would buy two young boys of great beauty,
whom one Theodorus, a Tarentine, had to sell, he was so offended that
he often expostulated with his friends what baseness Philoxenus had
ever observed in him that he should presume to make him such a reproachful
offer. And he immediately wrote him a very sharp letter, telling him
Theodorus and his merchandise might go with his good-will to destruction.
Nor was he less severe to Hagnon, who sent him word he would buy a
Corinthian youth named Crobylus, as a present for him. And hearing
that Damon and Timotheus, two of Parmenio's Macedonian soldiers, had
abused the wives of some strangers who were in his pay, he wrote to
Parmenio, charging him strictly, if he found them guilty, to put them
to death, as wild beasts that were only made for the mischief of mankind.
In the same letter he added, that he had not so much as seen or desired
to see the wife of Darius, nor suffered anybody to speak of her beauty
before him. He was wont to say that sleep and the act of generation
chiefly made him sensible that he was mortal; as much as to say, that
weariness and pleasure proceed both from the same frailty and imbecility
of human nature. 

In his diet, also, he was most temperate, as appears, omitting many
other circumstances, by what he said to Ada, whom he adopted, with
the title of mother, and afterwards created Queen of Caria. For when
she, out of kindness, sent him every day many curious dishes and sweetmeats,
and would have furnished him with some cooks and pastry-men, who were
thought to have great skill, he told her he wanted none of them, his
preceptor, Leonidas, having already given him the best, which were
a night march to prepare for breakfast, and a moderate breakfast to
create an appetite for supper. Leonidas also, he added, used to open
and search the furniture of his chamber and his wardrobe, to see if
his mother had left him anything that was delicate or superfluous.
He was much less addicted to wine than was generally believed; that
which gave people occasion to think so of him was, that when he had
nothing else to do, he loved to sit long and talk, rather than drink,
and over every cup hold a long conversation. For when his affairs
called upon him, he would not be detained, as other generals often
were, either by wine, or sleep, nuptial solemnities, spectacles, or
any other diversion whatsoever; a convincing argument of which is,
that in the short time he lived, he accomplished so many and so great
actions. When he was free from employment, after he was up, and had
sacrificed to the gods he used to sit down to breakfast, and then
spend the rest of the day in hunting, or writing memoirs, giving decisions
on some military questions, or reading. In marches that required no
great haste, he would practise shooting as he went along, or to mount
a chariot and alight from it in full speed. Sometimes, for sport's
sake, as his journals tell us, he would hunt foxes and go fowling.
When he came in for the evening, after he had bathed and was anointed,
he would call for his bakers and chief cooks, to know if they had
his dinner ready. He never cared to dine till it was pretty late and
beginning to be dark, and was wonderfully circumspect at meals that
every one who sat with him should be served alike and with proper
attention: and his love of talking, as was said before, made him delight
to sit long at his wine. And then, though otherwise no prince's conversation
was ever so agreeable, he would fall into a temper of ostentation
and soldierly boasting, which gave his flatterers a great advantage
to ride him, and made his better friends very uneasy. For though they
thought it too base to strive who should flatter him most, yet they
found it hazardous not to do it; so that between the shame and the
danger, they were in a great strait how to behave themselves. After
such an entertainment, he was wont to bathe, and then perhaps he would
sleep till noon, and sometimes all day long. He was so very temperate
in his eating, that when any rare fish or fruits were sent him, he
would distribute them among his friends, and often reserve nothing
for himself. His table, however, was always magnificent, the expense
of it still increasing with his good fortune, till it amounted to
ten thousand drachmas a day, to which sum he limited it, and beyond
this he would suffer none to lay out in any entertainment where he
himself was the guest. 

After the battle of Issus, he sent to Damascus to seize upon the money
and baggage, the wives and children, of the Persians, of which spoil
the Thessalian horsemen had the greatest share; for he had taken particular
notice of their gallantry in the fight, and sent them thither on purpose
to make their reward suitable to their courage. Not but that the rest
of the army had so considerable a part of the booty as was sufficient
to enrich them all. This first gave the Macedonians such a taste of
the Persian wealth and women and barbaric splendour of living, that
they were ready to pursue and follow upon it with all the eagerness
of hounds upon a scent. But Alexander, before he proceeded any further,
thought it necessary to assure himself of the sea-coast. Those who
governed in Cyprus put that island into his possession, and Phoenicia,
Tyre only excepted, was surrendered to him. During the siege of this
city, which, with mounds of earth cast up, and battering engines,
and two hundred galleys by sea, was carried on for seven months together,
he dreamt that he saw Hercules upon the walls, reaching out his hands,
and calling to him. And many of the Tyrians in their sleep fancied
that Apollo told them he was displeased with their actions, and was
about to leave them and go over to Alexander. Upon which, as if the
god had been a deserting soldier, they seized him, so to say, in the
act, tied down the statue with ropes, and nailed it to the pedestal,
reproaching him that he was a favourer of Alexander. Another time
Alexander dreamed he saw a satyr mocking him at a distance, and when
he endeavoured to catch him, he still escaped from him, till at last
with much perseverance, and running about after him, he got him into
his power. The soothsayers, making two words of Satyrus, assured him
that Tyre should be his own. The inhabitants at this time show a spring
of water, near which they say Alexander slept when he fancied the
satyr appeared to him. 

