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When he learned that Parmenion's son was boasting that the successes came from him and his father, and was calling Alexander a boy, and then was also plotting against him, he put him to death. And sending men to Media, where his father was, he had him killed as well. And Cleitus, who was one of his companions, during a drinking party as poems were being sung that had been composed about some generals recently defeated by barbarians, and with Alexander listening to them with pleasure, grew harsh and indignant and boasted out of arrogance and drunkenness and spoke blasphemously against him; Alexander first threw an apple at him, but as he was still being shameless and insolent and reciting the iambic verses of Euripides 'Alas, how ill it is established throughout Greece' and the rest, Alexander, boiling over with rage, ran him through with a spear and killed him. But immediately, when his anger had ceased, 1.297 he was filled with remorse and rushed to kill himself as well, but he was restrained by his bodyguards, and was carried to his chamber, where, having spent the night and the following day in lamentations, he lay exhausted and speechless, only groaning most heavily. And when his friends came in to him, he would not accept their words. But when Aristander the seer reminded him of a vision he had seen concerning Cleitus and of certain signs that had occurred to him, and said that what had happened was fated, he began to relent. And when he was about to invade India, after the wagons had been packed, he first set fire to his own, then to those of his friends, and after this he ordered the Macedonians' wagons to be burned down as well. This event grieved a few, but the rest rushed to the task with a shout and enthusiasm and filled Alexander with eagerness for the campaign. And by now he was a fearsome and inexorable punisher of wrongdoers. Many dangers, then, befell him in his battles and he met with youthful wounds, but the greatest destruction of his army was caused by lack of necessities and the inclemency of the climate. But he himself, through his daring, thought nothing impregnable for the courageous, nor anything secure for the cowardly. And attacking a certain steep rock with the younger of the Macedonians, addressing one among them called Alexander, he said, "But it is fitting for you, at least, to be brave, because of your name." And when the Macedonians were hesitating to cross a deep river, he said, "Why did I, the wretch, not learn to swim?" And when ambassadors from the besieged cities came to him, the eldest of them, 1.298 Acuphis by name, asked what they should do to be considered his friends. And Alexander said, "If they choose you as their ruler, and send me a hundred of their best men." Acuphis therefore laughed at this and said, "But I will rule better, O king, if I send you the worst and not the best." However Taxiles, ruler of a part of India that was all-bearing and prosperous, not inferior to Egypt, being a wise man, sent a message and greeted Alexander, and said, "What need is there for us to go to war, if you have not come to take away our water nor our necessary food? As for other things, if I am the stronger, I am ready to do good, but if I am the weaker, I do not shrink from being grateful for receiving good." Alexander, therefore, being pleased at this, said, "I will compete with you and contend in favors, so that you, being good, may not surpass me." And having received many gifts and having given more, in the end he presented him with a thousand talents of coin. And having made a truce with a certain city of the Indians, as the most warlike of the Indians serving as mercenaries in it were departing from there, he killed them all; which is attached like a stain to his military deeds. Then he fought against Porus, he too being a king of an Indian land, whose bodily height ran up to four cubits and a span. After defeating him and taking him alive, Alexander asked how he should treat him. And he answered, "Royally." And when Alexander asked further if he had anything else to say, Porus said, "Everything is included in 'royally'."

