Justin: HISTORIARVM PHILIPPICARVM T. POMPEII TROGI LIBRI XLIV IN EPITOMEN REDACTI

1. Alexander, in the pursuit of Darius, committed the lost soldiers to burial with great funeral expenses, and he distributed thirteen thousand talents to the remaining companions of his expedition.

2 Equorum maior pars aestu amissa, inutiles etiam qui superfuerant facti.

2 The greater part of the horses was lost to the heat; even those who had survived were rendered useless.

3 Pecunia omnis, CXC milia talentum, Ecbatana congesta eique Parmenio praepositus.

3 All the money, 190 thousand talents, was heaped up at Ecbatana, and Parmenio was put in charge of it.

4 Dum haec aguntur, epistulae Antipatri a Macedonia ei redduntur, quibus bellum Agidis, regis Spartanorum, in Graecia, bellum Alexandri, regis Epiri, in Italia, bellum Zopyrionis, praefecti eius in Scythia continebatur.

4 While these things are being transacted, letters of Antipater from Macedonia are delivered to him, in which was contained the war of Agis, king of the Spartans, in Greece, the war of Alexander, king of Epirus, in Italy, and the war of Zopyrion, his prefect, in Scythia.

5 Quibus varie adfectus plus tamen laetitiae cognitis mortibus duorum aemulorum regum quam doloris amissi cum Zopyrione exercitus cepit.

5 By these he was variously affected, yet he took more joy upon learning of the deaths of the two rival kings than grief for the loss of the army together with Zopyrion.

6 Namque post profectionem Alexandri Graecia ferme omnis in occasionem reciperandae libertatis ad arma concurrerat, auctoritatem Lacedaemoniorum secuta,

6 For after Alexander’s departure, almost all Greece had rushed to arms at the opportunity of recovering liberty, following the authority of the Lacedaemonians,

7 qui Philippi Alexandrique et pacem soli spreverant et leges respuerant; dux huius belli Agis, rex Lacedaemoniorum, fuit.

7 who alone had spurned the peace of Philip and Alexander and had rejected their laws; the leader of this war was Agis, king of the Lacedaemonians.

8 Quem motum Antipater contractis militibus in ipso ortu oppressit.

8 This movement Antipater, with the soldiers assembled, suppressed in its very outset.

9 Magna tamen utrimque caedes fuit.

9 Nevertheless, great slaughter on both sides occurred.

10 Agis rex cum suos terga dantes videret, dimissis satellitibus, ut Alexandro felicitate, non virtute inferior videretur, tantam stragem hostium edidit, ut agmina interdum fugaret.

10 King Agis, when he saw his men turning their backs, dismissing his bodyguards, so that he might seem inferior to Alexander in felicity, not in virtue, wrought such a slaughter of the enemy that at times he routed their battle-lines.

11 Ad postremum etsi a multitudine victus, gloria tamen omnes vicit.

11 At last, although overcome by the multitude, yet he conquered all in glory.

II. Porro Alexander, rex Epiri, in Italiam auxilia Tarentinis adversus Bruttios deprecantibus sollicitatus, ita cupide profectus fuerat, velut in divisione orbis terrarum Alexandro, Olympiadis, sororis suae, filio, Oriens, sibi Occidens sorte contigisset,

2. Moreover Alexander, king of Epirus, having been solicited, with the Tarentines beseeching aid against the Bruttians, had set out so eagerly as though, in the division of the world, the East had fallen by lot to Alexander, the son of Olympias, his sister, and the West to himself,

2 non minorem rerum materiam in Italia, Africa Siciliaque, quam ille in Asia et in Persis habiturus.

2 no lesser material for enterprises in Italy, Africa, and Sicily, than that man would have in Asia and among the Persians.

3 Huc accedebat, quod, sicut Alexandro Magno Delphica oracula insidias in Macedonia, ita huic responsum Dodonaei Iovis urbem Pandosiam amnemque Acherusium praedixerat. Quae utraque cum in Epiro essent,

3 To this was added the fact that, just as for Alexander the Great the Delphic oracles had foretold ambushes in Macedonia, so for this man the response of Dodonaean Jove had predicted the city Pandosia and the river Acheron. Since both of these were in Epirus,

4 ignarus eadem et in Italia esse, ad declinanda fatorum pericula peregrinam militiam cupidius elegerat.

4 ignorant that the same were also in Italy, to decline the perils of the Fates he had more eagerly chosen foreign soldiery.

5 Igitur cum in Italiam venisset, primum illi bellum cum Apulis fuit,

5 Therefore, when he had come into Italy, his first war was with the Apulians,

6 quorum cognito urbis fato brevi post tempore pacem et amicitiam cum rege eorum fecit.

6 when they learned the fate of the city, a short time afterward he made peace and amity with their king.

7 Erat namque tunc temporis urbs Apulis Brundisium, quam Aetoli secuti fama rerum in Troia gestarum clarissimum et nobilissimum ducem Diomeden condiderant;

7 For at that time Brundisium was a city of the Apulians, which the Aetolians, following—on account of the fame of the deeds done in Troy—the most illustrious and most noble leader Diomedes, had founded;

8 sed pulsi ab Apulis consulentes oracula responsum acceperant, locum qui repetissent perpetuo possessuros.

8 but, having been driven out by the Apulians, when they consulted the oracles they had received the response that they would possess in perpetuity the place which they should recover.

9 Hac igitur ex causa per legatos cum belli comminatione restitui sibi ab Apulis urbem postulaverant;

9 For this cause, therefore, through legates, with a threat of war, they had demanded that the city be restored to them by the Apulians;

10 sed ubi Apulis oraculum innotuit, interfectos legatos in urbe sepelierant, perpetuam ibi sedem habituros. Atque ita defuncti responso diu urbem possederunt.

10 but when the oracle became known to the Apulians, they had buried the slain legates in the city, to have a perpetual seat there. And thus, the response having been fulfilled, they possessed the city for a long time.

11 Quod factum cum cognovisset Alexander, antiquitatis fata veneratus bello Apulorum abstinuit.

11 When Alexander had learned of this deed, having venerated the fates of antiquity, he refrained from war with the Apulians.

12 Gessit et cum Bruttiis Lucanisque bellum multasque urbes cepit; cum Metapontinis et Poediculis et Romanis foedus amicitiamque fecit.

12 He also waged war with the Bruttii and the Lucani and took many cities; with the Metapontines and the Poediculi and the Romans he made a treaty and amity.

13 Sed Bruttii Lucanique cum auxilia a finitimis contraxissent, acrius bellum repetivere.

13 But the Bruttians and the Lucanians, when they had contracted auxiliaries from the neighboring peoples, renewed the war more fiercely.

14 Ibi rex iuxta urbem Pandosiam et flumen Acheronta, non prius fatalis loci cognito nomine quam occideret, interficitur moriensque non in patria fuisse sibi periculosam mortem, propter quam patriam fugerat, intellexit.

