After this came Lysimachus and Hagnon, and many others, who accused
Kallisthenes of giving himself great airs, as though he were a queller
of despots, and said that he had a large following among the younger
men, who looked up to him as being the only free man among so many
myriads of people. These accusations were more easily believed to be
true because at this time the plot of Hermolaus was discovered; and it
was said that when Hermolaus enquired of Kallisthenes how one might
become the most famous man in the world, he answered, "By killing the
most famous man in the world." He was even said to have encouraged
Hermolaus to make the attempt, bidding him have no fear of Alexander's
golden throne, and reminding him that he would have to deal with a man
who was both wounded and in ill-health. Yet none of those concerned in
Hermolaus's conspiracy mentioned the name of Kallisthenes, even under
the most exquisite tortures. Alexander himself, in the letters which
he wrote to Kraterus, Attalus, and Alketas immediately after the
discovery of the plot, states that the royal pages, when put to the
torture, declared that they alone had conspired, and that they had no
accomplices. "The pages," Alexander goes on to say, "were stoned to
death by the Macedonians, but I will myself punish the sophist, and
those who sent him hither, and those who receive into their cities men
that plot against me.
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