XXXVI. When Alexander made himself master of Susa, he found in the

palace forty thousand talents worth of coined money, besides an

immense mass of other valuable treasure. Here we are told was found

five thousand talents weight of cloth dyed with Hermionic[411] purple

cloth, which had been stored up there for a space of two hundred years

save ten, and which nevertheless still kept its colour as brilliantly

as ever. The reason of this is said to be that honey was originally

used in dyeing the cloth purple, and white olive oil for such of it as

was dyed-white: for cloth of these two colours will preserve its

lustre without fading for an equal period of time. Demon also informs

us that amongst other things the Kings of Persia had water brought

from the Nile and the Danube, and laid up in their treasury, as a

confirmation of the greatness of their empire, and to prove that they

were lords of all the world.

XXXVII. As the district of Persis[412] was very hard to invade, both

because of its being mountainous, and because it was defended by the

noblest of the Persians (for Darius had fled thither for refuge),

Alexander forced his way into it by a circuitous path, which was shown

him by a native of the country, the son of a Lykian captive, by a

Persian mother, who was able to speak both the Greek and the Persian

language. It is said that while Alexander was yet a child, the

prophetess at the temple of Apollo at Delphi foretold that a wolf[413]

should some day serve him for a guide when he went to attack the

Persians. When Persis was taken, a terrible slaughter was made of all

the prisoners. A letter written by Alexander himself is still extant,

in which he orders that they should all be put to the sword, thinking

this to be the safest course. He is said to have found as much coined

money here[414] as in Susa, and so much other treasure that it

required ten thousand carts, each drawn by a pair of mules, and five

thousand camels, to carry it away.

Alexander, observing a large statue of Xerxes which had been thrown

down and was being carelessly trampled upon by the soldiers as they

pressed into the royal palace, stopped, and addressed it as though it

were alive. "Shall we," said he, "leave thee lying there, because of

thy invasion of Greece, or shall we set thee up again because of thy

magnificence and greatness of soul?" He then stood musing for a long

time, till at length he roused himself from his reverie and went his

way. Being desirous of giving his soldiers some rest, as it was now

winter, he remained in that country for four months. It is related

that when he first took his seat upon the royal throne of Persia,

under the golden canopy, Demaratus, an old friend and companion of

Alexander, burst into tears, and exclaimed that the Greeks who had

died before that day had lost the greatest of pleasures, because they

had not seen Alexander seated on the throne of Darius.

XXXVIII. After this, while he was engaged in preparing to march in

pursuit of Darius, he chanced to be present at a banquet where his

friends had brought their mistresses. Of these ladies the chief was

the celebrated Thais, who afterwards became the mistress of King

Ptolemy of Egypt, and who was of Attic parentage.

She at first amused Alexander by her conversation, then adroitly

flattered him, and at last, after he had been drinking for some time,

began to speak in a lofty strain of patriotism which scarcely became

such a person. She declared, that she was fully repaid for all the

hardships which she had undergone while travelling through Asia with

the army, now that she was able to revel in the palace of the haughty

Kings of Persia; but that it would be yet sweeter to her to burn the

house of Xerxes, who burned her native Athens, and to apply the torch

with her own hand in the presence of Alexander, that it might be told

among men that a woman who followed Alexander's camp had taken a more

noble revenge upon the Persians for the wrongs of Greece, than all the

admirals and generals of former times had been able to do. This speech

of hers was enthusiastically applauded, and all Alexander's friends

pressed him to execute the design. Alexander leaped from his seat, and

led the way, with a garland upon his head and a torch in his hand. The

rest of the revellers followed, and surrounded the palace, while the

remainder of the Macedonians, hearing what was going on, brought them

torches. They did so the more readily because they thought that the

destruction of the palace indicated an intention on Alexander's part

to return home, and not to remain in Persia. Some historians say that

this was how he came to burn the palace, while others say that he did

it after mature deliberation: but all agree that he repented of what

he had done, and gave orders to have the fire extinguished.

XXXIX. His liberality and love of making presents increased with his

conquests: and his gifts were always bestowed in so gracious a manner

as to double their value. I will now mention a few instances of this.

Ariston, the leader of the Pæonians, having slain an enemy, brought

his head and showed it to Alexander, saying, "O king, in my country

such a present as this is always rewarded with a gold cup." Alexander

smiled, and said, "Yes, with an empty cup: but I pledge you in this

gold cup, full of good wine, and give you the cup besides." One of the

common Macedonian soldiers was driving a mule laden with gold

belonging to Alexander; but as the animal became too weary to carry

it, he unloaded it, and carried the gold himself. When Alexander saw

him toiling under his burden, and learned his story, he said, "Be not

weary yet, but carry it a little way farther, as far as your own tent;

for I give it to you." He seemed to be more vexed with those who did

not ask him for presents than with those who did so. He wrote a letter

to Phokion, in which he declared that he would not any longer remain

his friend, if Phokion refused all his presents. Serapion, a boy who

served the ball to the players at tennis, had been given nothing by

Alexander because he had never asked for anything. One day when

Serapion was throwing the ball to the players as usual, he omitted to

do so to the king, and when Alexander asked why he did not give him

the ball, answered "You do not ask me for it." At this, Alexander

laughed and gave him many presents. Once he appeared to be seriously

angry with one Proteus, a professed jester. The man's friends

interceded for him, and he himself begged for pardon with tears in his

eyes, until Alexander said that he forgave him. "My king," said he

"will you not give me something by way of earnest, to assure me that I

am in your favour." Upon this the king at once ordered him to be given

five talents. The amount of money which he bestowed upon his friends

and his body guard appears from a letter which his mother Olympias

wrote to him, in which she said, "It is right to benefit your friends

and to show your esteem for them; but you are making them all as great

as kings, so that they get many friends, and leave you alone without

any." Olympias often wrote to him to this effect, but he kept all her

letters secret, except one which Hephæstion, who was accustomed to

read Alexander's letters, opened and read. Alexander did not prevent

him, but took his own ring from his finger, and pressed the seal upon

Hephæstion's mouth. The son of Mazæus, who had been the chief man in

the kingdom under Darius, was governor of a province, and Alexander

added another larger one to it. The young nobleman refused to accept

the gift, and said, "My king, formerly there was only one Darius, but

you now have made many Alexanders."

He presented Parmenio with the house of Bagoas, in which it is said

that property worth a thousand talents was found which had belonged to

the people of Susa. He also sent word to Antipater, warning him to

keep a guard always about his person, as a plot had been formed

against his life. He sent many presents to his mother, but forbade her

to interfere with the management of the kingdom. When she stormed at

this decision of his, he patiently endured her anger; and once when

Antipater wrote a long letter to him full of abuse of Olympias, he

observed, after reading it, that Antipater did not know that one tear

of his mother's eye would outweigh ten thousand such letters.

XL. Alexander now observed that his friends were living in great

luxury and extravagance; as for instance, Hagnon of Teos had his shoes

fastened with silver nails; Leonnatus took about with him many camels,

laden with dust,[415] from Egypt, to sprinkle his body with when he

wrestled; Philotas had more than twelve miles of nets for hunting; and

that all of them used richly perfumed unguents to anoint themselves

with instead of plain oil, and were attended by a host of bathmen and

chamberlains. He gently reproved them for this, saying that he was

surprised that men who had fought so often and in such great battles,

did not remember that the victors always sleep more sweetly than the

vanquished, and that they did not perceive, when they imitated the

luxury of the Persians, that indulgence is for slaves, but labour for

princes. "How," he asked, "can a man attend to his horse, or clean

his own lance and helmet, if he disdains to rub his own precious body

with his hands? And do you not know, that our career of conquest will

come to an end on the day when we learn to live like those whom we

have vanquished?" He himself, by way of setting an example, now

exposed himself to greater fatigues and hardships than ever in his

campaigns and hunting expeditions, so that old Lakon, who was with him

when he slew a great lion, said, "Alexander, you fought well with the

lion for his kingdom." This hunting scene was afterwards represented

by Kraterus at Delphi. He had figures made in bronze of Alexander and

the hounds fighting with the lion, and of himself running to help him.

Some of the figures were executed by the sculptor Lysippus, and some

by Leochares.

XLI. Thus did Alexander risk his life in the vain endeavour to teach

his friends to live with simplicity and hardihood; but they, now that

they had become rich and important personages, desired to enjoy

themselves, and no longer cared for long marches and hard campaigns,

so that at last they began to murmur against him, and speak ill of

him. He bore this with great gentleness at first, saying that it was

the part of a king to do his subjects good and to be ill-spoken of by

them in return. Indeed, he used to take advantage of the most trifling

incidents to show the esteem he had for his intimate friends, of which

I will now give a few examples.