14 There the king, near the city Pandosia and the river Acheron, is slain—the name of the fatal place not having been known before he fell—and, dying, he understood that death had not been perilous for him in his fatherland, on account of which he had fled his fatherland.

15 Corpus eius Thurini publice redemptum sepulturae tradiderunt.

15 The Thurians, his body redeemed at public expense, consigned it to burial.

16 Dum haec in Italia aguntur, Zopyrion quoque, praefectus Ponti ab Alexandro Magno relictus, otiosum se ratus, si nihil et ipse gessisset, adunato XXX milium exercitu Scythis bellum

16 While these things are being transacted in Italy, Zopyrion too, the prefect of Pontus left by Alexander the Great, deeming himself idle if he likewise had accomplished nothing, having assembled an army of 30 thousand, made war upon the Scythians

17 intulit caesusque cum omnibus copiis poenas temere inlati belli genti innoxiae luit.

17 he brought war and, cut down with all his forces, he paid the penalties to an innocent nation for the war rashly inflicted.

III. Haec cum nuntiata in Parthia Alexandro essent, simulato maerore propter Alexandri cognationem exercitui suo triduo luctum indixit.

3. When these things had been announced in Parthia to Alexander, with simulated grief on account of kinship with Alexander, he proclaimed three days’ mourning for his army.

2 Omnibus deinde velut perpetrato bello reditum in patriam expectantibus coniugesque ac liberos suos animo iam quodam modo conplectentibus ad contionem exercitum vocat.

2 Then, with everyone, as though the war had been perpetrated, expecting a return to the fatherland and already in some manner embracing in spirit their wives and children, he calls the army to an assembly.

3 Ibi nihil actum tot egregiis proeliis ait, si incolumis orientalis barbaria relinquatur; nec se corpus, sed regnum Darii petisse; persequendosque eos esse, qui a regno defecerint.

3 There he says that nothing has been accomplished by so many distinguished battles, if oriental barbarism is left unharmed; and that he sought not the body, but the kingdom of Darius; and that those who have defected from the kingdom must be pursued.

4 Hac oratione velut ex integro incitatis militum animis Hyrcaniam Mardosque subegit.

4 By this speech, with the soldiers' spirits, as it were, incited afresh, he subjugated Hyrcania and the Mardians.

5 Ibi ei occurrit Thalestris sive Minythyia, Amazonum regina, cum CCC mulieribus XXXV dierum inter confertissimas gentes itinere confecto ex rege liberos quaesitura;

5 There Thalestris, or Minythyia, queen of the Amazons, met him, with 300 women, after completing a journey of 35 days among the most densely packed nations, to seek progeny from the king;

6 cuius conspectus adventusque admirationi omnibus fuit et propter insolitum feminis habitum et propter expetitum concubitum.

6 whose sight and advent were an admiration to all, both because of the unusual garb for women and because of the sought-after intercourse.

7 Ob hoc tredecim diebus otio a rege datis, ut est visa uterum implesse, discessit.

7 On account of this, with 13 days of leisure granted by the king, when she seemed to have filled her womb, she departed.

8 Post haec Alexander habitum regum Persarum et diadema insolitum antea regibus Macedonicis, velut in leges eorum, quos vicerat, transiret, adsumit.

8 After this Alexander assumes the habit of the kings of the Persians and the diadem, previously unusual for the Macedonian kings, as though he were passing over into the laws of those whom he had conquered.

9 Quae ne invidiosius in se uno conspicerentur, amicos quoque suos longam vestem auratam purpureamque sumere iubet.

9 Lest these things be viewed more invidiously as fixed on himself alone, he also orders his friends to assume long garments, gilded and purple.

10 Vt luxum quoque sicut cultum Persarum imitaretur, inter paelicum regiarum greges electae pulchritudinis nobilitatisque noctium vices dividit.

10 So that he might imitate Persian luxury as he had their attire, he divided the turns of the nights among the bands of the royal concubines, of selected beauty and nobility.

11 His rebus ingentes epularum apparatus adicit, ne ieiuna et destricta luxuria videretur, conviviumque iuxta regiam magnificentiam ludis exornat,

11 To these things he adds immense preparations of banquets, lest the luxury seem jejune and constrained, and he adorns the banquet, in accordance with regal magnificence, with games,

12 inmemor prorsus tantas opes amitti his moribus, non quaeri solere.

12 altogether unmindful that such great wealth is wont to be lost by these mores, not to be acquired.

IV. Inter haec indignatio omnium totis castris erat, a Philippo illum patre tantum degenerasse, ut etiam patriae nomen eiuraret moresque Persarum adsumeret, quos propter tales mores vicerat.

4. Amid these things, the indignation of all throughout the whole camp was that he had so greatly degenerated from his father Philip as even to abjure the name of his fatherland and to assume the customs of the Persians, whom he had conquered on account of such customs.

2 Sed ne solus vitiis eorum, quos armis subiecerat, succubuisse videretur, militibus quoque suis permisit, si quarum captivarum consuetudine tenerentur, ducere uxores,

2 But, lest he should seem to have succumbed alone to the vices of those whom he had subjected by arms, he also permitted his soldiers, if they were held by the consuetude with any captive women, to take them as wives,

3 existimans minorem in patriam reditus cupiditatem futuram habentibus in castris imaginem quandam larum ac domesticae sedis;

3 thinking that there would be less desire to return to the fatherland for those who had in the camp a certain image of the Lares and of a domestic seat;

4 simul ex labore militiae molliorem fore dulcedinem uxorum.

4 and at the same time that, after the labor of military service, the sweetness of wives would be softer.

5 In supplementa quoque militum minus exhauriri posse Macedoniam, si veteranis patribus tirones filii succederent militaturi in vallo, in quo essent nati, constantioresque futuri,

5 that Macedonia, too, could be less drained for reinforcements of the soldiery, if tyro sons should succeed to veteran fathers, to serve on the rampart in which they had been born, and would be more steadfast,

6 si non solum tirocinia, verum et incunabula in ipsis castris posuissent.

6 if they had set not only the tyrociny, but even the cradles in the very camps.

7 Quae consuetudo in successoribus quoque Alexandri mansit.

7 This custom also remained among the successors of Alexander.

8 Igitur et alimenta pueris statuta et instrumenta armorum equorumque iuvenibus data, et patribus pro numero filiorum praemia statuta.

8 Therefore both allowances for the boys were established, and the equipment of arms and horses was given to the youths, and rewards were established for the fathers in proportion to the number of sons.

9 Si quorum patres occidissent, nihilo minus pupilli stipendia patrum trahebant, quorum pueritia inter varias expeditiones militia erat.

9 If any men’s fathers had been slain, nonetheless the wards drew their fathers’ stipends, whose boyhood, amid various expeditions, was military service.

10 Itaque a parvula aetate laboribus periculisque indurati invictus exercitus fuere, neque aliter castra quam patriam neque pugnam aliud umquam quam victoriam duxere.

10 And so, from a very small age, hardened by labors and perils, they were an invincible army; nor did they deem the camp otherwise than as their fatherland, nor the fight ever as anything other than victory.

