Persis was difficult of access, owing to the roughness of the country,
and was guarded by the noblest of the Persians (for Dareius had taken to
flight); but Alexander found a guide to conduct him thither by a circuit
of no great extent. The man spoke two languages, since his father was a
Lycian and his mother a Persian; and it was he, they say, whom the
Pythian priestess had in mind when she prophesied, Alexander being yet a
boy, that a lycus,
or
In this country, then, as it turned out, there was a great slaughter of
the prisoners taken; for Alexander himself writes that he gave orders to
have the inhabitants butchered, thinking that this would be to his
advantage; and they say that as much coined money was found there
On beholding a great statue of Xerxes which had been carelessly
overthrown by a throng that forced its way into the palace, Alexander
stopped before it, and accosting it as if it had been alive, said:
Shall I pass on and leave thee lying there, because of thine
expedition against the Hellenes, or, because of thy magnanimity and
virtue in other ways, shall I set thee up again?
But finally,
after communing with himself a long time in silence, he passed on.
Wishing to refresh his soldiers (for it was winter time), he spent four
months in that place.
And it is said that when he took his seat for the first time under the golden canopy on the royal throne, Demaratus the Corinthian, a well-meaning man and a friend of Alexander’s, as he had been of Alexander’s father, burst into tears, as old men will, and declared that those Hellenes were deprived of great pleasure who had died before seeing Alexander seated on the throne of Dareius.
After this, as he was about to march forth against Dareius, it chanced that he consented to take part in a merry drinking bout of his companions, at which women also came to meet their lovers and shared in their wine and revelry. The most famous among these women was Thaïs, an Athenian, the mistress of Ptolemy, who was afterwards king. She, partly in graceful praise of Alexander, and partly to make sport for him, as the drinking went on, was moved to utter a speech which befitted the character of her native country, but was too lofty for one of her kind.
She said, namely, that for all her hardships in wandering over Asia she was being requited that day by thus revelling luxuriously in the splendid palace of the Persians; but it would be a still greater pleasure to go in revel rout and set fire to the house of the Xerxes who burned Athens, she herself kindling the fire under the eyes of Alexander, in order that a tradition might prevail among men that the women in the train of Alexander inflicted a greater punishment upon the Persians in behalf of Hellas than all her famous commanders by sea and land.
As soon as she had thus spoken, tumultuous applause arose, and the companions of the king eagerly urged him on, so that he yielded to their desires, and leaping to his feet, with a garland on his head and a torch in his hand, led them the way.
The company followed with shouts and revelry and surrounded the palace,
while the rest of the Macedonians who learned about it ran thither with
torches and were full of joy. For they hoped that the burning and
destruction of the palace was the act of one who had fixed his thoughts
on home, and did not intend to dwell among Barbarians. This is the way
the deed was done, according to some writers; but others say it was
premeditated.
Alexander was naturally munificent, and became still more so as his
wealth increased. His gifts, too, were accompanied by a kindly spirit,
with which alone, to tell the truth, a giver confers a favour. I will
mention a few instances. Ariston, the captain of the Paeonians, having
slain an enemy, brought his head and showed it to Alexander, saying:
In my country, O King, such a gift as this is rewarded with a
golden beaker.