49 1 Now, Philotas was ignorant of the plot thus laid against him, and in his frequent interviews with Antigone would utter many angry and boastful speeches and many improper words against the king. 2 But Alexander, although strong testimony against Philotas came to his ears, endured in silence and restrained himself, either because he had confidence in Parmenio's good will towards him, or because he feared the reputation and power of father and son. 3 Meanwhile, however, a Macedonian named Limnus, from Chalaestra, conspired against Alexander's life,79 and invited Nicomachus, one of the young men, whose lover he was, to take part with him in the undertaking. 4 Nicomachus would not accept the invitation, but told his brother Cebalinus of the attempt, and he, going to Philotas, ordered him to conduct them into the presence of Alexander, on the ground that there were matters of great importance about which they must see him. 5 But Philotas, for whatever reason (and the reason is not known), would not conduct them in, alleging that the king was engaged on other matters of more importance. And he refused their request twice. 6 They now became suspicious of Philotas and applied to someone else, by whom they were brought before Alexander. In the first place they told him about the plot of Limnus, and then threw out veiled insinuations against Philotas, on the ground that he had neglected their petitions on two occasions. 7 This greatly incensed Alexander; and when he found that Limnus had defended himself against arrest and had therefore been k**ed by the man sent to fetch him, he was still more disturbed in mind, thinking that the proof of the plot had escaped him. 6938 And since p367he felt bitter towards Philotas he drew to himself those who had long hated the man, and they now said openly that the king took things too easily when he supposed that Limnus, a man of Chalaestra, had set his hand to a deed of so great daring on his own account; 9 nay, they said, he was only an a**istant, or rather an instrument sent forth by a higher power, and enquiry into the plot should be made in those quarters where there was most interest in having it concealed. 10 After the king had once given ear to such speeches and suspicions, the enemies of Philotas brought up countless accusations against him. 11 Consequently he was arrested and put to the question, the companions of the king standing by at the torture, while Alexander himself listened behind a stretch of tapestry. 12 Here, as we are told, on hearing Philotas beset Hephaestion with abject cries and supplications, he said: "So faint-hearted thou art, Philotas, and so unmanly, couldst thou have set hand to so great an undertaking?" 13 After Philotas had been put to d**h, Alexander sent at once into Media and dispatched Parmenio also, a man whose achievements with Philip had been many, and who was the only one of Alexander's older friends, or the principal one, to urge his crossing into Asia, and who, of the three sons that were his, had seen two k**ed on the expedition before this, and was now put to d**h along with the third.80
14 These actions made Alexander an object of fear to many of his friends, and particularly to Antipater, who sent secretly to the Aetolians and entered into an alliance with them. 15 For the Aetolians also were in fear of Alexander, because they had destroyed the city of the Oeniadae, and because Alexander, on p369learning of it, had said that it would not be the sons of the Oeniadae, but he himself who would punish the Aetolians.
50 1 Not long afterwards came the affair of Cleitus,81 which those who simply learn the immediate circumstances will think more savage than that of Philotas; 2 if we take into consideration, however, alike the cause and the time, we find that it did not happen of set purpose, but through some misfortune of the king, whose anger and intoxication furnished occasion for the evil genius of Cleitus. It happened on this wise. 3 Some people came bringing Greek fruit to the king from the sea-board. He admired its perfection and beauty and called Cleitus, wishing to show it to him and share it with him. 4 It chanced that Cleitus was sacrificing, but he gave up the sacrifice and came; and three of the sheep on which libations had already been poured came following after him. 5 When the king learned of this circumstance, he imparted it to his soothsayers, Aristander and Cleomantis the Lacedaemonian. Then, on their telling him that the omen was bad, he ordered them to sacrifice in all haste for the safety of Cleitus. 6 For he himself, two days before this, had seen a strange vision in his sleep; he thought he saw Cleitus sitting with the sons of Parmenio in black robes, and all were dead. 7 However, Cleitus did not finish his sacrifice, but came at once to the supper of the king, who had sacrificed to the Dioscuri. 8 After boisterous drinking was under way, verses were sung which had been composed by a certain Pranichus, or, as some say, Pierio, to shame and ridicule the p371generals who had lately been defeated by the Barbarians. 9 The older guests were annoyed at this and railed at both the poet and the singer, but Alexander and those about him listened with delight and bade the singer go on. Then Cleitus, who was already drunk and naturally of a harsh temper and wilful, was more than ever vexed, and insisted that it was not well done, when among Barbarians and enemies, to insult Macedonians who were far better men than those who laughed at them, even though they had met with misfortune. 10 And when Alexander declared that Cleitus was pleading his own cause when he gave cowardice the name of misfortune, Cleitus sprang to his feet and said: 11 "It was this cowardice of mine, however, that saved thy life, god-born as thou art, when thou wast already turning thy back upon the spear of Spithridates;82 694and it is by the blood of Macedonians, and by these wounds, that thou art become so great as to disown Philip and make thyself son to Ammon."83
