Alexander, it seems, thought it more kingly to restrain himself than
to conquer the enemy, and never touched any of them, nor did he know
any other before his marriage, except Barsine. This lady, after the
death of her husband Memnon, remained at Damascus. She had received a
Greek education, was naturally attractive, and was of royal descent,
as her father was Artabazus, who married one of the king's daughters;
which, added to the solicitations of Parmenio, as we are told by
Aristobulus, made Alexander the more willing to attach himself to so
beautiful and well-born a lady. When Alexander saw the beauty of the
other captives, he said in jest, that the Persian ladies make men's
eyes sore to behold them. Yet, in spite of their attractions, he was
determined that his self-restraint should be as much admired as their
beauty, and passed by them as if they had been images cut out of
stone.
XXII. Indeed, when Philoxenus, the commander of his fleet, wrote to
inform him that a slave merchant of Tarentum, named Theodorus, had two
beautiful slaves for sale, and desired to know whether he would buy
them, Alexander was greatly incensed, and angrily demanded of his
friends what signs of baseness Philoxenus could have observed in him
that he should venture to make such disgraceful proposals to him. He
sent a severe reprimand to Philoxenus, and ordered him to send
Theodorus and his merchandise to the devil.
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