The Greek Alexander Romance

by Richard Stoneman

  Alexander was very unhappy when he heard this. He went out and departed from India at once, making for Persia.

  18. He was very eager to see the world-renowned palace of Semiramis. The whole of her country was ruled by a woman of remarkable beauty, in her early middle age. So Alexander wrote her a letter, as follows:

  ‘King Alexander greets Queen Candace of Meroe102 and the princes who are her vassals. When I was travelling in Egypt I heard from the priests there about your houses and tombs, and that at one time you had been queen of Egypt. That is why I am writing to you. [Bring the temple and the image of Ammon to your borders, so that we may sacrifice to him. If you are unwilling to come with him, we shall soon meet in Meroe and discuss the matter together. Send me here what you think proper. A-text] Take counsel and send me news of your decision. Farewell.’

  Candace’s reply was as follows:

  [‘Candace, queen of Meroe, and all her vassal kings, greet King Alexander. At that time Ammon ordered us by an oracle to march into Egypt; but now he orders that he is not to be moved and that no one else is to enter the land. We are to defend ourselves against all comers and treat them as enemies. A-text] Do not despise us for the colour of our skin. In our souls we are brighter than the whitest of your people. We have eighty flame-throwers ready to do harm to those who attack us. My messengers will bring you 100 solid-gold ingots, 500 young Ethiopians, 200 sphinxes,103 an emerald crown made of 1,000 pounds of gold, 10 strings of unweighed104 pearls, [10 staters], 80 ivory chests, and all kinds of animals that are common among us: 5 elephants, 10 tame panthers, 30 bloodhounds in cages, 30 fighting bulls; also 300 elephant tusks, 300 panther skins, 3,000 ebony wands. Send immediately people to collect all these goods, and send further news of yourself, when you have made yourself king of the whole world. Farewell.’

  19. When Alexander had read Candace’s letter, he sent an Egyptian named Cleomenes to collect the gifts. But as Candace had heard how Alexander had defeated the mightiest kings, she called one of her courtiers, a Greek painter, and told him to go to Alexander and to paint his portrait without his realizing it. He did so. Candace took the portrait and put it in a secret hiding-place.

  Some days later the son of Candace, by name Candaules, accompanied by a few horsemen, was attacked and beaten by the king of the Bebryces. He ran for safety to Alexander’s tents. At once the sentries seized him and brought him to Ptolemy Soter, who was Alexander’s second-in-command.

  ‘Who are you, and who are your companions?’ Ptolemy asked him.

  ‘The son of Queen Candace,’ replied Candaules.

  ‘Why have you come here?’

  ‘I was on my way,’ explained Candaules, ‘with my wife and a few troops to take part in the annual mysteries held by the Amazons. But the king of the Bebryces saw my wife and came down with a great army to seize her, and killed most of my soldiers. Now I am on my way home to collect a larger force and overrun the land of the Bebryces with fire.’

  When Ptolemy heard this, he went to Alexander, woke him up, and told him all that he had heard from Candace’s son. Alexander got up at once, took his crown and set it on Ptolemy’s head, threw his cloak around his shoulders and said to him, ‘Sit on the throne as if you were Alexander and tell the secretary, “Call Antigonus, my chief bodyguard.” When I come, tell me what you have just told me and say, “Give me your advice, what shall we do?”’

  So Ptolemy took his place on the throne, dressed in the royal robes. The soldiers were puzzled when they saw this, and asked one another what Alexander was up to now.105 But when Candace’s son saw Ptolemy in the royal robes, and supposed him to be Alexander, he was afraid that he might order him to be killed. Then Ptolemy said, ‘Call Antigonus, my chief bodyguard.’ Alexander came in, and Ptolemy went on, ‘Antigonus, this is the son of Queen Candace. His wife has been carried off by the king of the Bebryces. What do you advise me to do?’

  ‘I advise you, King Alexander,’ replied Alexander, ‘to arm your men and make war against the Bebryces, so that we can free his wife and hand her back to him. This will be a mark of respect towards his mother.’

