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,[1] among the ranks of the Macedonians, and the Persian peers[2] 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.[3]
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
- ↑ Cf. Herodotus, vii. 41; Arrian, iii. 11 supra.
- ↑ Xenophon (Cyropaedia, vii. 5, 85) says that the Persian Equals-in-Honour, or Peers, spent their time about the Court.
- ↑ Cf. Arrian, iv. 14 supra; Justin, ix. 8; Athenaeus, x. p. 431 B; Aelian (Varia Historia, iii. 23; ix. 3; xii. 26).
jacentium adulationes, etiam viotis Maeedonibus graves, nedum victoribus; et foeda supplioia, et inter Tinum et epula, caedes amicorum at vanitatem ementiendae stirpis. Consult the whole of the interesting passage in Livy, ix. 17-19. See also Aelian (Varia Historia, n. 19; v. 12; ix. 37).
