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was shaken by its movement. But after gently stroking him, he leaped up and mounted him, and after making him canter a little, he let him out to a run; and those watching were anxious. But when he had already turned back with pride and joy, those around Philip shouted, and he shed tears of joy, and kissing the boy he said, "Seek, child, a kingdom worthy of you; for Macedonia does not contain you." His nature was hard to move when commanded, but if someone approached him with reason and persuasion, he was obedient. And he associated with Aristotle, partaking not only of ethical and political discourse, but also of the more secret doctrines, which they did not share with many, calling them epoptic and acroamatic. For a letter of his to Aristotle is reported as follows: "You have not done well in publishing the acroamatic discourses; for in what will we differ from others, if the doctrines in which we were instructed will be common to all?" And he wrote back that "they are published and not published," indicating by this their obscurity and incomprehensibility. And in medicine he pursued not only the theoretical but also the practice itself. And when he was sixteen, and already giving proof of his spirit and courage, 1.287 he was exceedingly loved by his father; but because of Philip's loves inappropriate for his age and his mother's jealous and morose nature, Alexander had differences with his father. And when Pausanias killed Philip, he took over the kingdom, being twenty years old. And though affairs at the beginning of his reign were troubled on all sides, by his daring and gravity of spirit he quickly settled them, capturing and razing Thebes and selling the captured Thebans, but making a truce with the Athenians. At that time a certain Thracian captain disgraced Timocleia, a Theban woman of noble birth, by violating her, and then questioned her about her money. She, taking him aside alone, led him to a well, saying that in it she had hidden the most valuable of her treasures. And when the captain bent over the mouth of the well, the woman pushed him into it and, throwing stones from above, killed him. When she was brought to him as a prisoner, Alexander asked her who she was. She fearlessly replied, "I am the sister of Theagenes, who was chosen general against Philip and fell fighting for the freedom of the Greeks." Alexander, therefore, admiring both the woman's magnanimity and the courage of her soul, released her free with her children. And going to Diogenes of Sinope, who was staying near Corinth, and finding him sunning himself, he greeted the man and asked if he needed anything. And he said that he needed the warmth of the sun, and asked him to move. And as Alexander was leaving, those with him laughed at Diogenes; but he, admiring the man's scornful attitude, said to 1.288 them, "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." And setting out on the campaign in Asia, he did not board the ship before assigning to one of his companions a field, to another a village, and to another some other revenue. And when Perdiccas said, "But what, O king, do you leave for yourself?" he replied, "Hopes." And after he had crossed the Hellespont, the satraps of Darius with a heavy force met him at the crossing of the Granicus. And while those around him feared the depth of the river, the force of the current, and on top of these the attack of the enemy, he with thirteen squadrons of cavalry plunged into the stream, risking it against the current itself and against the enemy and against steep and precipitous banks. For this reason it seemed that he made the crossing then more madly than strategically. And having thus crossed, he was forced to fight in confusion. And though many rushed at him, for he was conspicuous by his armor, he was not wounded when a javelin was thrown at him, but when someone struck his helmet with a sword, the blow reached so far down the helmet that the sword grazed his hair. And as the battle was thus joined, the Macedonian forces crossed the Granicus; and the men of
