Alexander answered that Kleitus, when he called cowardice a
misfortune, was no doubt pleading his own cause: at which reproach
Kleitus sprang to his feet, and exclaimed, "my cowardice at any rate
saved the life of the son of the gods, when he turned his back to the
sword of Spithridates; so that now, by the blood and wounds of the
Macedonians, you have become so great a man that you pretend to be the
child of Ammon, and disown your father Philip."
LI. Alexander, stung to the quick by these words, said, "Villain, do
you suppose that you will be allowed to spread these calumnies against
me, rendering the Macedonians disaffected, and yet go unpunished?"
"Too much are we punished," answered Kleitus, "when we see such a
reward as this given us for all our hard service, but we congratulate
those of us who are dead, because they died before they saw
Macedonians beaten with Median rods, and begging Persian attendants to
procure them an audience of their king." When Kleitus spoke his mind
thus boldly, Alexander's intimate friends answered with bitter
reproaches, but the older men endeavoured to pacify them. Alexander
now turning to Xenodochus of Kardia and Astenius of Kolophon, asked,
"Do not the Greeks seem to you to treat the Macedonians as if they
were beasts, and they themselves were more than mortal men? "Kleitus,
however, would not hold his peace, but went on to say that if
Alexander could not bear to hear men speak their mind, he had better
not invite free-born people to his table, and ought to confine himself
to the society of barbarians and slaves who would pay respect to his
Persian girdle and striped[418] tunic.
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