Peukestas once was bitten by a bear, while hunting. He wrote and told

his friends of his mishap, but kept it secret from Alexander. He, when

he heard of it, wrote to Peukestas, blaming him for having concealed

his hurt. "But now," he writes, "let me know how you are, and tell me

if those who were hunting the bear with you deserted you, that I may

punish them." When Hephæstion was absent on some business, he wrote to

him to say that Kraterus had been struck in the thighs with

Perdikkas's spear, while they were amusing themselves by baiting an

ichneumon.

When Peukestas recovered from some illness, he wrote to the physician

Alexippus, congratulating him on the cure which he had effected. When

Kraterus was ill, Alexander had a dream about him, in consequence of

which he offered sacrifice to certain gods, and bade him also

sacrifice to them: and when Pausanias the physician wished to give

Kraterus a draught of hellebore, Alexander wrote to him, advising him

to take the drug, but expressing the greatest anxiety about the

result.

He imprisoned Ephialtes and Kissus, who were the first to bring him

the news that Harpalus had absconded, because he thought that they

wrongfully accused him.

When he was on the point of sending home all his invalided and

superannuated soldiers, Eurylochus of Ægæ was found to have placed his

name upon the list, although he was in perfect health. When

questioned, he confessed that he was in love with a lady named

Telesippa, who was returning to the sea-coast, and that he had acted

thus in order to be able to follow her. Alexander on hearing this,

enquired who this lady was. Being told that she was a free-born Greek

courtezan, he answered, "I sympathise with your affection, Eurylochus;

but since Telesippa is a free-born woman, let us try if we cannot,

either by presents or arguments, persuade her to remain with us."

XLII. It is wonderful how many letters and about what trifling matters

he found time to write to his friends. For instance, he sent a letter

to Kilikia ordering search to be made for a slave boy belonging to

Seleukus, who had run away, and praising Peukestas because he had

captured Nikon, the runaway slave of Kraterus. He wrote also to

Megabazus about a slave who had taken sanctuary in a temple, ordering

him to catch him when outside of the temple, if possible, but not to

lay hands on him within its precincts.

We are told that when he was sitting as judge to hear men tried for

their lives, he was wont to close one ear with his hand, while the

prosecutor was speaking, in order that he might keep it unbiassed and

impartial to listen to what the accused had to say in his defence. But

later in his life, so many persons were accused before him, and so

many of them truly, that his temper became soured and he inclined to

believe them to be all alike guilty. And he was especially

transported with rage, and made completely pitiless if any one spoke

ill of him, for he valued his reputation more than his life or his

crown.

He now set out again in pursuit of Darius, with the intention of

fighting another battle with him: but on hearing that Darius had been

taken by the satrap Bessus, he dismissed all his Thessalian cavalry

and sent them home, giving them a largess of two thousand talents over

and above the pay which was due to them. He now set out on a long and

toilsome journey in pursuit of Darius, for in eleven days he rode more

than five hundred miles, so that his men were terribly distressed,

especially by want of water. One day he met some Macedonians who were

carrying water from a river in skins on the backs of mules. Seeing

Alexander faint with thirst, as it was the hottest time of the day,

they quickly filled a helmet with water and gave it to him to drink.

He asked them to whom they were carrying the water, to which they

answered, "To our own sons; but provided that you live, even if they

should die, we can beget other children." On hearing this he took the

helmet into his hands; but seeing all the horsemen around him eagerly

watching him and coveting the water, he gave it back without tasting

it. He thanked the men for offering it to him, but said, "If I alone

drink it, all these soldiers will be discontented." The soldiers, when

they saw the noble courage and self-denial of Alexander, bade him lead

them on boldly, and urged forward their horses, saying that they felt

neither hunger nor thirst, and did not think themselves to be mortal

men, so long as they had such a king as Alexander to lead them.

XLIII. The whole of his army was equally enthusiastic; yet the

fatigues of the march were so great, that when Alexander burst into

the enemy's camp, only sixty men are said to have followed him. Here

they passed over great heaps of gold and silver, and pursued a long

line of waggons, full of women and children, which were proceeding

along without any drivers, until they had reached the foremost of

them, because they imagined that Darius might be hidden in them. At

last he was found, lying in his chariot, pierced with innumerable

javelins, and just breathing his last. He was able to ask for drink,

and when given some cold water by Polystratus, he said to him, "My

good sir, this is the worst of all my misfortunes that I am unable to

recompense you for your kindness to me; but Alexander will reward you,

and the gods will reward Alexander for his courteous treatment of my

mother and wife and daughters. Wherefore I pray thee, embrace him, as

I embrace thee." With these words he took Polystratus by the hand and

died. When Alexander came up, he showed great grief at the sight, and

covered the body with his own cloak. He afterwards captured Bessus and

tore him asunder, by bending down the tops of trees and tying

different parts of his body to each, and then letting them spring up

again so that each tore off the limb to which it was attached.

Alexander now had the corpse of Darius adorned as became a prince, and

sent it to his mother, while he received his brother Exathres into the

number of his intimate friends.

XLIV. He himself, with a few picked troops, now invaded Hyrkania,

where he discovered an arm of the sea, which appeared to be as large

as the Euxine, or Black Sea, but not so salt. He was unable to obtain

any certain information about it, but conjectured it to be a branch of

the Mæotic lake.[416] Yet geographers, many years before Alexander,

knew well that this, which is entitled the Hyrkanian or Caspian Sea,

is the northernmost of four gulfs proceeding from the exterior ocean.

Here some of the natives surprised the grooms in charge of his horse

Boukephalus, and captured the animal. Alexander was much distressed at

this, and sent a herald to make proclamation that unless his horse

were restored to him, he would massacre the whole tribe with their

wives and children. When, however, they brought back his horse, and

offered to place their chief cities in his hands as a pledge for their

good behaviour, he treated them all with kindness, and paid a ransom

for the horse to those who had captured it.

XLV. From hence he passed into Parthia, where, being at leisure, he

first began to wear the Persian dress, either because he thought that

he should more easily win the hearts of the natives by conforming to

their fashion, or else in order to try the obedience of his Macedonian

soldiers and see whether they might not, by degrees, be brought to pay

him the same respect and observance which the kings of Persia used to

exact from their subjects. He did not, however, completely adopt the

Persian costume, which would have been utterly repugnant to Grecian

ideas, and wore neither the trousers, the coat with long sleeves, nor

the tiara, but his dress, though less simple than the Macedonian, was

still far from being so magnificent or so effeminate as that of the

Persians. He at first only wore this dress when giving audiences to

the natives of the country, or when alone with his more intimate

friends, but afterwards he frequently both drove out publicly and

transacted business in the Persian dress. The sight greatly offended

the Macedonians, but yet they were so filled with admiration for his

courage, that they felt he must be indulged in his fancies about

dress; for besides all his other honourable wounds, he had only a

short time before this been struck by an arrow in the calf of his leg,

so that splinters of the bone came out, and also received such a blow

upon his neck from a stone, that his eyesight was affected for a

considerable time afterwards. Yet he did not cease to expose himself

to danger, but crossed the river Orexartes, which he himself thought

to be the Tanais or Don, and, although suffering from an attack of

dysentery, defeated the Scythians and chased them for many miles.

XLVI. Most historians, amongst whom are Kleitarchus, Polykleitus,

Onesikritus, Antigenes, and Istrus, say that while in this country he

met an Amazon: while Aristobulus, Chares the court-usher, Ptolemy,

Antikleides, Philon of Thebes, and Philippus the herald of festivals,

besides Hekatæus of Eretria, Philip of Chalkis, and Douris of Samos,

say that this is a mere fiction. And this opinion seems to be

corroborated by Alexander himself: for he wrote to Antipater an exact

account of his Scythian campaign, and mentioned that the King of the

Scythians offered him his daughter in marriage, but says nothing about

Amazons. It is said that many years afterwards, when Lysimachus had

made himself king, Onesikritus was reading aloud to him the fourth

book of his History of Alexander, in which mention is made of the

Amazon. Lysimachus asked him with a quiet smile, "And where was I all

the time?" However, Alexander's fame is not impaired if we disbelieve

this story, nor is it increased if we regard it as true.