51 1 Thoroughly incensed, then, Alexander said: "Base fellow, dost thou think to speak thus of me at all times, and to raise faction among Macedonians, with impunity?" 2 "Nay," said Cleitus, "not even now do we enjoy impunity, since such are the rewards we get for our toils; and we pronounce those happy who are already dead, and did not live to see us Macedonians thrashed with Median rods, or begging Persians in order to get audience with our king." 3 So spake Cleitus in all boldness, and those about Alexander sprang up to confront him and reviled him, while the elder men tried to quell the tumult. 4 Then Alexander, turning to Xenodochus of Cardia p373and Artemus of Colophon, said: "Do not the Greeks appear to you to walk about among Macedonians like demi-gods among wild beasts?" 5 Cleitus, however, would not yield, but called on Alexander to speak out freely what he wished to say, or else not to invite to supper men who were free and spoke their minds, but to live with Barbarians and slaves, who would do obeisance to his white tunic and Persian girdle. Then Alexander, no longer able to restrain his anger, threw one of the apples that lay on the table at Cleitus and hit him, and began looking about for his sword. 6 But one of his body-guards, Aristophanes, conveyed it away before he could lay his hands on it, and the rest surrounded him and begged him to desist, whereupon he sprang to his feet and called out in Macedonian speech a summons to his corps of guards (and this was a sign of great disturbance), and ordered the trumpeter to sound, and smote him with his fist because he hesitated and was unwilling to do so. 7 This man, then, was afterwards held in high esteem on the ground that it was due to him more than to any one else that the camp was not thrown into commotion. 8 But Cleitus would not give in, and with much ado his friends pushed him out of the banquet-hall.
He tried to come in again, however, by another door, very boldly and contemptuously reciting these iambics from the "Andromache" of Euripides:84
"Alas! in Hellas what an evil government!"
9 And so, at last, Alexander seized a spear from one of his guards, met Cleitus as he was drawing aside the curtain before the door, and ran him through. 10 No sooner had Cleitus fallen with a roar and a groan p375than the king's anger departed from him. 11 And when he was come to himself and beheld his friends standing speechless, he drew the spear from the dead body and would have dashed it into his own throat, had not his body-guards prevented this by seizing his hands and carrying him by force to his chamber.
52 1 Here he spent the night and the following day in bitter lamentations, and at last lay speechless, worn out with his cries and wailing, heaving deep groans. Then his friends, alarmed at his silence, forced their way in. 2 To what the others said he would pay no attention, but when Aristander the seer reminded him of the vision he had seen concerning Cleitus, and of the omen,85 a**uring him that all this had long ago been decreed by fate, he seemed to be less obdurate. 3 Therefore they brought in to him Callisthenes the philosopher, who was a relative of Aristotle, and Anaxarchus of Abdera. Of these, Callisthenes tried by considerate and gentle methods to alleviate the king's suffering, employing insinuation and circumlocution so as to avoid giving pain; but Anaxarchus, who had always taken a path of his own in philosophy, 4 and had acquired a reputation for despising and slighting his a**ociates, shouted out as soon as he came in: 5 "Here is Alexander, to whom the whole world is now looking; but he lies on the floor weeping like a slave, in fear of the law and the censure of men, unto whom he himself should be a law and a measure of justice, 695since he has conquered the right to rule and mastery, instead of submitting like a slave to the mastery of a vain opinion. 6 Knowest p377thou not," said he, "that Zeus had Justice and Law seated beside him, in order that everything that is done by the master of the world may be lawful and just?" 7 By using some such arguments as these Anaxarchus succeeded in lightening the suffering of the king, it is true, but rendered his disposition in many ways more vainglorious and lawless; he also made himself wonderfully liked by the king, and brought the intercourse of Callisthenes with him, which had always been unpleasant because of the man's austerity, into additional disfavour.