While the body of the army lay before Tyre, he made an excursion against
the Arabians who inhabit the Mount Antilibanus, in which he hazarded
his life extremely to bring off his master Lysimachus, who would needs
go along with him, declaring he was neither older nor inferior in
courage to Phoenix, Achilles's guardian. For when, quitting their
horses, they began to march up the hills on foot, the rest of the
soldiers outwent them a great deal, so that night drawing on, and
the enemy near, Alexander was fain to stay behind so long, to encourage
and help up the lagging and tired old man, that before he was aware
he was left behind, a great way from his soldiers, with a slender
attendance, and forced to pass an extremely cold night in the dark,
and in a very inconvenient place; till seeing a great many scattered
fires of the enemy at some distance, and trusting to his agility of
body, and as he was always wont by undergoing toils and labours himself
to cheer and support the Macedonians in any distress, he ran straight
to one of the nearest fires, and with his dagger despatching two of
the barbarians that sat by it, snatched up a lighted brand, and returned
with it to his own men. They immediately made a great fire, which
so alarmed the enemy that most of them fled, and those that assaulted
them were soon routed and thus they rested securely the remainder
of the night. Thus Chares writes. 

But to return to the siege, it had this issue. Alexander, that he
might refresh his army, harassed with many former encounters, had
led only a small party towards the walls, rather to keep the enemy
busy than with any prospect of much advantage. It happened at this
time that Aristander, the soothsayer, after he had sacrificed, upon
view of the entrails, affirmed confidently to those who stood by that
the city should be certainly taken that very month, upon which there
was a laugh and some mockery among the soldiers, as this was the last
day of it. The king, seeing him in perplexity, and always anxious
to support the credit of the predictions, gave order that they should
not count it as the thirtieth, but as the twenty-third of the month,
and ordering the trumpets to sound, attacked the walls more seriously
than he at first intended. The sharpness of the assault so inflamed
the rest of his forces who were left in the camp, that they could
not hold from advancing to second it, which they performed with so
much vigour that the Tyrians retired, and the town was carried that
very day. The next place he sat down before was Gaza, one of the largest
cities of Syria, when this accident befell him. A large bird flying
over him let a clod of earth fall upon his shoulder, and then settling
upon one of the battering engines, was suddenly entangled and caught
in the nets, composed of sinews, which protected the ropes with which
the machine was managed. This fell out exactly according to Aristander's
prediction, which was, that Alexander should be wounded and the city
reduced. 

From hence he sent great part of the spoils to Olympias, Cleopatra,
and the rest of his friends, not omitting his preceptor Leonidas,
on whom he bestowed five hundred talents' weight of frankincense and
an hundred of myrrh, in remembrance of the hopes he had once expressed
of him when he was but a child. For Leonidas, it seems, standing by
him one day while he was sacrificing, and seeing him take both his
hands full of incense to throw into the fire, told him it became him
to be more sparing in his offerings, and not to be so profuse till
he was master of the countries which those sweet gums and saying,
come from. So Alexander now wrote to him, saying, "We have sent you
abundance of myrrh and frankincense, that for the future you may not
be stingy to the gods." Among the treasures and other booty that was
taken from Darius, there was a very precious casket, which being brought
to Alexander for a great rarity, he asked those about him what they
thought fittest to be laid up in it; and when they had delivered their
various opinions, he told them he should keep Homer's Iliad in it.
This is attested by many credible authors, and if what those of Alexandria
tell us, relying upon the authority of Heraclides, be true, Homer
was neither an idle nor an unprofitable companion to him in his expedition.
For when he was master of Egypt, designing to settle a colony of Grecians
there, he resolved to build a large and populous city, and give it
his own name. In order to which, after he had measured and staked
out the ground with the advice of the best architects, he chanced
one night in his sleep to see a wonderful vision; a grey-headed old
man, of a venerable aspect, appeared to stand by him, and pronounce
these verses:- 

"An island lies, where loud the billows roar, 
Pharos they call it, on the Egyptian shore." 

Alexander upon this immediately rose up and went to Pharos, which,
at that time, was an island lying a little above the Canobic mouth
of the river Nile, though it has now been joined to the mainland by
a mole. As soon as he saw the commodious situation of the place, it
being a long neck of land, stretching like an isthmus between large
lagoons and shallow waters on one side and the sea on the other, the
latter at the end of it making a spacious harbour, he said, Homer,
besides his other excellences, was a very good architect, and ordered
the plan of a city to be drawn out answerable to the place. To do
which, for want of chalk, the soil being black, they laid out their
lines with flour, taking in a pretty large compass of ground in a
semi-circular figure, and drawing into the inside of the circumference
equal straight lines from each end, thus giving it something of the
form of a cloak or cape; while he was pleasing himself with his design,
on a sudden an infinite number of great birds of several kinds, rising
like a black cloud out of the river and the lake, devoured every morsel
of the flour that had been used in setting out the lines; at which
omen even Alexander himself was troubled, till the augurs restored
his confidence again by telling him it was a sign the city he was
about to build would not only abound in all things within itself,
but also be the nurse and feeder of many nations. He commanded the
workmen to proceed, while he went to visit the temple of Ammon.

