2.8
But one might grow weary in the enumeration of these matters by which Alexander is shown to have made the most honourable and the most regal use of his authority. And even though he became great through Fortune, he is even greater in that he made good use of his Fortune. And the more we praise his Fortune the more shall we exalt his Virtue by reason of which he became worthy of his Fortune.
2.8
Now, however, I shall proceed at once to the first steps in his advancement and the beginnings of his power, and I shall examine in those matters the role played by Fortune, by reason of which men assert that Alexander became great through the instrumentality of Fortune. In Heaven’s name! Why do they not assert this of one that never felt a wound nor lost a drop of blood nor ever served in Avar, whom the neighing of a horse Cf. Herodotus, iii. 84 ff. placed upon the throne of Cyrus, even as the first Darius, the son of Hystaspes? Or of Xerxes, whom a king, flattered by his wife, as Darius was flattered by Atossa, Ibid. vii. 3. set upon the throne? Did the royal diadem come to Alexander’s doors, as to OarsesArtaxerxes: cf. 336 e, 337 e, supra, Life of Artaxerxes, chap. i. (1012 a): Reiske conjectured Ἄρσῃ from Diodorus, xvii. 5, which may be right. But Bagoas also put Darius III. on the throne of Persia. Cf. 326 f, supra. through the machinations of Bagoas, who stripped from him the garb of a courier and put upon him the royal raiment and the tiara that ever stands erectFor the upright tiara cf. e.g. Xenophon, Anabasis, ii. 5. 23; Life of Themistocles, chap. xxix. (126 e); Life of Artaxerxes, chaps. xxvi., xxviii. (1024 e, 1025 e).? Was he suddenly and unexpectedly chosen by lot and thus carne to rule the inhabited world, as at Athens the Thesmothetae and Archons attain their office?