8 It is said that once at supper the conversation turned upon seasons and weather, and that Callisthenes, who held with those who maintain that it is more cold and wintry there than in Greece, was stoutly opposed by Anaxarchus, whereupon he said: 9 "You surely must admit that it is colder here than there; for there you used to go about in winter in a cloak merely, but here you recline at table with three rugs thrown over you." Of course this also added to the irritation of Anaxarchus.
53 1 Moreover, the other sophists and flatterers in the train of Alexander were annoyed to see Callisthenes eagerly courted by the young men on account of his eloquence, and no less pleasing to the older men on account of his mode of life, which was well-ordered, dignified, and independent, and confirmed the reason given for his sojourn abroad, namely, that he had gone to Alexander from an ardent desire to restore his fellow-citizens to their homes and re-people his native city.86 2 And besides being envied on account of his reputation, he also at times by his own conduct furnished material for his detractors, rejecting invitations for the most p379part, and when he did go into company, by his gravity and silence making it appear that he disapproved or disliked what was going on, so that even Alexander said in allusion to him:—
"I hate a wise man even to himself unwise."87
3 It is said, moreover, that once when a large company had been invited to the king's supper, Callisthenes was bidden, when the cup came to him, to speak in praise of the Macedonians, and was so successful on the theme that the guests rose up to applaud him and threw their garlands at him; 4 whereupon Alexander said that, in the language of Euripides, when a man has for his words
"A noble subject, it is easy to speak well;"88
"but show us the power of your eloquence," said he, "by a denunciation of the Macedonians, that they may become even better by learning their faults." 5 And so Callisthenes began his palinode, and spoke long and boldly in denunciation of the Macedonians, and after showing that faction among the Greeks was the cause of the increase of Philip's power, added:
"But in a time of sedition, the base man too is in honour."89
6 This gave the Macedonians a stern and bitter hatred of him, and Alexander declared that Callisthenes p381had given a proof, not of his eloquence, but of his ill-will towards the Macedonians.
54 1 This, then, according to Hermippus, is the story which Stroebus, the slave who read aloud for Callisthenes, told to Aristotle, and he says that when Callisthenes was aware of the alienation of the king, twice or thrice, as he was going away from him, he recited the verse:
"Dead also is Patroclus, a man far braver than thou art."90
2 What Aristotle said, then, would seem to have been no idle verdict, namely, that Callisthenes showed great ability as a speaker, but lacked common sense. 3 But in the matter of the obeisance, at least, by refusing sturdily and like a philosopher to perform the act, and by standing forth alone and rehearsing in public the reasons for the indignation which all the oldest and best of the Macedonians cherished in secret, he delivered the Greeks from a great disgrace, and Alexander from a greater, 696by leading him not to insist upon the obeisance; but he destroyed himself, because he was thought to use force rather than persuasion with the king.