XLVII. As he feared that the Macedonians would refuse to follow him

any farther, he allowed the great mass of his army to repose itself,

and advanced through Hyrkania with a force of twenty thousand infantry

and three thousand cavalry, all picked men. In a speech addressed to

these select regiments, he declared that the natives of Asia had only

seen them hitherto as if in a dream; and that, if they merely threw

the whole country into disorder and then retired from it, the Asiatics

would attack them as boldly as if they were so many women. Yet he

said, that he permitted those who desired it to leave his service and

return home, merely protesting against being left, with only his

personal friends and a few volunteers, to carry on the noble

enterprise of making Macedonia mistress of the whole world. These are

almost the exact words which he uses in a letter to Antipater, and he

further says that when he had spoken thus, the soldiers burst into a

universal shout, bidding him lead them whithersoever he would. After

this experiment had succeeded with the select troops, it was no

difficult matter to induce the remainder to follow him, but they came

almost of their own accord. He now began to imitate the Asiatic habits

more closely, and endeavoured to assimilate the Macedonian and Asiatic

customs and manners, hoping that by this means his empire, during his

absence, would rest upon a foundation of good will rather than of

force. To further this object he selected thirty thousand native

youths, whom he ordered to be taught to speak the Greek language and

to use the same arms as the Macedonians; and appointed a numerous body

of instructors for them. His marriage with Roxana was due to a genuine

passion, for he was struck by her great beauty when he saw her dance

in a chorus after a feast, but nevertheless the alliance was a very

politic one; for the natives were pleased to see him take a wife from

among themselves, and were charmed with the courteous and honourable

conduct of Alexander, who, although Roxana was the only woman whom he

had ever loved, yet would not approach her until he was lawfully

married to her.

As Alexander perceived that, among his most intimate friends,

Hephæstion encouraged him and furthered his designs, while Kraterus

steadfastly adhered to the Macedonian customs, he made use of the

latter in all transactions with Asiatics, and of the former when

dealing with Greeks and Macedonians. He loved Hephæstion, and

respected Kraterus above all the rest of his friends, and was wont to

say that Hephæstion loved Alexander, but that Kraterus loved the king.

His favour caused constant jealousies between them, so that once in

India they actually drew their swords and fought with one another.

Their friends began to take part in the quarrel on either side, when

Alexander rode up, and bitterly reproached Hephæstion before them all,

saying that he must be a fool and a madman if he did not see, that

without Alexander's favour he would be nobody. Privately also he

sharply rebuked Kraterus; and calling them both before him, made them

be friends again, swearing by Zeus Ammon, and all the gods, that they

were the two men whom he loved best in the world; but that if he heard

of any more quarrelling between them he would put them both to death,

or at least him who began the quarrel. In consequence of this, it is

said that there never again, even in sport, was any dispute between

them.

XLVIII. Philotas, the son of Parmenio, was a man of much importance

among the Macedonians; for he was courageous and hardy, and the most

liberal man, and the most devoted to his friends in all the army

except Alexander himself. We are told of him that once a friend of his

came to him to borrow money, and he at once commanded one of his

servants to let him have it. His purse-bearer answered that he had no

money, upon which Philotas exclaimed, "What! Have I no plate or

furniture upon which you can raise money for my friend?"

His lofty carriage, his immense wealth, and the splendour in which he

lived, caused him to appear too great for a private station, while

his pride and vulgar ostentation made him generally disliked. His own

father, Parmenio, once said to him: "My son, I pray you show a little

more humility." He had long been an object of suspicion to Alexander,

who was kept constantly informed about him by the following

means:--After the battle of Issus, when the baggage of Darius was

captured at Damascus, there was taken among the captives a beautiful

Greek girl, named Antigone. She fell to the lot of Philotas, and

became his mistress; and the young man, who was much enamoured of her,

used to boast to her over his wine that all the conquests of the

Macedonians were really due to the prowess of his father and himself,

and that Alexander was merely a foolish boy, who owed his crown and

his empire to their exertions. Antigone repeated these expressions to

one of her friends, who, as was natural, did not keep them secret, so

that at last they reached the ears of Kraterus. Kraterus privately

introduced the woman to Alexander; and he, after he had heard her

repeat what she had been told, ordered her to take secret note of the

confidential expressions of Philotas, and to report them, from time to

time, to himself.

XLIX. Philotas had no idea that he was being spied upon in this

manner, and in his conversation with Antigone frequently spoke

insolently and slightingly of his sovereign. Alexander, although he

had accumulated terrible proofs of treason against Philotas,

nevertheless remained silent, either because he felt assured of the

loyalty of Parmenio, or because he feared to attack a man of such

power and importance. At length, however, a Macedonian of Chalastra,

named Simnus, formed a plot against Alexander's life, and invited a

young man, named Nikomachus, his own intimate friend, to join him.

Nikomachus refused compliance, and told the whole story of the plot to

his brother, Kebalinus, who at once had an interview with Philotas,

and bade him bring them at once to Alexander, as persons who had a

most important communication to make to him. Philotas, however, for

some reason or other, did not bring them before Alexander, but said

that the king was not at leisure to hear them, as he was engaged in

more important business. This he repeated on a second occasion, and

as his behaviour made the two brothers suspect his loyalty, they

communicated with another officer, and by his means obtained an

audience. They now told Alexander about the design of Limnus, and also

said that Philotas had acted very luke-warmly in the matter, as they

had twice told him that there was a plot against Alexander, and yet he

had, on each occasion, disregarded their warning.

This greatly enraged Alexander: and as when Limnus was arrested he

defended himself desperately and was killed in the scuffle, he was yet

more disturbed, as he feared he had now lost all clue to the plot. He

now openly showed his displeasure with Philotas, and encouraged all

his enemies to say boldly that it was folly of the king to imagine

that an obscure man like Limnus would have ventured to form a

conspiracy against his life, but that Limnus was merely a tool in the

hands of some more powerful person; and that if he wished to discover

the real authors of the plot, he must seek for them among those who

would have been most benefited by its success. Finding that the king

lent a ready ear to suggestions of this kind, they soon furnished him

with an overwhelming mass of evidence of the treasonable designs of

Philotas. Philotas was at once arrested, and put to the torture in the

presence of the chief officers of the Macedonian army, while Alexander

himself sat behind a curtain to hear what he would say. It is said

that when Alexander heard Philotas piteously beg Hephæstion for mercy,

he exclaimed aloud, "Are you such a coward as this, Philotas, and yet

contrive such daring plots?" To be brief, Philotas was put to death,

and immediately afterwards Alexander sent to Media and caused Parmenio

to be assassinated, although he was a man who had performed the most

important services for Philip, had, more than any other of the older

Macedonians, encouraged Alexander to invade Asia, and had seen two of

his three sons die in battle before he perished with the third. This

cruelty made many of the friends of Alexander fear him, and especially

Antipater,[417] who now formed a secret league with the Ætolians, who

also feared Alexander because when he heard of the destruction of the

people of Œneadæ, he said that he himself, and not the sons of the

people of Œneadæ, would be revenged upon the Ætolians.

L. Not long after this followed the murder of Kleitus, which, if

simply told, seems more cruel than that of Philotas; but if we

consider the circumstances under which it took place, and the

provocation which was given, we shall treat it rather as a misfortune

which befel Alexander during a fit of drunken passion than as a

deliberate act. It happened as follows. Some men came from the

sea-coast, bringing Greek grapes as a present to Alexander. He admired

their bloom and ripeness, and invited Kleitus to see them, meaning to

present him with some of them. Kleitus was engaged in offering

sacrifice, but on receiving this summons left his sacrifice and went

to the king: upon which, three of the sheep which he was about to

offer up as victims, followed him. When Alexander heard of this, he

consulted his soothsayers, Aristander, and Kleomantes the Laconian. As

they reported that this was an evil omen, he bade them at once offer

an expiatory sacrifice on behalf of Kleitus; for he himself, three

days before, had dreamed a strange dream about Kleitus, that he had

seen him sitting dressed in black amongst the sons of Parmenio, who

were all of them dead. Before, however, the sacrifices on behalf of

Kleitus had been performed, he came to the banquet, before which

Alexander himself had offered sacrifice to the Dioskuri.

After all had drunk heavily, a song was sung which had been composed

by one Pranichus, or Pierion according to some writers, in which the

generals who had recently been defeated by the barbarians were held up

to public shame and ridicule. The elder Macedonians were vexed at

this, and blamed both the writer of the song and the man who sung it,

but Alexander and his associates were much pleased with it, and bade

the singer go on. Kleitus, who was now very much excited by drink and

who was naturally of a fierce and independent temper, was especially

annoyed, and said that it was not right for Macedonians to be thus

insulted in the presence of enemies and barbarians, for that, in spite

of their misfortune, they were far braver men than those who ridiculed

them. Alexander answered that Kleitus, when he called cowardice a

misfortune, was no doubt pleading his own cause: at which reproach

Kleitus sprang to his feet, and exclaimed, "my cowardice at any rate

saved the life of the son of the gods, when he turned his back to the

sword of Spithridates; so that now, by the blood and wounds of the

Macedonians, you have become so great a man that you pretend to be the

child of Ammon, and disown your father Philip."

LI. Alexander, stung to the quick by these words, said, "Villain, do

you suppose that you will be allowed to spread these calumnies against

me, rendering the Macedonians disaffected, and yet go unpunished?"

