Chapter 2

The Birth of Alexander

In the tenth year of Ochus, king of the Persians, says Vincent in book 5, chapter 1, of the Historical Mirror; the sixth year of Philip, king of the Macedonians; and the eleventh year of Nectanabus, king of Egypt—which was the 225th year of the Fifth Age and the 4,735th year of the world according to Bede and the Seventy Translators—Alexander, son of Philip, king of the Macedonians, and of his wife Olympias, was born.

This nevertheless appears not to agree at all with that common history which relates that he was begotten by Nectanabus after the latter had already been driven from his kingdom. For in the fourteenth year of Ochus’s reign and the fifteenth of Nectanabus, as Eusebius writes, Ochus held Egypt after Nectanabus had been driven into Ethiopia.

As is gathered from the History of Alexander, Nectanabus is remembered as excelling among the wise men of Egypt. If the danger of war threatened him, he did not warn the army or engines of Mars. Instead, entering the inner rooms of the palace and the royal secrets, he carried in with him a basin and hid there alone. He filled the basin with the clearest spring water, fashioned the likeness of a ship from wax, and placed images of people there. All these seemed to move and live.

He also employed a wand of ebony wood and spoke through a hollow channel the words by which he summoned the gods above and below. Thus he labored to sink the little ship in the basin. From this it came about that, together with the sinking of that wax and the waxen images burned in it, all the enemies whose presence was announced would also be drowned at sea.

On one occasion he was told that many nations had risen against him with one conspiracy and the same will: the Indians, Arabs, Phoenicians, Parthians, and whatever barbarous nations inhabit the East. When he heard this, he clapped his hands and dissolved into great laughter. Resorting to the skill of his customary art, he understood that he would be conquered and captured by his enemies unless he took counsel for flight.

Soon afterward, after shaving his head and beard and gathering all his precious things, he reached Macedonia. Clothed there in a linen garment, he professed himself an astrologer and commended the power of his skill with great wonder. His reputation became so celebrated that it did not escape Queen Olympias, the wife of King Philip.

Philip was then away at war. The queen began to consult Nectanabus’s skill. Marveling at the woman’s beauty, he was captured by love of her. While he gazed more intently upon her face, she said, “Why are you so fixed in looking at me?” He answered: “I recall that oracle which I received from the gods in Egypt, because I must foretell true things to a queen. Consult me, therefore, concerning what you desire.”

Immediately he brought out his tablets, which those learned in this art call a pinax. They were varied with gold and ivory and contained a horoscope of seven stars with their figures. There Jupiter was seen in an airy stone, that is, hyacinth; the Sun in crystal; the Moon in diamond; Mars in hematite; Mercury in emerald; Venus in sapphire; and Saturn in ophite. The horoscope itself was in Lygdian stone.

Olympias then marveled at the variety of the stars. Standing nearer, she said, “Oh, look, I beg you, at the harmony between Philip and me. For there is a widespread report that if he returns from the enemy, he wishes to transfer himself to another woman.”

After examining the constellation and the things she had asked, Nectanabus said: “That report is true, but I shall help you so that you need fear nothing from divorce. For according to what I have foreseen, it is fated that you will unite with a god and give birth to a son who will avenge anything Philip may dare against you.”

She said, “To the bed of what god, then, am I destined?” He answered, “To Ammon, god of Libya. Therefore prepare yourself for his nuptials as befits a queen. You will see both a dream and, in that dream, the nuptials that will occur between you and the god.”

To abbreviate the history, by magical arts this wicked Nectanabus caused her to dream that she was united with the god Ammon and made pregnant by him. When she had related this to Nectanabus himself, he said that it must soon be fulfilled. Hence she should prepare a bed for herself beside his own so that when this occurred, if anything were needed, he could help her.

He explained that Ammon would come to her in the form of a dragon with a ram’s head and horns, in a white garment, and that she should then prepare herself for union with him. At night in her bedchamber, therefore, that wicked man caused Ammon to appear to her by magical illusions in the form prescribed. While she looked only upon that form, Nectanabus, who was nearby in the adjoining bed, knew her carnally, and Alexander was then conceived from her.

By his incantations Nectanabus also caused Philip, who was then at war, to dream this very thing: that his wife Olympias was united with the god Ammon. When he returned and heard that the queen was pregnant, at first he began almost to believe this. Then he strongly doubted whether she had been joined not to a god but to another man, and he rebuked her harshly.

Perceiving this, Nectanabus contrived by diabolical art that at a solemn banquet where Philip and Olympias were present, a dragon should appear in that form with such terrible sharpness of hissing that the foundations of the house seemed to shake. As it entered the place of the banquet and everyone was struck with fear, Olympias extended her hands to the dragon as she had been instructed. Becoming gentle, it rested its head in her lap and gave her a kiss. Then, withdrawing toward evening, it was changed into an eagle and flew away from their midst.

Deceived by this, Philip asserted that the matter was so—that she had conceived from a god—but that he did not know from which one: whether from Jove because of the eagle, or from Ammon because of the dragon’s form, since he was worshiped in that form. She answered, “From the god Ammon.”

At length, as Olympias gave birth, Nectanabus stood by, observing the courses and motions of the stars. When the woman groaned more violently, she brought forth the child. As soon as it fell to the ground, a movement of the earth immediately followed, together with the crash of thunder, the conflict of winds, and the flashing of lightning.

As Justin relates in book 12, on the day Alexander was born two eagles sat continuously throughout the entire day above the roof of his house, presenting an omen of his twofold empire over Europe and Asia.

Philip called him Alexander in memory of his son who had died from an earlier marriage. As Vincent writes in book 5, chapter 5, Alexander was very beautiful in form and countenance, beneath slightly curled and yellowish hair and a leonine mane, and of outstanding beauty. One of his eyes was almost black, but the left was gray and unlike it.

His nurse was called Alacronis. His tutor in letters was Leonides; Polinichus was his teacher of music; Alcippus of geometry; Anaximenes of oratory; and that Aristotle of Miletus of philosophy, as is read in the history. Jerome nevertheless relates that Aristotle showed Alexander the elements of letters for the use of books.

Jerome likewise says to Laeta: “Greek history relates that Alexander, the most powerful king, could not be free in conduct and gait from the faults of Leonides, his tutor, with which he had been infected while still a small child.” As Seneca relates, Alexander later threw this same Leonides to the lions to be devoured.

When Alexander had reached the age of twelve, as is read in his history, he became his father’s companion. He always trained himself to put on and use arms, rejoiced to be seen with armies, and, leaping upon horses, performed everything as a most prudent soldier.

When Philip went to a nearby Illyrian city, loving Olympias with an affection unlike that with which he had formerly loved her, Olympias immediately sought Nectanabus again and consulted him about Philip’s secret plan. As he sat beside Alexander and spoke from that astral art, Alexander asked him to teach him the art, which he did.

When Alexander had made no small progress in that art, one night he came headlong to the edge of a previously known pit, where Nectanabus was accustomed to teach him. Alexander unexpectedly cast Nectanabus down. Afflicted in the neck by a fatal blow, Nectanabus complained and asked why he had done this to him.

Alexander answered: “You ought to complain about that art which you knew. For, ignorant of the things that were threatening you, you now lie stretched upon the ground while you scrutinize the heavens.” The magician replied: “There is no escape for mortals from fate. Long ago through this knowledge I learned that I would be killed by my son.”

Alexander said, “Am I your son?” Nectanabus then confessed everything: his flight from Egypt and the art by which he had possessed Olympias. Having said these things, he breathed out his soul.

Alexander then placed him upon his shoulders and carried him back to the palace. He erected a most elaborate and marvelous tomb for him and revealed everything to his mother. She marveled that for so many years she had been deceived by a magician and had committed a shameful act. Learn from this that curious persons are often shamefully deceived, as their curiosity deserves, and that deceivers are finally mocked by the devil.

§ I. Bucephalus

At the same time, as is gathered from the History of Alexander, King Philip of the Macedonians, anxious about the successor to his kingdom, sent to Delphi. He received this reply: “O Philip, whoever leaps upon the horse Bucephalus and rides through the middle of Pella shall at last obtain rule over your kingdom and the whole world.”

Bucephalus was a horse remarkable in form, from the royal stock of the herd, with feet shaped according to the fable of Pegasus and of whatever horses of this kind are proclaimed to have belonged to Laomedon. He ate human beings like a beast and raged for food of this kind. Philip had ordered him kept behind iron-bound enclosures.

Alexander was then fourteen years old. One day, as he passed the place where Bucephalus was enclosed, he turned to his companions and said, “Does a neigh strike my ears, or some lion’s roar?” Ptolemy, who afterward was called Soter, answered him: “Indeed, this is that Bucephalus whom your father ordered to remain enclosed until now because of the savagery of his teeth.”