11 Haec suboles nomen habuit Epigoni.

11 This progeny bore the name Epigoni.

12 Parthis deinde domitis praefectus his statuitur ex nobilibus Persarum Andragoras; inde postea originem Parthorum reges habuere.

12 Then, with the Parthians subdued, Andragoras, from the nobles of the Persians, was appointed prefect over them; from there afterwards the kings of the Parthians had their origin.

V. Interea et Alexander non regio, sed hostili odio saevire in suos coepit.

5. Meanwhile Alexander too began to rage against his own, not with regal but with hostile hatred.

2 Maxime indignabatur carpi se sermonibus suorum Philippi patris patriaeque mores subvertisse.

2 He was most indignant at being carped at by the talk of his own men, that he had subverted the mores of Philip his father and of the fatherland.

3 Propter quae crimina Parmenio quoque senex, dignitate regi proximus, cum Philota filio, de utroque prius quaestionibus habitis, interficitur.

3 Because of these crimes, Parmenio too, an old man, next to the king in rank, together with his son Philotas, after interrogations had first been held concerning both, is put to death.

4 Fremere itaque omnes universis castris coepere innoxii senis filiique casum miserantes, interdum se quoque non debere melius sperare dicentes.

4 Therefore all began to murmur throughout the entire camp, pitying the misfortune of the innocent old man and his son, sometimes saying that they too ought not to hope for anything better.

5 Quae cum nuntiata Alexandro essent, verens, ne haec opinio etiam in Macedoniam divu]garetur et victoriae gloria saevitiae macula infuscaretur, simulat se ex amicis quosdam in patriam victoriae nuntios missurum.

5 When these things had been announced to Alexander, fearing lest this opinion be spread even into Macedonia and the glory of the victory be darkened by a macula (stain) of savagery, he feigns that he will send some from among his friends to the fatherland as messengers of the victory.

6 Hortatur milites suis scribere, rariorem habituros occasionem propter militiam remotiorem.

6 He urges the soldiers to write to their own, saying they will have a rarer occasion because of the more remote military service.

7 Datos fasces epistularum tacite ad se deferri iubet;

7 He orders the bundles of epistles, once delivered, to be tacitly conveyed to himself;

8 ex quibus cognito de se singulorum iudicio in unam cohortem eos, qui de rege durius opinati fuerant, contribuit, aut consumpturus eos aut in ultimis terris in colonias distributurus.

8 from which, having learned each man’s judgment about himself, he gathered into one cohort those who had opined more harshly about the king, either to consume them or to distribute them into colonies in the farthest lands.

9 Inde Drancas, Euergetas vel + Arimaspos, Parapamesadas ceterosque populos, qui in radice Caucasi morabantur, subegit.

9 Then he subdued the Drancas, the Euergetas or + Arimaspos, the Parapamesadas, and the other peoples who were dwelling at the foot of the Caucasus.

10 Interea unus ex amicis Darii Bessus vinctus perducitur, qui regem non solum prodiderat, verum et interfecerat.

10 Meanwhile Bessus, one of the friends of Darius, is brought in, bound, who had not only betrayed the king but had also slain him.

11 Quem in ultionem perfidiae excruciandum fratri Darii tradidit, reputans non tam hostem suum fuisse Darium quam amicum eius, a quo esset occisus.

11 Whom he handed over to Darius’s brother to be excruciated in revenge for the perfidy, reckoning that Darius had been not so much his own enemy as the friend of the man by whom he had been slain.

12 Et ut his terris nomen relinqueret, urbem Alexandream super amnem Tanaim condidit, intra diem septimum decimum muro sex milium passuum consummato, translatis in eam trium civitatum populis, quas Cyrus condiderat.

12 And in order to leave his name in these lands, he founded the city Alexandria upon the river Tanais, within the space of seventeen days, the wall of six miles being consummated, with the peoples of three cities, which Cyrus had founded, transferred into it.

13 In Bactrianis quoque Sogdianisque XII urbes condidit, distributis his, quoscumque in exercitu seditiosos habebat.

13 In the Bactrian and Sogdian regions as well he founded 12 cities, apportioning to them whomever he had as seditious in the army.

VI. His ita gestis sollemni die amicos in convivium convocat,

6. With these things thus accomplished, on a solemn day he calls together his friends to a banquet,

2 ubi orta inter ebrios rerum a Philippo gestarum mentione praeferre se patri ipse rerumque suarum magnitudinem extollere caelo tenus coepit adsentante maiore convivarum parte.

2 where, when mention of the deeds wrought by Philip arose among the drunken, he himself began to prefer himself to his father and to extol to the skies the magnitude of his own achievements, with the greater part of the banqueters assenting.

3 Itaque cum unus e senibus, Clitos, fiducia amicitiae regiae, cuius palmam tenebat, memoriam Philippi tueretur laudaretque eius res gestas, adeo regem offendit, ut telo a satellite rapto eundem in convivio trucidaverit.

3 And so, when one of the elders, Clitus, relying on royal friendship—in which he held the palm—was defending the memory of Philip and praising his achievements, he so offended the king that, snatching a weapon from a bodyguard, he butchered that same man at the banquet.

4 Qua caede exultans mortuo patrocinium Philippi laudemque paternae militiae obiectabat.

4 Exulting in this slaughter, he was casting at the dead man the patronage of Philip and the praise of paternal soldiery.

5 Postquam satiatus caede animus conquievit et in irae locum successit aestimatio, modo personam occisi, modo causam occidendi considerans, pigere eum facti coepit;

5 After his mind, satiated with slaughter, grew quiet and estimation succeeded in the place of anger, considering now the person of the slain, now the cause of the killing, he began to be sorry for the deed;

6 quippe paternas laudes tam iracunde accepisse se quam nec convicia debuisset, amicumque senem et innoxium a se occisum inter epulas et pocula dolebat.

6 indeed that he had received his father’s praises so irately as he ought not to have received even insults, and he grieved that an aged and innocent friend had been slain by himself amid banquets and cups.

7 Eodem igitur furore in paenitentiam quo pridem in iram versus mori voluit.

7 Therefore, with the same fury turned to penitence as earlier to anger, he wished to die.

8 Primum in fletus progressus amplecti mortuum, vulnera tractare, quasi audienti confiteri dementiam, adreptumque telum in se vertit peregissetque facinus, nisi amici intervenissent.

8 First, bursting into tears, he went forward to embrace the dead man, to handle the wounds, to confess his madness as though to one listening, and he turned the seized weapon upon himself and would have completed the deed, had not friends intervened.

9 Mansit haec voluntas moriendi etiam sequentibus diebus.

9 This will to die persisted even on the subsequent days.

10 Accesserat enim paenitentiae nutricis suae et sororis Cliti recordatio, cuius absentis eum maxime pudebat:

10 For to his penitence there had been added the recollection of his nurse, the sister of Clitus, before whom, though absent, he felt the greatest shame:

11 tam foedam illi alimentorum suorum mercedem redditam, ut, in cuius manibus pueritiam egerat, huic iuvenis et victor pro beneficiis funera remitteret.