"Too much are we punished," answered Kleitus, "when we see such a

reward as this given us for all our hard service, but we congratulate

those of us who are dead, because they died before they saw

Macedonians beaten with Median rods, and begging Persian attendants to

procure them an audience of their king." When Kleitus spoke his mind

thus boldly, Alexander's intimate friends answered with bitter

reproaches, but the older men endeavoured to pacify them. Alexander

now turning to Xenodochus of Kardia and Astenius of Kolophon, asked,

"Do not the Greeks seem to you to treat the Macedonians as if they

were beasts, and they themselves were more than mortal men? "Kleitus,

however, would not hold his peace, but went on to say that if

Alexander could not bear to hear men speak their mind, he had better

not invite free-born people to his table, and ought to confine himself

to the society of barbarians and slaves who would pay respect to his

Persian girdle and striped[418] tunic. At this speech Alexander could

no longer restrain his passion, but seized an apple from the table,

hurled it at Kleitus, and began to feel for his dagger. Aristophanes,

one of his body-guard, had already secreted it, and the rest now

pressed round him imploring him to be quiet. He however leaped to his

feet, and, as if in a great emergency, shouted in the Macedonian

tongue to the foot-guards to turn out. He bade the trumpeter sound an

alarm, and as the man hesitated and refused, struck him with his fist.

This man afterwards gained great credit for his conduct, as it was

thought that by it he had saved the whole camp from being thrown into

an uproar. As Kleitus would not retract what he had said, his friends

seized him and forced him out of the room. But he re-entered by

another door, and in an offensive and insolent tone began to recite

the passage from the Andromache of Euripides, which begins,

"Ah me! in Greece an evil custom reigns," &c.

Upon this Alexander snatched a lance from one of his guards, and ran

Kleitus through the body with it, just as he was drawing aside the

curtain and preparing to enter the room. Kleitus fell with a loud

groan, and died on the spot. Alexander, when he came to himself, and

saw his friends all standing round in mute reproach, snatched the

spear out of the corpse, and would have thrust it into his own neck,

but was forcibly witheld by his guards, who laid hold of him and

carried him into his bed-chamber.

LII. Alexander spent the whole night in tears, and on the next day was

so exhausted by his agony of grief as to be speechless, and only able

to sigh heavily. At length his friends, alarmed at his silence, broke

into the room. He took no notice of any of their attempts at

consolation, except that he seemed to make signs of assent when

Aristander the soothsayer told him that all this had been preordained

to take place, and reminded him of his dream about Kleitus. His

friends now brought to him Kallisthenes the philosopher, who was a

nephew of Aristotle, and Anaxarchus of Abdera. Kallisthenes

endeavoured to soothe his grief, by kind and gentle consolation, but

Anaxarchus, a man who had always pursued an original method of his own

in philosophical speculations, and who was thought to be overbearing

and harsh-tempered by his friends, as soon as he entered the room

exclaimed, "This is that Great Alexander, upon whom the eyes of the

world are fixed: there he lies like a slave, fearing what men will say

of him, although he ought rather to dictate to them what they should

think right, as becomes the master of the world, and not to be

influenced by their foolish opinions. Know you not," asked he "that

Law and Justice sit beside the throne of Zeus, and make everything

which is done by those in power to be lawful and right?" By such

discourse as this Anaxarchus assuaged Alexander's sorrow, but

encouraged his savage and lawless disposition. He gained great favour

for himself, and was able to influence Alexander against Kallisthenes,

who was already no favourite with him on account of his upright,

uncompromising spirit. It is related that once at table, when the

conversation turned upon the seasons, and upon the climate of Asia,

Kallisthenes argued that it was colder in the country where they were

than in Greece; and when Anaxarchus vehemently contradicted this, he

said, "Why, you must admit that this country is the colder of the two;

for in Greece you used to wear only one cloak all through the winter,

whereas here you sit down to dinner wrapped in three Persian rugs."

This reply made Anaxarchus more his enemy than before.

LIII. Kallisthenes made all the sophists and flatterers of Alexander

jealous of him because he was much sought after by the young men for

his learning, and was liked by the elder men on account of his sober,

dignified, and austere life, which confirmed the common report, that

he had come to the court of Alexander with the intention of prevailing

upon him to refound his native city, and collect together its

scattered citizens. His high moral character gained him many enemies,

but he himself gave some colour to their accusations by his conduct in

constantly refusing all invitations, and by behaving himself with

gravity and silence when in society, as if he were displeased with his

company. His manner had caused Alexander himself to say of him, "I

hate a philosopher who is not wise in his own interest." It is related

that once at a great banquet, when sitting over their wine,

Kallisthenes was asked to speak in praise of the Macedonians, and that

he at once poured forth such a fluent and splendid eulogy that all the

company rose, vehemently applauding, and threw their garlands to him.

At this Alexander remarked that, as Euripides says,

"On noble subjects, all men can speak well."

"Now," said he, "show us your ability by blaming the Macedonians, in

order that they may be made better men by having their shortcomings

pointed out." Kallisthenes hereupon began to speak in a depreciatory

strain, and told many home-truths about the Macedonians, pointing out

that Philip had become strong only because Greece was weakened by

faction, and quoting the line,

"In times of trouble, bad men rise to fame."

This speech caused the Macedonians to hate him most bitterly, and

provoked Alexander to say that Kallisthenes had made a display, not of

his own abilities, but of his dislike to the Macedonians.

LIV. This is the account which Strœbus, Kallisthenes's reader, is said

by Hermippus to have given to Aristotle about the quarrel between

Kallisthenes and Alexander; and he added that Kallisthenes was well

aware that he was out of favour with the king, and twice or thrice

when setting out to wait on him would repeat the line from the Iliad,

"Patroklus, too, hath died, a better man than thou."

On hearing this Aristotle acutely remarked, that Kallisthenes had

great ability and power of speech, but no common sense. He, like a

true philosopher, refused to kneel and do homage to Alexander, and

alone had the spirit to express in public what all the oldest and best

Macedonians privately felt. By his refusal he relieved the Greeks and

Alexander from a great disgrace, but ruined himself, because he seemed

to use force rather than persuasion to attain his object. We are told

by Charon of Mitylene that once when at table, Alexander, after

drinking, passed the cup to one of his friends; and that he after

receiving it, rose, stood by the hearth, and after drinking knelt

before Alexander: after which he kissed him and resumed his seat. All

the guests did this in turn until the cup came to Kallisthenes. The

king, who was conversing to Hephæstion, did not take any notice of

what he did, and after drinking he also came forward to kiss him, when

Demetrius, who was surnamed Pheidon, said, "My king, do not kiss him,

for he alone has not done homage to you." Upon this Alexander avoided

kissing Kallisthenes, who said in a loud voice, "Then I will go away

with the loss of a kiss."

LV. The breach thus formed was widened by Hephæstion, who declared

that Kallisthenes had agreed with him to kneel before Alexander, and

then had broken his compact; and this story was believed by Alexander.

After this came Lysimachus and Hagnon, and many others, who accused

Kallisthenes of giving himself great airs, as though he were a queller

of despots, and said that he had a large following among the younger

men, who looked up to him as being the only free man among so many

myriads of people. These accusations were more easily believed to be

true because at this time the plot of Hermolaus was discovered; and it

was said that when Hermolaus enquired of Kallisthenes how one might

become the most famous man in the world, he answered, "By killing the

most famous man in the world." He was even said to have encouraged

Hermolaus to make the attempt, bidding him have no fear of Alexander's

golden throne, and reminding him that he would have to deal with a man

who was both wounded and in ill-health. Yet none of those concerned in

Hermolaus's conspiracy mentioned the name of Kallisthenes, even under

the most exquisite tortures. Alexander himself, in the letters which

he wrote to Kraterus, Attalus, and Alketas immediately after the

discovery of the plot, states that the royal pages, when put to the

torture, declared that they alone had conspired, and that they had no

accomplices. "The pages," Alexander goes on to say, "were stoned to

death by the Macedonians, but I will myself punish the sophist, and

those who sent him hither, and those who receive into their cities men

that plot against me." In these words he evidently alludes to

Aristotle: for Kallisthenes was brought up in his house, being the son

of Hero, Aristotle's first cousin. Some writers tell us that

Kallisthenes was hanged by the orders of Alexander; others that he was

thrown into chains and died of sickness. Chares informs us that he was

kept in confinement for seven months, in order that he might be tried

in the presence of Aristotle himself, but that during the time when

Alexander was wounded in India, he died of excessive corpulence,

covered with vermin.

LVI. This, however, took place after the period of which we write. At

this time Demaratus of Corinth, although an elderly man, was induced

to travel as far as the court of Alexander: and when he beheld him,

said that the Greeks who had died before they saw Alexander sitting

upon the throne of Darius, had lost one of the greatest pleasures in

the world.