Alexander summoned the keepers, removed the barriers, and led out the horse. Grasping its left mane, he leapt upon the quadruped’s back and led it here and there without a bridle. Since this caused wonder among those who saw it, someone ran and announced the dangerous deed to Philip.

Philip, recalling the oracle, ran to the boy and saluted him as lord of the whole world. When Alexander was fifteen years old, he asked permission to go to Pisa for the sake of competing with chariots. Philip ordered horses and the other necessities to be prepared for him.

Having boarded a ship, Alexander was carried to his destination by a rather favorable storm. When he had entrusted the care of the horses to his servants there and himself went out to examine the condition of the place, he encountered Nicolaus, king of the Athenians and formerly his fellow student.

Nicolaus greeted Alexander first, but not without insult. “Greetings, boy,” he said, and Alexander did not greet him in return. Nicolaus then spoke a second time: “And by whom do you think you have been greeted? Indeed, I am Nicolaus, king of the Athenians.”

Alexander answered: “What benefit is that vain boasting to you? Abandon it, since you waver concerning tomorrow. I do not approve such arrogance.” Nicolaus said, “I would like to know why you are present.” Alexander acknowledged that he had come to the chariot races in pursuit of the crown.

Nicolaus, filled with the gall of excessive indignation, spat upon the youth and left him after assailing him with curses. But Alexander, who had learned to display restraint in every discipline, wiped the spittle from his face. Smiling at the injury he had received, he said: “I swear, Nicolaus, by the majesty of my father and mother that I shall defeat you even in the present contest.”

Not long afterward, when the appointed day arrived, Alexander defeated Nicolaus and the others who had come to the contest. Crowned with the wreath, he returned to Macedonia.

He happened upon Philip, who, having spurned Olympias, was turning to marriage with Cleopatra. On the wedding day Alexander entered the king’s dining room crowned. “Receive, father,” he said, “this first fruit of my labor.” He transferred the crown to Philip’s head and said: “When I join my mother again in a royal marriage, I shall share in your banquet.” Having said this, he reclined opposite Philip.

Among the royal entertainments was a certain Lysias, most witty at provoking laughter. Wishing to bite at the youth in order to please the king, he repeatedly attacked him with many kinds of verbal mockery. He was repeatedly warned to turn to someone else whom he knew his sport would please, but he did not obey. At last Alexander, angered, hurled the cup that was at hand and wounded Lysias.

But the king, boiling with anger, sprang at Alexander and fell forward with an injured leg. Alexander then seized a sword, drove away everyone who rushed upon him as though to apprehend him, and departed. Those who were present carried the gravely wounded Philip into a chamber and placed him upon a bed. After several days, when there was already hope of recovering his health, Alexander entered before Philip and reconciled his mother Olympias to him.

§ II. The Death of Philip

From the History of Alexander and Vincent, book 5: In these times it was reported that the city of Methona had withdrawn from obedience to the king. Although Philip was stirred in spirit, while the strength of his body was still failing he sent Alexander with an army against it. Alexander subdued it in a short time.

When he entered before his father to announce the victory, he saw in the royal house men clothed in barbarian dress. Asking about them, he learned that they were an embassy of King Darius. Those envoys had come for the tribute and tax of the land and water.

Marveling at the manner and title of the demand, Alexander said to the one who appeared to be foremost among them: “Do the Persians claim from mortals these elements, which God has bestowed in common upon all?” He therefore ordered commands from himself to be carried to Darius: that he should refrain from this custom of demanding. Otherwise, Darius should know that he would contest more fiercely in battle with Alexander. Having said this, he ordered the men to depart.

Again, while a neighboring city wavered in its obedience, the expedition was given to Alexander and he was ordered to go there.

Meanwhile a certain Pausanias, abounding in wealth and pleasures, fell in love with Olympias. When he attempted this through intermediaries and the woman consented—namely, that after Philip’s death she would marry him—Pausanias judged the time opportune because Alexander, whose name was already excessively feared, happened then to be absent. He suddenly rushed upon Philip and anticipated him with a wound.

When Philip had been mortally struck, Pausanias immediately hastened to abduct Olympias. While the people were still in turmoil in the theater because the affair had perhaps been accomplished according to plan, Alexander arrived. He encountered the commotion and Philip’s wounds. Rushing upon the queen, he apprehended Pausanias’s violence.

When Alexander aimed a javelin at him but was held back by fear of wounding his mother, Olympias encouraged him: “Throw it, son; throw it. Do not hesitate.” But when Alexander discovered that Philip was still breathing, he ordered Pausanias brought there and placed a sword in his father’s right hand. By striking with Philip’s hand, he killed Pausanias.

Philip, now dying, said: “There is nothing about the end of life or death that saddens me. For I gladly die having avenged myself upon the author of the injury.” He added: “I remember, Alexander, that the god foretold to your pregnant mother that she would bear an avenging son.”

§ III. Philip’s Character

Justin says in book 9 concerning Philip’s character: King Philip was more devoted to the equipment both of arms and of banquets. His greatest riches were the instruments of wars, and he was more skillful in acquiring wealth than in guarding it. Thus amid his daily plundering he was always in want.

Mercy and treachery were equally dear to him. In his eyes no method of conquering was shameful. He was equally flattering and treacherous in speech, promising more than he performed. He cultivated friendships for utility, not fidelity. It was his customary practice to feign favor amid hatred, to stir up hatred between those in harmony, and to seek favor with each side. Amid these traits his eloquence was distinguished and entirely full of acuteness and skill, so that neither did facility lack ornament nor ornament facility.

Valerius says concerning him: Philip rebuked Alexander in a letter for attempting to draw the goodwill of certain Macedonians to himself by gifts: “What reason, son, led you into this vain hope, that you judged those whom you bound to love of yourself by money would be faithful to you?”

The same Valerius says in book 1: Philip, father of Alexander, was admonished by the oracle of Apollo to guard his safety from the violence of a four-horse chariot. He caused every chariot throughout his kingdom to be taken apart. He also always avoided the place in Boeotia celebrated by the name Quadriga. But Pausanias had a four-horse chariot engraved upon the hilt of the sword with which he killed him.

In these times, while Philip was besieging the city of Methona, an arrow shot from the walls gouged out his right eye, says Justin. That wound made him neither more sluggish in war nor more angry toward the enemy. Indeed, when they sought peace several days later, he granted it and was not merely moderate but even gentle toward the conquered.

The Greek cities, however, while each desired to rule, all lost their rule. Thus Philip plotted against the liberty of them all from a kind of watchtower.

That Artaxerxes who is also called Ochus sent his prefect Nagosus to all the regions beyond the River Euphrates, as the Comestor says. At that time the high priest in Jerusalem was named John. His brother, called Jesus, aspired to the high priesthood and made the aforesaid Nagosus his intimate.

When Jesus quarreled with John in the temple, he was killed. Indignant at this, Nagosus went up to Jerusalem, entered the temple, and plundered it. When he was reproved, he answered that he was cleaner than those who had killed a man within it. He imposed tribute upon the ministers of the temple.

§ IV. The Successor of Ochus

After the death of Ochus, whom some also call Artaxerxes and who held the kingdom of the Persians for twenty-eight years, the historians speak variously about his successor.

For in the chronicles it is said that after Ochus his son Arges reigned in Persia for four years. Helinand says: “Justin does not number this man among the kings of the Persians but places Darius immediately after Ochus.” Tertullian calls this Arges “Argus” and says that he reigned one year. Isidore calls him Xerxes and says that he reigned four years. Jerome upon Daniel calls him Arxes. Certain others call him Arsanius.

The Comestor says: “After King Ochus came his son Arsanius, and after Arsanius Darius reigned in Persia.” This is the Darius with whom, as will be said below, Alexander waged the wars mentioned in 1 Maccabees 1:

“After Alexander the Macedonian, son of Philip, who first reigned in Greece, defeated Darius, king of the Persians and Medes, he fought many battles and captured all the fortifications. He killed the kings of the earth and passed through as far as the ends of the earth. He took the spoils of a multitude of nations, and the earth was silent in his sight. He gathered strength and an exceedingly powerful army. His heart was exalted and lifted up, and he obtained the regions of nations and tyrants, and they were made tributary to him.” Thus there.

After Darius had been defeated, the monarchy was transferred from the Persians to the Greeks through Alexander.

§ V. Alexander’s Accession

Therefore some matters must be considered to clarify the foregoing: his battles against Darius and his victory, his subjugation of other nations, and finally his death. Here it also appears sufficiently from the words of Scripture that he was Philip’s son, not Nectanabus’s as is read in his history and was stated above, because Scripture calls him “Alexander of Philip,” that is, Philip’s son.