11 so foul a recompense for his sustenance had been paid to her, that she, in whose hands he had passed his boyhood, to this woman he, a young man and victor, would send back funerals in return for benefits.

12 Reputabat deinde, quantum in exercitu suo, quantum apud devictas gentes fabularum atque invidiae, quantum apud ceteros amicos metum et odium sui fecerit,

12 He was then reckoning how much, in his own army, how much among the conquered nations, of rumors and envy, how much among the rest of his friends he had caused fear and hatred of himself,

13 quam amarum et triste reddiderit convivium suum, non armatus in acie quam in convivio terribilior.

13 how bitter and sad he had rendered his banquet, not more terrible when armed in the battle line than at the banquet.

14 Tunc Parmenion et Philotas, tunc Amyntas consobrinus, tunc noverca fratresque interfecti, tunc Attalus, Eurylochus, Pausanias aliique Macedoniae extincti principes occurrerunt.

14 Then Parmenion and Philotas, then Amyntas the cousin, then the stepmother and the brothers murdered, then Attalus, Eurylochus, Pausanias, and the other extinguished princes of Macedonia came to mind.

15 Ob haec illi quadriduo perseverata inedia est, donec exercitus universi precibus exoratus est, precantis, ne ita morte unius doleat,

15 On account of these things he kept a fast for four days, until he was won over by the prayers of the entire army, who were beseeching that he not thus grieve at the death of one,

16 ut universos perdat, quos in ultimam deductos barbariam inter infestas et inritatas bello gentes destituat.

16 as to destroy all, whom, led into the farthest barbarism, he leaves destitute among tribes hostile and irritated by war.

17 Multum profuere Callisthenis philosophi preces; condiscipulatu apud Aristotelem familiaris illi et tunc ab ipso rege ad prodenda memoriae acta eius accitus.

17 The prayers of the philosopher Callisthenes were of much avail; by fellow-studentship with Aristotle he was familiar to him, and then was summoned by the king himself to publish his acts for memory.

18 Revocato igitur ad bella animo Chorasmos et Dahas in deditionem accepit.

18 Therefore, with his spirit recalled to war, he received the Chorasmians and the Dahae into surrender.

VII. Dein, quod primo ex Persico superbiae regiae more distulerat ne omnia pariter invidiosiora essent, non salutari, sed adorari se iubet.

7. Then, that which at first he had deferred, from the Persian custom of regal superbia, lest all things be more invidious at once, he orders himself not to be saluted, but to be adored.

2 Acerrimus inter recusantes Callisthenes fuit. Quae res et illi et multis principibus Macedonum exitio fuit, siquidem sub specie insidiarum omnes interfecti.

2 The fiercest among those refusing was Callisthenes. This matter was the destruction both for him and for many princes of the Macedonians, since under the pretext of treachery all were slain.

3 Retentus tamen est a Macedonibus modus salutandi regis explosa adoratione.

3 Nevertheless the Macedonians retained the mode of saluting the king, adoration having been rejected.

4 Post haec Indiam petit, ut Oceano ultimoque Oriente finiret imperium.

4 After this he made for India, so that he might bound his empire by the Ocean and the farthest Orient.

5 Cui gloriae ut etiam exercitus ornamenta convenirent, phaleras equorurm et arma militum argento inducit exercitumque suum ab argenteis clipeis Argyraspidas appellavit.

5 So that even the army’s ornaments might accord with this glory, he plated with silver the horses’ phalerae and the soldiers’ arms, and he called his army, from their silver shields, the Argyraspids.

6 Cum ad Nysam urbem venisset, oppidanis non repugnantibus fiducia religionis Liberi patris, a quo condita urbs erat, parci iussit, laetus non militiam tantum, verum et vestigia se dei secutum.

6 When he had come to the city of Nysa, the townsfolk, not resisting in trust of the religion of Liber Father, by whom the city had been founded, he ordered to be spared, glad that he had followed not only soldiery, but also the footprints of the god.

7 Tunc ad spectaculum sacri montis duxit exercitum, naturalibus bonis, vite hederaque, non aliter vestiti, quam si manu cultus colentiumque industria exornatus esset.

7 Then he led the army to the spectacle of the sacred mountain, with natural goods, the vine and the ivy, no otherwise vested than as if it had been adorned by the hand of cultivation and the industry of cultivators.

8 Sed exercitus eius, ubi ad montem accessit, repentino impetu mentis in sacros dei ululatus instinctus cum stupore regis sine noxa discurrit, ut intellegeret non tam oppidanis se parcendo qua n exercitui suo consuluisse.

8 But his army, when it approached the mountain, impelled by a sudden impetus of mind into the sacred ululations of the god, ran about without harm, to the astonishment of the king, so that he might understand that by sparing not so much the townspeople as his own army he had looked out for them.

9 Inde montes Daedalos regnaque Cleophidis reginae petit. Quae cum se dedidisset ei, concubitu redemptum regnum ab Alexandro recepit, inlecebris consecuta, quod armis non poterat;

9 Thence he seeks the Daedalian Mountains and the realms of Queen Cleophis. She, when she had surrendered herself to him, received back from Alexander her kingdom, redeemed by intercourse, having achieved by allurements what she could not by arms;

10 filiumque ab eo genitum Alexandrum nominavit, qui postea regno Indorum potitus est.

10 and she named the son begotten by him Alexander, who afterwards gained possession of the kingdom of the Indians.

11 Cleophis regina propter prostratam pudicitiam scortum regium ab Indis exinde appellata est.

11 Cleophis the queen, on account of her prostrated pudicity, was thereafter called by the Indians the royal harlot.

12 Peragrata India cum ad saxum mirae asperitatis et altitudinis, in quod multi populi confugerant, pervenisset, cognoscit Herculem ab expugnatione eiusdem saxi terrae motu prohibitum.

12 With India traversed, when he had come to a rock of wondrous asperity and height, into which many peoples had taken refuge, he learns that Hercules was prevented from the expugnation of that same rock by an earthquake.

13 Captus itaque cupidine Herculis acta superare cum summo labore ac periculo potitus saxo omnes eius loci gentes in deditionem accepit.

13 Therefore, seized with a desire to surpass the deeds of Hercules, and with the utmost toil and danger having gained the rock, he accepted all the peoples of that place into surrender.

VIII. Vnus ex regibus Indorum fuit, Porus nomine, viribus corporis et animi magnitudine pariter insignis,

8. One of the kings of the Indians was Porus by name, distinguished alike by the strength of his body and the greatness of his spirit,

2 qui bellum iam pridem audita Alexandri opinione in adventum eius parabat.

2 who, upon hearing of Alexander’s renown, had long since been preparing war for his advent.

3 Commisso itaque proelio exercitum suum Macedonas invadere iubet, sibi regem eorum privatum hostem deposcit.

3 Therefore, the battle having been joined, he orders his army to invade the Macedonians, and for himself he demands their king as a private enemy.