Demaratus by this speech gained great favour with the king, but lived

but a short time to enjoy it, as he was soon carried off by sickness.

His funeral was conducted with the greatest magnificence, for the

whole army was employed to raise a mound of great extent, and eighty

cubits high, as a memorial of him; while his remains were placed in a

splendidly equipped four-horse chariot and sent back to the sea-coast.

LVII. As Alexander was now about to invade India, and observed that

his army had become unwieldy and difficult to move in consequence of

the mass of plunder with which the soldiers were encumbered, he

collected all the baggage-waggons together one morning at daybreak,

and first burned his own and those of his companions, after which he

ordered those of the Macedonians to be set on fire. This measure

appears to have been more energetic than the occasion really required;

and yet it proved more ruinous in the design than in the execution:

for although some of the soldiers were vexed at the order, most of

them with enthusiastic shouts distributed their most useful property

among those who were in want, burning and destroying all the rest with

a cheerful alacrity which raised Alexander's spirits to the highest

pitch. Yet Alexander was terrible and pitiless in all cases of

dereliction of duty. He put to death Menander, one of his personal

friends, because he did not remain in a fort, where he had been

appointed to command the garrison; and he shot dead with his own hand

Orsodates, a native chief who had revolted from him. At this time it

happened that a ewe brought forth a lamb, upon whose head was a tiara

in shape and colour like that of the King of Persia, with stones

hanging on each side of it.

Alexander, much disturbed at this portent, was purified by the

priests at Babylon, whom he was accustomed to make use of for this

purpose, but told his friends that he was alarmed for their sake, and

not for his own, as he feared that if he fell, heaven might transfer

his crown to some unworthy and feeble successor. However, he was soon

cheered by a better omen. The chief of Alexander's household servants,

a Macedonian named Proxenus, while digging a place to pitch the royal

tent near the river Oxus, discovered a well, full of a smooth, fatty

liquid. When the upper layer was removed, there spouted forth a clear

oil, exactly like olive oil in smell and taste, and incomparably

bright and clear: and that, too, in a country where no olive trees

grew. It is said that the water of the Oxus itself is very soft and

pleasant, and that it causes the skin of those who bathe in it to

become sleek and glossy. Alexander was greatly delighted with this

discovery, as we learn from a letter which he wrote to Antipater, in

which he speaks of this as being one of the most important and

manifest signs of the divine favour which had ever been vouchsafed to

him. The soothsayers held that the omen portended, that the campaign

would be glorious, but laborious and difficult: for oil has been given

by the gods to men to refresh them after labour.

LVIII. Alexander when on this expedition ran terrible risks in battle,

and was several times grievously wounded. His greatest losses were

caused, however, by the want of provisions, and by the severity of the

climate. He himself, striving to overcome fortune by valour, thought

nothing impossible to a brave man, and believed that, while daring

could surmount all obstacles, cowardice could not be safe behind any

defences. We are told that when he was besieging the fortress of

Sisymithres, which was placed upon a steep and inaccessible rock, his

soldiers despaired of being able to take it. He asked Oxyartes what

sort of a man Sisymithres himself was in respect of courage. When

Oxyartes answered that he was the greatest coward in the world,

Alexander said 'You tell me, that the fortress can be taken; for its

spirit is weak." And indeed he did take it, by playing upon the fears

of Sisymithres. Once he was attacking another fortress, also situated

upon the top of a lofty rock. While he was addressing words of

encouragement to the younger Macedonians, finding that one of them was

named Alexander, he said "You must this day prove yourself a brave

man, if but for your name's sake." The youth fought most bravely, but

fell, to the great grief of Alexander. When he reached the city named

Nysa,[419] the Macedonians were unwilling to attack it, because a very

deep river ran past its walls. "Unlucky that I am," exclaimed

Alexander, "why did I never learn to swim?" Saying thus, he prepared

to cross the river just as he was, with his shield upon his left arm.

After an unsuccessful assault, ambassadors were sent by the besieged,

who were surprised to find Alexander dressed in his armour, covered

with dust and blood. A cushion was now brought to him, and he bade the

eldest of the ambassadors seat himself upon it. This man was named

Akouphis: and he was so much struck with the splendid courtesy of

Alexander, that he asked him what his countrymen must do, in order to

make him their friend. Alexander replied that they must make Akouphis

their chief, and send a hundred of their best men to him. Upon this

Akouphis laughed, and answered: "I shall rule them better, O King, if

I send the worst men to you and not the best."

LIX. There was one Taxiles,[420] who was said to be king of a part of

India as large as Egypt, with a rich and fertile soil. He was also a

shrewd man, and came and embraced Alexander, saying, "Why should we

two fight one another, Alexander, since you have not come to take away

from us the water which we drink nor the food which we eat; and these

are the only things about which it is worth while for sensible men to

fight? As for all other kinds of property, if I have more than you, I

am willing to bestow it upon you, or, if you are the richer, I would

willingly be placed in your debt by receiving some from you."

Alexander was delighted with these words, and giving him his right

hand as a pledge of his friendship exclaimed, "Perhaps you suppose

that by this arrangement we shall become friends without a contest;

but you are mistaken, for I will contend with you in good offices, and

will take care that you do not overcome me." Saying thus, they

exchanged presents, amongst which Alexander gave Taxiles a thousand

talents of coined money. This conduct of his greatly vexed his

friends; but caused him to be much more favourably regarded by many of

the natives.

After this, Alexander, who had suffered great losses from the Indian

mercenary troops who flocked to defend the cities which he attacked,

made a treaty of alliance with them in a certain town, and afterwards,

as they were going away set upon them while they were on the road and

killed them all. This is the greatest blot upon his fame; for in all

the rest of his wars, he always acted with good faith as became a

king. He was also much troubled by the philosophers who attended him,

because they reproached those native princes who joined him, and

encouraged the free states to revolt and regain their independence.

For this reason, he caused not a few of them to be hanged.

LX. His campaign against king Porus is described at length in his own

letters. He tells us that the river Hydaspes[421] ran between the two

camps, and that Porus with his elephants watched the further bank, and

prevented his crossing. Alexander himself every day caused a great

noise and disturbance to be made in his camp, in order that the enemy

might be led to disregard his movements: and at last upon a dark and

stormy night he took a division of infantry and the best of the

cavalry, marched to a considerable distance from the enemy, and

crossed over into an island of no great extent. Here he was exposed to

a terrible storm of rain, with thunder and lightning; but, although

several of his men were struck dead, he pressed on, crossed the

island, and gained the furthermost bank of the river. The Hydaspes was

flooded by the rain, and the stream ran fiercely down this second

branch, while the Macedonians could with difficulty keep their

footing upon this slippery and uneven bottom Here it was that

Alexander is said to have exclaimed, "O ye Athenians, what toils do I

undergo to obtain your praise."

This, however, rests only on the authority of the historian

Oneskritus, for Alexander himself relates that they abandoned their

rafts, and waded through this second torrent under arms, with the

water up to their breasts. After crossing, he himself rode on some

twenty furlongs in advance of the infantry, thinking that if the enemy

met him with their cavalry alone, he would be able to rout them

easily, and that, if they advanced their entire force, before a battle

could be begun, he would be joined by his own infantry. And indeed he

soon fell in with a thousand horse and sixty war chariots of the

enemy, which he routed, capturing all the chariots, and slaying four

hundred of the horsemen. Porus now perceived that Alexander himself

had crossed the river, and advanced to attack him with all his army,

except only a detachment which he left to prevent the Macedonians from

crossing the river at their camp. Alexander, alarmed at the great

numbers of the enemy, and at their elephants, did not attack their

centre, but charged them on the left wing, ordering Koinus to attack

them on the right. The enemy on each wing were routed, but retired

towards their main body, where the elephants stood. Here an obstinate

and bloody contest took place, insomuch that it was the eighth hour of

the day before the Indians were finally overcome. These particulars we

are told by the chief actor in the battle himself, in his letters.

Most historians are agreed that Porus stood four cubits[422] and a

span high, and was so big a man that when mounted on his elephant,

although it was a very large one, he seemed as well proportioned to

the animal as an ordinary man is to a horse. This elephant showed

wonderful sagacity and care for its king, as while he was still

vigorous it charged the enemy and overthrew them, but when it

perceived that he was fainting from his wounds, fearing that he might

fall, it quietly knelt on the ground, and then gently drew the spears

out of his body with its trunk. When Porus was captured, Alexander

asked him how he wished to be treated. "Like a king," answered Porus.

Alexander then enquired if he had nothing else to ask about his

treatment. "Everything," answered Porus, "is comprised in these words,

like a king." Alexander now replaced Porus in his kingdom, with the

title of satrap, and also added a large province to it, subduing the

independent inhabitants. This country was said to have contained

fifteen separate tribes, five thousand considerable cities and

innumerable villages; besides another district three times as large,

over which he appointed Philippus, one of his personal friends, to be

satrap.