Unless someone says that he is called Philip’s son in the same way that Jesus is called Joseph’s son—that is, his putative son—as Luke 3 says, “as it was supposed,” namely, that Jesus was Joseph’s son. Thus Alexander was supposed and said to be Philip’s son.

In the first year of the 109th Olympiad, which was the 255th year of the Fifth Age and the 3,628th year from the beginning of the world, Darius, the fourteenth king of the Persians and son of Arsanius, reigned for six years. In the same year Alexander succeeded Philip in the kingdom and reigned twelve years, as is also contained in 1 Maccabees 1.

According to Justin, Alexander was greater than his father in both virtues and vices. Each had a different method of conquering. Alexander openly and Philip by stratagems conducted their different wars. Philip rejoiced when enemies were deceived; Alexander when they were openly routed. Philip was prudent in counsel; Alexander more magnificent in spirit.

The father for the most part concealed his anger and even overcame it; when Alexander became inflamed, there was neither delay nor measure to his vengeance. Both were excessively eager for wine, but their drunkenness was different. The father was accustomed even from the banquet to run against the enemy, join battle, and recklessly expose himself to dangers. Alexander raged not against the enemy but against his own people.

The father preferred to be loved; the son, feared. Their cultivation of letters was similar; the father was more skillful, the son of greater fidelity in word and speech. Philip was more moderate in affairs and in sparing the conquered; his son’s spirit was readier and nobler. The father was more devoted to frugality; the son to luxury.

Alexander’s first care was for his father’s funeral rites. Before all else, he ordered those who were complicit in the killing to be killed at his father’s tomb. He spared only Alexander of Lyncestis, preserving the omen of his own dignity, for he had been the first to greet him as king. He also ordered Caranus, his rival for the throne and his brother born of his stepmother, to be killed. Thus Justin in book 9.

§ VI. Alexander’s Army and First Expeditions

From the History of Alexander: After arranging his father’s burial, Alexander soon ascended his statue. Summoning the whole multitude of the people, he said: “Behold, it is time for whoever desires to serve with Alexander to hasten to enter a military compact with him. For it seems worthy to me that we first make war upon those who saddened us before and now desire to despoil us even of liberty.”

Having heard these words, every soldier gave assent as though he had been called divinely. At the beginning of his reign, Justin says, Alexander gave the Macedonians immunity from all obligations except the summons to military service. By this deed he won so great a favor from everyone that they said he had changed the body of a man, not the valor of a king.

Then Alexander, according to his history, opened his father’s treasuries and distributed arms and riches to everyone. After counting the soldiers whom he himself had newly enrolled, he assembled 15,000 Macedonian infantry and 8,000 troops of various auxiliaries. There were 2,007 native horsemen and 8,000 lightly armed Thracians. Hence, with this number joined to the veteran soldiery, he gathered about 70,704 fighting men.

As Justin in book 11 and Quintus Curtius say, he chose not robust young men flourishing in the prime of life but veterans, most of them even discharged soldiers who had served with his father and uncles, so that you would think not soldiers but masters of warfare had been chosen. No one younger than sixty led the ranks. If you had seen the front lines of the camp, you would have said that you were seeing the senate of some ancient commonwealth. Thus no one thought of flight in battle but of victory, and no one’s hope was in his feet but in his arms.

According to the History of Alexander, Alexander took most abundant traveling money from Philip’s treasuries. After preparing a fleet, he crossed into Thrace and from there into Lycaonia, to which the present age has newly given the name Lucania. Proceeding from there, he traversed all Libya.

When the army had been collected into one body, he hastened toward the interior of Egypt. The Egyptians judged him worthy of the royal garment and throne, saying that a second Sesoncosis had come to them.

Again, he added to his name all the cities of Syria through which he passed. At length he came to Tyre, but the Tyrians closed their gates and denied him entry. While he sought to plunder the city violently, many Macedonians were slain and he withdrew.

After this destruction Alexander threatened the Tyrians. He sent messengers and ordered a letter of the following tenor to be delivered to them:

“I had judged it befitting imperial clemency and justice to spare your city. But because you were the first of all to oppose my commands with insolence, you shall provide a fearful example to others of the strength in Macedonian hands. Farewell, if you are wise; for you will not fare well if you persist in this course.”

When this letter had been read, the leading Tyrians ordered the envoys seized. First they subjected them to tortures and then fastened them to crosses. Provoked by these insults and moved by grave indignation, Alexander attacked the city with greater violence. He destroyed it and laid it waste, killing persons of every sex and age. He appointed a satrap over Tyre.

It should be noted, however, according to Vincent, book 5, chapter 25, that Justin says Alexander came into Syria after his two victories over Darius. There many kings, together with their islands, came to meet him. According to the merit of each, he received some into alliance, but stripped others of their kingdoms and installed new kings in their places.

§ VII. Letters Exchanged by Darius and Alexander

As Alexander was marching against him, Darius sent him a letter saying:

“Darius, king of kings and kinsman of the gods, commands and declares this to Alexander, my servant: Return to your parents, who are my servants, and lie in your mother’s lap to be instructed in manly duty. For that purpose I have sent you here a rein, a ball, and a little box containing gold. The ball is sent because play with it suits your tender age, not these undertakings upon which you have embarked after the manner of robbers. Even if you led the whole human race with you in an equal conspiracy, you could by no means terrify the Persian empire. I possess so great a multitude of armies that nothing can better be compared to it than the sands of the sea. Here too is such an abundance of gold and silver that, if I wished, I could cover the whole earth with it. I have therefore sent you gold coins so that, should you require funds for your return, you may buy what is necessary for yourself and your men. But if you delay in obeying our commands, I shall immediately send men to bind you, disgracefully scourge you, and bring you before our majesty.”

These words greatly frightened Alexander’s nobles. But Alexander said to them: “Why are you disturbed by barbarous speeches that bear witness to arrogance, not proof of confidence? It is the habit even of weaker dogs to indulge the more in barking the more strength they lack.”

Having said this, he presented the Persian envoys with the gold that they had brought, sent them home, and gave them this letter:

“Alexander, king of kings and kinsman of the gods, greets Darius. It appears to me shameful and utterly absurd that so great a king, supported—as he boasts—by so many forces, should long and grievously serve under the dominion of contemptible little rhetoricians and, among them, of one abject little man and robber named Alexander. I ask, then, what intention led you to say that you overflowed with riches of gold and silver. Was it that, on learning this, we might burn with desire for the gold and fight you more stubbornly and boldly? You add that you sent me a rein, a ball, and little boxes of gold. However you may choose to explain them, I shall declare that by an auspicious sign everything has been granted to me by you. For I take the rein so that I may use it upon those subject to you. By its roundness, the ball likewise promises me dominion over the whole world. The third gift you added bears witness that I shall become lord of your wealth.”

When Darius had read Alexander’s letter, he was moved by its arrogance and wrote as follows to the satraps dwelling beyond Mount Taurus: “Philip’s son, a young man, is said to be mad and to be raiding all Asia. It is therefore our pleasure that he be severely beaten with childish rods, then clothed in purple and handed over to us. But let the satraps sink the fleet with its sailors in the sea, and let all the soldiers be transported to the farther shores of the Red Sea.”

When Darius again wrote arrogantly to Alexander, Alexander swore that the matter would henceforth be conducted not with words but with drawn swords.

As they fought and hope of the outcome wavered, a sudden rain at last arose. Saying that heaven itself was opposing them, they took flight, with Darius leading the way, his chariot abandoned and a swift horse mounted. In this first battle, which took place on the plains of Adrestis, the Persian army numbered seven hundred thousand soldiers, according to Justin, and a great slaughter was made of them. From Alexander’s army, however, only nine infantrymen and one hundred and twenty horsemen fell. King Alexander buried them with great honor, gave them equestrian statues, and granted immunities to their relatives. After this victory, the greater part of Asia defected to him.

Only the History of Alexander speaks of this sudden rain as though sent from heaven. It says that after the victory Alexander sent to Scamander, commander of his regions, to dispatch reinforcements. Alexander himself traversed all Achaia and, after gaining many cities, gathered one hundred and seventy thousand armed men, whom he led across Taurus.

The same history says that he next directed his march through Thebes toward Darius, but the Thebans closed their gates against him. While he besieged the city, one of the Thebans took up his pipes, fell upon his knees before the ruler, and played a song of entreaty, saying: “O mightiest of kings, do not destroy this city, which the immortal gods, ancestors of your lineage, founded for you. Remember that Liber was born here and that this city nursed Hercules. Amphion and Zethus, who are a great part of your stock, built these walls.”

Yet Alexander could not be induced to refrain from devastating it with fire and sword. Later, however, he had it proclaimed that rebuilding Thebes was permitted in honor of three gods: Hercules, Mercury, and Pollux.