  Candaules was delighted when he heard this. ‘If you wish, Antigonus,’ went on Ptolemy, ‘you may do this yourself, as my chief bodyguard. Give the army orders to get ready.’

  20. These were the orders Ptolemy gave to Antigonus, while pretending to be Alexander; and so they were carried out. Antigonus and Ptolemy arrived in just one day at the tyrant’s city. Then Antigonus said to Ptolemy, ‘King Alexander, we should not let the Bebryces see us by day, in case the tyrant discovers us and kills the woman. Let us invade the city at night and set fire to the houses; the people themselves will then rise up and give back the wife of Candaules. After all, we are not fighting for a kingdom but for the return of a wife.’

  Then Candaules threw himself at Antigonus’ feet, and said, ‘Oh, how clever you are, Antigonus! If only you were Alexander, and not just his chief bodyguard.’

  When night came and everyone was asleep, they invaded the city and set fire to the suburbs. When the people woke up and began to ask what was the cause of the fire, Alexander had an announcement made in a loud voice: ‘Here is King Candaules with a great army. I order you to give back my wife, before I burn down the whole of your city.’ The people, seeing that they were caught, burst into the king’s palace in great numbers and opened the gates. They dragged out the wife of Candaules from the tyrant’s bed, and handed her over to Candaules; and they killed the tyrant.106

  Candaules thanked Antigonus for his clever advice and plan, embraced him, and said, ‘Entrust yourself to me, and I will bring you to my mother, Candace, and give you many gifts good enough for a king.’

  Alexander was delighted and replied, ‘Ask Alexander for permission for me to go; I would very much like to see your country.’

  So Alexander gave Ptolemy the task of sending him with Candaules as his envoy. Ptolemy said to Candaules, ‘I wish to send your mother a letter of greetings. Take my messenger Antigonus with you, and bring him back safely to me, so that I can restore you and your wife safely to your mother.’

  ‘Your Majesty,’ Candaules replied, ‘I will take responsibility for this man as if he were Alexander himself. I will send him back to you with royal gifts.’

  21. So Candaules set off with Alexander, taking a number of troops, beasts of burden, wagons and plentiful gifts. As Alexander travelled along, he marvelled at the spectacular mountains of the Crystal Country, which reached up to the clouds, and at the foliage on the tall trees, laden as they were with fruit; they were strange and wonderful, nothing like the trees of Greece. There were apple trees which gleamed like gold, weighed down with fruit like Greek lemons; there were vines with enormous grapes, nuts as big as melons, apes the size of bears, and many other animals of diverse colours and unfamiliar shapes.

  ‘Antigonus,’ said Candaules, ‘this place is known as the Dwelling of the Gods.’107

  They continued their journey and came to the palace, where they were met by the mother and brother of Candaules. As they were about to embrace him, Candaules stopped them:

  ‘Do not embrace me until you have greeted my saviour and the benefactor of my wife, Antigonus the messenger from King Alexander.’

  ‘What did he save you from?’ they asked him.

  Then Candaules described the rape of his wife by the king of the Bebryces and the help Alexander had given him. After that Candaules’ brothers and his mother, Candace, embraced him. A magnificent meal was served in the palace.

  22. Next day Candace came out resplendent in a royal diadem. She was above normal human size and almost godlike in appearance, so that Alexander could have taken her for his mother, Olympias. He saw over the palace, which sparkled with golden-ceilinged halls and walls of marble. There were coverlets woven of silk shot with gold by the most exquisite art, laid across couches with golden feet; even the straps on which the mattresses were slung were made of gold. The tables were inlaid with ivory, and there were Persian
columns whose capitals gleamed with ebony. There were countless bronze statues; scythed chariots carved out of porphyry with galloping horses to match, looking as natural as if they were really alive; elephants carved out of the same stone, trampling their enemies with their feet and rolling their opponents over with their trunks; whole temples carved, columns and all, from a single stone. Alexander was amazed at all he saw. Then he had dinner with the brothers of Candaules. The latter called his mother and asked her to give the messenger gifts worthy of Alexander’s cleverness and to let him return.