LXI. After this battle with Porus, Alexander's horse Boukephalus died,

not immediately, but some time afterwards. Most historians say that he

died of wounds received in the battle, but Onesikritus tells us that

he died of old age and overwork, for he had reached his thirtieth

year. Alexander was greatly grieved at his loss, and sorrowed for him

as much as if he had lost one of his most intimate friends. He founded

a city as a memorial of him upon the banks of the Hydaspes, which he

named Boukephalia. It is also recorded that when he lost a favourite

dog called Peritas, which he had brought up from a whelp, and of which

he was very fond, he founded a city and called it by the dog's name.

The historian Sotion tells us that he heard this from Potamon of

Lesbos.

LXII. The battle with King Porus made the Macedonians very unwilling

to advance farther into India. They had overcome Porus with the

greatest difficulty, as he brought against them a force of twenty

thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, and now offered the most

violent opposition to Alexander, who wished to cross the river Ganges.

This river, they heard, was thirty-two furlongs wide and a hundred

cubits deep, while its further banks were completely covered with

armed men, horses and elephants, for it was said that the kings of the

Gandaritæ and Præsiæ were awaiting his attack with an army of eighty

thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand foot soldiers, eight thousand

war chariots, and six thousand elephants; nor was this any

exaggeration, for not long afterwards Androkottus, the king of this

country, presented five hundred elephants to Seleukus, and overran and

subdued the whole of India with an army of six hundred thousand men.

Alexander at first retired to his tent in a rage, and shut himself up

there, not feeling any gratitude to those who had prevented his

crossing the Ganges, but regarding a retreat as an acknowledgment of

defeat. However, after his friends had argued with him, and his

soldiers had come to the door of his tent, begging him with tears in

their eyes to go no farther, he relented, and gave orders for a

retreat. He now contrived many ingenious devices to impress the

natives, as, for instance, he caused arms, and bridles and mangers for

horses to be made of much more than the usual size, and left them

scattered about. He also set up altars, which even to the present day

are reverenced by the kings of the Præsiæ, who cross the river to

them, and offer sacrifice upon them in the Greek fashion. Androkottus

himself, who was then a lad, saw Alexander himself and afterwards used

to declare that Alexander might easily have conquered the whole

country, as the then king was hated by his subjects on account of his

mean and wicked disposition.

LXIII. After this, Alexander wishing to see the outer ocean,[423]

caused many rafts and vessels managed with oars to be built, and

proceeded in a leisurely manner down the Indus. His voyage, however,

was not an idle one, nor was it unaccompanied with danger, for as he

passed down the river, he disembarked, attacked the tribes on the

banks, and subdued them all. When he was among the Malli, who are said

to be the most warlike tribe in India, he very nearly lost his life.

He was besieging their chief city, and after the garrison had been

driven from the walls by volleys of missiles, he was the first man to

ascend a scaling ladder and mount the walls. The ladder now broke, so

that no more could mount, and as the enemy began to assemble inside at

the foot of the wall and shoot up at him from below, Alexander, alone

against a host, leaped down amongst them, and by good luck, alighted

on his feet. His armour rattled loudly as he leaped, and made the

natives think that a bright light was emitted from his body; so that

at first they gave way and fled from him. But when they saw that he

was attended by only two followers, some of them attacked him at close

quarters with swords and spears, while one standing a little way off

shot an arrow at him with such force and with such good aim, that it

passed through his corslet and imbedded itself in the bones of his

breast. As he shrank back when the arrow struck him, the man who had

shot it ran up to him with a drawn sword in his hand. Peukestas and

Limnæus now stood before Alexander to protect him. Both were wounded,

Limnæus mortally; but Peukestas managed to stand firm, while Alexander

despatched the Indian with his own hand. Alexander was wounded in many

places, and at last received a blow on the neck with a club, which

forced him to lean his back against the wall, still facing the enemy.

The Macedonians now swarmed round him, snatched him up just as he

fainted away, and carried him insensible to his tent. A rumour now ran

through the camp that he was dead, and his attendants with great

difficulty sawed through the wooden shaft of the arrow, and so got off

his corslet. They next had to pluck out the barbed head of the arrow,

which was firmly fixed in one of his ribs. This arrow-head is said to

have measured four fingers-breadths[424] in length, and three in

width. When it was pulled out, he swooned away, so that he nearly

died, but at length recovered his strength. When he was out of danger,

though still very weak, as he had to keep himself under careful

treatment for a long time, he heard a disturbance without, and

learning that the Macedonians were anxious to see him, took his cloak

and went out to them. After sacrificing to the gods for the recovery

of his health, he started again on his journey, and passed through a

great extent of country and past many considerable cities, all of

which he subdued.

LXIV. He captured ten of the Indian philosophers called

Gymnosophistæ;[425] who had been instrumental in causing Sabbas to

revolt, and had done much mischief to the Macedonians. These men are

renowned for their short, pithy answers, and Alexander put difficult

questions to all of them, telling them that he would first put to

death the man who answered him worst, and so the rest in order. The

first was asked, whether he thought the living or the dead to be the

more numerous. He answered, "The living, for the dead are not."

The second was asked, which breeds the largest animals, the sea or the

land. He answered, "The land, for the sea is only a part of it."

The third was asked, which is the cleverest of beasts. He answered,

"That which man has not yet discovered."

The fourth was asked why he made Sabbas rebel. He answered, "Because I

wished him either to live or to die with honour."

The fifth was asked, which he thought was first, the day or the night.

He answered, "The day was first, by one day." As he saw that the king

was surprised at this answer, he added, "impossible questions require

impossible answers."

Alexander now asked the sixth how a man could make himself most

beloved. He answered, "By being very powerful, and yet not feared by

his subjects."

Of the remaining three, the first one was asked, how a man could

become a god. He answered, "By doing that which is impossible for a

man to do."

The next was asked, which was the stronger, life or death. He

answered, "Life, because it endures such terrible suffering."

The last, being asked how long it was honourable for a man to live,

answered, "As long as he thinks it better for him to live than to

die."

Upon this Alexander turned to the judge and asked him to pronounce

his decision. He said that they had answered each one worse than the

other. "Then," said Alexander, "you shall yourself be put to death for

having given such a verdict." "Not so," said he, "O king, unless you

mean to belie your own words, for you said at the beginning that you

would put to death him who gave the worst answer."

LXV. Alexander now gave them presents and dismissed them unhurt. He

also sent Onesikritus to the most renowned of them, who lived a life

of serene contemplation, desiring that they would come to him. This

Onesikritus was a philosopher of the school of Diogenes the cynic. One

of the Indians, named Kalanus, is said to have received him very

rudely, and to have proudly bidden him to take off his clothes and

speak to him naked, as otherwise he would not hold any conversation

with him, even if he came from Zeus himself. Dandamis, another of the

Gymnosophists, was of a milder mood, and when he had been told of

Sokrates, Pythagoras, and Diogenes, said that they appeared to him to

have been wise men, but to have lived in too great bondage to the

laws. Other writers say that Dandamis said nothing more than "For what

purpose has Alexander come all the way hither?" However, Taxiles

persuaded Kalanus to visit Alexander. His real name was Sphines: but

as in the Indian tongue he saluted all he met with the word 'Kale,'

the Greeks named him Kalanus. This man is said to have shown to

Alexander a figure representing his empire, in the following manner.

He flung on the ground a dry, shrunken hide, and then trod upon the

outside of it, but when he trod it down in one place, it rose up in

all the others. He walked all round the edge of it, and showed that

this kept taking place until at length he stepped into the middle, and

so made it all lie flat. This image was intended to signify that

Alexander ought to keep his strength concentrated in the middle of his

empire, and not wander about on distant journeys.

LXVI. Alexander's voyage down the Indus and its tributaries, to the

sea-coast, took seven months. On reaching the ocean he sailed to an

island which he himself called Skillustis, but which was generally

known as Psiltukis. Here he landed and sacrificed to the gods, after

which he explored the sea and the coast as far as he could reach.

Having done this, he turned back, after praying to the gods that no

conqueror might ever transcend this, the extreme limit of his

conquests. He ordered his fleet to follow the line of the coast,

keeping India on their right hand: and he gave Nearchus the supreme

command, with Onesikritus as chief pilot. He, himself, marched through

the country of the Oreitæ, where he endured terrible sufferings from

scarcity of provisions, and lost so many men that he scarcely brought

back home from India the fourth part of his army, which originally

amounted to a hundred and twenty thousand foot, and fifteen thousand

horse. Most of the men perished from sickness, bad food, and the

excessive heat of the sun, and many from sheer hunger, as they had to

march through an uncultivated region, inhabited only by a few

miserable savages, with a stunted breed of cattle whose flesh had

acquired a rank and disagreeable taste through their habit of feeding

on sea-fish.