After this Alexander proceeded to Athens. The Athenians, together with the Lacedaemonians, had defected from him to the Persians at the instigation of Demosthenes, who had been corrupted by the Persians with a great weight of gold. Demosthenes had suborned a man to report that the king of the Macedonians had perished among the Triballi with all his forces. Thus Alexander arrived unexpectedly. When he had suppressed these disturbances, Aeschines urged the Athenians to surrender to Alexander, while Demosthenes strove in opposition to make them rebel.

The excellent saying, “When a friend asks me for a loan, I lose both friend and money,” is attributed to Demosthenes. Demades himself, when the Athenians wished to bestow divine honors upon Alexander, said, “Take care that while you guard heaven you do not lose the earth.” When Demosthenes was consulted amid this difference of opinion between Aeschines and Demades, he answered that the advice of Aeschines should prevail. A golden crown was therefore sent to Alexander through Demosthenes himself. After defeating the Athenians, Alexander overcame the Lacedaemonians. Justin, however, says that Alexander did all these things before his first encounter with Darius, concerning which something was said above.

§ VIII. Alexander Crosses Taurus and Defeats Darius

Therefore, Justin says in book 11, Alexander feared the narrow passes and crossed Taurus with great speed, traversing five hundred stadia in a single day. When he came to Tarsus, he was captivated by the charm of the River Cydnus, which flowed through the middle of the city and which, according to the History of Alexander, was second to no river in either size or clarity. Covered with dust, he cast aside his weapons and threw himself into its exceedingly cold water. A chill suddenly seized his sinews.

The History of Alexander says that he threw himself from the bridge with his arms on and swam out. But because his body was hot when he entered the violent cold of the water, the chill so injured his sinews and brought him so near destruction that he appeared about to breathe his last. He received a prepared drink from his physician Philip and, according to Justin, recovered his health on the fourth day.

Then, according to Quintus Curtius, he led his army through Media, emerging from a most laborious passage through the desert. Darius’s army was positioned beside the channel of the Tigris. According to Justin, it had four hundred thousand infantrymen and one hundred thousand horsemen.

Alexander exhorted his troops to despise that battle line gleaming with gold and silver, in which there was more booty than danger. After battle had begun and the fighting had become frequent, a Persian dressed in Macedonian arms struck Alexander from behind. The blow failed and glanced away because of the strength of the helmet. The man was seized and brought before the king. Asked the reason for his act, he said that Darius had promised him part of the kingdom together with his daughter if he could kill Alexander. Alexander praised the promise and the man’s daring and allowed him to return to his own people.

Alexander then gathered an innumerable multitude and approached more closely. At first he disguised his arrival in this way: after collecting a countless number of cattle into one place, he ordered leafy branches fastened to their horns and tails. With the horns raised, they presented something like the appearance of a forest, while the dragging branches raised dust that, seen from afar, obscured recognition of the army.

When battle was joined, both kings were wounded. The contest long remained uncertain, until Darius fled. A great slaughter of Persians then followed. Sixty-one thousand infantrymen and ten thousand horsemen were killed, and forty thousand were captured. Of the Macedonians, one hundred and thirty infantrymen and one hundred and fifty horsemen fell.

When Alexander beheld Darius’s resources and display of riches, he was seized with wonder at such great wealth. He then first began to pursue luxurious banquets and magnificence. He also began to love the captive Barsine for her beauty; the son he later had by her he named Heracles. Yet remembering that Darius still lived, he sent Parmenion to seize the Persian fleet and other friends to receive the cities of Asia. As soon as they heard the report of victory, those cities came into the victors’ power, their own prefects of Darius surrendering them with a great weight of gold.

Then, as the Comestor says, Alexander began to aspire to the monarchy of the East. Entering Syria, he took Damascus; after occupying Sidon, he besieged Tyre. At that time Saraballa, whom Darius had made prefect of those regions, selected eight thousand of his men and went over to Alexander’s aid. He said that he preferred to obey Alexander rather than Darius and would hand over the places subject to his authority. Alexander received him gratefully.

Saraballa further said that he had a son-in-law named Manasses, brother of the high priest of the Jewish nation, and that many others of that nation were present with him. They wished, he said, to build a temple under Alexander in the appointed place. He declared that this would benefit Alexander because Jewish power, divided into two, would not rebel. Once Alexander granted permission, Saraballa zealously built a temple and altar. It endured until the destruction wrought by the Romans, and he established Manasses there as high priest.

While Alexander was continuing the siege of Tyre, he wrote to the high priest in Jerusalem, inviting him to furnish aid, prepare provisions for sale to the army, and pay to Alexander the tribute that he had rendered to Darius. The high priest Jadus answered that he had sworn an oath to Darius and could not violate the agreement while Darius lived. Alexander then threatened the Jewish nation, saying that through him they would learn to whom they ought to keep their promises.

After raising siegeworks he made Tyre part of the mainland. Once it was devastated, he besieged Gaza, and Saraballa died. Having captured Gaza, Alexander hastened toward Jerusalem. The terrified Jews cried out to the Lord and offered sacrifices, while Jadus prayed for the Jewish nation. When he fell asleep after the sacrifice, God instructed him to be confident, to adorn the city with garlands, and to go out to meet Alexander clad in his pontifical vestments, with the other priests wearing their lawful robes. Rising from sleep, he made the oracle known to everyone.

Hearing that Alexander was not far from the city, Jadus proceeded with the priests and a multitude of citizens to a place from which Jerusalem and the temple could be seen. What happened was contrary to the expectation of all who followed the king. Alexander looked upon the high priest distinguished by his pontifical robe and upon the plate above his headdress, on which was written the four-letter name of God. He dismounted, approached alone, adored the Name, and venerated the high priest.

The commanders of his army were astonished and thought that the king had lost his senses. Parmenion alone asked why he had adored the high priest of the Jewish people. Alexander answered: “I did not adore this man but the God whose high priesthood he bears. For in a dream I saw God in just such a habit while I was still in the Macedonian city of Dium. As I deliberated whether I could obtain Asia, he ordered me to be confident, for he himself would lead my army and hand over to me the dominion of the Persians. Now I have seen his likeness in this priest, and I trust that what he promised me will come to pass. For this reason I adored God and venerated the man.”

Alexander entered the city and sacrificed to God in the temple according to the priest’s direction. They brought him the prophet Daniel, in whom it was written that one of the Greeks would destroy the power of the Persians. Believing that this had been written about him, he rejoiced. On the next day he summoned the people and ordered them to ask for whatever they wished. At their request he granted that the Jews everywhere might use their ancestral laws and that the seventh year should be free of tribute on account of the sabbath of the land. He then departed for other cities.

The Samaritans, seeing his generosity toward the Jews, declared that they were their kinsmen and of Jewish seed, tracing their origin from Ephraim and Manasseh. They asked him to honor their temple on Mount Gerizim, which he promised to do upon his return.

When the Samaritans asked Alexander for remission in the seventh year, he asked who they were, and they said that they were Hebrews. When he further asked whether they were Jews, they denied that they were Jews. He replied to them, “I granted this privilege only to the Jews.”

Augustine says in book 18 of The City of God: “Alexander indeed offered sacrifices in the temple of God, not because he had been converted to worship him with true piety, but because in impious vanity he supposed that God ought to be worshiped together with false gods.”

Justin says in book 11 that Alexander then went to the oracle of Ammon, desiring both to acquire a divine origin and to free his mother from infamy. Through agents sent in advance, he instructed the priests what answer he wanted them to give him. As he entered the temple, they immediately greeted him as the son of Hammon. Delighted by this adoption, he ordered that Hammon be regarded as his father.

Orosius says in book 3: “Alexander revealed to us that in the case of deaf and mute gods it lies within the power of the priest to invent whatever he wishes, or within the pleasure of the inquirer to hear whatever he wishes.”

Valerius says: “Alexander mounted three steps of insolence. In disdain for Philip, he adopted Jove and Ammon as his fathers. Weary of Macedonian culture, he assumed Persian dress and customs. Spurning mortal attire, he emulated the divine. Nor was he ashamed to dissemble being a son, a citizen, and a human being.”

§ IX. The Fall and Death of Darius

When Darius had fled to Babylon, he begged Alexander by letter to permit him to ransom the captives from the nations, for which he promised a great sum. But Alexander demanded the entire kingdom as the price, not money. Darius again sent word that he would give a portion of his kingdom and his daughter in marriage. Alexander wrote back that Darius was offering him what was already his. He ordered Darius to come as a suppliant and to promise that the victor might dispose of the kingdom at will.

Then, as Justin says, Darius, having lost hope of peace, marched against Alexander with four hundred thousand infantrymen and one hundred thousand horsemen. On the journey he was informed that his wife had died from the shock of a miscarried birth. He heard that Alexander had followed her death with tears and had generously conducted her funeral rites, and that he had done this from humanity rather than love. For Alexander had seen her only once, although he frequently consoled her mother and little daughters.

