Alexander's character. 87 



when they found that he was reappointing Persian 

 gentlemen as satraps, everywhere treating the con- 

 quered people with indulgence, everywhere levying 

 native troops. They were disgusted and farmed 

 when they saw him put on the tiara of the Great King, 

 and the woman's girdle, and the white and purple 

 robe, and burst into fierce wrath when he ordered that 

 the ceremony of prostration should be performed in 

 his presence, as it had been in that of the Persian king. 



In all this they saw only the presumption of 

 a man intoxicated by success. But Alexander knew 

 well that he could only govern an empire so immense 

 by securing the allegiance of the Persian nobles ; he 

 knew that they would not respect him unless they 

 were made to humble themselves before him after the 

 manner of their country, and this they certainly would 

 not do unless his own officers did the same. He, 

 therefore, attempted to obtain the prostration of the 

 Macedonians, and alleged, as a pretext for so extra- 

 ordinary a demand, the oracle of Ammon, that he was 

 the son of Jove. 



It is possible, indeed, that he believed this himself ; 

 for his vanity amounted to madness. He could not 

 endure a candid word, and was subject, under wine 

 and contradiction, to fits of ungovernable rage. At 

 Samarcand he murdered Clitus, who had insulted him 

 grossly, but who was his friend and associate, and who 

 had saved his life. It was a drunken action ; and his 

 repentance was as violent as his wrath. For Alex- 

 ander was a man of extremes : his magnanimity and 

 his cruelty were without bounds. If he forgave, it 

 was right royally; if he punished, he pounded to the 

 dust, and scattered to the winds. Yet, with all his 

 faults, it is certain that he had some conception of the art 