This was a long and painful, and, in two respects, a dangerous journey;
first, if they should lose their provision of water, as for several
days none could be obtained; and, secondly, if a violent south wind
should rise upon them, while they were travelling through the wide
extent of deep sands, as it is said to have done when Cambyses led
his army that way, blowing the sand together in heaps, and raising,
as it were, the whole desert like a sea upon them, till fifty thousand
were swallowed up and destroyed by it. All these difficulties were
weighed and represented to him; but Alexander was not easily to be
diverted from anything he was bent upon. For fortune having hitherto
seconded him in his designs, made him resolute and firm in his opinions,
and the boldness of his temper raised a sort of passion in him for
surmounting difficulties; as if it were not enough to be always victorious
in the field, unless places and seasons and nature herself submitted
to him. In this journey, the relief and assistance the gods afforded
him in his distresses were more remarkable, and obtained greater belief
than the oracles he received afterwards, which, however, were valued
and credited the more on account of those occurrences. For first,
plentiful rains that fell preserved them from any fear of perishing
by drought, and, allaying the extreme dryness of the sand, which now
became moist and firm to travel on, cleared and purified the air.
Besides this, when they were out of their way, and were wandering
up and down, because the marks which were wont to direct the guides
were disordered and lost, they were set right again by some ravens,
which flew before them when on their march, and waited for them when
they lingered and fell behind; and the greatest miracle, as Callisthenes
tells us, was that if any of the company went astray in the night,
they never ceased croaking and making a noise till by that means they
had brought them into the right way again. Having passed through the
wilderness, they came to the place where the high priest, at the first
salutation, bade Alexander welcome from his father Ammon. And being
asked by him whether any of his father's murderers had escaped punishment,
he charged him to speak with more respect, since his was not a mortal
father. Then Alexander, changing his expression, desired to know of
him if any of those who murdered Philip were yet unpunished, and further
concerning dominion, whether the empire of the world was reserved
for him? This, the god answered, he should obtain, and that Philip's
death was fully revenged, which gave him so much satisfaction that
he made splendid offerings to Jupiter, and gave the priests very rich
presents. This is what most authors write concerning the oracles.
But Alexander, in a letter to his mother, tells her there were some
secret answers, which at his return he would communicate to her only.
Others say that the priest, desirous as a piece of courtesy to address
him in Greek, "O Paidion," by a slip in pronunciation ended with the
s instead of the n, and said "O Paidios," which mistake Alexander
was well enough pleased with, and it went for current that the oracle
had called him so. 

Among the sayings of one Psammon, a philosopher, whom he heard in
Egypt, he most approved of this, that all men are governed by God,
because in everything, that which is chief and commands is divine.
But what he pronounced himself upon this subject was even more like
a philosopher, for he said God was the common father of us all, but
more particularly of the best of us. To the barbarians he carried
himself very haughtily, as if he were fully persuaded of his divine
birth and parentage; but to the Grecians more moderately, and with
less affectation of divinity, except it were once in writing to the
Athenians about Samos, when he tells them that he should not himself
have bestowed upon them that free and glorious city; "You received
it," he says, "from the bounty of him who at that time was called
my lord and father," meaning Philip. However, afterwards being wounded
with an arrow, and feeling much pain, he turned to those about him,
and told them, "This, my friends, is real flowing blood, not Ichor-

"Such as immortal gods are wont to shed." And another time, when it
thundered so much that everybody was afraid, and Anaxarchus, the sophist,
asked him if he who was Jupiter's son could do anything like this,
"Nay," said Alexander, laughing, "I have no desire to be formidable
to my friends, as you would have me, who despised my table for being
furnished with fish, and not with the heads of governors of provinces."
For in fact it is related as true, that Anaxarchus, seeing a present
of small fishes, which the king sent to Hephaestion, had used this
expression, in a sort of irony, and disparagement of those who undergo
vast labours and encounter great hazards in pursuit of magnificent
objects which after all bring them little more pleasure or enjoyment
than what others have. From what I have said upon this subject, it
is apparent that Alexander in himself was not foolishly affected,
or had the vanity to think himself really a god, but merely used his
claims to divinity as a means of maintaining among other people the
sense of his superiority. 

At his return out of Egypt into Phoenicia, he sacrificed and made
solemn processions, to which were added shows of lyric dances and
tragedies, remarkable not merely for the splendour of the equipage
and decorations, but for the competition among those who exhibited
them. For the kings of Cyprus were here the exhibitors, just in the
same manner as at Athens those who are chosen by lot out of the tribes.
And, indeed, they showed the greatest emulation to outvie each other;
especially Nicocreon, King of Salamis, and Pasicrates of Soli, who
furnished the chorus, and defrayed the expenses of the two most celebrated
actors, Athenodorus and Thessalus, the former performing for Pasicrates,
and the latter for Nicocrean. Thessalus was most favoured by Alexander,
though it did not appear till Athenodorus was declared victor by the
plurality of votes. For then at his going away, he said the judges
deserved to be commended for what they had done, but that he would
willingly have lost part of his kingdom rather than to have seen Thessalus
overcome. However, when he understood Athenodorus was fined by the
Athenians for being absent at the festivals of Bacchus, though he
refused his request that he would write a letter in his behalf, he
gave him a sufficient sum to satisfy the penalty. Another time, when
Lycon of Scarphia happened to act with great applause in the theatre,
and in a verse which he introduced into the comic part which he was
acting, begged for a present of ten talents, he laughed and gave him
the money. 

