Some narrate that the priest, wishing to
give him a friendly greeting in the Greek language, said "My son,"
but being a foreigner, mispronounced the words so as to say "Son of
Zeus," a mistake which delighted Alexander and caused men to say that
the god himself had addressed him as "Son of Zeus." We are told that
while in Egypt, he attended the lectures of the philosopher Psammon,
and was especially pleased when he pointed out that God is King over
all men, because that which rules and conquers must be king. He
himself thought that he had improved upon this by saying that although
God is the common father of all men, yet that he makes the best men
more peculiarly his own.
XXVIII. In his dealings with Asiatics, he always acted and spoke with
the greatest arrogance, and seemed firmly convinced of his own divine
parentage, but he was careful not to make the same boast when among
Greeks. On one occasion, indeed, he wrote to the Athenians the
following letter about their possession of Samos. "I," he said,
"should not have presented you with that free and glorious city; but
it was presented to you by its former master, my reputed father
Philip."
Yet afterwards when he was wounded by an arrow and in great pain he
said "This, my friends, is blood that runs from my wound, and not
"Ichor, that courses through the veins of gods."
Once when a great thunderstorm terrified every one, Anaxarchus the
sophist, who was with him, said "Son of Zeus, canst thou do as much?"
To this, Alexander answered with a smile, "Nay, I love not to frighten
my friends, as you would have me do, when you complained of my table,
because fish was served upon it instead of princes' heads.
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