After a terrible march of sixty days, the army passed through this

desert region, and reached Gedrosia, where the men at once received

abundant supplies of food, which were furnished by the chiefs of the

provinces which they entered.

LXVII. After he had refreshed his troops here for a little, Alexander

led them in a joyous revel for seven days through Karmania.[426] He,

himself, feasted continually, night and day, with his companions, who

sat at table with him upon a lofty stage drawn by eight horses, so

that all men could see them. After the king's equipage followed

numberless other waggons, some with hangings of purple and embroidered

work, and others with canopies of green boughs, which were constantly

renewed, containing the rest of Alexander's friends and officers, all

crowned with flowers and drinking wine. There was not a shield, a

helmet, or a pike, to be seen, but all along the road the soldiers

were dipping cups, and horns, and earthenware vessels into great jars

of liquor and drinking one another's healths, some drinking as they

marched along, while others sat by the roadside. Everywhere might be

heard the sound of flutes and pipes, and women singing and dancing;

while with all this dissolute march the soldiers mingled rough jokes,

as if the god Dionysus himself were amongst them and attended on their

merry procession. At the capital of Gedrosia, Alexander again halted

his army, and refreshed them with feasting and revelry. It is said

that he himself, after having drunk hard, was watching a contest

between several choruses, and that his favourite Bagoas won the prize,

and then came across the theatre and seated himself beside him,

dressed as he was and wearing his crown as victor. The Macedonians,

when they saw this, applauded vehemently, and cried out to Alexander

to kiss him, until at length he threw his arms round him and kissed

him.

LXVIII. He was now much pleased at being joined by Nearchus and his

officers, and took so much interest in their accounts of their voyage,

that he wished to sail down the Euphrates himself with a great fleet,

and then to coast round Arabia and Libya, and so enter the

Mediterranean sea through the pillars of Herakles.[427] He even began

to build many ships at Thapsakus, and to collect sailors and pilots

from all parts of the world, but the severe campaigns which he had

just completed in India, the wound which he had received among the

Malli, and the great losses which his army had sustained in crossing

the desert, had made many of his subjects doubt whether he was ever

likely to return alive, and had encouraged them to revolt, while his

absence had led many of his satraps and viceroys to act in an

extremely arbitrary and despotic manner, so that his whole empire was

in a most critical condition, and full of conspiracies and seditious

risings. Olympias and Kleopatra[428] had attacked and driven out

Antipater, and had divided the kingdom between themselves, Olympias

taking Epirus, and Kleopatra Macedonia. When Alexander heard this, he

said that his mother had proved herself the wiser of the two; for the

Macedonians never would endure to be ruled by a woman. He now sent

Nearchus back to the sea, determining to make war all along the coast,

and coming down in person to punish the most guilty of his officers.

He killed Oxyartes, one of the sons of Abouletes (the satrap of

Susiana) with his own hands, with a sarissa or Macedonian pike.

Abouletes had made no preparations to receive Alexander, but offered

him three thousand talents of silver. Alexander ordered the money to

be thrown down for the horses; and as they could not eat it, he said

"What is the use of your having prepared this for me?" and ordered

Abouletes to be cast into prison.

LXIX. While Alexander was in Persis[429] he first renewed the old

custom that whenever the king came there he should give every woman a

gold piece. On account of this custom we are told that many of the

Persian kings came but seldom to Persis, and that Ochus never came at

all, but exiled himself from his native country through his

niggardliness. Shortly afterwards Alexander discovered that the

sepulchre of Cyrus had been broken into, and put the criminal to

death, although he was a citizen of Pella[430] of some distinction,

named Polemarchus. When he had read the inscription upon the tomb, he

ordered it to be cut in Greek letters also. The inscription ran as

follows: "O man, whosoever thou art, and whencesoever thou comest--for

I know that thou shalt come--I am Cyrus, who won the empire for the

Persians. I pray thee, do not grudge me this little earth that

covereth my body." These words made a deep impression upon Alexander,

and caused him to meditate upon the uncertainty and changefulness of

human affairs. About this time, Kalanus, who had for some days been

suffering from some internal disorder, begged that a funeral pile

might be erected for him. He rode up to it on horseback, said a

prayer, poured a libation for himself and cut off a lock of his own

hair, as is usual at a sacrifice, and then, mounting the pile, shook

hands with those Macedonians who were present, bidding them be of good

cheer that day, and drink deep at the king's table. He added, that he

himself should shortly see the king at Babylon. Having spoken thus he

lay down and covered himself over. He did not move when the fire

reached him, but remained in the same posture until he was consumed,

thus sacrificing himself to the gods after the manner of the Indian

philosophers. Many years afterwards another Indian, a friend of Cæsar,

did the like in the city of Athens; and at the present day his

sepulchre is shown under the name of "the Indian's tomb."

LXX. After Alexander left the funeral pyre, he invited many of his

friends and chief officers to dinner, and offered a prize to the man

who could drink most unmixed wine. Promachus, who won it, drank as

much as four choes.[431] He was presented with a golden crown worth a

talent, and lived only three days afterwards. Of the others, Chares,

the historian, tells us that forty-one died of an extreme cold that

came upon them in their drunkenness.

Alexander now celebrated the marriage of many of his companions at

Susa. He himself married Statira, the daughter of Darius, and bestowed

the noblest of the Persian ladies upon the bravest of his men. He gave

a splendid banquet on the occasion of his marriage, inviting to it not

only all the newly married couples, but all those Macedonians who were

already married to Persian wives. It is said that nine thousand guests

were present at this feast, and that each of them was presented with a

golden cup to drink his wine in. Alexander entertained them in all

other respects with the greatest magnificence, and even paid all the

debts of his guests, so that the whole expense amounted to nine

thousand eight hundred and seventy talents. On this occasion,

Antigenes the one-eyed got his name inscribed on the roll as a debtor,

and produced a man who said that he was his creditor. He received the

amount of his alleged debt, but his deceit was afterwards discovered

by Alexander, who was much enraged, banished him from his court, and

took away his command. This Antigenes was a very distinguished

soldier. When Philip, was besieging Perinthus, Antigenes, who was then

very young, was struck in the eye with a dart, and would not allow his

friends to pull it out, nor leave the fight, before he had driven back

the enemy into the city. He now was terribly cast down at his

disgrace, and made no secret of his intention of making away with

himself. The king, fearing that he would carry out his threat,

pardoned him, and permitted him to keep the money.

LXXI. Alexander was much pleased with the appearance of the three

thousand youths whom he had left to be trained in the Greek manner,

who had now grown into strong and handsome men, and showed great skill

and activity in the performance of military exercises; but the

Macedonians were very discontented, and feared that their king would

now have less need for them. When Alexander sent those of them who

were sick or maimed back to the sea coast, they said that it was

disgraceful treatment that he should send these poor men home to their

country and their parents in disgrace, and in worse case than when

they set out, after he had had all the benefit of their services. They

bade him send them all home, and regard them all as unserviceable,

since he had such a fine troop of young gallants at his disposal to go

and conquer the world with. Alexander was much vexed at this. He

savagely reproached the soldiers, dismissed all his guards, and

replaced them with Persians, whom he appointed as his body-guards and

chamberlains. When the Macedonians saw him attended by these men, and

found themselves shut out from his presence, they were greatly

humbled, and after discussing the matter together they became nearly

mad with rage and jealousy. At last they agreed to go to his tent

without their arms, dressed only in their tunics, and there with

weeping and lamentation offered themselves to him and bade him deal

with them as with ungrateful and wicked men. Alexander, although he

was now inclined to leniency, refused to receive them, but they would

not go away, and remained for two days and nights at the door of his

tent lamenting and calling him their sovereign. On the third day he

came out, and when he saw them in such a pitiable state of abasement,

he wept for some time. He then gently blamed them for their conduct,

and spoke kindly to them. He gave splendid presents to all the

invalids, and dismissed them, writing at the same time to Antipater

with orders, that in every public spectacle these men should sit in

the best places in the theatre or the circus with garlands on their

heads. The orphan children of those who had fallen he took into his

own service.

LXXII. After Alexander was come to the city of Ekbatana in Media, and

had despatched the most weighty part of his business there, he gave

himself up entirely to devising magnificent spectacles and

entertainments, with the aid of three thousand workmen, whom he had

sent for from Greece. During this time, Hephæstion fell sick of a

fever, and being a young man, and accustomed to a soldier's life, did

not put himself upon a strict diet and remain quiet as he ought to

have done. As soon as Glaukus, his physician, left him to go to the

theatre, he ate a boiled fowl for his breakfast, and drank a large jar

of cooled wine. Upon this he was immediately taken worse, and very

shortly afterwards died.

