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according to him, by a horn being labored upon. 1.294 Thus, a brilliant victory fell to Alexander, and the Persian kingdom was thereupon overthrown, and Alexander was proclaimed king of Asia, and all of Babylonia came under his control. And having taken Susa, he found forty thousand talents of coin in the royal treasury and an untold abundance of other valuables. And having also become master of Persis, he found as great a multitude of coin as in Susa. They report that the other wealth was carried away by ten thousand mule-teams and five thousand camels. And having set fire to the palace, he quickly regretted it and ordered it to be extinguished. And being generous, he became even more so as his affairs prospered. And seeing those around him living luxuriously and sumptuously in their way of life, he gently rebuked them, saying that he was amazed if they had not learned from the comparison of the Persian life to their own that to live in luxury is most servile, but to labor is most kingly. He himself, however, did not give in, laboring in campaigns and hunts. But his companions, wishing to live in luxury on account of their wealth, but being compelled to follow him, went so far as to revile him. And at first he bore their revilings gently, saying that it was a kingly thing to be ill spoken of while doing good. Later, however, the many slanders embittered him and made him become harsh and inexorable towards those who reviled him. And yet formerly, when he was hearing capital cases, he was accustomed to place his hand over one of his ears, as though keeping it untouched for the accused and uninfluenced by the accusation. Marching out against Darius with three thousand men, he pursued him for several days, so that most of them gave up 1.295 both because of the difficulty of the road and the lack of water. When some Macedonians carrying water in skins met him, they filled a helmet and brought it to him as he was suffering terribly from thirst; but he, taking the helmet, and seeing those around him looking intently at it, did not drink, but handed it back to those who had given it, saying, "If I drink alone, these men will lose heart." And having now fallen upon the enemy, he passed by their camp and hurried to overtake Darius. But he was lying in a wagon, covered with wounds and already expiring. And having asked for water and drunk, he said to Polystratus, who gave it, "This to me is the limit of all misfortune, that having been treated well I am unable to repay you; but may Alexander repay the favor to you, and to Alexander may the gods repay his decency towards my mother and wife and children." And with these words, he expired. And Alexander, coming upon him after he had died, wrapped his corpse in his own cloak and sent it to his mother, royally adorned. And Bessus, who had killed him, he had torn asunder, ordering him to be fastened to two trees that had been bent down by force, and then for the trees to be released, and thus for the man to be ripped apart, as each of the trees sprang with violence back to its natural upright position. And going away into Hyrcania, near the Hyrcanian Sea, which is also called the Caspian, when some barbarians took his horse Bucephalus, he became greatly angered, and sending a message he threatened to kill them all if they did not send the horse back to him; and they both brought the horse and delivered themselves into his hands. From there he moved on to Parthia, where 1.296 for the first time he put on barbarian dress, which was less pretentious than the Median, but more stately than the Persian; but the sight seemed offensive to the Macedonians. And having selected thirty thousand boys from among the captives, he ordered that they be taught Greek letters and be armed in the Macedonian fashion. And having fallen in love with Roxane, a beautiful woman, he did not approach her otherwise than according to law. And of his friends, Hephaestion, who praised the robe he had put on and had likewise changed his attire, he called "Alexander-lover," but Craterus, who did not transgress the ancestral customs, "king-lover"; and he used the one in his dealings with the barbarians, but through Craterus he conducted business with the Macedonians and the Greeks. And Philotas the son

