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greatest happiness; for when he saw Diogenes so perfectly contented
with so little, he said to those that mocked at his condition, "were
I not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes." But Seneca inverteth
it, and saith, "Plus erat, quod hic nollet accipere, quam quod ille
posset dare." There were more things which Diogenes would have
refused than those were which Alexander could have given or enjoyed.
(13) Observe, again, that speech which was usual with him,--"That he
felt his mortality chiefly in two things, sleep and lust;" and see
if it were not a speech extracted out of the depth of natural
philosophy, and liker to have come out of the mouth of Aristotle or
Democritus than from Alexander.
(14) See, again, that speech of humanity and poesy, when, upon the
bleeding of his wounds, he called unto him one of his flatterers,
that was wont to ascribe to him divine honour, and said, "Look, this
is very blood; this is not such a liquor as Homer speaketh of, which
ran from Venus' hand when it was pierced by Diomedes."
(15) See likewise his readiness in reprehension of logic in the
speech he used to Cassander, upon a complaint that was made against
his father Antipater; for when Alexander happened to say, "Do you
think these men would have come from so far to complain except they
had just cause of grief?" and Cassander answered, "Yea, that was the
matter, because they thought they should not be disproved;" said
Alexander, laughing, "See the subtleties of Aristotle, to take a
matter both ways, pro et contra, &c."
(16) But note, again, how well he could use the same art which he
reprehended to serve his own humour: when bearing a secret grudge
to Callisthenes, because he was against the new ceremony of his
adoration, feasting one night where the same Callisthenes was at the
table, it was moved by some after supper, for entertainment sake,
that Callisthenes, who was an eloquent man, might speak of some
theme or purpose at his own choice; which Callisthenes did, choosing
the praise of the Macedonian nation for his discourse, and
performing the same with so good manner as the hearers were much
ravished; whereupon Alexander, nothing pleased, said, "It was easy
to be eloquent upon so good a subject; but," saith he, "turn your
style, and let us hear what you can say against us;" which
Callisthenes presently undertook, and did with that sting and life
that Alexander interrupted him, and said, "The goodness of the cause
made him eloquent before, and despite made him eloquent then again."
(17) Consider further, for tropes of rhetoric, that excellent use of
a metaphor or translation, wherewith he taxeth Antipater, who was an
imperious and tyrannous governor; for when one of Antipater's
friends commended him to Alexander for his moderation, that he did
not degenerate as his other lieutenants did into the Persian pride,
in uses of purple, but kept the ancient habit of Macedon, of black.
"True," saith Alexander; "but Antipater is all purple within." Or
that other, when Parmenio came to him in the plain of Arbela and
showed him the innumerable multitude of his enemies, specially as
they appeared by the infinite number of lights as it had been a new
firmament of stars, and thereupon advised him to assail them by
night; whereupon he answered, "That he would not steal the victory."
(18) For matter of policy, weigh that significant distinction, so
much in all ages embraced, that he made between his two friends
Hephaestion and Craterus, when he said, "That the one loved
Alexander, and the other loved the king:" describing the principal
difference of princes' best servants, that some in affection love
their person, and other in duty love their crown.
(19) Weigh also that excellent taxation of an error, ordinary with
counsellors of princes, that they counsel their masters according to
the model of their own mind and fortune, and not of their masters.
When upon Darius' great offers Parmenio had said, "Surely I would
accept these offers were I as Alexander;" saith Alexander, "So would
I were I as Parmenio."
(20) Lastly, weigh that quick and acute reply which he made when he
gave so large gifts to his friends and servants, and was asked what
he did reserve for himself, and he answered, "Hope." Weigh, I say,
whether he had not cast up his account aright, because hope must be
the portion of all that resolve upon great enterprises; for this was
Caesar's portion when he went first into Gaul, his estate being then
utterly overthrown with largesses. And this was likewise the
portion of that noble prince, howsoever transported with ambition,
Henry Duke of Guise, of whom it was usually said that he was the
greatest usurer in France, because he had turned all his estate into
obligations.
(21) To conclude, therefore, as certain critics are used to say
hyperbolically, "That if all sciences were lost they might be found
in Virgil," so certainly this may be said truly, there are the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]