The Greek Alexander Romance Book

Our friends repeatedly urged us to turn back, but I was reluctant because I wanted to see the end of the world.

The god has addressed you himself by the mightiest of names. "Heracles, O Alexander," he called you, thus indicating to you that you are to exceed all other men by your deeds and to be remembered through the ages.
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Then Ptolemy came to him and said, 'Alexander, to whom do you leave your kingdom?'
'To him who is strong, who is willing, who can keep it, and who can maintain it,' was the reply.
. . .
Then the air was filled with mist, and a great star was seen descending from the sky, accompanied by an eagle; and the statue in Babylon, which was called the statue of Zeus, trembled. When the star ascended again to the sky, accompanied by the eagle, and had disappeared, Alexander fell into his eternal sleep.
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Alexander never married the daughter of Darius, and the king's claims could not be other than fiction. No historian claims her for a daughter of Darius; that piece of legend is due directly to the Alexander Romance. (Introduction)

As Strabo put it: 'All who wrote about Alexander preferred the marvellous to the true.' (2.1.9) (Introduction)

The idea that Alexander was Nectabano's son belongs essentially to Egyptian tradition, and is related to Egyptian nationalist beliefs in the return of a king to Memphis. (Introduction)
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With hair and beard of gold . . .

For what is more glorious than gold, with which we make our honours to the gods?

And as the child fell to the ground, there were great claps of thunder and flashes of lightning, so that all the world was shaken.

When Philip saw what had happened, he leapt up, drew his sword, and rushed at Alexandr in a rage; but he tripped on the edge of his couch and fell over.
Alexander laughed and said to Philip: 'You are eager to conquer all Asia and to destroy Europe to its foundations, yet you are unable to take a single step.'

The archers were innumerable, ad the sun could not be seen for their arrows.

It is said that he compelled the Theban musician Ismenias to play his pipes while the city was being demolished.

When the war was over, Alexander went to look at the dedications. He found Diogenes sitting in a sunny place and said, 'Who are you?'
Those around him replied, 'This, your majesty, is Diogenes the philosopher, who so often advised the Athenians to fight against your power.'
When Alexander heard this, he went up to the place where Diogenes was sitting sunning himself (it was morning, and he was leaning on his barrel), and said to him, 'Diogenes, what favour can I do you?'
'Nothing,' replied the other, 'except to go away and leave me the sunshine, so that I can warm myself.'

All the cities welcomed him with garlands.

To bloom forever in incorruptible youth . . .

Here there was a temple and a statue of Orpheus, around which stood the Pierian Muses and wild beasts. When Alexander looked at it, the statue broke out in a sweat.

But I would rather be a Thersites in Homer than Agamemnon in your poetry.

Brave men should fight on the open plain; only women shut themselves in for fear of what is to come.

Every task that is begun with enthusiasm is swift to reach its completion.

I see that the war is growing in intensity. I thought that Alexander had the mind of a bandit, but in fact he is attempting the deeds of a king.

The sentries, seeing him dressed as he was, took him for a god.

But Darius sat still, wearing his crown set with precious stones, his silk robes woven with gold thread in the Babylonian style, his cloak of royal purple, and his golden shoes studded with gems which covered his shins.

Any old tale can carry its listeners, if it is told with conviction.

Darius was sitting on his bed, deeply disturbed. There he saw an evil omen. A statue of King Xerxes, of which he was particularly fond because of its high artistic quality, suddenly fell through the ceiling.

If fate's balance slips just a little to one side, it exalts the humble above the clouds and hurls others from their heights into Hades.

He was richer than Croesus . . .

To drink of the spring of immortality . . .

Now I have decided to make no more attempts at the impossible. Farewell.

Every band esters only what is better than his own.

If you wish to know who we are'we are naked and we have devoted ourselves to the pursuit of wisdom. This we have done, not by our own decision but through the agency of Providence above. Your business is war, ours is wisdom.

A woman gives suck first with her right breast.

Almost godlike in appearance . . .

'How many years have I left to live?' Asked Alexander.
'It is best for a living man not to know when his end will come,' was the reply. 'As soon as he learns the hour of his death, from that moment he is as good as dead. But if he remains in ignorance, this helps him to forget about his death, even though he must die one day.

The horse Bucephalus ran into their midst and, staining close to Alexander, began to water the bed with his tears. Both the Persians and Macedonians exclaimed in amazement when they saw the horse weeping.

On the point of death, Alexander made the following speech:
'I, who crossed all the inhabited earth,
And the uninhabited places, and the places of darkness,
Was unable to evade fate.
A small cup can yield a man to death,
And send him down among the dead with a drop of poison.
The army, seeing me compelled to die,
Wish to help and are powerless.
For the est'I shall lie buried in Hades.

'. . . You look s if you wish to help me, but you cannot.'
When Alexander spoke like this to Bucephalus, the whole army howled, making a tremendous noise. The treacherous slave who had prepared the poison and who had plotted against their lives thought that Alexander was dead, and came running to see. When Bucephalus saw him, he cast off his morose and dejected look, and, just as if he were a rational, even a clever man, he avenged his master. He ran into the midst of the crowd, seized the slave in his teeth and dragged him to Alexander; he shook him violently and have a loud whinny to show that he was going to have his revenge. Then he took a great leap into the air, dragging the treacherous and deceitful slave with him, and smashed him against the ground. The sale was torn apart bits of him flew all over everyone like snow falling off a roof n the wind. The horse got up, neighed a little, and then fell down before Alexander and breathed his last. Alexander smiled at him.

Nothing is stronger than reason . . . reason is of more value than thousands of gold pieces and precious stones.