Darius then judged that he was truly conquered, since after losing in battle he was also surpassed by his enemy in kindness. He was grateful that, if he could not conquer, he was conquered above all by such a man. He wrote a third letter thanking Alexander for doing nothing hostile to his family. He then offered the greater part of the kingdom as far as the Euphrates, another daughter as wife, and thirty thousand talents for the remaining captives.

Alexander replied that thanks from an enemy were needless. He had done nothing to flatter an enemy or to seek inducements to peace because the outcome of war was uncertain; rather, he had learned by greatness of spirit to contend against an enemy’s strength, not his misfortunes. He promised that he would do these things for Darius if Darius wished to be regarded as second to him, but not his equal. The world, moreover, could not be ruled by two suns, nor could the globe possess two supreme kingdoms without imperiling the order of the earth. Therefore Darius should either surrender that day or prepare his battle line for the next.

Alexander encamped near the River Stranga. It seemed good to him that he should go to Darius himself as an intermediary. Accompanied only by Eumedes and a single attendant, he came to the Stranga, a river which the frequent cold usually bound so hard that it was passable even by the heaviest wagons. Ordering Eumedes to remain there, Alexander approached Darius’s tents while Darius was away inspecting his army.

When Darius returned, Alexander met him and said: “Behold, I am here as Alexander’s intermediary, bearing these instructions: I judge that the king who advances less promptly to battle thereby testifies to his own cowardice and mistrust. Answer, therefore, what time you have granted us for the contest.”

Darius said, “Are you perhaps Alexander himself, who so resolutely and confidently declares war upon us?” Alexander denied that he was Alexander and professed that he was only his intermediary. Darius then took him by the hand and led Alexander with him into the royal pavilion for dinner, where Alexander was ordered to recline opposite Darius.

He happened to do something remarkable. Whatever drinking vessel he took up, after drinking the wine he hid the vessel in the fold of his garment. When this was reported to Darius by his servants and the angry king accused him of theft, Alexander answered that this custom was observed at Alexander’s court and that he had supposed the same custom was observed there.

After the king had been pacified and silence restored, one of the diners, named Pasarges, who had once been received as Philip’s guest, began to recognize Alexander. Perceiving this, Alexander suddenly leapt up and departed, carrying with him the cups hidden in his garment. Immediately outside the doors he ran through with his sword a Persian holding his horse, mounted, and fled. The Persians pursued him, but their pursuit was slower and Alexander’s course more effective. Darius was overwhelmed with grief at the loss of the enemy who had escaped.

Returning to the river, Alexander came upon another place that was not frozen, and he and his horse plunged together into the depths. It was night, but he drove the horse forward and swam out. He found Eumedes, explained to him the whole order of events, and cheered his commanders with the same account. On the following day he positioned his battle line, arranged and equipped, beside the Stranga.

Meanwhile Darius, Justin says, approached with his men. Suddenly Alexander, exhausted by cares, was seized by sleep before battle. When only the king was absent from the battle, Parmenion awakened him with difficulty. Everyone asked why he slept amid dangers, although even in peace he always took less sleep than others. He answered that he had been freed from great anxiety and that sudden security had given him sleep. He had feared that if Darius divided his army, he would have to endure a long delay in the war; now he would fight all Darius’s forces together.

Alexander ordered that none of his men cross the river and gave the Persians room to cross. When battle was joined, great slaughter was made on both sides. At length the Persians fled, Darius leading the way. When all of them rushed heedlessly into the river together, the Stranga ceased to perform its usual service: it swallowed and killed everyone who entered it. The pursuing Macedonians cut down the rest. As Justin says, rarely was so much blood shed in any battle.

When Darius saw his men being defeated, the History of Alexander says that he wished to die himself, but his companions compelled him to flee. Some then advised him to break down the bridge over the river and block the enemy’s approach. He answered that he did not wish to consult his own safety in such a way that so many thousands of allies would be exposed to the enemy; the road to escape that had lain open for him ought also to lie open for others.

Alexander, Quintus Curtius says, undertook even the most perilous actions. Whenever he saw the enemy fighting in the densest ranks, he always plunged into the midst of them most fiercely and wished his dangers to be shared with very few.

Darius, abandoning every better hope, entered his palace, cast himself miserably upon the ground with loud wailing, and was exhausted by excessive lamentation. At last, after resting, he wrote to Alexander as follows:

“Darius greets my lord Alexander. You will act more fittingly if by mercy you conquer those whom fortune has subjected to you. I ask you, therefore, to remember my mother, wife, and daughters in a manner worthy of yourself and restore them to me. In return for your goodwill, I promise to hand over to you all the treasures that my royal ancestors and forefathers left buried in the earth. I also concede to you the kingdoms of Persia, Media, and other nations.”

When Alexander said that he would not do this, Darius then wrote to King Porus, asking him to assist against Alexander and making many promises. This did not remain hidden from Alexander. He hastened to overtake Darius before he entered the Caspian Gates.

Thus by this battle, as Justin and Orosius say, Alexander seized imperial rule for himself in the fifth or sixth year of his reign. His success was so great that thereafter no one dared rebel. He traversed Persia in thirty-seven days. In the city of Susa he found sixty thousand talents. He also stormed Persepolis, capital of the Persian kingdom, a city illustrious through many years and filled with the spoils of the world that had until then lain open to Persian rule.

Amid these events, Justin says, eight hundred Greeks came to Alexander. Darius had held them captive and mutilated parts of their bodies. Although Alexander gave them permission to return home, they preferred to die there rather than carry home their disfigured appearance.

According to the History of Alexander, two satraps, Bessus and Ariobarzanes, were with Darius while he was planning his flight. Wishing to gain Alexander’s favor, they found Darius alone, overpowered him, mortally wounded him, and fled until they could see which way events would turn.

Meanwhile Alexander discovered Darius bound by his own kinsmen with golden chains and fetters in a Parthian village named Tara, as Justin says. When Alexander came to where he lay, Darius stretched out his suppliant hands and, as best he could, grasped Alexander’s knees. At last he addressed him:

“Even in this fortune I possess a great consolation in my death: I shall breathe out my spirit in your hands, O Alexander, bravest of kings. Therefore, I beg you, do not begrudge me a burial, which I ask your Macedonians to perform for me together with the Persians. I commend Dunem, my mother, and Cilitho, my wife, into your hands. My daughter Roxane I commend to you with this plea: deem her worthy to be your wife.”

Having said this, he breathed out his spirit. Alexander shed many tears and ordered him buried with royal dignity according to the Persian rite.

Orosius reports in book 3 that in these three battles and as many years, one million five hundred thousand infantrymen and horsemen were destroyed, drawn from that kingdom and those peoples. Over not many more years, the number of those routed is reported as one million nine hundred thousand.

Justin says that while pursuing Darius Alexander buried his lost soldiers with great funeral expense and distributed thirteen thousand talents among his surviving allies. Most of the horses had been lost through heat, and those that survived were rendered useless. All the money, one hundred and ninety thousand talents, was gathered at Ecbatana, and Parmenion was placed over it.

Meanwhile Agis, king of the Lacedaemonians, rebelled in Greece and was crushed by Antipater. When Alexander heard this, Quintus Curtius says, he rejoiced that the enemies had been defeated but did not conceal his indignation that Antipater had won, considering anything achieved by another to have been taken from his own glory.

Therefore, according to Jerome, in the sixth year of his reign and the second year of the 112th Olympiad, Alexander captured Babylon after Darius was slain. The Persian kingdom was destroyed in Darius; it had endured for 231 years under fourteen kings, from the first Cyrus to the last Darius, son of Arsanius.

According to his history, Alexander wished to learn who had killed King Darius. He therefore said: “I rejoice that I have overcome my greatest enemy. Although I did not personally execute him, I have fitting gratitude to repay those who have shown me their goodwill toward me. I therefore exhort them to reveal themselves. I swear also by the majesty of my father and mother that I shall make them exalted and exceedingly well known.”

On hearing this, Bessus and Ariobarzanes revealed themselves. Alexander had them crucified in the highest place, saying that he had fulfilled his oath and was not guilty of perjury, since he had made them exalted and known to everyone.

Justin says that another of Darius’s friends who had been captured was brought to Alexander; he had not only betrayed Darius but had killed him. In vengeance for the treachery, Alexander handed him over to Darius’s brother for torture. Alexander used to say, according to Quintus Curtius, that those who expected from him a reward for betrayal were mistaken: no one would be a harsher avenger and punisher of violated faith.

Then, so that he might leave his name in those lands, Alexander founded a tower called Alexandria above the River Chanaim. He also founded twelve cities in Bactria and Sogdiana and called them Alexandrias after his own name.