  Next day Candace took Antigonus by the hand and showed him rooms with transparent walls made of an unidentified stone, which allowed one to tell, even when inside, when the sun rose. In one of the buildings was a dining-room of imperishable wood, and a house which did not rest on the ground but stood on gigantic square columns, and was pulled about on wheels by twenty elephants. When the king or queen went out to make war on a city, he or she travelled in this.

  ‘All this would be amazing,’ said Alexander, ‘if it were found among the Greeks and not here, where there are such fine and varied sources of stone.’

  ‘Yes, indeed, Alexander,’ cried Candace angrily.

  But he, hearing himself addressed by name, retorted, ‘My name is Antigonus, my lady; I am the messenger of Alexander.’

  ‘Yes,’ replied Candace, ‘be Antigonus if you will, but not here; as far as I am concerned, you are Alexander. Now I will show you how I was able to recognize you.’

  She took him by the hand and led him into a room, where she showed him the portrait she had had made.

  ‘Do you recognize your own features?’ she asked him.

  Alexander was distressed when he recognized the picture, and he trembled.

  ‘Why are you trembling, Alexander? Why are you so upset? You who have destroyed the Persians and the Indians, who have taken trophies from the Medes and Parthians, who have subdued the whole East – now, without a single battle, you have become the prisoner of Candace. Know this then, Alexander, that no matter how clever a man may be, another will be able to outwit him. Now Candace’s cunning has outstripped even Alexander’s intelligence.’

  Alexander was furious and began to gnash his teeth.

  ‘Why are you gnashing your teeth?’ asked the queen. ‘What can you do? You who were such a great king have now fallen into the hands of a single woman.’

  Alexander was all ready to stab himself and Candace with his sword.

  ‘That would be a brave and noble act,’ said Candace. ‘But do not fret, child Alexander. Because you saved my son and his wife who had been captured by the Bebryces, I will save you from the barbarians, by calling you Antigonus. If they discover that you are Alexander, they will kill you immediately, because you killed Porus, the king of the Indians. The wife of my younger son is the daughter of Porus. Therefore I will call you Antigonus, and will keep your secret.’

  23. With these words Candace went outside with him and addressed her son and daughter-in-law:

  ‘Candaules, my son, and Harpisa, my daughter, if you had not encountered the army of Alexander at just the right moment, I should never have got you back, nor would you have found your wife again. Let us repay Alexander’s messenger worthily and give him gifts.’

  Then her younger son108 spoke to her.

  ‘Alexander saved my brother and his wife, but my wife is still grieving for her father Porus who was murdered by Alexander. She wants to put his messenger Antigonus to death, now that she has him in her power.’

  ‘What good will that do, child?’ countered Candace. ‘If you kill this man, will you thereby overcome Alexander?’

  ‘He saved me and my wife,’ said Candaules to his brother. ‘So I will send him safe home to Alexander. Shall we fight each other over this man?’

  ‘I do not want to, brother,’ replied the other. ‘But if this is what you want, I am more than ready to go along with you.’ So they went off to prepare themselves for a duel.

  Candace was very worried about her sons and their decision to fight. She took Alexander aside and said, ‘You are a clever man, and have carried out so many plots. Can you not think of some way to prevent my sons from fighting each other?’

  ‘I will go and make peace between them,’ Alexander promised. So he went and stood between them.

  ‘Now listen,’ he said, ‘Thoas and Candaules; if you kill me here it will be of no concern to Alexander, because my name is Antigonus, and messengers are not accounted of much value in war. If you kill me, Alexander has plenty of other messengers. But if you want to take your enemy Alexander prisoner with my help, promise to give me a share of the gifts, so that I can stay here and induce Alexander to come here too, on the pretext that you wish to give him in person the gifts you have prepared for him. Then you will have your enemy in your power, and you can take your vengeance at your pleasure.’

  The brothers trusted him and gave up their quarrel. Candace was amazed at Alexander’s cunning.

  ‘Antigonus,’ she said, ‘I wish you were my son, for then I should have conquered every nation. It is not by fighting that you have overcome so many enemies and cities, but by your cleverness.’

