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LXX. After Alexander left the funeral pyre, he invited many of his
friends and chief officers to dinner, and offered a prize to the man
who could drink most unmixed wine. Promachus, who won it, drank as
much as four choes.[431] He was presented with a golden crown worth a
talent, and lived only three days afterwards. Of the others, Chares,
the historian, tells us that forty-one died of an extreme cold that
came upon them in their drunkenness.
Alexander now celebrated the marriage of many of his companions at
Susa. He himself married Statira, the daughter of Darius, and bestowed
the noblest of the Persian ladies upon the bravest of his men. He gave
a splendid banquet on the occasion of his marriage, inviting to it not
only all the newly married couples, but all those Macedonians who were
already married to Persian wives. It is said that nine thousand guests
were present at this feast, and that each of them was presented with a
golden cup to drink his wine in. Alexander entertained them in all
other respects with the greatest magnificence, and even paid all the
debts of his guests, so that the whole expense amounted to nine
thousand eight hundred and seventy talents. On this occasion,
Antigenes the one-eyed got his name inscribed on the roll as a debtor,
and produced a man who said that he was his creditor. He received the
amount of his alleged debt, but his deceit was afterwards discovered
by Alexander, who was much enraged, banished him from his court, and
took away his command.
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