matter how it is done. There is also a current report that Alexander wished men to prostrate themselves before him as to a god, entertaining the notion that Ammon was his father, rather than Philip; and that he now showed his admiration of the customs of the Persians and Medea by changing the style of his dress, and by the alteration he made in the general etiquette of his court. There were not wanting those who in regard to these matters gave way to his wishes with the design of flattering him;" among others being Anaxarchus, one of the philosophers attending his court, and Agia, an Argive who waa an epic poet.[1]
CHAPTER X.
Dispute between Callisthenes wnd Anaxarchus
But it ia said that Callisthenes the Olynthian, who had studied philosophy under Aristotle, and waa somewhat brusque in his manner, did not approve of this conduct; and so far as this is concerned I quite agree with him. But the following remark of his, if indeed it has been correctly recorded, I do not think at all proper, when he declared that Alexander and his exploits were dependent upon him and his history, and that he had not come to him to acquire reputation from him, but to make him renowned in the eyes of men;[2] consequently that Alexander's participation in divinity did not depend on the false assertion of Olympias in regard to the author of his birth, but on
- ↑ Curtius (viii. 17) says that Agis was the composer of very poor poems.
- ↑ Justin (xii. 6) says that Callisthenes was a fellow-student with Alexander under Aristotle. He composed three historical works: I. Hellenica, from B.C. 387 to 337; II. The History of the Sacred War, from B.C. 357 to 346; III. The History of Alexander. Cf. Diodorus, xiv. 117. According to Polybius (xii. 23), he was accused by Timaeus of having flattered Alexander in his History.