Darius wrote him a letter, and sent friends to intercede with him,
requesting him to accept as a ransom of his captives the sum of a
thousand talents, and offering him in exchange for his amity and alliance
all the countries on this side the river Euphrates, together with
one of his daughters in marriage. These propositions he communicated
to his friends, and when Parmenio told him that, for his part, if
he were Alexander, he should readily embrace them, "So would I," said
Alexander, "if I were Parmenio." Accordingly, his answer to Darius
was, that if he would come and yield himself up into his power he
would treat him with all possible kindness; if not, he was resolved
immediately to go himself and seek him. But the death of Darius's
wife in childbirth made him soon after regret one part of this answer,
and he showed evident marks of grief at thus deprived of a further
opportunity of exercising his clemency and good nature, which he manifested,
however, as far as he could, by giving her a most sumptuous funeral.

Among the eunuchs who waited in the queen's chamber, and were taken
prisoners with the women, there was one Tireus, who, getting out of
the camp, fled away on horseback to Darius, to inform him of his wife's
death. He, when he heard it, beating his head, and bursting into tears
and lamentations, said, "Alas! how great is the calamity of the Persians!
Was it not enough that their king's consort and sister was a prisoner
in her lifetime, but she must, now she is dead, also be but meanly
and obscurely buried?" "O king," replied the eunuch, "as to her funeral
rites, or any respect or honour that should have been shown in them,
you have not the least reason to accuse the ill fortune of your country;
for to my knowledge neither your queen Statira when alive, nor your
mother, nor children, wanted anything of their former happy condition,
unless it were the light of your countenance, which I doubt not but
the lord Oromasdes will yet restore to its former glory. And after
her decease, I assure you, she had not only all due funeral ornaments,
but was honoured also with the tears of your very enemies; for Alexander
is as gentle after victory as he is terrible in the field." At the
bearing of these words, such was the grief and emotion of Darius's
mind, that they carried him into extravagant suspicions; and taking
Tireus aside into a more private part of his tent, "Unless thou likewise,"
said he to him, "hast deserted me, together with the good fortune
of Persia, and art become a Macedonian in thy heart; if thou yet ownest
me for thy master Darius, tell me, I charge thee, by the veneration
thou payest the light of Mithras, and this right hand of thy king,
do I not lament the least of Statira's misfortunes in her captivity
and death? Have I not suffered something more injurious and deplorable
in her lifetime? And had I not been miserable with less dishonour
if I had met with a more severe and inhuman enemy? For how is it possible
a young man as he is should treat the wife of his opponent with so
much distinction, were it not from some motive that does me disgrace?"
Whilst he was yet speaking, Tireus threw himself at his feet, and
besought him neither to wrong Alexander so much, nor his dead wife
and sister, as to give utterance to any such thoughts, which deprived
him of the greatest consolation left him in his adversity, the belief
that he was overcome by a man whose virtues raised him above human
nature; that he ought to look upon Alexander with love and admiration,
who had given no less proofs of his continence towards the Persian
women, than of his valour among the men. The eunuch confirmed all
he said with solemn and dreadful oaths, and was further enlarging
upon Alexander's moderation and magnanimity on other occasions, when
Darius, breaking away from him into the other division of the tent,
where his friends and courtiers were, lifted up his hands to heaven
and uttered this prayer, "Ye gods," said he, "of my family, and of
my kingdom, if it be possible, I beseech you to restore the declining
affairs of Persia, that I may leave them in as flourishing a condition
as I found them, and have it in my power to make a grateful return
to Alexander for the kindness which in my adversity he has shown to
those who are dearest to me. But if, indeed, the fatal time be come,
which is to give a period to the Persian monarchy, if our ruin be
a debt that must be paid to the divine jealousy and the vicissitude
of things, then I beseech you grant that no other man but Alexander
may sit upon the throne of Cyrus." Such is the narrative given by
the greater number of the historians. 

But to return to Alexander. After he had reduced all Asia on this
side the Euphrates, he advanced towards Darius, who was coming down
against him with a million of men. In his march a very ridiculous
passage happened. The servants who followed the camp for sport's sake
divided themselves into two parties, and named the commander of one
of them Alexander, and the other Darius. At first they only pelted
one another with clods of earth, but presently took to their fists,
and at last, heated with contention, they fought in good earnest with
stones and clubs, so that they had much ado to part them; till Alexander,
upon hearing of it, ordered the two captains to decide the quarrel
by single combat, and armed him who bore his name himself, while Philotas
did the same to him who represented Darius. The whole army were spectators
of this encounter, willing from the event of it to derive an omen
of their own future success. After they had fought stoutly a pretty
long while, at last he who was called Alexander had the better, and
for a reward of his prowess had twelve villages given him, with leave
to wear the Persian dress. So we are told by Eratosthenes.