Afterward, Justin says, Alexander assumed the dress and diadem of the Persian kings, until then foreign to Macedonian kings, as though passing over into the laws of those he had conquered. So that these customs might not be conspicuous in himself alone, he ordered his friends also to wear long garments embroidered with gold and purple. From a flock of royal concubines, chosen for beauty and nobility, he assigned each her turn by night. To these things he added immense preparations for banquets, lest his luxury appear lean and impoverished, and he adorned the feast with games suited to royal magnificence. He entirely forgot that such riches were customarily lost, not acquired, through these practices.

He began to rage against his own people not with royal displeasure but with hostile hatred, indignant that he was criticized by those who said he had overthrown the customs of his father Philip and of his country. On account of these charges, the aged Parmenion, who stood nearest to royal rank, was killed together with his son Philotas.

One day, at a formal banquet, when Alexander’s drunken friends began speaking of the deeds accomplished by Philip, Alexander began to prefer himself to his father and to exalt the greatness of his own deeds to heaven, while the greater part of the banqueters assented.

But Cleitus, an old and wise man who held the chief place in the king’s friendship, relied on that friendship and defended Philip’s memory. Angered by this, the king snatched a weapon from an attendant and killed him at the banquet. Exulting in the slaughter, he reproached the dead man with his defense and praise of Philip.

Later, when he understood his crime, Alexander wished to kill himself. Weeping, he embraced Cleitus, touched his wounds, and confessed his madness to him as if he could hear. Alexander would have killed himself had his friends not intervened. He remembered that his nurse had been Cleitus’s sister and that he had killed so many friends: Parmenion and Philotas, his cousin Amyntas, his stepmother and his brothers, as well as Attalus, Eurylochus, Pausanias, and other Macedonian nobles.

Justin says that Alexander ate nothing for four days; his fast continued throughout that four-day period until he was won over by the prayers of the whole army. The pleas of the philosopher Callisthenes were especially helpful to him. Callisthenes had studied with Alexander under Aristotle, was close to him, and had then been summoned by the king himself to commit his memorable deeds to writing.

§ X. Callisthenes, Lysimachus, and the Captive Tribes

Having therefore recalled his mind to war, Justin says, Alexander received the Carasmi and Dahae into submission. He then ordered that he be not merely greeted but adored. Callisthenes stood foremost among those who refused. Angered by this, Alexander falsely charged him with knowledge of a conspiracy prepared against him. With savage cruelty he mutilated every one of his limbs, cutting off his ears, nose, and lips, and rendered him a deformed and pitiable spectacle. In addition, he ordered him shut in a cage with a dog and carried about to frighten the others.

Seeing this, Lysimachus, a pupil of Callisthenes who was accustomed to receive instruction in virtue from him, pitied so great a man, who suffered punishment not for guilt but for freedom. He gave him poison as a remedy for his calamity. When Alexander heard of this, he ordered Lysimachus thrown to a lion. But when the roused lion charged at the sight of him, Lysimachus wrapped his hand in his cloak, thrust it into the lion’s mouth, tore out its tongue, and killed the beast.

When this was reported to the king, his anger yielded to admiration, and he held Lysimachus dearer because of the constancy of such great courage. Lysimachus, too, bore the king’s insult with a great spirit, as though it came from a parent. Alexander killed many Macedonian leaders who would not adore him under the pretense that they were conspiring against him. Nevertheless, the Macedonians retained their customary way of greeting the king and rejected adoration.

After this Alexander subdued the Dranti, Enargitae, Parimae, Papameni, Adaspii, and other peoples dwelling at the foot of the Caucasus.

When Alexander came to the Caspian Mountains, as the Scholastic History relates, the descendants of the ten captive tribes sent to him and asked permission to leave, for by decree they were forbidden to go out. When he inquired into the cause of their captivity, he learned that they had openly revolted from the God of Israel by sacrificing to golden calves and that the prophets had foretold they would not return from captivity.

Alexander answered that they deserved to be confined still more closely. When he sought to close the narrow passes with soft bituminous material and saw that human labor was unequal to the task, he prayed to the Lord God of Israel to complete the work. The mountain cliffs moved toward one another. From this it plainly appears that God’s will is that they should not come out. Nevertheless, they will emerge near the end of the world and cause a great slaughter among humankind. Josephus adds here: “What will God do for the faithful, if he did so much for the faithless?”

§ XI. Alexander in India

After this Alexander sought India, which is the beginning of the East, whence Asia rises. Marcianus says that in India there are two summers every year and two harvests. It is believed to constitute a third part of the world.

When Alexander entered India, his history relates, envoys whom Porus had sent immediately met him with this letter:

“I advise you, who raid and harass these borders, to remember that you are a man and attempt nothing against the gods. You can learn who I am and that no fortune has power against us. Therefore I command you to return from here to your own Greece and be content. If your Greece were useful to us, it would long ago have been subjected to the Indians; but because it is useless and possesses nothing worthy of our wealth, it has neither been sought nor will be sought.”

These words did not frighten Alexander at all. Entering India, Justin says in book 12, he covered the trappings of the horses and the arms of the soldiers with silver. From their silver shields he called his army the Argyraspids.

When he came to the city Nysa, a city of Liber, he ordered its inhabitants spared, although they did not resist because they trusted in the religion of Father Liber, by whom the city had been founded. He then led his army to view the sacred mountain. By nature’s gifts it was clothed with vines and ivy as though cultivated and adorned by hand. When the army reached the mountain, its men suddenly began to rave and, amid the king’s astonishment, immediately ran about uttering the cries of Liber. Alexander thereby understood that by sparing the townspeople he had consulted his own army’s welfare more than theirs.

He next sought the kingdom of Queen Cleophis. When she surrendered herself to him, she received her kingdom back from Alexander, having redeemed it by sleeping with him and obtained by seduction what she could not obtain by force. She named the son born to her Alexander; he later reigned over the Indians. But the Indians thereafter called Queen Cleophis, who had cast aside her chastity, the “royal harlot.”

Later, while Alexander was pursuing certain fleeing enemies in India and had been left behind by the speed of his attendants and crowd, Lysimachus alone accompanied him across the broad masses of sand. When Lysimachus’s brother Philip had attempted the same thing, he died in his hands. But Alexander dismounted and wounded Lysimachus in the forehead with the point of his spear. Because the flow of blood could be stopped only by binding it, the king removed his own diadem and placed it upon Lysimachus’s head while tending the wound. For Lysimachus this was the first omen of his future royal dignity.

Porus prepared for war and ordered his army to attack the Macedonians, while challenging King Alexander to fight him alone. Alexander did not delay. In the first encounter Porus struck Alexander’s horse Bucephalus with his right hand and killed him, as Alexander’s history records. The Macedonians regarded this as more bitter than all the other misfortunes that could befall them in battle. Alexander was thrown from his horse and rescued by the rush of his attendants.

Abandoning every other concern of battle, Alexander grasped the dead horse by the tail and dragged it back toward his own side, fearing that the enemy would seize the corpse as a trophy, which would have been deeply shameful to him. Thus, when his own men had been recovered, both sides were granted ten days either to heal the wounded or to bury the dead.

During those days Alexander formed the plan of challenging Porus to single combat, saying that commanders could gain no glory from actions in which they exposed their subjects to danger. This pleased Porus, who considered Alexander’s small body: Porus measured five cubits, while Alexander measured only three.

Meanwhile Alexander cast aside his royal dress, assumed the habit of a soldier, and came to Porus’s camp as though intending to buy some meat and wine. Porus asked him what Alexander was doing and what his age was. Alexander answered, “Like an old man, our commander warms himself in his tent by the heat of the fire.” Rejoicing that, while he was young and swollen with pride, he was about to fight a decrepit old man, Porus said, “Why, then, does he not consider his age?” Alexander said that he was a common Macedonian soldier and did not know what Alexander was doing.

Porus handed him a threatening letter, promising him many things if he delivered it to Alexander. Alexander swore that he would ensure the letter reached Alexander’s hands.

When the day and place appointed for battle arrived, the royal combat began. It long remained uncertain, Alexander probing for a place to wound Porus and Porus avoiding him. At last Porus turned suddenly to see the cause of a commotion among his own men. Alexander immediately ran him through the groin with his sword and felled him.

At this sight the Indians at once began rising against Alexander. But Alexander raised his hand for silence, suppressed the tumult, and, after the situation had been explained by Porus, the whole strength of the Indians submitted to him. Thus the History of Alexander.

Justin, however, says that in the first battle, in which Alexander’s horse was wounded, Porus was overwhelmed by many wounds and captured. He grieved so intensely at being taken that, although he received pardon from his enemy, he refused both food and the treatment of his wounds. Alexander obtained his consent to live only with difficulty, and in honor of his courage restored him unharmed to his kingdom.

