Hephaestion at Babylon, at which “victims enough were offered to furnish a feast for the army, who also received ample distributions of wine,”
because “to drink to intoxication at a funeral was required as a token of respectful sympathy toward the deceased.” “Alexander presided in person at the feast, and abandoned himself to conviviality like the rest. Already full of wine, he was persuaded by his friend Medius to sup with him, and to pass the whole night in yet further drinking, with the boisterous indulgence called by the Greeks Comus, or Revelry.
24. “Having slept off his intoxication during the next day, he in the evening again supped with Medius, and spent a second night in the like unmeasured indulgence,” “till at last he found a fever coming upon him. It did
not,however, seize him as he was drinking the cup of Hercules, nor did he find a sudden pain in his back as if it had been pierced with a spear. These are circumstances invented by writers who thought the catastrophe of so noble a tragedy should be something affecting and extraordinary.
Aristobulus tells us that in the rage of his fever and the violence of his thirst, he took a draught of wine which threw him into a frenzy, and that he died the thirtieth of the month Daesius (June).
25. “But in his journals the account of his sickness is as follows: —
“On the eighteenth of the month Daesius, finding the fever upon him, he lay in his bath-room.
“The next day, after he had bathed, he removed into his own chamber, and played many hours with Medius at dice. In the evening he bathed again, and after having sacrificed to the gods, he ate his supper. In the night the fever returned.
“The twentieth he also bathed, and after the customary sacrifice, sat in the bath-room, and diverted himself with hearing Nearchus tell the story of his voyage, and all that was most observable with respect to the ocean.
“The twenty-first was spent in the same manner. The fever increased, and he had a very bad night.
“The twenty-second, the fever was violent. He ordered his bed to be removed and placed by the great bath. There he talked to his generals about the vacancies in his army, and desired they might be filled up with experienced officers.
“The twenty-fourth, he was much worse. He chose, however, to be carried to assist at the sacrifice. He likewise gave orders that the principal officers of the army should wait within the court, and the others keep watch all night without.
“The twenty-fifth, he was removed to his palace, on the other side of the river, where he slept a little; but the fever did not abate, and when his generals entered the room, he was speechless.
“He continued so the following day. The Macedonians, by this time thinking he was dead, came to the gates with great clamor, and threatened the great officers in such a manner that they were forced to admit them, and suffer them all to pass unarmed by the bedside.
“The twenty-seventh, Pithon and Seleucus were sent to the temple of Serapis to inquire whether they should carry Alexander thither, and the deity ordered that they should not remove him.
“The twenty-eighth, in the evening, he died.
26. “These particulars are taken almost word for word from his diary.” — Plutarch. F264
27. “One of his last words spoken is said to have been, on being asked to whom he bequeathed his kingdom, ‘To the strongest;’ one of his last acts was to take the signet-ring from his finger and hand it to Perdiccas.” — Grote. F265
28. Thus died Alexander, at the age of thirty-two years and eight months, after a reign of twelve years and eight months. Though so young in years, his swift and constant campaigning, from almost the day of his accession, in all countries between Corinth and the river Hyphasis, and in all climates, from the fierce winters of Cappadocia and the mountains of the Hindu- Kush to the burning sands of Central Asia and the sultry heat of India, with several severe wounds and much hard drinking, had carried him far beyond the freshness of youth that should otherwise have yet attached to his thirty- two years. He was a man of Providence; and what a pity he did not profit by his opportunities as did Nebuchadnezzar!
CHAPTER 17.
EMPIRE OF GRECIA — ALEXANDER’S SUCCESSORS. F266 THE EMPIRE DIVIDED.
NO immediate heir was left by Alexander. Roxana was his legitimate queen; but as yet she had no child. There was indeed a son, named
Hercules, by his mistress Barsine; but he, being not a legitimate heir to the kingdom, could not be seriously considered. There was also an imbecile half-brother to Alexander,named Aridaeus. As Alexander had given to Perdiccas his signet-ring, this gave to that general the precedence in the government and the official charge of affairs.
2. In a council of the army, the cavalry and the horse-guards under the