She did not want you to think her less intelligent than Alexander. In his case, when the masterbuilder undertook to remodel the whole of Athos and shape it into his likeness, so that the entire mountain would become the image of the king, holding a city in either hand, Alexander would not agree to the monstrous proposal. Thinking the project over-bold for him, he stopped the man from modelling colossi on a scale that transcended convincingness, bidding him to let Athos alone and not to diminish so great a mountain to similarity with a tiny body. She praised Alexander for his greatness of soul, and observed that thereby he had erected a monument greater than Athos itself in the minds of those who should think of him ever and anon in time to come: for it took no little determination to contemn so marvellous an honour.

The same story is in How to Write History, c. 12, where also the name of the architect is not mentioned. Plutarch says it was Stasicrates (Alea. 72; Moral. 335). In Strabo 14, p. 641, Cheirocrates seems to underlie the various readings. Vitruvius (ii, praef.) tells the tale quite differently and makes Dinocrates the hero of it.