Alexander Page #5

or until you're full, Ptolemy.

You don't need to lie in bed

in a morning...

...when you can have some good bean soup,

Cassander, after a forced night march.

Come on, Alexander.

Where's your hunger

to twist Hephaistion's head off?

Is he stronger than you?

Then beat him another way.

Who will respect you as a king?

You think because of your father?

The first rule of war is to do what you

ask your men to do. No more, no less.

Good, Hephaistion. That's it.

Well done. Good wrestling, Hephaistion.

That's what I want.

Come, come, come.

You did well, but you lost.

Now, both of you, congratulate

the other. Go on.

Would you want me to let you win,

Alexander?

You're right.

But I promise you, I will beat

you one day, Hephaistion.

it was said later that Alexander

was never defeated...

...except by Hephaistion's thighs.

Although an inferior race...

...the Persians control at least

four-fifths of the known world.

From Ethiopia and Egypt in the south...

...to Caucasus and the two inland seas

in the north...

Philip brought such as Aristotle from

Athens to educate our rough people.

They rule, and we sit around like frogs.

-Master?

-Yes?

-Master!

-Out with it!

-Why are the Persians so cruel?

-Oh, come on, Nearchus.

That is not the subject for today,

Nearchus.

But it is true that the Oriental races

are known for their barbarity...

...and their slavish devotion

to their senses.

Which are so dull,

they castrate young boys...

...such as yourselves,

for their sexual pleasure.

Yes. Excess in all things

is the undoing of men.

That is why we Greeks are superior.

We practice control of our senses.

Moderation, we hope.

Then what of Achilles at Troy, master?

-Was he not excessive?

-Achilles simply lacks restraint.

He dominates others so completely that

even when he withdraws from battle...

...crazed with grief over

his dead lover, Patroclus...

...he seriously endangers his own army.

He is a deeply selfish man.

Would you say the love between Achilles

and Patroclus is a corrupting one?

When men lie together in lust,

it is a surrender to the passions...

...and does nothing

for the excellence in us.

Nor does any other excess, Cassander,

jealousy among them.

But when men lie together, and knowledge

and virtue are passed between them...

...that is pure and excellent.

When they compete to bring out the good,

the best in each other...

...this is the love between men that

can build a city-state...

...and lift us from our frog pond.

But can a man

love a woman equally, master?

A woman? Of course not.

A woman is a slave

to her passion, Hephaistion.

Oh, naturally there are exceptions,

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