4 Chares of Mitylene says that once at a banquet Alexander, after drinking, handed the cup to one of his friends, and he, on receiving it, rose up so as to face the household shrine, and when he had drunk, first made obeisance to Alexander, then kissed him, and then resumed his place upon the couch. 5 As all the guests were doing this in turn, Callisthenes took the cup, the king not paying attention, but conversing with Hephaestion, and after he had drunk went towards the king to kiss him; 6 but p383Demetrius, surnamed Pheido, cried: "O King, do not accept his kiss, for he alone has not done thee obeisance." So also declined the kiss, at which Callisthenes exclaimed in a loud voice: "Well, then, I'll go away the poorer by a kiss."91
55 1 The king having been thus alienated, in the first place, Hephaestion found credence for his story that Callisthenes had promised him to make obeisance to the king and then had been false to his agreement. 2 Again, men like Lysimachus and Hagnon persisted in saying that the sophist went about with lofty thoughts as if bent on abolishing a tyranny, and that the young men flocked to him and followed him about as if he were the only freeman among so many tens of thousands. 3 For this reason also, when the conspiracy of Hermolaüs and his a**ociates92 against Alexander was discovered, it was thought that the accusations of his detractors had an air of probability. 4 They said, namely, that when Hermolaüs put the question to him how he might become a most illustrious man, Callisthenes said: "By k**ing the most illustrious;" and that in inciting Hermolaüs to the deed he bade him have no fear of the golden couch, but remember that he was approaching a man who was subject to sickness and wounds. 5 And yet not one of the accomplices of Hermolaüs, even in the last extremity, denounced Callisthenes. 6 Nay, even Alexander himself, in the letters which he wrote at once to Craterus, Attalus, and Alcetas, says that the youths confessed under torture that they had made this attempt of themselves, and that no one else was privy to it. 7 But in a letter written later to Antipater, wherein he accuses Callisthenes also of the crime, he says: "The p385youths were stoned to d**h by the Macedonians, but the sophist I will punish, together with those who sent him to me and those who harbour in their cities men who conspire against my life;" and in these words, at least, he directly reveals a hostility to Aristotle, 8 in whose house Callisthenes, on account of his relationship, had been reared, being a son of Hero, who was a niece of Aristotle. 9 As to the d**h of Callisthenes, some say that he was hanged by Alexander's orders, others that he was bound hand and foot and died of sickness, and Chares says that after his arrest he was kept in fetters seven months, that he might be tried before a full council when Aristotle was present, but that about the time when Alexander was wounded in India, he died from obesity and the disease of lice.93
56 1 This, however, belongs to a later time.94 Meanwhile Demaratus the Corinthian, who was now well on in years, was eagerly desirous of going up to Alexander; and when he had seen him, he said that those Greeks were deprived of a great pleasure who had died before seeing Alexander seated on the throne of Dareius.95 2 However, he did not long enjoy the king's good will towards him, but died from debility. His obsequies were magnificent, and the army raised in his memory a mound of great circumference and •eighty cubits in height. His ashes were carried down to the sea-board on a four-horse chariot splendidly adorned.
57 1 Alexander was now about to cross the mountains into India,96 and since he saw that his army was by this time cumbered with much booty p387and hard to move, at break of day, after the baggage-waggons had been loaded, 697he burned first those which belonged to himself and his companions, and then gave orders to set fire to those of the Macedonians. 2 And the planning of the thing turned out to be a larger and more formidable matter than its execution. For it gave annoyance to a few only of the soldiers, while the most of them, with rapturous shouts and war-cries, shared their necessaries with those who were in need of them, and what was superfluous they burned and destroyed with their own hands, thus filling Alexander with zeal and eagerness. 3 Besides, he was already greatly feared, and inexorable in the chastisement of a transgressor. For instance, when a certain Menander, one of his companions, who had been put in command of a garrison, refused to remain there, he put him to d**h; and Orsodates, a Barbarian who had revolted from him, he shot down with his own hand.
4 When a sheep yeaned a lamb which had upon its head what looked like a tiara in form and colour, with testicles on either side of it, Alexander was filled with loathing at the portent, and had himself purified by the Babylonians, whom he was accustomed toº take along with him for such purposes; and in conversation with his friends he said that he was not disturbed for his own sake, but for theirs, fearing lest after his d**h Heaven might devolve his power upon an ignoble and impotent man. 5 However, a better portent occurred and put an end to his dejection. The Macedonian, namely, who was set over those in charge of the royal equipage, Proxenus by name, as he was digging a place for the p389king's tent along the river Oxus, uncovered a spring of liquid which was oily and fatty; 6 but when the top of it was drawn off, there flowed at once a pure and clear oil, which appeared to differ from olive oil neither in odour nor in flavour, and in smoothness and lustre was altogether the same, and that too though the country produced no olive trees. 7 It is said, indeed, that Oxus itself also has a very soft water, which gives sleekness to the skin of those who bathe in it. 8 However, that Alexander was marvellously pleased is clear from what he writes to Antipater, where he speaks of this as one of the greatest omens vouchsafed to him from Heaven. 9 The seers, however, held that the omen foreshadowed an expedition which would be glorious, but difficult and toilsome; for oil, they said, was given to men by Heaven as an aid to toil.