4 Nec Alexander pugnae moram fecit; sed prima congressione vulnerato equo cum praeceps ad terram decidisset, concursu satellitum servatur.

4 Nor did Alexander delay the battle; but at the first encounter, when, his horse having been wounded, he had fallen headlong to the ground, he is saved by the rush of his bodyguards.

5 Porus multis vulneribus obrutus capitur.

5 Porus, overwhelmed by many wounds, is captured.

6 Qui victum se adeo doluit, ut, cum veniam ab hoste accepisset, neque cibum sumere voluerit neque vulnera curari passus sit aegreque sit ab eo obtentum, ut vellet vivere.

6 He so grieved at being conquered that, although he had received pardon from the enemy, he was willing neither to take food nor to allow his wounds to be treated, and it was with difficulty obtained from him that he would consent to live.

7 Quem Alexander ob honorem virtutis incolumem in regnum remisit.

7 Whom Alexander, in honor of his valor, sent back unharmed to his kingdom.

8 Duas ibi urbes condidit; unam Nicaeam, alteram ex nomine equi Bucephalen vocavit.

8 He founded two cities there; one, Nicaea, the other he called Bucephala from the name of the horse Bucephalus.

9 Inde Adrestas, t Catheanos, Praesidas, Gangaridas caesis eorum exercitibus expugnat.

9 From there he subdues the Adrestae, the Catheans, the Praesidae, the Gangaridae, with their armies cut down.

10 Cum ad Sophitis [regnum] venisset, ubi eum hostium CC milia [peditum et XX milia] equitum opperiebantur, exercitus omnis non minus victoriarum numero quam laboribus fessus lacrimis eum deprecatur,

10 When he had come to the [realm] of Sophites, where 200,000 of the enemy [infantry and 20,000] cavalry were awaiting him, the whole army, wearied no less by the number of victories than by labors, implores him with tears,

11 finem tandem bellis faceret; aliquando patriae reditusque meminisset, respiceret militum annos,

11 that he would at last make an end to wars; that sometime he would remember his fatherland and a return, that he would look back to the soldiers’ years,

12 quibus vix aetas ad reditum sufficeret. Ostendere alius canitiem, alius vulnera, alius aetate consumpta corpora, alius cicatricibus exhausta;

12 for whom scarcely their age would suffice for a return. One displayed gray hair, another wounds, another bodies consumed by age, another exhausted by scars;

13 solos se esse, qui duorum regum, Philippi Alexandrique, continuam militiam pertulerint.

13 that they alone were those who had endured the continuous military service of two kings, Philip and Alexander.

14 Tantum orare, ut reliquias saltim suas paternis sepulcris reddat, quorum non studiis deficiatur quam annis,

14 They only begged that he at least return their remains to their fathers’ sepulchers, they who fail not so much in zeal as in years,

15 ac, si non militibus, vel ipsi sibi parcat, ne fortunam suam nimis onerando fatiget.

15 and, if not for the soldiers, then at least let him spare himself, lest by overburdening his fortune too much he fatigue it.

16 Motus his tam iustis precibus velut in finem victoriae castra solito magnificentiora fieri iussit, quorum molitionibus et hostis terreretur et posteris admiratio sui relinqueretur.

16 Moved by these so just entreaties, he ordered the camp to be made more magnificent than usual, as though for the consummation of victory, by whose constructions both the enemy might be terrified and for posterity an admiration of himself might be left behind.

17 Nullum opus laetius milites fecere. Itaque caesis hostibus cum gratulatione in eadem reverterunt.

17 No work did the soldiers do more gladly. And so, with the enemies cut down, they returned to the same camp with rejoicing.

IX. Inde Alexander ad amnem Acesinem pergit; per hunc in Oceanum devehitur.

9. Thence Alexander proceeds to the river Acesines; through this he is carried down into the Ocean.

2 Ibi Agensonas Sibosque, quos Hercules condidit, in deditionem accepit.

2 There he accepted into surrender the Agensonas and the Sibos, whom Hercules founded.

3 Hinc in Mandros et Sudracas navigat, quae gentes eum armatis LXXX milibus peditum et LX milibus equitum excipiunt.

3 From here he sails to the Mandros and Sudracas, peoples who receive him with 80 thousand infantry and 60 thousand cavalry under arms.

4 Cum proelio victor esset, exercitum ad urbem eorum ducit.

4 When he had been victorious in battle, he leads the army to their city.

5 Quam desertam a defensoribus cum de muro, quem primus ceperat, animadvertisset, in urbis planitiem sine ullo satellite desiliit.

5 When from the wall, which he had first captured, he noticed that it had been deserted by the defenders, he leapt down into the city's plain without any bodyguard.

6 Itaque cum eum hostes solum conspexissent, clamore edito undique concurrunt, si possint in uno capite orbis bella finire et ultionem tot gentibus dare.

6 Therefore, when the enemies had seen him alone, a shout having been raised, they run together from every side, to see if they could finish the wars of the world in a single head and give vengeance to so many nations.

7 Nec minus Alexander constanter restitit et unus adversus tot milia proeliatur.

7 No less did Alexander steadfastly resisted, and alone he battles against so many thousands.

8 Incredibile dictu est, ut eum non multitudo hostium, non vis magna telorum, non tantus lacessentium clamor terruerit, solus tot milia ceciderit ac fugaverit.

8 It is incredible to say, that neither the multitude of the enemy, nor the great force of missiles, nor so great a clamor of the assailants terrified him; alone he cut down and routed so many thousands.

9 Vbi vero obrui multitudine se vidit, trunco se, qui tum propter murum stabat, adplicuit,

9 But when he saw himself overwhelmed by the multitude, he leaned himself against a tree-trunk which then was standing near the wall,

10 cuius auxilio tutus cum diu agmen sustinuisset, tandem cognito periculo eius amici ad eum desiliunt, ex quibus multi caesi

10 by whose aid, safe, when he had for a long time held back the column, at last, his peril having been recognized, his friends leap down to him, many of whom were cut down

11 proeliumque tam diu anceps fuit, quoad omnis exercitus muris deiectis in auxilium veniret.

11 and the battle was for so long in the balance, until the whole army, the walls having been cast down, came to aid.

12 In eo proelio sagitta sub mamma traiectus cum sanguinis fluxu deficeret, genu posito tam diu proeliatus est, donec eum, a quo vulneratus fuerat, occideret.

12 In that battle, transfixed by an arrow beneath the breast, as he was failing with a flux of blood, with his knee set he fought so long until he killed the man by whom he had been wounded.

13 Curatio vulneris gravior ipso vulnere fuit.

13 The cure of the wound was graver than the wound itself.

X. Itaque ex magna desperatione tandem saluti redditus Polyperconta cum exercitu Babyloniam mittit, ipse cum lectissima manu navibus conscensis Oceani litora peragrat.

10. Therefore, from great desperation, at last restored to safety, he sends Polypercon with the army to Babylonia; he himself, having boarded ships with a most select band, traverses the shores of the Ocean.

