Moreover, in the court Journals
there are recorded the following
particulars regarding his sickness.
On the twentieth, after bathing again, he performed his customary sacrifice; and lying in the bathing-room he devoted himself to Nearchus, listening to his story of his voyage and of the great sea. The twenty-first he spent in the same way and was still more inflamed, and during the night he was in a grievous plight, and all the following day his fever was very high. So he had his bed removed and lay by the side of the great bath, where he conversed with his officers about the vacant posts in the army, and how they might be filled with experienced men.
On the twenty-fourth his fever was violent and he had to be carried forth to perform his sacrifices; moreover, he ordered his principal officers to tarry in the court of the palace, and the commanders of divisions and companies to spend the night outside. He was carried to the palace on the other side of the river on the twenty-fifth, and got a little sleep, but his fever did not abate. And when his commanders came to his bedside, he was speechless, as he was also on the twenty-sixth;
therefore the Macedonians made up their minds that he was dead, and came
with loud shouts to the doors of the palace, and threatened his
companions until all opposition was broken down; and when the doors had
been thrown open to them, without cloak or armour, one by one, they all
filed slowly past his couch. During this day, too, Python and Seleucus
were sent to the temple of Serapis to enquire whether they should bring
Alexander thither; and the god gave answer that they should leave him
where he was. And on the twenty-eighth,