Alexander founded two cities there, Nicaea and Bucephala. Besides the infantry forces, Porus’s army contained fourteen thousand eight hundred chariots, all fitted with scythes. Four hundred elephants were captured there, bearing towers with performers stationed upon them.

Vincent records the ornaments and riches of gold and silver in Porus’s household in book 5, chapter 50 of the Historical Mirror. When Alexander had brought all these things into his possession, he enclosed the entire column with sheets of gold and made golden standards and banners. So great was the mass of gold that the soldiers could scarcely carry it. A thousand elephants of immense size bore the gold. The mules, horses, and camels also had golden bridles, although in their many thousands they carried the soldiers’ baggage and necessary provisions.

§ XII. Alexander’s Further Conquests in India

After this Alexander, Justin says, subdued the Prasii and Gangaridae. When he came to Aphytes, where two hundred thousand enemies awaited him, the whole army wished to return home. Alexander calmed it by a speech.

He then proceeded to the River Agisines and was carried by it into the Ocean, where he received into submission the Byacennae and Silei, whom Hercules had founded. From there he sailed to the Mandri and Sicambri. Those peoples met him with eighty thousand armed infantrymen and sixty thousand horsemen. After defeating them, he led their army to a city deserted by its defenders.

Alexander was the first to leap down from its wall, without a single attendant, and alone sustained the attack of so many thousands of enemies until his whole army, learning of his danger, leapt down with him after the walls had been thrown down. In that battle an arrow pierced him beneath the breast, and as he was failing from loss of blood he nevertheless fought on one knee until he killed the man who had wounded him.

The treatment of his wound was more grievous than the wound itself. Seneca says that while tormented by its pain Alexander declared: “Everyone swears to me that I am the son of Jove, but this wound cries aloud that I am a man.”

After arranging affairs, Justin says, he sent Polyperchon with the army to Babylon. Alexander himself boarded ships with a most select force and traversed the shores of the Ocean.

While he sailed along them, he captured Dionides, a certain arch-pirate. Alexander asked what it seemed to him that he was doing by making the sea unsafe. Dionides answered: “What does it seem to you that you are doing by making the whole world unsafe? But because I do it with a little ship, I am called a robber; because you do it with a great fleet, you are called an emperor.”

Meanwhile Queen Candace heard of Alexander’s fame. She sent one of her painters and ordered him to paint Alexander’s likeness with the greatest care and bring it to her. Alexander had already sent her letters containing terms of friendship. She wrote back that above all things it pleased her to establish that alliance so that it might endure between them forever. As a token of friendship, the queen sent him great gifts, precious stones, and marvelous animals.

Alexander, disguised as though he were Antigonus, Alexander’s own friend, came to Queen Candace’s palace, where she showed him her riches. When the queen said that he was Alexander, not Antigonus, he denied it. She then showed him his own portrait. Gnashing his teeth, he complained that he did not have his sword with him.

The queen said to him: “Put aside this fear. For I shall always preserve for you the same faith that you preserved for my son.” A little earlier, a petty king had carried off the wife of the queen’s son; Alexander sent several of his army and caused her to be restored to him.

Another of Queen Candace’s sons, named Charogarus, who had the daughter of Porus as his wife, wished to kill Alexander, but his mother did not permit it.

Vincent then relates in book 5, chapter 53 and the chapters following of the Historical Mirror the marvels that Alexander found as he passed through different places. Alexander says that he discovered them in India in his own letter. I omit that letter for brevity and because its truth is very doubtful.

§ XIII. Alexander and the Brahmans

When Alexander, as is read, was traversing the farthest shore of the Ocean, he was preparing to attack the island of the Brahmans. They sent him this letter:

“Most unconquered king, we have heard of your battles and of the good fortune that has followed you everywhere. But what will satisfy a man for whom the world is not enough? We possess no riches through desire for which you ought to attack us. Everyone’s goods are common to all. Food is our wealth; in place of adornment with gold and gems we have cheap and scant clothing. Our women do not strive to please, for they account the cultivation of ornaments a burden rather than an honor. They do not know how to seek any greater increase of beauty than that with which they were born.

“Caves serve us a double purpose: shelter in life and burial in death. We have a king not to administer justice but to preserve nobility. For what place has vengeance where no injustice is done?”

Moved by these words, Alexander left them in peace.

There also survive letters of Alexander to Dindimus, king of the Brahmans, and of Dindimus to Alexander. They are abbreviated here.

Alexander to Dindimus:

“It has often reached my ears by report that the manner of your life differs from the common practice of people everywhere. The matter is indeed marvelous in its novelty, yet appears incredible because of the freedom of rumor. I have therefore hastened, Dindimus, to consult you directly through this letter. If what we have heard is true and you do these things from philosophy, explain it without delay, so that when I have been made more certain I too, if it is possible, may become a follower of this discipline.”

Dindimus answered:

“You were not wrong to reject the reports long ago brought to you about us, since rumor is untrustworthy; it commonly delights in inventions. Now, however, learn the truth of the matter from me without doubt.

“The race of Brahmans lives a pure and simple life. It is captivated by none of the enticements of things and desires nothing beyond what the law of nature demands. Our nourishment is readily obtained—not that which the cunning of luxury searches for throughout all the elements, but that which the earth, unviolated by iron, brings forth. We load our table with harmless foods. Hence we count neither kinds nor names of diseases but enjoy lasting health.

“We do not ask assistance from one another where life is lived among equals. No place is provided for envy where no one is superior. Equality in poverty makes everyone rich. We have no courts because we do nothing requiring correction. We observe no laws such as those that expose crimes among you. The one law of our nation is not to act contrary to the law of nature.

“We do not perform labor that nourishes avarice, yet we avoid shameful idleness. We do not surrender our limbs to lust so as to weaken them. We possess everything that we do not desire. We are warmed by the sun, moistened by dew, and quench our thirst from a stream. The earth supplies our bed. Anxiety does not interrupt sleep, nor does thought weary the mind.

“We do not exercise the rule of pride over people like ourselves and do not demand even the least servitude, except from the body, which alone we believe ought to serve the mind. In building houses we do not melt rocks with fire, because we dwell more effectively in caves dug into the earth and the hollow recesses of mountains. There we hear no roaring of winds and fear no tempestuous storm. A cave protects us from rain more safely than a roof.

“We possess no costly clothing. Our limbs are covered with a wrapping of papyrus—or, more truly, with modesty. Our women do not adorn themselves. For who can correct the work of nature? Whatever is attempted is either fruitless, because nature overcomes it, or culpable, because it is presumptuous. Lust does not summon us to intercourse, but love of offspring.

“We wage no wars but establish peace by our customs, not by force. Fortune is the only enemy against which we often fight and which we always conquer. No parent accompanies the funeral rites of a son. We erect no tombs for the dead in imitation of temples.

“You are the cause of every evil among mortals: you possess everything and command all who possess you. The wisdom of the Brahmans alone surpasses you by refusing to love such things. We Brahmans do not suffer plague, for we do not dishonor heaven by foul acts. Nature always maintains harmony with the seasons among us, and the unoffended elements preserve their proper courses.

“Frugality is our remedy of medicine. It can not only cure pains that have already fallen upon us but also ensure that they do not come. We delight in no games or spectacles, no horse races or obscenities of the stage. When we wish to watch a theater, however, we reread the memorials of your deeds; although they are exceedingly laughable, we lament them.

“The structure of the world provides us other spectacles and diverse pleasures. In it we see the beautifully formed heaven shining with the variety of its constellations and the radiance of its stars. We see the sea, graced with purple color, embracing its sister earth, while fishes of many forms leap through its waves. We delight also in the appearance of green fields, from which a most pleasing odor breathes forth flowers of sweetness and nourishes eye and mind together. The shade of groves and the charm of springs smile upon us; among them varied birds, sounding together in musical harmonies, compose a sweet melody. These are the spectacles of nature, which it is difficult to imitate and blameworthy to reject.

“We do not furrow the sea with fleets for the sake of commerce. No foreign beauty has ever inflamed us with desire by the ardor of its loveliness. We do not learn the arts of speaking well and do not seek the service of rhetorical eloquence and orators, whose office is to devise lies with falsified speeches and attach credibility to accusations against innocence. Among us eloquence is simple and common to all, instructing only that one must not lie.

“We rarely attend the schools of those whose discordant teaching defines nothing stable or certain, one party placing the good in honor and another in pleasure. For divine honor we do not slaughter innocent cattle, nor do we establish temples inlaid with silver metals, nor dedicate altars glittering with gold and gems. God does not accept sacred offerings of blood; he loves worship free from blood.

