Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

He sent ten thousand pounds to Xenocrates the philosopher, but when Xenocrates would not accept them, and said he had no need of them, Alexander asked whether Xenocrates had not a single friend. For, in my case, said he, the wealth of Darius was hardly enough for my friends. [*](Cf. Moralia, 331 E and 333 B, and Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, chap. viii (668 E).)

Porus, after the battle, was asked by Alexander, How shall I treat you ? Like a king, said he. Asked again if there were nothing else, he said, Everything is included in those words. Marvelling at his sagacity and manliness, Alexander added to his kingdom more land than he had possessed before. [*](Cf. Moralia, 332 E and 458 B; Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, chap. lx. (699C); Arrian, Anabasis, v. 19. 2.)

Learning that he was being maligned by a certain man, he said, It is kingly to be ill spoken of for doing good. [*](An oft- repeated aphorism; cf. for example, Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, chap. xli. (688 E); Pro Nobilitate, 19 (Bernardakis ed. vii. p. 268); Diogenes Laertius, vi. 3; Epictetus, Discourses, iv. 6; Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, vii. 36; Dio Chrysostom, Oration xlvii., last sentence.)

As he was dying, he said, looking towards his companions, I see that my funeral rites will be imposing. [*](Cf. Arrian, Anabasis, vii. 26. 3; Diodorus, xvii. 117. 4; Quintus Curtius, Hist. Alexandri, x. 5. 5; Justinus, Historiae Phillippicae, xii. 15.)

When he had come to his end, Demades the orator said that the army of the Macedonians, because of its lack of leadership, looked like the Cyclops after his eye had been put out. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Galba, chap. i. (1053 C), which also gives Demades as the author; but in Moralia, 336 F, the saying is attributed to Leosthenes. Cf. also Demetrius Phalereus, De elocutione, 284.)

Ptolemy, son of Lagus, used, as a rule, to dine and sleep at his friends’ houses; and if ever he gave a dinner, he would send for their dishes and linen and tables, and use them for the occasion. He himself owned no more than were required for everyday use; and he used to say that it was more kingly to enrich than to be rich. [*](Cf. Aelian, Varia Historia, xiii. 13.)