58 1 And so it proved; for he encountered many perils in the battles which he fought, and received very severe wounds; but the greatest losses which his army suffered were caused by lack of necessary provisions and severity of weather. 2 Still, he was eager to overcome fortune by boldness and force by valour, and thought nothing invincible for the courageous, and nothing secure for the cowardly. 3 It is said that when he was besieging the citadel of Sisimithres, which was steep and inaccessible, so that his soldiers were disheartened, he asked Oxyartes what sort of a man Sisimithres himself was in point of spirit. 4 And when Oxyartes replied that he was most cowardly of men, "Thy words mean," said Alexander, "that we p391can take the citadel, since he who commands it is a weak thing." And indeed he did take the citadel by frightening Sisimithres. 5 Again, after attacking another citadel equally precipitous, he was urging on the younger Macedonians, and addressing one who bore the name of Alexander, said: "It behooves thee, at least, to be a brave man, even for thy name's sake." And when the young man, fighting gloriously, fell, the king was pained beyond measure. 6 And at another time, when his Macedonians hesitated to advance upon the citadel called Nysa because there was a deep river in front of it, Alexander, halting on the bank, cried: "Most miserable man that I am, why, pray, have I not learned to swim?" and at once, carrying his shield, he would have tried to cross. 7 And when, after he had put a stop to the fighting, amba**adors came from the beleaguered cities to beg for terms, they were amazed, to begin with, to see him in full armour and without an attendant; and besides, when a cushion was brought to him for his use, he ordered the eldest of the amba**adors, Acuphis by name, to take it for his seat. 6988 Acuphis, accordingly, astonished at his magnanimity and courtesy, asked what he wished them to do in order to be his friends. 9 "Thy countrymen," said Alexander, "must make thee their ruler, and send me a hundred of their best men." At this Acuphis laughed, and said: "Nay, O King, I shall rule better if I send to thee the worst men rather than the best."97
59 1 Taxiles, we are told, had a realm in India as large as Egypt, with good pasturage, too, and in the highest degree productive of beautiful fruits. He p393was also a wise man in his way, and after he had greeted Alexander, said: 2 "Why must we war and fight with one another, Alexander, if thou art not come to rob us of water or of necessary sustenance, the only things for which men of sense are obliged to fight obstinately? 3 As for other wealth and possessions, so‑called, if I am thy superior therein, I am ready to confer favours; but if thine inferior, I will not object to thanking you for favours conferred." 4 At this Alexander was delighted, and clasping the king's hand, said: "Canst thou think, pray, that after such words of kindness our interview is to end without a battle? Nay, thou shalt not get the better of me; for I will contend against thee and fight to the last with my favours, that thou mayest not surpa** me in generosity." 5 So, after receiving many gifts and giving many more, at last he lavished upon him a thousand talents in coined money. This conduct greatly vexed Alexander's friends, but it made many of the Barbarians look upon him more kindly.
6 The best fighters among the Indians, however, were mercenaries, and they used to go about to the different cities and defend them sturdily, and wrought much harm to Alexander's cause. Therefore, after he had made a truce with them in a certain city and allowed them to depart, he fell upon them as they marched and slew them all. 7 And this act adheres like a stain to his military career; in all other instances he waged war according to usage and like a king. 8 The philosophers, too, no less than the mercenaries, gave him trouble, by abusing those of the native princes who attached themselves to his cause, and by inciting the free peoples to revolt. He therefore took many of these also and hanged them.
