his friends, and was drinking far into the night.[1] He is also said to have distributed the sacrificial victims as well as a quantity of wine to the army throughout the companies and centuries. There are some who have recorded that he wished to retire after the drinking party to his bed-chamber; but Medius, at that time the most influential of the Companions, met him and begged him to join a party of revellers at his residence, saying that the revel would be a pleasant one.
CHAPTER XXV.
Alexander Seized with Fever.
The Royal Diary gives the following account,[2] to the effect that he revelled and drank at the dwelling of Medius; then rose up, took a bath, and slept; then again supped at the house of Medius and again drank till far into the night. After retiring from the drinking party he took a bath; after which he took a little food and slept there, because he already felt feverish. He was carried out upon a couch to the sacrifices, in order that he might offer them according to his daily custom. After performing the sacred rites he lay down in the banqueting hall until dusk. In the meantime he gave instructions to the officers about the expedition and voyage, ordering those who were going on foot to be ready on the fourth day, and those who were going to sail with him to be ready to sail on the fifth day. From
- ↑ Plutarch (Alex., 75) and Justin (xii. 13) say that he gave a banquet to Nearchus the admiral, and that, as he was leaving it, he was invited to the revel by Medius the Thessalian. Cf. Diodorus, xvii. 117.
- ↑ We learn from Athenaeus (x. p. 434 B) that this Court Journal was kept by the royal secretary, Eumenes, afterwards so famous, and by the historian, Diodotus of Erythrae. As to the last days of Alexander, cf. Plutarch (Alex., 76, 77).