2 Cum venisset ad urbem Ambi regis, oppidani invictum ferro audientes sagittas veneno armant atque ita gemino mortis vulnere hostem a muris submoventes plurimos interficiunt.

2 When he had come to the city of King Ambi, the townspeople, hearing that he was unconquered by iron, arm their arrows with poison, and thus, with a twin wound of death, driving the enemy back from the walls, they kill very many.

3 Cum inter multos vulneratus etiam Ptolomeus esset moriturusque iam iamque videretur, per quietem regi monstrata in remedia veneni herba est, qua in potu accepta statim periculo liberatus est maiorque pars exercitus hoc remedio servata.

3 When, among many, even Ptolemy had been wounded and seemed now at any moment about to die, in sleep a herb was shown to the king as a remedy for the poison; by which, taken in drink, he was at once freed from danger, and the greater part of the army was preserved by this remedy.

4 Expugnata deinde urbe reversus in navem Oceano libamenta dedit, prosperum in patriam reditum precatus;

4 Then, the city having been taken by storm, he returned to the ship and offered libations to Ocean, praying for a prosperous return to his fatherland;

5 ac veluti curru circa metam acto, positis imperii terminis, quatenus aut terrarum solitudines prodire passae sunt aut mare navigabile fuit, secundo aestu ostio fluminis Indi invehitur.

5 and, as if with a chariot driven around the turning-post, the limits of the empire having been set, so far as either the solitudes of the lands allowed one to advance or the sea was navigable, with a favorable tide he enters by the mouth of the river Indus.

6 Ibi in monumenta a se rerum gestarum urbem Barcem condidit arasque statuit relicto ex numero amicorum litoralibus Indis praefecto.

6 There, as monuments of the deeds achieved by himself, he founded the city Barce and set up altars, leaving, from the number of his friends, a prefect for the littoral Indians.

7 Inde iter terrestre facturus, cum arida loca medii itineris dicerentur, puteos opportunis locis fieri praecepit, quibus ingenti dulci aqua inventa Babyloniam redit.

7 Thence, about to make a land journey, since the places in the middle of the route were said to be arid, he ordered wells to be made in opportune locations, in which an immense quantity of fresh water was found, and he returns to Babylonia.

8 Ibi multae devictae gentes praefectos suos accusaverunt, quos sine respectu amicitiae Alexander in conspectu legatorum necari ius sit.

8 There many conquered peoples accused their own prefects, whom Alexander, without regard for friendship, ordered to be put to death in the sight of the legates.

9 Filiam post haec Darii regis Statiram in matrimonium recepit;

9 After these things he received in matrimony Statira, the daughter of King Darius;

10 sed et optimatibus Macedonum lectas ex omnibus gentibus nobilissimas virgines tradidit, ut communi facto crimen regis levaretur.

10 but he also handed over to the Macedonian nobles the most noble virgins, chosen from all the nations, so that by a common act the king’s crime might be alleviated.

XI. Hinc ad contionem exercitus vocat et promittit se aes alienum omnium propria inpensa soluturum, ut praedam praemiaque integra domos ferant.

11. Then he calls the army to an assembly and promises that he will discharge the debts of all at his own expense, so that they may carry home their booty and rewards intact.

2 Insignis haec munificentia non summa tantum, verum etiam titulo muneris fuit nec a debitoribus magis quam creditoribus gratius excepta, quoniam utrisque exactio pariter ac solutio difficilis erat.

2 This signal munificence was notable not only in the sum, but even in the very title of the benefaction, and it was received no less gratefully by the creditors than by the debtors, since for both alike exaction and payment were difficult.

3 XX milia talentum in hos sumptus expensa.

3 20,000 talents were expended on these expenses.

4 Dimissis veteranis exercitum iunioribus supplet.

4 With the veterans dismissed, he replenishes the army with younger men.

5 Sed retenti veteranorum discessum aegre ferentes missionem et ipsi flagitabant nec annos, sed stipendia sua numerari iubebant, pariter in militiam lectos pariter sacramento solvi aequum censentes.

5 But those retained, taking hard the departure of the veterans, were themselves demanding discharge and they themselves were clamoring for it, and they insisted that not the years, but their stipends be counted, ordering that their own stipends be reckoned thinking it fair that those chosen into military service together be released together from the oath.

6 Nec iam precibus, sed convicio agebant, iubentes eum solum cum patre suo Hammone inire bella, quatenus milites suos fastidiat.

6 No longer with entreaties, but with reviling they pressed, bidding him alone with his father Hammon to enter upon wars, since he disdains his soldiers.

7 Contra ille nunc castigare milites, nunc lenibus verbis monere, ne gloriosam militiam seditionibus infuscarent.

7 In response he now chastised the soldiers, now with gentle words admonished them, lest they should tarnish the glorious military service with seditions.

8 Ad postrerr um cum verbis nihil proficeret, ad corripiendos seditionis auctores e tribunali in contionem armatam inermis ipse desiluit et nemine prohibente tredecim correptos manu sua ipse- ad supplicium duxit.

8 At last, when words availed nothing, to seize the authors of the sedition he himself, unarmed, leapt down from the tribunal into the armed assembly and with no one preventing, he himself- led thirteen, seized by his own hand, to execution.

9 Tantam vel illis moriendi patientiam metus regis vel huic exigendi supplicii constantiam disciplina militaris dabat.

9 So great was being given—either to those men a patience of dying by the fear of the king, or to this man a constancy of exacting punishment by military discipline.

XII. Inde separatim auxilia Persarum in contione adloquitur.

12. Then separately he addresses the auxiliaries of the Persians in the assembly.

2 Laudat perpetuam illorum cum in se tum in pristinos reges fidem; sua in illos beneficia commemorat, ut numquam quasi victos, sed veluti victoriae socios habuerit, denique se in illorum, non illos in gentis suae morem transisse, adfinitatibus conubiorum victos victoribus miscuisse.

2 He praises their perpetual loyalty both toward himself and toward the former kings; he commemorates his benefactions toward them, that he has never regarded them as if conquered, but as it were partners of victory; finally, that he has passed over into their custom, not they into the custom of his own nation, that by the affinities of marriages he has mingled the conquered with the victors.

3 Hinc quoque ait custodiam corporis sui non Macedonibus tantum se, verum et illis crediturum.

3 Hereupon he says that he will entrust the custody of his person not to the Macedonians only, but to them as well.

4 Atque ita mille ex his iuvenes in numerum satellitum legit auxiliorumque portionem formatam in disciplinam Macedonum exercitui suo miscet.

4 And thus he selects a thousand young men from these into the roll of the bodyguards, and he mixes into his army a portion of auxiliaries formed to the discipline of the Macedonians.

5 Quam rem aegre Macedones tulerunt, iactantes hostes suos in officium suum a rege subiectos.

5 Which thing the Macedonians bore with difficulty, vaunting that their enemies had been brought into their own service by the king.