Alexander's grief for him exceeded all reasonable measure. He ordered

the manes of all the horses and mules to be cut off in sign of

mourning, he struck off the battlements of all the neighbouring

cities, crucified the unhappy physician, and would not permit the

flute or any other musical instrument to be played throughout his

camp, until a response came from the oracle of Ammon bidding him

honour Hephæstion and offer sacrifice to him as to a hero.[432] To

assuage his grief he took to war, and found consolation in fighting

and man-hunting. He conquered the tribe called Kossæi, and slew their

entire male population, which passed for an acceptable offering to the

manes of Hephæstion. He now determined to spend ten thousand

talents[433] on the funeral and tomb of Hephæstion; and as he wished

to exceed the cost by the ingenuity and brilliancy of invention shown

in this spectacle, he chose Stasikrates out of all his mechanicians to

arrange it, as he was thought to be able both to devise with grandeur

and to execute with skill.

He on one occasion before this, when conversing with Alexander, told

him that of all mountains in the world Mount Athos in Thrace was that

which could most easily be carved into the figure of a man; and that,

if Alexander would give him the order, he would form Athos into the

most magnificent and durable monument of him that the world had ever

seen, as he would represent him as holding in his left hand the city

of Myriandrus, and with his right pouring, as a libation, a copious

river into the sea. Alexander would not, indeed, adopt this

suggestion, but was fond of discussing much more wonderful and costly

designs than this with his engineers.

LXXIII. Just as Alexander was on the point of starting for Babylon,

Nearchus, who had returned with his fleet up the Euphrates, met him,

and informed him that some Chaldæans had warned Alexander to avoid

Babylon. He took no heed of this warning, but went his way. When he

drew near the walls he saw many crows flying about and pecking at one

another, some of whom fell to the ground close beside him. After this,

as he heard that Apollodorus, the governor of Babylon, had sacrificed

to the gods to know what would happen to Alexander, he sent for

Pythagoras, the soothsayer, who had conducted the sacrifice, to know

if this were true. The soothsayer admitted that it was, on which

Alexander inquired what signs he had observed in the sacrifice.

Pythagoras answered that the victim's liver wanted one lobe. "Indeed!"

exclaimed Alexander, "that is a terrible omen." He did Pythagoras no

hurt, but regretted that he had not listened to the warning of

Nearchus, and spent most of his time in his camp outside the walls of

Babylon, or in boats on the river Euphrates. Many unfavourable omens

now depressed his spirit. A tame ass attacked and kicked to death the

finest and largest lion that he kept; and one day, as he stripped to

play at tennis, the young man with whom he played, when it was time to

dress again, saw a man sitting on the king's throne, wearing his

diadem and royal robe. For a long time this man refused to speak, but

at length said that he was a citizen of Messene, named Dionysius, who

had been brought to Babylon and imprisoned on some charge or other,

and that now the god Serapis had appeared to him, loosed his chains,

and had brought him thither, where he had bidden him to put on the

king's diadem and robe, seat himself on his throne, and remain silent.

LXXIV. When Alexander heard this, he caused the man to be put to

death, according to the advice of his soothsayers; but he himself was

much cast down, and feared that the gods had forsaken him: he also

grew suspicious of his friends. Above all he feared Antipater and his

sons, one of whom, Iolas, was his chief cup-bearer, while the other,

Kassander, had but recently arrived from Greece, and as he had been

trained in the Greek fashion, and had never seen any Oriental customs

before, he burst into a loud, insolent laugh, when he saw some of the

natives doing homage to Alexander. Alexander was very angry, and

seizing him by the hair with both hands, beat his head against the

wall. Another time he stopped Kassander, when he was about to say

something to some men who were accusing his father, Antipater. "Do you

imagine" said he, "that these men would have journeyed so far merely

in order to accuse a man falsely, if they had not been wronged by

him?" When Kassander answered, that it looked very like a false

accusation for a man to journey far from the place where his proofs

lay, Alexander said with a laugh, "This is how Aristotle teaches his

disciples to argue on either side of the question; but if any of you

be proved to have wronged these men ever so little, you shall smart

for it." It is related that after this, terror of Alexander became so

rooted in the mind of Kassander, that many years afterwards, when

Kassander was king of Macedonia, and lord of all Greece, he was

walking about in Delphi looking at the statues, and that when he saw

that of Alexander he was seized with a violent shuddering; his hair

stood upright on his head, and his body quaked with fear, so that it

was long before he regained his composure.

LXXV. After Alexander had once lost his confidence and become

suspicious and easily alarmed, there was no circumstance so trivial

that he did not make an omen of it, and the palace was full of

sacrifices, lustrations, and soothsayers. So terrible a thing is

disbelief in the gods and contempt for them on the one hand, while

superstition and excessive reverence for them presses on men's guilty

consciences like a torrent of water[434] poured upon them. Thus was

Alexander's mind filled with base and cowardly alarms. However when

the oracular responses of the gods about Hephæstion were reported to

him, he laid aside his grief somewhat, and again indulged in feasts

and drinking bouts. He entertained Nearchus and his friends

magnificently, after which he took a bath, and then, just as he was

going to sleep, Medius invited him to a revel at his house. He drank

there the whole of the following day, when he began to feel feverish:

though he did not drink up the cup of Herakles at a draught, or

suddenly feel a pain as of a spear piercing his body, as some

historians have thought it necessary to write, in order to give a

dramatic fitness and dignity to the end of so important a personage.

Aristobulus tells us that he became delirious through fever, and drank

wine to quench his thirst, after which he became raving mad, and died

on the thirtieth day of the month Daisius.

LXXVI. In his own diary his last illness is described thus: "On the

eighteenth day of Daisius he slept in the bath-room, because he was

feverish. On the following day after bathing he came into his chamber

and spent the day playing at dice with Medius. After this he bathed

late in the evening, offered sacrifice to the gods, dined, and

suffered from fever during the night. On the twentieth he bathed and

sacrificed as usual, and while reclining in his bath-room he conversed

with Nearchus and his friends, listening to their account of their

voyage, and of the Great Ocean. On the twenty-first he did the same,

but his fever grew much worse, so that he suffered much during the

night, and next day was very ill. On rising from his bed he lay beside

the great plunge-bath, and conversed with his generals about certain

posts which were vacant in his army, bidding them choose suitable

persons to fill them. On the twenty-fourth, although very ill, he rose

and offered sacrifice; and he ordered his chief officers to remain

near him, and the commanders of brigades and regiments to pass the

night at his gate. On the twenty-fifth he was carried over the river

to the other palace, and slept a little, but the fever did not leave

him. When his generals came to see him he was speechless, and remained

so during the twenty-fifth, so that the Macedonians thought that he

was dead. They clamoured at his palace gates, and threatened the

attendants until they forced their way in. When the gates were thrown

open they all filed past his bed one by one, dressed only in their

tunics. On this day Python and Seleukus, who had been to the temple of

Serapis, enquired whether they should bring Alexander thither. The god

answered that they must leave him alone. The eight and twentieth day

of the month, towards evening, Alexander died."

LXXVII. Most of the above is copied, word for word, from Alexander's

household diary. No one had any suspicion of poison at the time; but

it is said that six years after there appeared clear proof that he was

poisoned, and that Olympias put many men to death, and caused the

ashes of Iolas, who had died in the mean time, to be cast to the

winds, as though he had administered the poison to Alexander.

Some writers say that Antipater was advised by Aristotle to poison

Alexander, and inform us that one Hagnothemis declared that he had

been told as much by Antipater; and that the poison was as cold as

ice, and was gathered like dew, from a certain rock near the city of

Nonakris, and preserved in the hoof of an ass: for no other vessel

could contain it, because it is so exceedingly cold and piercing. Most

historians, however, think that the whole story of Alexander's being

poisoned was a fiction; and this view is strongly supported by the

fact, that as Alexander's generals began to fight one another

immediately after his death, his body lay for many days unheeded, in

hot and close rooms, and yet showed no signs of decay, but remained

sweet and fresh. Roxana, who was pregnant, was regarded with great

respect by the Macedonians, and being jealous of Statira, she sent her

a forged letter, purporting to come from Alexander and asking her to

come to him. When Statira came, Roxana killed both her and her sister,

cast their bodies down a well, and filled up the well with earth. Her

accomplice in this crime was Perdikkas, who on the death of Alexander

at once became a very powerful man. He sheltered his authority under

the name of Arrhidæus, who became the nominal, while Perdikkas was the

virtual king of Macedonia. This Arrhidæus was the son of Philip by a

low and disreputable woman named Philinna, and was half-witted in

consequence of some bodily disorder with which he was afflicted. This

disease was not congenital nor produced by natural causes, for he had

been a fine boy and showed considerable ability, but Olympias

endeavoured to poison him, and destroyed his intellect by her drugs.