p39560 1 Of his campaign against Porus98 he himself has given an account in his letters. He says, namely, that the river Hydaspes flowed between the two camps, and that Porus stationed his elephants on the opposite bank and kept continual watch of the crossing. 2 He himself, accordingly, day by day caused a great din and tumult to be made in his camp, and thereby accustomed the Barbarians not to be alarmed. 3 Then, on a dark and stormy night, he took a part of his infantry and the best of his horsemen, and after proceeding along the river to a distance from where the enemy lay, crossed over to a small island. 4 Here rain fell in torrents, and many tornadoes and thunder-bolts dashed down upon his men; but nevertheless, although he saw that many of them were being burned to d**h by the thunder-bolts, he set out from the islet and made for the opposite banks. 5 But the Hydaspes, made violent by the storm and dashing high against its bank, made a great breach in it, and a large part of the stream was setting in that direction; and the shore between the two currents gave his men no sure footing, since it was broken and slippery. 6 And here it was that he is said to have cried: "O Athenians, can ye possibly believe what perils I am undergoing to win glory in your eyes?" 7 This, however, is the story of Onesicritus; Alexander himself says that they left their rafts and crossed the breach with their armour on, wading breast-high in water, and that after he had crossed he led his horsemen •twenty furlongs in advance of his infantry, calculating that, in case the enemy attacked with p397their cavalry, he would be far superior to them, and in case they moved up their men-at‑arms, 699his infantry would join him in good season. And one of these suppositions came to pa**. 8 For after routing a thousand of the enemy's horsemen and sixty of their chariots which engaged him, he captured all the chariots, and slew four hundred of the horsemen. 9 And now Porus, thus led to believe that Alexander himself had crossed the river, advanced upon him with all his forces, except the part he left behind to impede the crossing of the remaining Macedonians. 10 But Alexander, fearing the elephants and the great numbers of the enemy, himself a**aulted their left wing, and ordered Coenus to attack their right. 11 Both wings having been routed, the vanquished troops retired in every case upon the elephants in the centre, and were there crowded together with them, and from this point on the battle was waged at close quarters, and it was not until the eighth hour that the enemy gave up. Such then, is the account of the battle which the victor himself has given in his letters.
12 Most historians agree that Porus was four cubits and a span99 high, and that the size and majesty of his body made his elephant seem as fitting a mount for him as a horse for the horseman. And yet his elephant was of the largest size; 13 and it showed remarkable intelligence and solicitude for the king, bravely defending him and beating back his a**ailants while he was still in full vigour, and when it perceived that its master was worn out with a multitude of missiles and wounds, fearing he should fall off, it knelt softly on the ground, and with its proboscis p399gently took each spear and drew it out of his body. 14 Porus was taken prisoner, and when Alexander asked him how he would be treated, said: "Like a king"; and to another question from Alexander whether he had anything else to say, replied: 15 "All things are included in my 'like a king.' " Accordingly, Alexander not only permitted him to govern his former kingdom, giving him the title of satrap, but also added to it the territory of the independent peoples whom he subdued, in which there are said to have been fifteen nations, five thousand cities of considerable size, and a great multitude of villages. 16 He subdued other territory also thrice as large as this and appointed Philip, one of his companions, satrap over it.
61 1 After the battle with Porus, too, Bucephalas died, — not at once, but some time afterwards, — as most writers say, from wounds for which he was under treatment, but according to Onesicritus, from old age, having become quite worn out;100 for he was thirty years old when he died. 2 His d**h grieved Alexander mightily, who felt that he had lost nothing less than a comrade and a friend; he also built a city in his memory on the banks of the Hydaspes and called it Bucephalia. 3 It is said, too, that when he lost a dog also, named Peritas, which had been reared by him and was loved by him, he founded a city and gave it the dog's name. Sotion says he heard this from Potamon the Lesbian.
The Editor's Notes:
79 In the late autumn of 330 B.C.
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80 Cf. Arrian, Anab. III.26.
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81 During the campaign of 328 B.C., at Samarkand, in Sogdiana. Cf. Arrian, Anab. IV.8 f.
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82 Cf. chapter xvi.5.
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83 Cf. chapters xxvii f.
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84 Verse 683 (Kirchhoff).
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85 Cf. chapter l.2 f.
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86 Olynthus, which had been destroyed by Philip in 347 B.C.
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87 An iambic trimeter from an unknown play of Euripides (Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag.2 p652).
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88 Bacchae, 260 (Kirchhoff).
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89 A proverb in hexameter verse, sometimes attributed to Callimachus. Cf. the Nicias, xi.3; Morals, 479 A.
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90 Achilles to Hector, Iliad, XXI.107.
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91 Cf. Arrian, Anab. IV.12.
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92 The conspiracy of the pages (Arrian, Anab. IV.13).
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93 Cf. Arrian, Anab. IV.14.3 f., where other accounts still are mentioned.
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94 The spring of 327 B.C.
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95 Cf. chapter xxxvii.7.º
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96 In the late spring of 327 B.C.
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97 Cf. Arrian, Anab. V.2.1‑3.
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98 See Arrian, Anab. V.9‑19. It was in the spring of 326 B.C.
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99 •Six feet and three inches.
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100 Cf. Arrian, Anab. V.19.4 f.