But the great battle of all that was fought with Darius was not, as
most writers tell us, at Arbela, but at Gaugamela, which, in their
language, signifies the camel's house, forasmuch as one of their ancient
kings having escaped the pursuit of his enemies on a swift camel,
in gratitude to his beast, settled him at this place, with an allowance
of certain villages and rents for his maintenance. It came to pass
that in the month Boedromion, about the beginning of the feast of
Mysteries at Athens, there was an eclipse of the moon, the eleventh
night after which, the two armies being now in view of one another,
Darius kept his men in arms, and by torchlight took a general review
of them. But Alexander, while his soldiers slept, spent the night
before his tent with his diviner, Aristander, performing certain mysterious
ceremonies, and sacrificing to the god Fear. In the meanwhile the
oldest of his commanders, and chiefly Parmenio, when they beheld all
the plain between Niphates and the Gordyaean mountains shining with
the lights and fires which were made by the barbarians, and heard
the uncertain and confused sounds of voices out of their camp, like
the distant roaring of a vast ocean, were so amazed at the thoughts
of such a multitude, that after some conference among themselves,
they concluded it an enterprise too difficult and hazardous for them
to engage so numerous an enemy in the day, and therefore meeting the
king as he came from sacrificing, besought him to attack Darius by
night, that the darkness might conceal the danger of the ensuing battle.
To this he gave them the celebrated answer, "I will not steal a victory,"
which though some at the time thought a boyish and inconsiderate speech,
as if he played with danger, others, however, regarded as an evidence
that he confided in his present condition, and acted on a true judgment
of the future, not wishing to leave Darius, in case he were worsted,
the pretext of trying his fortune again, which he might suppose himself
to have, if he could impute his overthrow to the disadvantage of the
night, as he did before to the mountains, the narrow passages, and
the sea. For while he had such numerous forces and large dominions
still remaining, it was not any want of men or arms that could induce
him to give up the war, but only the loss of all courage and hope
upon the conviction of an undeniable and manifest defeat.

After they were gone from him with this answer, he laid himself down
in his tent and slept the rest of the night more soundly than was
usual with him, to the astonishment of the commanders, who came to
him early in the morning, and were fain themselves to give order that
the soldiers should breakfast. But at last, time not giving them leave
to wait any longer, Parmenio went to his bedside, and called him twice
or thrice by his name, till he waked him, and then asked him how it
was possible, when he was to fight the most important battle of all,
he could sleep as soundly as if he were already victorious. "And are
we not so, indeed," replied Alexander, smiling, "since we are at last
relieved from the trouble of wandering in pursuit of Darius through
a wide and wasted country, hoping in vain that he would fight us?"
And not only before the battle, but in the height of the danger, he
showed himself great, and manifested the self-possession of a just
foresight and confidence. For the battle for some time fluctuated
and was dubious. The left wing, where Parmenio commanded, was so impetuously
charged by the Bactrian horse that it was disordered and forced to
give ground, at the same time that Mazaeus had sent a detachment round
about to fall upon those who guarded the baggage, which so disturbed
Parmenio that he sent messengers to acquaint Alexander that the camp
and baggage would be all lost unless he immediately relieved the rear
by a considerable reinforcement drawn out of the front. This message
being brought him just as he was giving the signal to those about
him for the onset, he bade them tell Parmenio that he must have surely
lost the use of his reason, and had forgotten, in his alarm, that
soldiers, if victorious, became masters of their enemies' baggage;
and if defeated, instead of taking care of their wealth or their slaves,
have nothing more to do but to fight gallantly and die with honour.
When he had said this, he put on his helmet, having the rest of his
arms on before he came out of his tent, which were a coat of the Sicilian
make, girt close about him, and over that a breast-piece of thickly
quilted linen, which was taken among other booty at the battle of
Issus. The helmet, which was made by Theophilus, though of iron, was
so well wrought and polished that it was as bright as the most refined
silver. To this was fitted a gorget of the same metal, set with precious
stones. His sword, which was the weapon he most used in fight, was
given him by the King of the Citieans, and was of an admirable temper
and lightness. The belt which he also wore in all engagements was
of much richer workmanship than the rest of his armour. It was a work
of the ancient Helicon, and had been presented to him by the Rhodians,
as a mark of their respect to him. So long as he was engaged in drawing
up his men, or riding about to give orders or directions, or to view
them, he spared Bucephalus, who was now growing old, and made use
of another horse; but when he was actually to fight, he sent for him
again, and as soon as he was mounted, commenced the attack.

He made the longest address that day to the Thessalians and other
Greeks, who answered him with loud shouts, desiring him to lead them
on against the barbarians, upon which he shifted his javelin into
his left hand, and with his right lifted up towards heaven, besought
the gods, as Callisthenes tells us, that if he was of a truth the
son of Jupiter, they would be pleased to assist and strengthen the
Grecians. At the same time the augur Aristander, who had a white mantle
about him, and a crown of gold on his head, rode by and showed them
an eagle that soared just over Alexander, and directed his flight
towards the enemy; which so animated the beholders, that after mutual
encouragements and exhortations, the horse charged at full speed,
and were followed in a mass by the whole phalanx of the foot. But
before they could well come to blows with the first ranks, the barbarians
shrunk back, and were hotly pursued by Alexander, who drove those
that fled before him into the middle of the battle, where Darius himself
was in person, whom he saw from a distance over the foremost ranks,
conspicuous in the midst of his life-guard, a tall and fine-looking
man, drawn in a lofty chariot, defended by an abundance of the best
horse, who stood close in order about it ready to receive the enemy.
But Alexander's approach was so terrible, forcing those who gave back
upon those who yet maintained their ground, that he beat down and
dispersed them almost all. Only a few of the bravest and valiantest
opposed the pursuit, who were slain in their king's presence, falling
in heaps upon one another, and in the very pangs of death striving
to catch hold of the horses. Darius now seeing all was lost, that
those who were placed in front to defend him were broken and beat
back upon him, that he could not turn or disengage his chariot without
great difficulty, the wheels being clogged and entangled among the
dead bodies, which lay in such heaps as not only stopped, but almost
covered the horses, and made them rear and grow so unruly that the
frightened charioteer could govern them no longer, in this extremity
was glad to quit his chariot and his arms, and mounting, it is said,
upon a mare that had been taken from her foal, betook himself to flight.
But he had not escaped so either, if Parmenio had not sent fresh messengers
to Alexander, to desire him to return and assist him against a considerable
body of the enemy which yet stood together, and would not give ground.
For, indeed, Parmenio is on all hands accused of having been sluggish
and unserviceable in this battle, whether age had impaired his courage,
or that, as Callisthenes says, he secretly disliked and envied Alexander's
growing greatness. Alexander, though he was not a little vexed to
be so recalled and hindered from pursuing his victory, yet concealed
the true reason from his men, and causing a retreat to be sounded,
as if it were too late to continue the execution any longer, marched
back towards the place of danger, and by the way met the news of the
enemy's total overthrow and flight. 

