Dialogues of the Dead (25.1-25.4)

ALEXANDER

I should be preferred [*] to you, Libyan; I’m the better man.

HANNIBAL

No, I should.

ALEXANDER

Let Minos decide, then.

MINOS

Who are you?

ALEXANDER

This is Hannibal of Carthage, and I am Alexander, son of Philip.

MINOS

Both famous indeed. But what are you disputing?

ALEXANDER

The first place. He says [*] he was a better General than I was, but I say, as is known to all, that in the arts of war I was superior not only to him, but to pretty well every one who went before me.

MINOS

Then let each of you speak in turn; you start, Libyan.

HANNIBAL

I’ve one thing to be thankful for, Minos, for, while I’ve been here, I’ve added Greek [*] to my other accomplishments; he won’t, as a result, have the advantage of me even in that. I maintain that those are most deserving of praise who began from nothing, and yet advanced to greatness by their own efforts, by winning power for themselves and being thought worthy of command. Thus it was that I, setting out for Spain with a few followers, served at

first as my brother’s lieutenant, [*] and then was thought worthy of the highest command, because I was judged to be the best man, and conquered the Celtiberians, mastered the Gauls of the West, [*] crossed the mighty mountains, overran the whole Po Valley, devastated all those cities, subdued the plains of Italy, reached the outskirts of the greatest city of all, and killed so many in one day, that I measured their rings by the bushel, and bridged rivers with the dead. Moreover, I did all this without being called the son of Ammon, or pretending to be a god, or recounting dreams of my mother, but I admitted I was a man, I matched myself against the most accomplished Generals, and locked myself in battle with the finest of soldiers. My opponents were no Medes or Armenians who flee before they are pursued and yield immediate victory to anyone who shows a bold front.

HANNIBAL

But Alexander inherited his kingdom from his father, and was helped in enlarging it and extending it so far by the impetus of fortune. In any case, when he was victorious, and had defeated that contemptible Darius at Issus and Arbela, he renounced the traditions of his fathers; he demanded the worship of men; he changed over to the Median way of life; at his banquets he murdered his friends or arrested them to have them killed. But I led my country as her equal, and, when she sent for me, after the enemy had invaded Africa with a great force, I promptly obeyed, gave myself up as

a private citizen, and, when tried and condemned, accepted it without rancour. All this did I do, although I was a barbarian without the advantage of a Greek education, and unable to declaim Homer like him. [*] I had no education under Professor Aristotle, but relied solely on my natural gifts. These are the things in which I claim to excel Alexander. If he is more handsome because he wore a diadem on his head—well, perhaps Macedonians respect such things, but he cannot be thought better for that reason than a noble and skilful General who depended more on his own intellect than on fortune.

MINOS

This is no mean speech that he’s made on his own behalf, and not at all what one would have expected from a Libyan. What have you to say to this, Alexander?

ALEXANDER

A man so impudent, Minos, deserves no answer. Common report suffices to show you what a king I was and what a brigand he was. But consider whether I was not greatly superior to him. I was still young when I came to power, put an end to the disorders of my kingdom, and punished my father’s murderers. Then I struck fear into Hellas by the destruction of the Thebans, and was elected her leader, but I was not content to govern Macedonia, and rule only the domain left to me by my father, but, thinking in terms of the whole world, and considering it a disgrace not to conquer it all, I invaded Asia with a few men, was victorious in a great battle at the Granicus, took over Lydia, and, subduing

Ionia, Phrygia, and, in short, whatever lay before me, reached Issus, where Darius awaited me at the head of countless thousands of men.