At this time Parmenio sent him a letter from the camp, bidding
him beware of Philip, who had been bribed to poison him by Darius with
rich presents, and the offer of his own daughter in marriage.
Alexander read the letter, and showed it to no one, but placed it
under his pillow. At the appointed hour, Philip and his friends
entered the room, bringing the medicine in a cup. Alexander took the
cup from him, and gave him the letter to read, while he firmly and
cheerfully drank it off. It was a strange and theatrical scene. When
the one had read, and the other had drunk, they stared into each
other's faces, Alexander with a cheerful expression of trust and
kindly feeling towards Philip, while Philip, enraged at the calumny,
first raised his hands to heaven, protesting his innocence, and then,
casting himself upon his knees at the bed-side, besought Alexander to
be of good cheer and follow his advice. The effect of the drug at
first was to produce extreme weakness, for he became speechless and
almost insensible. In a short time, however, by Philip's care, he
recovered his strength, and showed himself publicly to the
Macedonians, who were very anxious about him, and would not believe
that he was better until they saw him.
XX. There was in the camp of Darius a Macedonian refugee, named
Amyntas, who was well acquainted with Alexander's character. This man,
when he found that Darius wished to enter the hilly country to fight
Alexander amongst its narrow valleys, besought him to remain where he
was, upon the flat open plains, where the enormous numbers of his
troops could be advantageously used against the small Macedonian army.
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