The Anabasis of Alexander or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great
day he took a bath; after which he offered sacrifice, and gave orders
to Nearchus and the other officers that the voyage should begin on the
third day. The next day he bathed again and offered the prescribed
sacrifices. After performing the sacred rites, he did not yet cease to
suffer from the fever. Notwithstanding this, he summoned the officers
and gave them instructions to have all things ready for the starting of
the fleet. In the evening he took a bath, after which he was very ill.
The next day he was transferred to the house near the swimming-bath,
where he offered the prescribed sacrifices. Though he was now very
dangerously ill, he summoned the most responsible of his officers and
gave them fresh instructions about the voyage. On the following day he
was with difficulty carried out to the sacrifices, which he offered;
and none the less gave other orders to the officers about the voyage.
The next day, though he was now very ill, he offered the prescribed
sacrifices. He now gave orders that the generals should remain in
attendance in the hall,[967] and that the colonels and captains should
remain before the gates. But being now altogether in a dangerous state,
he was conveyed from the park into the palace. When his officers
entered the room, he knew them indeed, but could no longer utter a
word, being speechless. During the ensuing night and day and the next
night and day he was in a very high fever.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ALEXANDER’S DEATH.
Such is the account given in the Royal Diary. In addition to this, it
states that the soldiers were very desirous of seeing him; some, in
order to see him once more while still alive; others, because there was
a report that he was already dead, imagined that his death was being
concealed by the confidential body-guards, as I for my part suppose.
Most of them through grief and affection for their king forced their
way in to see him. It is said that when his soldiers passed by him he
was unable to speak; yet he greeted each of them with his right hand,
raising his head with difficulty and making a sign with his eyes. The
Royal Diary also says that Peithon, Attalus, Demophon, and Peucestas,
as well as Cleomenes, Menidas, and Seleucus, slept in the temple of
Serapis,[968] and asked the god whether it would be better and more
desirable for Alexander to be carried into his temple, in order as
a suppliant to be cured by him. A voice issued from the god saying
that he was not to be carried into the temple, but that it would be
better for him to remain where he was. This answer was reported by the
Companions; and soon after Alexander died, as if forsooth this were now
the better thing. Neither Aristobulus nor Ptolemy has given an account
differing much from the preceding. Some authors, however, have related
that his Companions asked him to whom he left his kingdom; and that
he replied: “To the best.”[969] Others say, that in addition to this
remark, he told them that he saw there would be a great funeral contest
held in his honour.[970]
CHAPTER XXVII.
RUMOUR THAT ALEXANDER WAS POISONED.
I am aware that many other particulars have been related by historians
concerning Alexander’s death, and especially that poison was sent for
him by Antipater, from the effects of which he died.[971] It is also
asserted that the poison was procured for Antipater by Aristotle, who
was now afraid of Alexander on account of Callisthenes.[972] It is
said to have been conveyed by Cassander, the son of Antipater,[973]
some recording that he conveyed it in the hoof of a mule, and that
his younger brother Iollas gave it to the king.[974] For this man was
the royal cup-bearer, and he happened to have received some affront
from Alexander a short time before his death. Others have stated that
Medius, being a lover of Iollas, took part in the deed; for he it was
who induced the king to hold the revel. They say that Alexander was
seized with an acute paroxysm of pain over the wine-cup, on feeling
which he retired from the drinking bout.[975] One writer has not even
been ashamed to record that when Alexander perceived he was unlikely to
survive, he was going out to throw himself into the river Euphrates, so
that he might disappear from men’s sight, and leave among the men of
after-times a more firmly-rooted opinion that he owed his birth to a
god, and had departed to the gods. But as he was going out he did not
escape the notice of his wife Roxana, who restrained him from carrying
out his design. Whereupon he uttered lamentations, saying that she
forsooth envied him the complete glory of being thought the offspring
of the god. These statements I have recorded rather that I may not seem
to be ignorant that they have been made, than because I consider them
worthy of credence or even of narration.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHARACTER OF ALEXANDER.
Alexander died in the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad, in the
archonship of Hegesias at Athens.[976] According to the statement of
Aristobulus, he lived thirty-two years, and had reached the eighth
month of his thirty-third year. He had reigned twelve years and these
eight months.[977] He was very handsome in person, and much devoted to
exertion, very active in mind, very heroic in courage, very tenacious
of honour, exceedingly fond of incurring danger, and strictly observant
of his duty to the gods. In regard to the pleasures of the body, he had
perfect self-control; and of those of the mind, praise was the only
one of which he was insatiable. He was very clever in recognising what
was necessary to be done, even when it was still a matter unnoticed
by others; and very successful in conjecturing from the observation
of facts what was likely to occur. In marshalling, arming, and ruling
an army, he was exceedingly skilful; and very renowned for rousing
the courage of his soldiers, filling them with hopes of success,
and dispelling their fear in the midst of danger by his own freedom
from fear. Therefore even what he had to do in secret he did with
the greatest boldness. He was also very clever in getting the start
of his enemies, and snatching from them their advantages by secretly
forestalling them, before any one even feared what was about to
happen. He was likewise very steadfast in keeping the agreements and
settlements which he made, as well as very secure from being entrapped
by deceivers. Finally, he was very sparing in the expenditure of money
for the gratification of his own pleasures; but he was exceedingly
bountiful in spending it for the benefit of his associates.
