Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists
C. D. Yonge, B.A., Ed.

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But, concerning the luxury of Alexander the Great, Ephippus the Olynthian, in his treatise on the Deaths of Alexander and Hephæstion, says that “he had in his park a golden throne, and couches with silver feet, on which he used to sit and transact business with his companions.” But Nicobule says, that “while he was at supper all the morris dancers and athletes studied to amuse the king; and at his very last banquet, Alexander, remembering an episode in the Andromeda of Euripides, recited it in a declamatory manner, and then drank a cup of unmixed wine with great eagerness, and compelled all the rest to do so too.” And Ephippus tells us that “Alexander used to wear even the sacred vestments at his entertainments; and sometimes he would wear the purple robe, and cloven sandals, and horns of Ammon, as if he had been the god; and sometimes he would imitate Diana, whose dress he often wore while driving in his chariot; having on also a Persian robe, but displaying above his shoulders the bow and javelin of the goddess. Sometimes also he would appear in the guise of Mercury; at other times, and indeed almost every day, he would wear a purple cloak, and a tunic shot with white, and a cap which had a royal diadem attached to it. And when he was in private with his friends he wore the sandals of Mercury, and the petasus on his head, and held the caduceus in his hand. Often also he wore a lion's skin, and carried a club, like Hercules.”

What wonder then is it, if in our time the emperor Com- modus, when he drove abroad in his chariot, had the club of Hercules lying beside him, with a lion's skin spread at his feet, and liked to be called Hercules, when even Alexander, the pupil of Aristotle, represented himself as like so many gods, and even like Diana? And Alexander used to have the floor sprinkled with exquisite perfumes and with fragrant wine; and myrrh was burnt before him, and other kinds of incense; and all the bystanders kept silence, or spoke only words of good omen, out of fear. For he was a very violent man, with no regard for human life; for he appeared to be a man of a melancholic constitution. And on one occasion, at Ecbatana, when he was offering a sacrifice to Bacchus, and when everything was prepared in a most lavish manner for the banquet, . . . and [p. 861] Satrabates the satrap, feasted all the soldiers . . . . . “But when a great multitude was collected to see the spectacle,” says Ephippus, "there were on a sudden some arrogant proclamations published, more insolent even than Persian arrogance was wont to dictate. For, as different people were publishing different proclamations, and proposing to make Alexander large presents, which they called crowns, one of the keepers of his armoury, going beyond all previous flattery, having previously arranged the matter with Alexander, ordered the herald to proclaim that Gorgos, the keeper of the armoury, presents Alexander, the son of Ammon, with three thousand pieces of gold; and will also present him, when he lays siege to Athens, with ten thousand complete suits of armour, and with an equal number of catapults and all weapons required for the war.