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κατ' αὐτὸν κέρατι πονουμένῳ. 1.294 ̔Η μὲν ουν νίκη λαμπρὰ τῷ ̓Αλεξάνδρῳ προσγέγονεν, ἡ δὲ Περσῶν βασιλεία ἐντεῦθεν καθῄρητο, ̓Αλέξανδρος δὲ τῆς ̓Ασίας βασιλεὺς ἀνηγόρευτο καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἡ Βαβυλωνία πᾶσα ἐγένετο. Σούσων δὲ κρατήσας τετρακισμύρια τάλαντα νομίσματος κατὰ τὰ βασίλεια ευρηκε καὶ αλλων χρημάτων ἀμυθήτων πολυτέλειαν. κυριεύσας δὲ καὶ τῆς Περσίδος νομίσματος ευρε πλῆθος οσον ἐν Σούσοις. τὸν αλλον δὲ πλοῦτον ἱστοροῦσιν ἐκκομισθῆναι μυρίοις ὀρικοῖς ζεύγεσι καὶ πεντακισχιλίαις καμήλοις. ἐμπρήσας δὲ τὰ βασίλεια, ταχὺ μετεμελήθη καὶ κατασβεσθῆναι ταῦτα προσέταξε. μεγαλόδωρος δὲ τυγχάνων, ετι μᾶλλον ἐπεδίδου πρὸς τοῦτο τῶν πραγμάτων αὐξομένων αὐτῷ. ὁρῶν δὲ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν τρυφῶντας καὶ ταῖς διαίταις πολυτελεῖς, καθήψατο πρᾴως αὐτῶν, θαυμάζειν εἰπὼν εἰ μὴ εμαθον ἐκ συγκρίσεως τοῦ Περσῶν βίου πρὸς τὸν σφέτερον οτι δουλικώτατον μέν ἐστι τὸ τρυφᾶν, τὸ δὲ πονεῖν ἀρχικώτατον. αὐτὸς μέντοι οὐκ ἐνεδίδου καὶ στρατείαις καὶ θήραις πονῶν. οἱ δ' ἑταῖροι αὐτοῦ διὰ πλοῦτον τρυφᾶν βουλόμενοι, συνέπεσθαι δέ οἱ ἀναγκαζόμενοι, εἰς τὸ βλασφημεῖν αὐτὸν προῄεσαν. ὁ δὲ πρᾴως εφερε τὴν ἀρχὴν τὰς βλασφημίας, λέγων βασιλικὸν ειναι τὸ κακῶς ἀκούειν εὐεργετοῦντα. υστερον μέντοι αὐτὸν αἱ πολλαὶ διαβολαὶ ἐξετράχυναν καὶ πρὸς τοὺς βλασφημοῦντας αὐτὸν χαλεπὸν γενέσθαι καὶ ἀπαραίτητον παρεσκεύασαν. καίτοι πρῴην, οτε θανατικῶν ἠκροᾶτο δικῶν, εἰώθει τῷ ἑνὶ τῶν ωτων τὴν χεῖρα ἐπιτιθέναι, ὡς αψαυστον αὐτὸ τῷ κατηγορουμένῳ τηρῶν καὶ τῆς κατηγορίας ἀμέθεκτον. ̓Εξελαύνων δ' ἐπὶ ∆αρεῖον μετὰ τρισχιλίων ἐφ' ἡμέρας πλείους ἐδίωκεν, ὡς ἀπαγορεῦσαι τοὺς πλείο1.295 νας διά τε τὴν χαλεπότητα τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀνυδρίαν. οτε Μακεδόνες τινὲς ἐν ἀσκοῖς υδωρ κομίζοντες αὐτῷ συνήντησαν, καὶ πλήσαντες κράνος προσήνεγκαν αὐτῷ κακῶς ὑπὸ δίψους διακειμένῳ· ὁ δὲ τὸ κράνος λαβών, καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἰδὼν ἀποβλέποντας, οὐκ επιεν, ἀλλ' ἐπέδωκε τοῖς δοῦσιν αὐτό, εἰπὼν ὡς "εἰ ἐγὼ πίομαι μόνος, ἀθυμήσουσιν ουτοι." ἐμβαλὼν δὲ ηδη τοῖς πολεμίοις, τὸ μὲν στρατόπεδον αὐτῶν παρῆλθε, τὸν δὲ ∆αρεῖον ἠπείγετο καταλήψεσθαι. ὁ δ' εκειτο ἐν ἁρμαμάξῃ τραυμάτων κατάπλεως καὶ ηδη ἐκλείπων. αἰτήσας δὲ υδωρ καὶ πιὼν ειπε πρὸς τὸν δόντα Πολύστρατον "τοῦτό μοι πέρας δυστυχίας ἁπάσης, οτι ευ παθὼν ἀμείψασθαί σε οὐ δύναμαι· ̓Αλέξανδρος δέ σοι τὴν χάριν ἀνταποδοίη, ̓Αλεξάνδρῳ δὲ οἱ θεοὶ τῆς εἰς μητέρα καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ παῖδας τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἐπιεικείας." καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐξέλιπεν. ἐπιστὰς δὲ αὐτῷ θανόντι ̓Αλέξανδρος τῇ ἑαυτοῦ χλαμύδι τὸν ἐκείνου νεκρὸν περι έστειλε καὶ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα βασιλικῶς κεκοσμημένον ἀπέστειλε. τὸν δὲ Βῆσσον, ος ἐκεῖνον ἀνεῖλε, διεσφενδόνησε, δυσὶ βίᾳ κλιθεῖσι δένδροις προσαρτηθῆναι κελεύσας αὐτόν, ειτα μεθεῖναι τὰ δένδρα καὶ ουτω διασπασθῆναι τὸν ανθρωπον, ἑκάστου τῶν δένδρων μετὰ σφοδρότητος εἰς τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ὡρμηκότος ἀνάτασιν. εἰς ̔Υρκανίαν δὲ ἀπιὼν περὶ τὸ ̔Υρκάνιον πέλαγος, ο καὶ Κάσπιον λέγεται, βαρβάρων τινῶν τὸν ιππον αὐτοῦ τὸν Βουκεφάλαν ἀφελομένων ἐβαρυθύμησε, καὶ πέμψας ἠπείλησε πάντας ἀποκτενεῖν, εἰ μὴ τὸν ιππον αὐτῷ ἀναπέμψειαν· οἱ δὲ καὶ τὸν ιππον ἐκόμισαν καὶ ἑαυτοὺς αὐτῷ ἐνεχείρισαν. ̓Εντεῦθεν εἰς τὴν Παρθικὴν ἀναζεύγνυσιν, ενθα 1.296 πρῶτον βαρβαρικὴν στολὴν ἐνεδύσατο, τῆς μὲν Μηδικῆς ἀτυφοτέραν, τῆς δὲ Περσικῆς σοβαρωτέραν· ἐδόκει δὲ τοῖς Μακεδόσι τὸ θέαμα φορτικόν. ἐπιλεξάμενος δὲ τρισμυρίους παῖδας τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἐκέλευσε γράμματα σφᾶς ̔Ελληνικὰ ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι καὶ κατὰ Μακεδόνας ὁπλίζεσθαι. τῆς ̔Ρωξάνης δὲ ὡραίας ἐρασθεὶς γυναικὸς οὐκ αλλως αὐτῇ προσῆλθεν η κατὰ νόμον. τῶν δὲ φίλων αὐτοῦ τὸν μὲν ̔Ηφαιστίωνα, ἐπαινοῦντα τὴν στολὴν ην ἐνέδυ καὶ ὁμοίως αὐτῷ μεταμφιασάμενον, φιλαλέξανδρον ἐκάλει, τὸν δὲ Κρατερόν, μὴ παρεξιόντα τὰ πάτρια, φιλοβασιλέα· καὶ τῷ μὲν πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους ἐκέχρητο, διὰ δὲ τοῦ Κρατεροῦ τοῖς Μακεδόσι καὶ τοῖς Ελλησιν ἐχρημάτιζε. Φιλώταν δὲ τὸν υἱὸν