This battle being thus over, seemed to put a period to the Persian
empire; and Alexander, who was now proclaimed King of Asia, returned
thanks to the gods in magnificent sacrifices, and rewarded his friends
and followers with great sums of money, and places, and governments
of provinces. Eager to gain honour with the Grecians, he wrote to
them that he would have all tyrannies abolished, that they might live
free according to their own laws, and specially to the Plataeans,
that their city should be rebuilt, because their ancestors had permitted
their countrymen of old to make their territory the seat of the war
when they fought with the barbarians for their common liberty. He
sent also part of the spoils into Italy, to the Crotoniats, to honour
the zeal and courage of their citizen Phayllus, the wrestler, who,
in the Median war, when the other Grecian colonies in Italy disowned
Greece, that he might have a share in the danger, joined the fleet
at Salamis, with a vessel set forth at his own charge. So affectionate
was Alexander to all kind of virtue, and so desirous to preserve the
memory of laudable actions. 

From hence he marched through the province of Babylon, which immediately
submitted to him, and in Ecbatana was much surprised at the sight
of the place where fire issues in a continuous stream, like a spring
of water, out of a cleft in the earth, and the stream of naphtha,
which, not far from this spot, flows out so abundantly as to form
a sort of lake. This naphtha, in other respects resembling bitumen,
is so subject to take fire, that before it touches the flame it will
kindle at the very light that surrounds it, and often inflame the
intermediate air also. The barbarians, to show the power and nature
of it, sprinkled the street that led to the king's lodgings with little
drops of it, and when it was almost night, stood at the further end
with torches, which being applied to the moistened places, the first
at once taking fire, instantly, as quick as a man could think of it,
it caught from one end to another, in such a manner that the whole
street was one continued flame. Among those who used to wait on the
king and find occasion to amuse him when he anointed and washed himself
there was one Athenophanes, an Athenian, who desired him to make an
experiment of the naphtha upon Stephanus, who stood by in the bathing
place, a youth with a ridiculously ugly face, whose talent was singing
well, "For," said he, "if it take hold of him and is not put out,
it must undeniably be allowed to be of the most invincible strength."
The youth, as it happened, readily consented to undergo the trial,
and as soon as he was anointed and rubbed with it, his whole body
broke out into such a flame, and was so seized by the fire, that Alexander
was in the greatest perplexity and alarm for him, and not without
reason; for nothing could have prevented his being consumed by it,
if by good chance there had not been people at hand with a great many
vessels of water for the service of the bath, with all which they
had much ado to extinguish the fire; and his body was so burned all
over that he was not cured of it for a good while after. Thus it is
not without some plausibility that they endeavour to reconcile the
fable to truth, who say this was the drug in the tragedies with which
Medea anointed the crown and veil which she gave to Creon's daughter.
For neither the things themselves, nor the fire, could kindle of its
own accord, but being prepared for it by the naphtha, they imperceptibly
attracted and caught a flame which happened to be brought near them.
For the rays and emanations of fire at a distance have no other effect
upon some bodies than bare light and heat, but in others, where they
meet with airy dryness, and also sufficient rich moisture, they collect
themselves and soon kindle and create a transformation. The manner,
however, of the production of naphtha admits of a diversity of opinion...
of whether this liquid substance that feeds the flame does not rather
proceed from a soil that is unctuous and productive of fire, as that
of the province of Babylon is, where the ground is so very hot that
oftentimes the grains of barley leap up and are thrown out, as if
the violent inflammation had made the earth throb; and in the extreme
heats the inhabitants are wont to sleep upon skins filled with water.
Harpalus, who was left governor of this country, and was desirous
to adorn the palace gardens and walks with Grecian plants, succeeding
in raising all but ivy, which the earth would not bear, but constantly
killed. For being a plant that loves a cold soil, the temper of this
hot and fiery earth was improper for it. But such digressions as these
the impatient reader will be more willing to pardon if they are kept
within a moderate compass. 

At the taking of Susa, Alexander found in the palace forty thousand
talents in money ready coined, besides an unspeakable quantity of
other furniture and treasure; amongst which was five thousand talents'
worth of Hermionian purple, that had been laid up there an hundred
and ninety years, and yet kept its colour as fresh and lively as at
first. The reason of which, they say, is that in dyeing the purple
they made use of honey, and of white oil in the white tincture, both
which after the like space of time preserve the clearness and brightness
of their lustre. Dinon also relates that the Persian kings had water
fetched from the Nile and the Danube, which they laid up in their
treasuries as a sort of testimony of the greatness of their power
and universal empire. 