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Παρμενίωνος, μεγαλαυχοῦντα ὡς παρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ τῶν κατορθωμάτων γινομένων, καὶ μειράκιον τὸν ̓Αλέξανδρον ὀνομάζοντα, ειτα καὶ ἐπιβουλεύοντα γνοὺς ἀνεῖλε. πέμψας δὲ εἰς Μηδίαν καὶ τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ, ἐκεῖ γὰρ ην, προσαπέκτεινε. καὶ τὸν Κλεῖτον δὲ τῶν ἑταίρων ενα τυγχάνοντα, παρὰ πότον ᾀδομένων ποιημάτων εις τινας στρατηγοὺς πεποιημένων εναγχος ἡττηθέντας ὑπὸ βαρβάρων, καὶ τοῦ ̓Αλεξάνδρου ἡδέως αὐτῶν ἀκούοντος, τραχυνόμενον καὶ ἀγανακτοῦντα καὶ μεγαλαυχοῦντα ὑπ' αὐθαδείας καὶ μέθης καὶ κατ' αὐτοῦ βλασφημοῦντα πρῶτον μὲν μήλῳ εβαλεν, ετι δ' ἀναιδευόμενόν τε καὶ θρασυνόμενον καὶ τὰ τοῦ Εὐριπίδου ἰαμβεῖα λέγοντα οιμοι, καθ' ̔Ελλάδ' ὡς κακῶς νομίζεται καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὑπερζέσας θυμῷ ὁ ̓Αλέξανδρος αἰχμῇ διελάσας ἀπέκτεινεν. αὐτίκα δὲ τοῦ θυμοῦ παυ1.297 θέντος μεταμεληθεὶς ωρμησε καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἀνελεῖν, ἐπεσχέθη μέντοι παρὰ τῶν σωματοφυλάκων, καὶ εἰσηνέχθη πρὸς θάλαμον, ενθα τὴν νύκτα καὶ τὴν μετ' αὐτὴν ἡμέραν ἐν θρήνοις διαγαγὼν ἀπειρηκὼς εκειτο αναυδος, στένων μόνον βαρύτατα. καὶ τῶν φίλων εἰσιόντων πρὸς αὐτὸν οὐ προσίετο τοὺς λόγους αὐτῶν. ̓Αριστάνδρου δὲ τοῦ μάντεως οψεως αὐτὸν ἀναμνήσαντος ην ειδε περὶ τοῦ Κλείτου καί τινων σημείων ἐκείνῳ γενομένων, καὶ εἱμαρτὸν ειναι τὸ γενόμενον λέγοντος, ηρξατο ἐνδιδόναι. Μέλλων δὲ εἰς τὴν ̓Ινδικὴν ἐμβάλλειν, συνεσκευασμένων τῶν ἁμαξῶν πρώταις μὲν ταῖς οἰκείαις ἐνῆκε πῦρ, ειτα καὶ ταῖς τῶν φίλων, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ τὰς τῶν Μακεδόνων καταπρῆσαι ἐκέλευσε. τοῦτο δὲ γεγονὸς ὀλίγους μὲν ἐλύπησεν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ βοῇ καὶ ἐνθουσιασμῷ πρὸς τὸ εργον ὡρμήκασι καὶ τὸν ̓Αλέξανδρον προθυμίας πρὸς τὴν στρατείαν ἐνέπλησαν. ηδη δὲ καὶ φοβερὸς ην καὶ ἀπαραίτητος κολαστὴς τῶν πλημμελούντων. πολλοὶ μὲν ουν κατὰ τὰς μάχας αὐτῷ συνέπεσον κίνδυνοι καὶ νεανικοῖς ἀπήντησε τραύμασι, τὴν δὲ πλείστην φθορὰν τῆς στρατιᾶς ἀπορίαι τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ δυσκρασίαι τοῦ περιέχοντος ἀπειργάσαντο. αὐτὸς δὲ διὰ τόλμαν οὐδὲν ῳετο τοῖς θαρσαλέοις ἀνάλωτον οὐδέ τι ὀχυρὸν τοῖς ἀτόλμοις. πέτρᾳ δέ τινι ἀποτόμῳ προσβαλὼν σὺν τοῖς νεωτέροις τῶν Μακεδόνων, ̓Αλέξανδρόν τινα ἐν τούτοις καλούμενον προσαγορεύσας "ἀλλὰ σοί γε" ειπε "καὶ διὰ τὴν κλῆσιν ἀνδραγαθεῖν προσήκει." ποταμὸν δὲ βαθὺν τῶν Μακεδόνων περᾶν ὀκνούντων "τί γάρ" ειπεν "ὁ κάκιστος ἐγὼ νεῖν οὐκ εμαθον;" ὡς δὲ παρῆσαν ἀπὸ τῶν πολιορκουμένων πόλεων πρέσβεις πρὸς αὐτόν, ὁ πρεσβύτατος αὐτῶν 1.298 Ακουφις τουνομα ἠρώτησε τί αν ποιοῦντες φίλοι αὐτοῦ λογίζοιντο· ὁ δὲ ̓Αλέξανδρος "εἰ σὲ μέν" ειπεν "αἱρήσονται αρχοντα, ἐμοὶ δὲ πέμψουσιν ανδρας ἑκατὸν τοὺς ἀρίστους." γελάσας ουν πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ Ακουφις "ἀλλὰ βέλτιον" ειπεν "αρξω, ω βασιλεῦ, εἰ τοὺς κακίστους σοι καὶ μὴ τοὺς ἀρίστους στελῶ." ̔Ο μέντοι Ταξίλης μοίρας αρχων τῆς ̓Ινδικῆς παμφόρου τε καὶ εὐδαίμονος, οὐκ ἀποδεούσης Αἰγύπτου, σοφὸς δὲ ων ἀνήρ, πέμψας ἠσπάσατο τὸν ̓Αλέξανδρον καί "τί δεῖ πολέμων ἡμῖν" εφη, "εἰ μήτε υδωρ ἀφαιρησόμενος ἡμῶν ἀφῖξαι μήτε τροφὴν ἀναγκαίαν; τοῖς δ' αλλοις εἰ μὲν κρείττων ω, ετοιμός εἰμι ευ ποιεῖν, εἰ δὲ ηττων, οὐ φεύγω χάριν εχειν ευ παθών." ἡσθεὶς ουν ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁ ̓Αλέξανδρος "ἐγώ" φησίν "ἀγωνιοῦμαι πρὸς σὲ καὶ διαμαχοῦμαι ταῖς χάρισιν, ως μου χρηστὸς ων μὴ περιγένῃ." λαβὼν δὲ δῶρα πολλὰ καὶ πλείονα παρασχὼν τέλος χίλια τάλαντα νομίσματος αὐτῷ ἐδωρήσατο. σπεισάμενος δέ τινι πόλει τῶν ̓Ινδικῶν, ἀπιόντας ἐκεῖθεν τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ μισθοφοροῦντας τῶν μαχιμωτάτων ̓Ινδῶν ἀπέκτεινεν απαντας· ο τοῖς αὐτοῦ πολεμικοῖς εργοις οιά τις κηλὶς πρόσεστιν. ειτα πρὸς Πῶρον ἐμαχέσατο, καὶ τοῦτον χώρας ̓Ινδικῆς βασιλεύοντα, τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ σώματος εχοντα εἰς τέσσαρας πήχεις ἀνατρέχον καὶ σπιθαμήν. τοῦτον νικήσας καὶ ζῶντα λαβὼν ὁ ̓Αλέξανδρος ἠρώτησε πῶς αν αὐτῷ χρήσαιτο, ὁ δέ "βασιλικῶς" ἀπεκρίνατο· πυνθανομένου δ' ετι τοῦ ̓Αλεξάνδρου ει τι καὶ ετερον λέγει, ὁ Πῶρος "πάντα" εφη "τῷ βασιλικῶς ενεστιν."