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αὐτοῦ σαλευομένῃ ἐταράττετο. βραχὺ δὲ καταψήσας αὐτὸν ἀνέθορε καὶ ἐπέβη αὐτοῦ, καὶ παρακαλπάσας μικρὸν ἀφῆκε πρὸς δρόμον· ἠγωνίων δ' οἱ βλέποντες. ηδη δ' ἐπιστραφέντος σὺν φρονήματι καὶ χαρᾷ, οἱ μὲν περὶ Φίλιππον ἀνεβόησαν, ἐκεῖνος δὲ χαρμόσυνα προήνεγκε δάκρυα, καὶ φιλήσας τὸν παῖδα "ζήτει, τέκνον" εφη, "σοὶ βασιλείαν ἀνάλογον· Μακεδονία γάρ σε οὐ χωρεῖ." ην δὲ ἡ φύσις αὐτῷ δυσκίνητος μὲν ἐπιτασσομένῳ, εἰ δὲ λόγῳ τις αὐτὸν καὶ πειθοῖ μετῄει, πειθήνιος. ὡμίλησε δὲ τῷ ̓Αριστοτέλει, μετασχὼν οὐ μόνον τοῦ ἠθικοῦ καὶ πολιτικοῦ λόγου, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀπορρητοτέρων, ους οὐκ ἐκοινοῦντο πολλοῖς, ἐποπτικοὺς καὶ ἀκροαματικοὺς καλοῦντες αὐτούς. φέρεται γὰρ πρὸς ̓Αριστοτέλην αὐτοῦ ἐπιστόλιον ουτως εχον "οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἐποίησας ἐκδοὺς τοὺς ἀκροαματικοὺς τῶν λόγων· τίνι γὰρ τῶν αλλων διοίσομεν, εἰ καθ' ους ἐπαιδεύθημεν λόγους ουτοι πάντων εσονται κοινοί;" ὁ δὲ ἀντεπέστειλεν ὡς "ἐκδέδονται καὶ οὐκ ἐκδέδονται," διὰ τούτων δηλῶν τὴν ἀσάφειαν καὶ τὸ δυσκατάληπτον. καὶ τῆς ἰατρικῆς δὲ οὐ τὸ θεωρητικὸν μετῄει μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτήν. ἑξκαιδεκέτης δὲ γεγονώς, καὶ τοῦ φρονήματος καὶ τῆς ἀνδρείας ἀπόπειραν ηδη διδούς, 1.287 ὑπερηγαπᾶτο πρὸς τοῦ πατρός· διὰ δὲ τοὺς παρ' ἡλικίαν ερωτας τοῦ Φιλίππου καὶ τὸ τῆς μητρὸς ζηλότυπον καὶ βαρύθυμον ὁ ̓Αλέξανδρος εσχε πρὸς τὸν πατέρα διαφοράς. Παυσανίου δὲ τὸν Φίλιππον κτείναντος παρέλαβε τὴν βασιλείαν εικοσι τυγχάνων ἐτῶν. καὶ τεταραγμένων πάντοθεν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῶν πραγμάτων, τόλμῃ καὶ βάρει φρονήματος αὐτὰ ταχὺ κατεστήσατο, τὰς μὲν Θήβας ἑλὼν καὶ κατασκάψας καὶ τοὺς ἁλόντας τῶν Θηβαίων ἀποδόμενος, ̓Αθηναίοις δέ γε σπεισάμενος. οτε καὶ Τιμόκλειαν γυναῖκα Θηβαίαν καὶ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν Θρᾷξ τις τῶν ἡγεμόνων κατῄσχυνε βιασάμενος, ειτα περὶ χρημάτων ἀνέκρινεν. ἡ δὲ μόνον αὐτὸν ἀπολαβοῦσα εἰς φρέαρ ἀπήγαγεν, ἐν τούτῳ φαμένη τῶν κειμηλίων κατακρύψαι τὰ κάλλιστα. τοῦ δ' ἡγεμόνος ἐπικλιθέντος τῷ στομίῳ τοῦ φρέατος, ωσεν αὐτὸν ἡ γυνὴ κατ' αὐτοῦ καὶ λίθους ανωθεν βαλοῦσα εκτεινεν. ην δέσμιον πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀχθεῖσαν ἠρώτησεν ὁ ̓Αλέξανδρος ητις ειη. ἡ δὲ ἀτρέστως "Θεαγένους εἰμὶ ἀδελφή" ἀπεκρίνατο, "ος πρὸς Φίλιππον ᾑρέθη στρατηγὸς καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς ̔Ελλήνων ἐλευθερίας ἀγωνιζόμενος επεσεν." ἀγάμενος ουν τήν τε μεγαλοφροσύνην τῆς γυναικὸς ὁ ̓Αλέξανδρος καὶ τὸ παράστημα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐλευθέραν σὺν τοῖς τέκνοις ἀπέλυσε. πρὸς ∆ιογένην δὲ τὸν Σινωπέα περὶ Κόρινθον διατρίβοντα ἀπελθών, καὶ ἡλίῳ θαλπόμενον εὑρηκώς, ἠσπάσατό τε τὸν ανδρα καὶ ει τινος δέοιτο ηρετο. ὁ δὲ τῆς τοῦ ἡλίου ειπεν ἀλέας δεῖσθαι, καὶ μεταστῆναι αὐτὸν ἠξίου. ἀπιόντος δὲ τοῦ ̓Αλεξάνδρου οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν κατεγέλων τοῦ ∆ιογένους· ὁ δὲ πρὸς 1.288 αὐτοὺς εφη, θαυμάζων τὸ ὑπεροπτικὸν τοῦ ἀνδρός, ὡς "εἰ μὴ ̓Αλέξανδρος ημην, ∆ιογένης αν ημην." ̔Ορμήσας δὲ εἰς τὴν ἐν τῇ ̓Ασίᾳ στρατείαν οὐ πρότερον τῆς νηὸς ἐπέβη πρὶν τῷ μὲν τῶν ἑταίρων ἀγρὸν ἀπονεῖμαι, τῷ δὲ κώμην, τῷ δὲ πρόσοδον αλλην. τοῦ δὲ Περδίκκου "τί δ', ω βασιλεῦ, σεαυτῷ καταλείπεις;" εἰπόντος, "τὰς ἐλπίδας" ἐκεῖνος ἀντέφησε. διαβάντι δὲ τὸν ̔Ελλήσποντον οἱ τοῦ ∆αρείου σατράπαι μετὰ βαρείας δυνάμεως περὶ τὴν τοῦ Γρανίκου διάβασιν αὐτῷ συνηντήκεισαν. τῶν δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν τὸ βάθος δεδιότων τοῦ ποταμοῦ, τοῦ ῥοθίου τε τὴν φορὰν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις τῶν πολεμίων ἐπίθεσιν, ἐκεῖνος σὺν ιλαις ἱππέων τρισκαίδεκα ἐμβάλλει τῷ ῥεύματι, πρὸς αὐτὸ ἀποκινδυνεύων καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐναντίους καὶ πρὸς ἀποβάσεις ὀχθώδεις καὶ ἀπορρῶγας. διὸ καὶ μανικῶς μᾶλλον, ἀλλ' οὐ στρατηγικῶς εδοξε τότε ποιήσασθαι τὴν διάβασιν. ουτω δὲ διαβὰς φύρδην ἠναγκάζετο μάχεσθαι. καὶ πολλῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὡρμηκότων, ην γὰρ ἐκ τῶν οπλων διάδηλος, ἀκοντισθεὶς μὲν οὐκ ἐτρώθη, κοπίδι δὲ τὸ κράνος αὐτοῦ πλήξαντός τινος, μέχρι τοσούτου τοῦ κράνους καθίκετο ἡ πληγὴ ὡς καὶ τῶν τριχῶν αὐτοῦ παραψαῦσαι τὴν κοπίδα. τῆς μάχης δ' ουτω συνισταμένης τὸν Γράνικον αἱ Μακεδονικαὶ δυνάμεις διαβεβήκασι· καὶ οἱ τοῦ