The entrance into Persia was through a most difficult country, and
was guarded by the noblest of the Persians, Darius himself having
escaped further. Alexander, however, chanced to find a guide in exact
correspondence with what the Pythia had foretold when he was a child,
that a lycus should conduct him into Persia. For by such an one, whose
father was a Lycian, and his mother a Persian, and who spoke both
languages, he was now led into the country, by a way something about,
yet without fetching any considerable compass. Here a great many of
the prisoners were put to the sword, of which himself gives this account,
that he commanded them to be killed in the belief that it would be
for his advantage. Nor was the money found here less, he says, than
at Susa, besides other movables and treasure, as much as ten thousand
pair of mules and five thousand camels could well carry away. Amongst
other things he happened to observe a large statue of Xerxes thrown
carelessly down to the ground in the confusion made by the multitude
of soldiers pressing into the palace. He stood still, and accosting
it as if it had been alive, "Shall we," said he, "neglectfully pass
thee by, now thou art prostrate on the ground because thou once invadedst
Greece, or shall we erect thee again in consideration of the greatness
of thy mind and thy other virtues?" But at last, after he had paused
some time, and silently considered with himself, he went on without
taking any further notice of it. In this place he took up his winter
quarters, and stayed four months to refresh his soldiers. It is related
that the first time he sat on the royal throne of Persia under the
canopy of gold, Demaratus the Corinthian, who was much attached to
him and had been one of his father's friends, wept, in an old man's
manner, and deplored the misfortune of those Greeks whom death had
deprived of the satisfaction of seeing Alexander seated on the throne
of Darius. 

From hence designing to march against Darius, before he set out he
diverted himself with his officers at an entertainment of drinking
and other pastimes, and indulged so far as to let every one's mistress
sit by and drink with them. The most celebrated of them was Thais,
an Athenian, mistress of Ptolemy, who was afterwards King of Egypt.
She, partly as a sort of well-turned compliment to Alexander, partly
out of sport, as the drinking went on, at last was carried so far
as to utter a saying, not misbecoming her native country's character,
though somewhat too lofty for her own condition. She said it was indeed
some recompense for the toils she had undergone in following the camp
all over Asia, that she was that day treated in, and could insult
over, the stately palace of the Persian monarches. But, she added,
it would please her much better if, while the king looked on, she
might in sport, with her own hands, set fire to the court of that
Xerxes who reduced the city of Athens to ashes, that it might be recorded
to posterity that the women who followed Alexander had taken a severer
revenge on the Persians for the suffering, and affronts of Greece,
than all the famed commanders had been able to do by sea or land.
What she said was received with such universal liking and murmurs
of applause, and so seconded by the encouragement and eagerness of
the company, that the king himself, persuaded to be of the party,
started from his seat, and with a chaplet of flowers on his head and
a lighted torch in his hand, led them the way, while they went after
him in a riotous manner, dancing and making loud cries about the place;
which when the rest of the Macedonians perceived, they also in great
delight ran thither with torches; for they hoped the burning and destruction
of the royal palace was an argument that he looked homeward, and had
no design to reside among the barbarians. Thus some writers give their
account of this action, while others say it was done deliberately;
however, all agree that he soon repented of it, and gave order to
put out the fire. 

Alexander was naturally most munificent, and grew more so as his fortune
increased, accompanying what he gave with that courtesy and freedom
which, to speak truth, is necessary to make a benefit really obliging.
I will give a few instances of this kind. Ariston, the captain of
the Paeonians, having killed an enemy, brought his head to show him,
and told him that in his country such a present was recompensed with
a cup of gold. "With an empty one," said Alexander, smiling, "but
I drink to you in this, which I give you full of wine." Another time,
as one of the common soldiers was driving a mule laden with some of
the king's treasure, the beast grew tired, and the soldier took it
upon his own back, and began to march with it, till Alexander seeing
the man so overcharged asked what was the matter; and when he was
informed, just as he was ready to lay down his burden for weariness,
"Do not faint now," said he to him, "but finish the journey, and carry
what you have there to your own tent for yourself." He was always
more displeased with those who would not accept of what he gave than
with those who begged of him. And therefore he wrote to Phocion, that
he would not own him for his friend any longer if he refused his presents.
He had never given anything to Serapion, one of the youths that played
at ball with him, because he did not ask of him, till one day, it
coming to Serapion's turn to play, he still threw the ball to others,
and when the king asked him why he did not direct it to him, "Because
you do not ask for it," said he; which answer pleased him so that
he was very liberal to him afterwards. One Proteas, a pleasant, jesting,
drinking fellow, having incurred his displeasure, got his friends
to intercede for him, and begged his pardon himself with tears, which
at last prevailed, and Alexander declared he was friends with him.
"I cannot believe it," said Proteas, "unless you first give me some
pledge of it." The king understood his meaning, and presently ordered
five talents to be given him. How magnificent he was in enriching
his friends, and those who attended on his person, appears by a letter
which Olympias wrote to him, where she tells him he should reward
and honour those about him in a more moderate way. "For now," said
she, "you make them all equal to kings, you give them power and opportunity
of making many friends of their own, and in the meantime you leave
yourself destitute." She often wrote to him to this purpose, and he
never communicated her letters to anybody, unless it were one which
he opened when Hephaestion was by, whom he permitted, as his custom
was, to read it along with him; but then as soon as he had done, he
took off his ring, and set the seal upon Hephaestion's lips. Mazaeus,
who was the most considerable man in Darius's court, had a son who
was already governor of a province. Alexander bestowed another upon
him that was better; he, however, modestly refused, and told him,
instead of one Darius, he went the way to make many Alexanders. To
Parmenio he gave Bagoas's house, in which he found a wardrobe of apparel
worth more than a thousand talents. He wrote to Antipater, commanding
him to keep a life-guard about him for the security of his person
against conspiracies. To his mother he sent many presents, but would
never suffer her to meddle with matters of state or war, not indulging
her busy temper, and when she fell out with him on this account, he
bore her ill-humour very patiently. Nay more, when he read a long
letter from Antipater full of accusations against her, "Antipater,"
he said, "does not know that one tear of a mother effaces a thousand
such letters as these." 