CHAPTER XXIX.
APOLOGY FOR ALEXANDER’S ERRORS.
That Alexander should have committed errors in his conduct from
quickness of temper or from wrath,[978] and that he should have been
induced to comport himself like the Persian monarchs to an immoderate
degree, I do not think remarkable if we fairly consider both his
youth[979] and his uninterrupted career of good fortune; likewise that
kings have no associates in pleasure who aim at their best interests,
but that they will always have associates urging them to do wrong.
However, I am certain that Alexander was the only one of the ancient
kings who, from nobility of character, repented of the errors which he
had committed. The majority of men, even if they have become conscious
that they have committed an error, make the mistake of thinking that
they can conceal their sin by defending their error as if it had been
a just action. But it seems to me that the only cure for sin is for
the sinner to confess it, and to be visibly repentant in regard to it.
Thus the suffering will not appear altogether intolerable to those who
have undergone unpleasant treatment, if the person who inflicted it
confesses that he has acted dishonourably; and this good hope for the
future is left to the man himself, that he will never again commit a
similar sin, if he is seen to be vexed at his former errors. I do not
think that even his tracing his origin to a god was a great error on
Alexander’s part, if it was not perhaps merely a device to induce his
subjects to show him reverence.[980] Nor does he seem to me to have
been a less renowned king than Minos, Aeacus, or Rhadamanthus, to whom
no insolence is attributed by the men of old, because they traced their
origin to Zeus. Nor does he seem at all inferior to Theseus or Ion, the
former being the reputed son of Poseidon, and the latter of Apollo. His
adoption of the Persian mode of dressing also seems to me to have been
a political device in regard to the foreigners, that the king might not
appear altogether an alien to them; and in regard to the Macedonians,
to show them that he had a refuge from their rashness of temper and
insolence. For this reason I think, he mixed the Persian royal guards,
who carried golden apples at the end of their spears,[981] among
the ranks of the Macedonians, and the Persian peers[982] with the
Macedonian body-guards. Aristobulus also asserts that Alexander used
to have long drinking parties, not for the purpose of enjoying the
wine, as he was not a great wine-drinker, but in order to exhibit his
sociality and friendly feeling to his Companions.[983]
CHAPTER XXX.
EULOGY OF ALEXANDER.
Whoever therefore reproaches Alexander as a bad man, let him do so;
but let him first not only bring before his mind all his actions
deserving reproach, but also gather into one view all his deeds of
every kind. Then, indeed, let him reflect who he is himself, and what
kind of fortune he has experienced; and then consider who that man was
whom he reproaches as bad, and to what a height of human success he
attained, becoming without any dispute king of both continents,[984]
and reaching every place by his fame; while he himself who reproaches
him is of smaller account, spending his labour on petty objects, which,
however, he does not succeed in effecting, petty as they are. For my
own part, I think there was at that time no race of men, no city, nor
even a single individual to whom Alexander’s name and fame had not
penetrated. For this reason it seems to me that a hero totally unlike
any other human being could not have been born without the agency of
the deity. And this is said to have been revealed after Alexander’s
death by the oracular responses, by the visions which presented
themselves to various people, and by the dreams which were seen by
different individuals. It is also shown by the honour paid to him by
men up to the present time, and by the recollection which is still held
of him as more than human. Even at the present time, after so long an
interval, other oracular responses in his honour have been received by
the nation of the Macedonians. In relating the history of Alexander’s
achievements, there are some things which I have been compelled to
censure; but I am not ashamed to admire Alexander himself. Those
actions I have branded as bad, both from a regard to my own veracity,
and at the same time for the benefit of mankind.[985] For this reason
I think that I undertook the task of writing this history not without
the divine inspiration.
THE END OF THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER’S DEEDS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Cf. Arrian (_Cynegeticus_, i. 4).
[2] See _Dio Cassius_, lxix. 15.
[3] Cf. Josephus (_Vita ipsius_, 76).
[4] Cf. Lucian (_Alexander_, 2).
[5] See _Dio Cassius_, lxix. 15.
[6] See _Anabasis_, i. 10, 4; ii. 14, 4; ii. 25, 3; vi. 1, 4; vii. 23,
7.
[7] _Anab._, vii. 25.
[8] _Life of Alexander_, chap. 76.
[9] See _Anab._, v. 5, 1; 6, 8; vi. 28, 6; _Indica_, 19, 21, 23, 32, 40
cc.
[10] See _Photius_ (codex 58); _Dio Cassius_, lxix. 15.
[11] Ptolemaeus, surnamed Soter, the Preserver, but more commonly known
as the Son of Lagus, a Macedonian of low birth. Ptolemy’s mother,