6 Tunc universi flentes regem adeunt; orant, suppliciis suis potius saturaret se quam contumeliis.

6 Then all, weeping, approach the king; they beg that he rather satiate himself with their punishments than with contumelies.

7 Qua modestia obtinuerunt, ut undecim milia militum veteranorum exauctoraret.

7 By such modesty they obtained that he should discharge eleven thousand veteran soldiers.

8 Sed et ex amicis dimissi senes Polypercon, Clitos, Gorgias, Polydamas, [Ammadas,] Antigenes.

8 But also from among his friends the old men were dismissed: Polypercon, Clitos, Gorgias, Polydamas, [Ammadas,] Antigenes.

9 Dimissis Crateros praeponitur, iussus praeesse Macedonibus in Antipatri locum, Antipatrumque cum supplemento tironum in locum eius evocat.

9 After the discharges, Craterus is set over them, ordered to preside over the Macedonians in the place of Antipater, and he summons Antipater with a supplement of recruits to his post.

10 Stipendia revertentibus veluti militantibus data.

10 Stipends were given to the returnees as though to men on military service.

11 Dum haec aguntur, unus ex amicis eius Hephaestion decedit, dotibus primo formae pueritiaeque, mox obsequiis regi percarus.

11 While these things are being transacted, one of his friends, Hephaestion, dies, most dear to the king—at first for the endowments of his beauty and boyhood, later for his services.

12 Quem contra decus regium Alexander diu luxit tumulumque ei duodecim milium talentum fecit eumque post mortem coli ut deum iussit.

12 Alexander, contrary to royal decorum, long mourned him, and made for him a tomb of twelve thousand talents, and ordered that he be worshiped as a god after death.

XIII. Ab ultimis litoribus Oceani Babyloniam revertenti nuntiatur legationes Karthaginiensium ceterarumque Africae civitatium, sed et Hispaniarum, Siciliae, Galliae, Sardiniae, nonnullas quoque ex Italia adventum eius Babyloniae opperiri.

13. From the furthest shores of the Ocean, as he was returning to Babylonia, it is announced to him that embassies of the Carthaginians and of the other cities of Africa, and also of the Spains, of Sicily, of Gaul, of Sardinia, and some likewise from Italy, are awaiting his arrival at Babylonia.

2 Adeo universum terrarum orbem nominis eius terror invaserat, ut cunctae gentes veluti destinato sibi regi adularentur.

2 To such an extent had the terror of his name invaded the entire orb of the lands, that all nations adulated him as though a king destined for them.

3 Hac igitur ex causa Babyloniam festinanti, velut conventum terrarum orbis acturo, quidam ex magis praedixit, ne urbem introiret, testatus hunc locum ei fatalem fore.

3 Therefore for this reason, as he was hastening to Babylon, as if about to hold a convention of the world’s lands, a certain one of the magi foretold that he should not enter the city, testifying that this place would be fatal for him.

4 Ob haec omissa Babylonia in Borsipam urbem trans Euphraten, desertam olim, concessit.

4 Because of these things, with Babylon left aside, he withdrew into the city Borsippa across the Euphrates, once deserted.

5 Ibi ab Anaxarcho philosopho conpulsus est rursus magorum praedicta contemnere ut falsa et incerta et, si fatis constent, ignota mortalibus ac, si naturae debeantur, inmutabilia.

5 There, by the philosopher Anaxarchus, he was compelled again to scorn the predictions of the magi as false and uncertain, and, if they are established by the Fates, unknown to mortals, and, if they are owed to nature, immutable.

6 Reversus igitur Babyloniam multis diebus otio datis intermissum olim convivium sollemniter instituit;

6 Having returned therefore to Babylonia, with many days given to leisure, he solemnly instituted the banquet formerly interrupted;

7 totusque in laetitiam effusus cum diei noctem pervigilem iunxisset, recedentem iam e convivio Medius Thessalus instaurata comisatione et ipsum et sodales eius invitat.

7 and, wholly poured out into rejoicing, when he had joined a sleepless vigil of night to the day, as he was already withdrawing from the banquet, Medius the Thessalian, with the comissation renewed, invites both him and his companions.

8 Accepto poculo media potione repente velut telo confixus

8 Upon receiving the cup, in mid-draught, suddenly as if transfixed by a weapon

9 ingemuit elatusque convivio semianimis tanto dolore cruciatus est, ut ferrum in remedia posceret tactumque hominum velut vulnera indolesceret.

9 he groaned, and, carried out from the banquet half-alive, was excruciated by such great pain that he demanded iron as remedies, and the touch of men pained him as though they were wounds.

10 Amici causas morbi intemperiem ebrietatis disseminaverunt, re autem vera insidiae fuerunt, quarum infamiam successorum potentia oppressit.

10 His friends disseminated that the causes of the illness were the intemperance of ebriety, but in truth it was treachery, whose infamy the power of the successors suppressed.

XIV. Auctor insidiarum Antipater fuit, qui cum carissimos amicos eius interfectos videret, Alexandrum Lyncestam, generum suum, occisum,

14. The author of the plots was Antipater, who, when he saw his dearest friends killed, Alexander Lyncestes, his son-in-law, slain,

2 se magnis rebus in Graecia gestis non tam gratum apud regem quam invidiosum esse,

2 that, with great deeds in Greece accomplished, he was not so pleasing with the king as invidious,

3 a matre quoque eius Olympiade variis se criminationibus vexatum.

3 also by his mother Olympias he was vexed with various criminations.

4 Huc accedebant ante paucos dies supplicia in praefectos devictarum nationum crudeliter habita.

4 To this were added, a few days earlier, punishments cruelly inflicted upon the prefects of the conquered nations.

5 Ex quibus rebus se quoque a Macedonia non ad societatem militiae, sed ad poenam vocatum arbitrabatur.

5 From which circumstances he too thought himself called from Macedonia, not to the association of military service, but to punishment.

6 Igitur ad occupandum regem Cassandrum filium dato veneno subornat, qui cum fratribus Philippo et Iolla ministrare regi solebat, cuius veneni tanta vis fuit,

6 Therefore, to seize the king, he suborns his son Cassander to give poison, who, with his brothers Philip and Iollas, used to minister to the king, whose poison had such force,

7 ut non aere, non ferro, non testa contineretur, nec aliter ferri nisi in ungula equi potuerit; praemonito filio, ne alii quam Thessalo et fratribus crederet.

7 such that it could be contained neither by bronze, nor by iron, nor by earthenware, and could not be carried otherwise than in a horse’s hoof; his son having been forewarned to trust no one other than Thessalus and his brothers.

8 Hac igitur causa apud Thessalum paratum repetitumque convivium est.

8 For this cause, therefore, at Thessalus’s a banquet was prepared and repeated.

9 Philippus et Iollas praegustare ac temperare potum regis soliti in aqua frigida venenum habuerunt, quam praegustatae iam potioni supermiserunt.

9 Philip and Iollas, accustomed to pre-taste and to temper the king’s drink, had poison in cold water, which they poured over into the drink already pre-tasted.

