LIBER PRIMUS. 475 



metaphora insignis : cum Parmenio ad eum accederet in campis 

 Arbellae, eique ingentem hostium exercitum monstraret, qui 

 oculis subjacens noctu propter infinitum numerum ignium 

 veluti alterum firmamentum stellatum reprassentabat, ideoque 

 consuleret ut nocturno praelio illos invaderet, Nolo, inquit 

 Alexander, suffurari victoriam. 1 



In Politicis, attende gravissimam illam et prude ntissimam 

 distinctionem, (quam omnis posteritas amplexa est,) qua duos 

 ex praecipuis ejus amicis, Hephaestionem et Crater um, discrevit, 

 quum diceret alterum Alexandrum amare, alterum amare regem* ; 

 dissimilitudinem maximi ponderis etiam inter fidelissimos regum 

 servos constituens, quod alii magis dominorum suorum personas 

 vero affectu prosequantur, alii potius moveantur officio erga 

 principatum ipsum. Spectetur etiam quam eximie redargueret 

 errorem, principum consiliariis familiarem, qui plerumque 

 consilia pro modulo sui animi et fortunas, non dominorum, 

 euggerunt. Cum enim Darius magnas Alexandro offerret 

 conditiones, Parmenio, Ego, inquit, si essem Alexander, acci- 

 perem. Subjecit Alexander, Et ego equidem, si essem Parme- 

 nio* Postremo, excutiatur acre illud atque acutum responsum 

 ad amicos interrogantes, quid sibi reservaret cum tot et tanta 

 donaret? Spem 4 , inquit: quippe qui probe sciret, subductis 

 rationibus, spem veram esse sortem et tanquam haereditatem ad 

 magna aspirantium. Haec Julii Caesaris sors, cum proficiscens 

 in Galliam universas opes profusis largitionibus exhausisset. 

 Haec etiam sors Henrici Ducis Guisii, nobilissimi principis licet 

 nimium ambitiosi, de quo illud increbuit, Faneratorem eum 

 fuisse unum omnium Gallorum maximum, eo quod omnes opes in 

 nominibus haberet, atque patrimonium universum in obligationes 

 convertisset. 5 Caeterum admiratio hujus principis, dum eum 



mus, who took the story from Plutarch without rightly understanding it. Alexander 

 compared Antipater to a \evKoirapi>(f>os (or white-striped) garment, which on the 

 inside, the irapvQn or clavus being an external appendage, showed no trace of white, 

 but was purple throughout. Erasmus confounded tevKoirapvQos with Xevxos and ap- 

 parently supposed the remark to refer to Antipater's dress. In the Advancement of 

 Learning and in the Apophthegms Bacon speaks of the *' Macedonian habit of black." 

 See Erasm. Apophth. book iv. 17. 



1 Plut. in Alex. c. 31. 2 Ut supra, c. 47. 8 Ut supra, c. 29. 



4 Plut. in Alexand. c. 15., or De Alexandri Fortuna, p. 342. According to Plu- 

 tarch, Alexander had only one friend, namely Perdiccas, disinterested enough to 

 ask the question. In the Apophthegms the inaccuracy of the text is avoided, but 

 Parmenio is substituted for Perdiccas. Toy eVuriSas in Alexander's reply is rather 

 "that which I hope for" than "hope," "mes esperances," not "1'espoir" in the 

 abstract. 



6 It was said of him and Henry III. that the one was " Re uell' affetto," and the 