  Alexander was delighted at the protection he received from Candace’s determination to keep his secret.

  Ten days later he departed. Candace gave him royal gifts, including a very valuable diamond crown, a breastplate decorated with pearls and beryls, and a cloak of purple threaded with gold, which twinkled like the stars. She sent him off with a large escort of her own soldiers.

  24. After marching for the stated number of days he came to the place where Candaules had told him that the gods dwelt. He entered with a few soldiers, and saw indistinct phantasms and flashes of lightning. Alexander was afraid at first, but waited to see what would happen next. Presently he saw some men lying down with light flashing out of their eyes as if from lamps.

  One of them said to him, ‘Greetings, Alexander. Do you know who I am? I am Sesonchosis, the Lord of the World. Yet I was not so fortunate as you. [I, who subdued the whole world and enslaved so many races, am now without reputation; but you will be favoured because you have founded in Egypt the city of Alexandria, which the gods love. But enter: you will behold the creator and champion of all Nature.’

  The king went in, and saw a mist glowing with fire, and seated on the throne the god whom he had once seen in Rhacotis being worshipped by men, namely Sarapis.

  ‘What is this,’ he asked, ‘incorruptible Lord, source of all Nature? I saw you sitting on your throne in the lands of Libya, and now I see you again here.’

  Sesonchosis stood close by Alexander and said, ‘This god can be seen everywhere though he remains in one place, just as heaven may be seen everywhere though it remains in one place. A-text; restored from the Armenian]

  ‘How many years have I left to live?’ asked Alexander.

  ‘It is best for a living man not to know when his end will come,’ was the reply. ‘As soon as he learns the hour of his death, from that moment he is as good as dead. But if he remains in ignorance, this helps him to forget about his death, even though he must die one day.

  ‘But the city which you have founded will be famous the world over. Many kings will come to destroy it. But you will dwell in it, dead and yet not dead; the city you founded will be your tomb.’

  After hearing this speech, Alexander went out again.

  25. He took his own soldiers and set off back to his camp. The satraps came to meet him and presented him with royal clothing. Then Alexander and his men marched against the Amazons. When they were close, Alexander sent the Amazons a letter, as follows:

  ‘King Alexander greets the Amazons. I imagine you have heard of my victory over Darius. After that I made war on the Indians, defeated their leaders and enslaved them with the help of Providence above. Then we visited the Brahmans, the so–called naked philosophers. We accepted tribute from them and left them to dwell in their own place, as they requested; we passed on in p
eace. Now our expedition has brought us to you. Come to meet us rejoicing, for we have not come to harm you, but to see your country and to do you good. Farewell.’

  When they had received and read this letter, the Amazons replied as follows:

  ‘The leaders of the Amazons greet Alexander. We are writing to give you some information before you come into our country, lest you afterwards return without glory. This letter will inform you about our country, and about us and our way of life. We live in the hinterland across the river Amazon. Our country is completely encircled by a river, and it takes a year to travel around it. There is only one entrance. We, the virgins who dwell in it, number 270,000, and we are armed. There is no male creature in our land. The men live on the other side of the river and farm the land. We hold an annual festival at which we sacrifice a horse to Zeus, Poseidon, Hephaestus and Ares; the festival lasts six days. Any of us who have decided to be deflowered109 move to the men’s territory. Any female children are returned to us at the age of seven. When enemies attack our country, 120,000 of us ride out on horseback; the rest remain to defend the island. We join battle at the frontier; the men accompany us, drawn up in battle formation in the rear. If any of us is wounded in battle, she receives great honours in our revels; she receives a garland and her memory is preserved for ever. If any of us is killed in battle, her nearest relative receives a considerable amount of money. If any of us brings the body of an enemy on to the island, she is rewarded with gold and silver and dines at public expense for the rest of her life. That is how we fight for our reputation. If we conquer the enemy or put them to flight, that is regarded as a humiliation for them for the rest of time; but if they conquer us, it is only women that they have defeated.