XV. Quarto die Alexander indubitatam mortem sentiens agnoscere se fatum domus maiorum suorum ait, nam plerosque Aeacidarum intra XXX annum defunctos.

15. On the fourth day Alexander, sensing a certain death, said that he recognizes the fate of the house of his ancestors, for many of the Aeacids had died before the 30th year.

2 Tumultuantes deinde milites insidiisque perire regem suspicantes ipse sedavit eosque omnes, cum prolatus in editissimum urbis locum esset, ad conspectum suum admisit osculandamque dexteram suam flentibus porrexit.

2 Then he himself calmed the soldiers, who were tumultuating and suspecting that the king was perishing by treachery; and when he had been brought out into the most elevated place of the city, he admitted them all to his presence and extended his right hand to be kissed to the weeping.

3 Cum lacrimarent omnes, ipse non sine lacrimis tantum, verum sine ullo tristioris mentis argumento fuit, ut quosdam inpatientius dolentes consolatus sit, quibusdam mandata ad parentes eorum dederit:

3 While all were weeping, he himself was not only not without tears, but was without any token of a sadder mind, so that he consoled some who were grieving too impatiently, and to some he gave messages for their parents:

4 adeo sicuti in hostem, ita et in mortem invictus animus fuit.

4 to such a degree, just as against the enemy, so also against death his spirit was invincible.

5 Dimissis militibus circumstantes amicos percontatur, videanturne similem sibi reperturi regem.

5 With the soldiers dismissed, he inquires of the friends standing around whether they think they will find a king similar to himself.

6 Tacentibus cunctis tum ipse, ut hoc nesciat, ita illud scire vaticinarique se ac paene oculis videre dixit, quantum sit in hoc certamine sanguinis fusura Macedonia, quantis caedibus, quo cruore mortuo sibi parentatura.

6 With all keeping silence, then he himself said that, as he does not know this, so he knows that and vaticinates it and almost sees it with his eyes: how much blood Macedonia will pour out in this contest, with how great slaughters, with what gore she will perform funeral-offerings to himself once dead.

7 Ad postremum corpus suum in Hammonis templum condi iubet.

7 At last he orders his body to be interred in the temple of Ammon.

8 Cum deficere eum amici viderent, quaerunt, quem imperii faciat heredem. Respondit dignissimum.

8 When his friends saw him failing, they ask whom he would make heir of the empire. He replied: “the most worthy.”

9 Tanta illi magnitudo animi fuit, ut, cum Herculem filium, cum fratrem Arridaeum, cum Roxanen uxorem praegnantem relinqueret, oblitus necessitudinum dignissimum nuncuparit heredem:

9 So great was his magnitudo of spirit, that, when he was leaving behind Hercules his son, his brother Arridaeus, and Roxane his wife pregnant, forgetful of ties of kinship he declared “the most worthy” as heir:

10 prorsus quasi nefas esset viro forti alium quam virum fortem succedere, aut tanti regni opes aliis quam probatis relinqui.

10 altogether as if it were nefarious that anyone other than a brave man should succeed a brave man, or that the resources of so great a kingdom be left to any others than the approved.

11 Hac voce veluti bellicum inter amicos cecinisset aut malum Discordiae misisset, ita omnes in aemulationem consurgunt et ambitione vulgi tacitum favorem militum quaerunt.

11 By this word, as if he had sounded the war-trumpet among friends or had sent the Apple of Discord, so all rise into emulation and, through the ambition of the crowd, seek the tacit favor of the soldiers.

12 Sexta die praeclusa voce exemptum digito anulum Perdiccae tradidit, quae res gliscentem amicorum dissensionem sedavit.

12 On the sixth day, his voice having been shut, he delivered to Perdiccas the ring removed from his finger, which thing assuaged the growing dissension of the friends.

13 Nam etsi non voce nuncupatus heres, iudicio tamen electus videbatur.

13 For although he was not named heir by word of mouth, yet he seemed chosen by judgment.

XVI. Decessit Alexander mense Iunio, annos tres et XXX natus, vir supra humanam potentiam magnitudine animi praeditus.

16. Alexander died in the month of June, at the age of 33, a man endowed with magnitude of mind beyond human power.

2 Qua nocte eum mater Olympias concepit, visa per quietem est cum ingenti serpente volutari, nec decepta somnio est, nam profecto maius humana mortalitate opus utero tulit;

2 On the night on which his mother Olympias conceived him, she seemed in sleep to be rolling with a huge serpent, nor was she deceived by the dream, for assuredly she bore in her womb a work greater than human mortality;

3 quam cum Aeacidarum gens ab ultima saeculorum memoria et regna patris, fratris, mariti ac deinceps maiorum omnium inlustraverint, nullius tamen nomine quam filii clarior fuit.

3 whom, although the race of the Aeacids from the farthest memory of the ages and the reigns of her father, brother, husband, and thereafter of all her ancestors have made illustrious, yet by no name was she more renowned than by that of her son.

4 Prodigia magnitudinis eius ipso ortu nonnulla apparuere.

4 Several prodigies of his greatness appeared at his very birth.

5 Nam ea die, qua natus est, duae aquilae tota die perpetes supra culmen domus patris eius sederunt, omen duplicis imperii, Europae Asiaeque, praeferentes.

5 For on the day on which he was born, two eagles sat all day long, steadfast, above the summit of his father’s house, displaying an omen of a double empire, of Europe and Asia.

6 Eadem quoque die nuntium pater eius duarum victoriarum accepit, altera belli Illyrici, altera certaminis Olympici, in quod quadrigarum currus miserat, quod omen universarum terrarum victoriam infanti portendebat.

6 On the same day as well his father received a message of two victories, one of the Illyrian war, the other of the Olympic contest, into which he had sent a four-horse chariot (quadriga), which omen portended to the infant victory over all the lands.

7 Puer acerrimis litterarum studiis eruditus fuit.

7 The boy was educated by the most rigorous studies of letters.

8 Exacta pueritia per quinquennium sub Aristotele doctore, inclito omnium philosophorum, crevit.

8 His boyhood completed, for five years he grew under Aristotle as his teacher, the most illustrious of all philosophers.

9 Accepto deinde imperio regem se terrarum omnium ac mundi appellari iussit

9 Then, having received the empire, he ordered himself to be called king of all lands and of the world

10 tantamque fiduciam sui militibus fecit, ut illo praesente nullius hostis arma nec inermes timuerint.

10 and he produced so great a confidence in himself in the soldiers, that, with him present, they feared neither the arms of any enemy nor the unarmed.

11 Itaque cum nullo hostium umquam congressus est, quem non vicerit, nullam urbem obsedit, quam non expugnaverit, nullam gentem adiit, quam non calcaverit.

11 And so he never engaged with any of the enemy whom he did not conquer, he besieged no city that he did not take by storm, he approached no nation that he did not trample underfoot.

12 Victus denique ad postremum est non virtute hostili, sed insidiis suorum et fraude civili.

12 He was conquered at last, in the end, not by hostile valor, but by the ambushes of his own people and by civil fraud.