“May he be made favorable by the Word to those who pray, for that alone is shared by him and humankind, and he delights in his own likeness. For God is the Word. By it he created this world; by it he rules and nourishes all things. This Word we love, and from it we draw spirit. Since God himself is spirit and mind, he is appeased not by earthly riches or munificent largess but by works of religion and thanksgiving.

“Therefore we judge you exceedingly senseless and miserable, because you do not suspect that your origin is heavenly and that you have a great kinship with God, but obscure the splendor of your race with the vilest things. You foster, cultivate, and love that in which the greatest pleasure is found in the flesh, though its handling while alive is horrible and its contact when dead is unclean. The elements are harassed in serving its uses, and the world labors to render it obedience. O most unhappy people, whose religion is a crime and whose life a punishment!”

Alexander replied by letter to Dindimus:

“If these things are as you claim, the Brahmans alone are counted among human beings only insofar as their trust is in God. They alone are believed to be exempt from bodily substance. Those who are said to lack all vices because they do not use the pleasures granted by nature either profess themselves gods or begrudge God his work. In my judgment these things should be numbered under madness rather than philosophy.”

Dindimus to Alexander:

“We are not inhabitants of this world but strangers. We did not come into the world so that we might choose to remain in it, but to pass through. We hurry toward our ancestral home, burdened by no weight of sins and lingering in no lodging places of enticements.

“We do not say that we are gods, nor do we enviously detract from God’s work; rather, we assert that you misuse his goodness. We do not assert that everything is permitted to us, nor do we teach it. Instead, for the sake of honor we commonly refuse to admit those things that pleasure claims for itself.

“God, the creator of things, formed various kinds within the world because it could in no way subsist without their diversity. He permitted their use to be discerned by human judgment. Therefore whoever abandons the worse and pursues the better is certainly not himself a god, but is made a friend of God.”

Alexander to Dindimus:

“Now you call yourself blessed because nature placed your dwelling in a part of the world where neither entrance nor exit lies open to strangers nor departure to natives. Besieged by guards placed over the means of movement, you praise your homeland because you cannot change it, and boast that you have deserved by devotion of conscience what you suffer as a cause of condemnation.

“Yet there is no merit of virtue in obtaining what cannot be changed. What deserves praise is to have lived temperately not amid narrowness and poverty but amid abundance; otherwise blindness and poverty alone would acquire the glory of virtues—the blind man because he does not see what he might desire, the poor man because he does not have what he might seize.

“We, who are constrained by no law of fasting, are stirred by free choice to live well, so that voluntary continence may obtain a worthy reward. Nature has given us many allurements, which virtue commonly restrains.”

§ XIV. Alexander’s Return to Babylon

When Alexander was about to return to Babylon, Justin says, he sacrificed to the Ocean in the sea, praying for a prosperous return to his homeland. Valerius says that while he sacrificed, a certain noble boy assisting him took up the censer, and a burning coal fell upon his arm. Although it burned him so fiercely that the odor reached the bystanders, he kept his arm motionless lest he interrupt the sacrifice. Alexander allowed him to be burned for a long while, wishing to test the boy’s perseverance.

After this he made the Amazons tributary and at last hastened to Babylon. As he returned, Justin says, he was informed that embassies of the Carthaginians and other African cities, as well as of Spain, Sicily, Gaul, Sardinia, and certain cities of Italy, were awaiting his arrival in Babylon.

The frightened Carthaginians had earlier sent Avulchar, surnamed Rodonus, to investigate Alexander’s intentions. He was a man distinguished above others for cleverness and eloquence. Their fear was increased by the capture of Tyre, the city from which their people took their origin, and by the founding of Alexandria, Carthage’s rival, on the borders of Africa and Egypt.

Avulchar obtained access to the king through Parmenion. He pretended that he had fled to the king as though driven from his homeland and offered himself as a soldier for the expedition. Having thus discovered Alexander’s plans, he wrote everything for his fellow citizens on wooden tablets from which the wax above had been removed.

As Alexander hastened toward Babylon to hold what seemed like a gathering of the whole world, one of the Magi foretold that he should not enter the city, declaring that this entry would prove fatal to him. Alexander therefore withdrew from Babylon to the deserted city of Bursia beyond the Euphrates. There the philosopher Anaxarchus compelled him once again to scorn the Magi’s predictions as false and uncertain, because if they depend upon fate they are unknown to mortals, while if they are due to nature they are immutable.

Alexander therefore returned to Babylon. Quintus Curtius says that Cobares, distinguished more for his profession of magical art than for knowledge, was angered. Human nature may in this respect be called perverse and ill-disposed, since everyone is duller in his own business than in another’s.

When Alexander came to Babylon, Justin says, many conquered peoples accused their governors. Without regard for friendship, Alexander immediately ordered those governors killed in the envoys’ presence.

Afterward he took Roxane, daughter of Darius, in marriage and gave to the Macedonian nobles the choicest and noblest maidens selected from every nation. He then called the army to an assembly and promised to pay everyone’s debts at his own expense: twenty thousand talents.

After dismissing the veterans, he replenished the army with younger men. Those who were grieved at the veterans’ departure demanded their own discharge as well. They no longer acted with prayers but with abuse, saying that Alexander should wage wars alone with his father Ammon. When words accomplished nothing in restraining them, Alexander leapt unarmed from the tribunal into the assembly and, with no one preventing him, personally struck down eleven authors of the sedition.

§ XV. Alexander’s Death

His mother had long before written to him about her quarrels with Antipater and her separation from his father, and had warned him to guard against their plots. Alexander therefore recalled Antipater from Macedonia. Angered, Antipater sent an exceedingly effective and powerful poison on the journey through a servant so that it might be given to the king to drink.

According to Quintus Curtius, after returning to Babylon Alexander passed many days in leisure, then solemnly renewed a banquet long interrupted. Entirely given over to pleasure, he spent the day and night awake. As he was already departing from the banquet, the physician Thessalus renewed the drinking party and invited both Alexander and his companions. Alexander accepted a cup, and in the middle of drinking groaned as though pierced by a weapon.

His friends spread the report that intemperate drunkenness had caused his illness, but in truth it was a plot. The power of his successors suppressed the infamy of it. Antipater had devised the plot. The poison had such force that it could be contained neither in bronze, iron, nor earthenware and could be carried only in a horse’s hoof.

Alexander was therefore carried away from the banquet half-dead and tortured by pain, so that he asked for a sword as a remedy. He suffered at a person’s touch as if his wounds were being aggravated.

Antipater had already instructed his son Cassander to seize the kingdom. Cassander, together with his brothers Philip and Iollas, customarily served the king. He had been warned to trust no one except Thessalus and his brothers. The banquet was therefore prepared and renewed in Thessalus’s house. Philip and Iollas, who customarily tasted and tested the king’s drink beforehand, kept the poison in cold water and poured it into the drink after tasting it. Valerius says that Alexander had long before seen in a dream that he would perish by Cassander’s hand, although he did not yet know Cassander when he saw it.

On the fourth day, Justin says, the king perceived that his death was certain and said that he recognized the destiny of his own house and ancestors, for most of the Aeacidae had died before their thirtieth year. The soldiers then became disorderly, suspecting that the king was dying from a plot, but he himself calmed them. When he had been carried to the highest place in the city, he admitted them all to his presence and extended his right hand for them to kiss as they wept.

At last he ordered his body buried in the temple of Ammon. When his friends asked whom he made heir to the empire, he answered, “The most worthy.” He did not name his son Heracles or his brother Aridaeus, although he also left behind his pregnant wife Roxane, as though it were a crime for anyone but a brave man to succeed a brave man, or for the resources of so great a kingdom to be left to any but proven men.

On the sixth day, after losing his voice, he breathed out his spirit. Alexander therefore died at the age of thirty years and one month. He had inspired such confidence in his soldiers that, while he was present, even when unarmed they feared the weapons of no enemy. He never engaged any enemy whom he did not defeat, besieged any city that he did not take, or approached any nation that he did not trample down. Yet in the end he was conquered, not by an enemy’s courage but by the plot of his own men and the treachery of citizens. The Comestor says that poison was given him by his sister.

When he died in the flower of his age and victories, a mournful silence fell throughout all Babylon. Even the conquered nations did not believe the report, for they considered immortal the man whom they had so often seen snatched from the presence of death. But when his death was confirmed, they mourned him not as an enemy but as a father.

On hearing of his death, the mother of Darius took her own life. The Macedonians, however, rejoiced at his death as if an enemy had been lost. Jerome says against Jovinian that after her husband’s death Rhodogune, daughter of Darius, is said to have killed the nurse who advised her to marry a second time.

Of Alexander’s death and the length of his reign it is said in 1 Maccabees: “Alexander reigned twelve years, and he died.” From all these things understand that all flesh is grass and all its glory like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower falls, and all its glory fades; therefore the world must be despised.