But when he perceived his favourites grow so luxurious and extravagant
in their way of living and expenses that Hagnon, the Teian, wore silver
nails in his shoes, that Leonnatus employed several camels only to
bring him powder out of Egypt to use when he wrestled, and that Philotas
had hunting nets a hundred furlongs in length, that more used precious
ointment than plain oil when they went to bathe, and that they carried
about servants everywhere with them to rub them and wait upon them
in their chambers, he reproved them in gentle and reasonable terms,
telling them he wondered that they who had been engaged in so many
single battles did not know by experience, that those who labour sleep
more sweetly and soundly than those who are laboured for, and could
fail to see by comparing the Persians' manner of living with their
own that it was the most abject and slavish condition to be voluptuous,
but the most noble and royal to undergo pain and labour. He argued
with them further, how it was possible for any one who pretended to
be a soldier, either to look well after his horse, or to keep his
armour bright and in good order, who thought it much to let his hands
be serviceable to what was nearest to him, his own body. "Are you
still to learn," said he, "that the end and perfection of our victories
is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue? And
to strengthen his precepts by example, he applied himself now more
vigorously than ever to hunting and warlike expeditions, embracing
all opportunities of hardship and danger, insomuch that a Lacedaemonian,
who was there on an embassy to him and chanced to be by when he encountered
with and mastered a huge lion, told him he had fought gallantly with
the beast, which of the two should be king. Craterus caused a representation
to be made of this adventure, consisting of the lion and the dogs,
of the king engaged with the lion, and himself coming in to his assistance,
all expressed in figures of brass, some of which were by Lysippus,
and the rest by Leochares; and had it dedicated in the temple of Apollo
at Delphi. Alexander exposed his person to danger in this manner,
with the object both of inuring himself and inciting others to the
performance of brave and virtuous actions. 

But his followers, who were grown rich, and consequently proud, longed
to indulge themselves in pleasure and idleness, and were weary of
marches and expeditions, and at last went on so far as to censure
and speak ill of him. All which at first he bore very patiently, saying
it became a king well to do good to others, and be evil spoken of.
Meantime, on the smallest occasions that called for a show of kindness
to his friends, there was every indication on his part of tenderness
and respect. Hearing Peucestes was bitten by a bear, he wrote to him
that he took it unkindly he should send others notice of it and not
make him acquainted with it; "But now," said he, "since it is so,
let me know how you do, and whether any of your companions forsook
you when you were in danger, that I may punish them." He sent Hephaestion,
who was absent about some business, word how, while they were fighting
for their diversion with an ichneumon, Craterus was by chance run
through both thighs with Perdiccas's javelin. And upon Peucestes's
recovery from a fit of sickness, he sent a letter of thanks to his
physician Alexippus. When Craterus was ill, he saw a vision in his
sleep, after which he offered sacrifices for his health, and bade
him do so likewise. He wrote also to Pausanias, the physician, who
was about to purge Craterus with hellebore, partly out of an anxious
concern for him, and partly to give him a caution how he used that
medicine. He was so tender of his friends' reputation that he imprisoned
Ephialtes and Cissus, who brought him the first news of Harpalus's
flight and withdrawal from his service, as if they had falsely accused
him. When he sent the old and infirm soldiers home, Eurylochus, a
citizen of Aegae, got his name enrolled among the sick, though he
ailed nothing, which being discovered, he confessed he was in love
with a young woman named Telesippa, and wanted to go along with her
to the sea-side. Alexander inquired to whom the woman belonged, and
being told she was a free courtesan, "I will assist you," said he
to Eurylochus, "in your amour if your mistress be to be gained either
by presents or persuasions; but we must use no other means, because
she is free-born." 

It is surprising to consider upon what slight occasions he would write
letters to serve his friends. As when he wrote one in which he gave
order to search for a youth that belonged to Seleucus, who was run
away into Cilicia; and in another thanked and commanded Peucestes
for apprehending Nicon, a servant of Craterus; and in one to Megabyzus,
concerning a slave that had taken sanctuary in a temple, gave direction
that he should not meddle with him while he was there, but if he could
entice him out by fair means, then he gave him leave to seize him.
It is reported of him that when he first sat in judgment upon capital
causes he would lay his hand upon one of his ears while the accuser
spoke, to keep it free and unprejudiced in behalf of the party accused.
But afterwards such a multitude of accusations were brought before
him, and so many proved true, that he lost his tenderness of heart,
and gave credit to those also that were false; and especially when
anybody spoke ill of him, he would be transported out of his reason,
and show himself cruel and inexorable, valuing his glory and reputation
beyond his life or kingdom. 

He now, as we said, set forth to seek Darius, expecting he should
be put to the hazard of another battle, but heard he was taken and
secured by Bessus, upon which news he sent home the Thessalians, and
gave them a largess of two thousand talents over and above the pay
that was due to them. This long and painful pursuit of Darius- for
in eleven days he marched thirty-three hundred furlongs- harassed
his soldiers