1. Alexander, the army will divide.Copy !req
2. Satrapies will revolt.
Without orders, there'll be war.Copy !req
3. We beg you. Tell us who.Copy !req
4. Our world is gone now.Copy !req
5. I'm the last left alive.Copy !req
6. Whether that's a blessing or a curse…Copy !req
7. … who by Hades would know. Ha, ha.Copy !req
8. But I've paid my price…Copy !req
9. … in blood…Copy !req
10. … and in broken dreams.Copy !req
11. I say we were the greatest fighting force…Copy !req
12. … ever known to man.Copy !req
13. Greater even than the expedition to Troy.Copy !req
14. But how can I say it?
How can I tell you what it was like…Copy !req
15. … to be young, to dream big dreams?Copy !req
16. To believe when Alexander looked you
in the eye, you could do anything.Copy !req
17. Anything.Copy !req
18. In his presence, by the light of Apollo,
we were better than ourselves.Copy !req
19. Truly…Copy !req
20. … I've known many great men
in my life, but only one colossus.Copy !req
21. And only now, when old,
do I understand…Copy !req
22. … who this force of nature really was.Copy !req
23. Or do I?Copy !req
24. Did such a man as Alexander exist?
Of course not.Copy !req
25. We idolize him,
make him better than he was.Copy !req
26. Men, all men, reach and fall…Copy !req
27. … reach and fall.Copy !req
28. In the East, the vast Persian Empire
ruled almost all the known world.Copy !req
29. In the West,
the once great Greek city-states…Copy !req
30. … Thebes, Athens, Sparta,
had fallen from pride.Copy !req
31. For 100 years now, the Persian kings
had bribed the Greeks…Copy !req
32. … with their gold to fight as mercenaries.Copy !req
33. It was Philip, the one-eyed,
who changed all this…Copy !req
34. … uniting tribes of illiterate sheepherders
from the high and lowlands.Copy !req
35. With his blood and guts,
he built a professional army…Copy !req
36. … that brought the devious Greeks
to their knees. Heh.Copy !req
37. He then turned his eye on Persia…Copy !req
38. … where it was said
the Great King Darius himself…Copy !req
39. … on his throne in Babylon,
feared Philip.Copy !req
40. Philip was murdered…Copy !req
41. … much to Persia's delight
and perhaps sponsored by their gold.Copy !req
42. And Alexander, at 20…Copy !req
43. … became the new ruler of Macedonia.Copy !req
44. Announcing revenge
for the death of Philip…Copy !req
45. … Alexander liberated all of the cities
of Western Asia…Copy !req
46. … south to Egypt…Copy !req
47. … where he was declared Pharaoh
of Egypt, worshipped as a god.Copy !req
48. Finally,
he provoked the rise to battle…Copy !req
49. … in the heart of the Persian Empire,
near Babylon.Copy !req
50. It was mad.Copy !req
51. Forty thousand of us
against hundreds of thousands…Copy !req
52. … of barbarian races unknown to us…Copy !req
53. … gathered under Darius himself.Copy !req
54. East and west had now come together…Copy !req
55. … to decide the fate of the known world.Copy !req
56. It was the day Alexander
had waited for all his life.Copy !req
57. Son of a god.Copy !req
58. It was a myth, of course.Copy !req
59. At least it started as a myth.Copy !req
60. I know.Copy !req
61. I was there.Copy !req
62. Seen one before. Still alive.Copy !req
63. To whom do you pray?Copy !req
64. Phobos.Copy !req
65. Fear?Copy !req
66. A bad omen.Copy !req
67. More so for Darius.Copy !req
68. I've come to believe that fear
of death drives all men, Hephaistion.Copy !req
69. This we didn't learn as schoolboys.Copy !req
70. – So, mighty Crateros.
– Your Majesty.Copy !req
71. Are you ready for tomorrow's dawn?Copy !req
72. It's been too long coming.Copy !req
73. The men are skittish as colts…Copy !req
74. – … and the damn bulls won't shut their snouts.
– Good.Copy !req
75. Fear makes men fight better.Copy !req
76. Post your sentries alertly
but rest them well.Copy !req
77. Don't worry, general. I'm known to sleep
with my eyes open as a baby's arse.Copy !req
78. Only because someone
might steal his loot, sire.Copy !req
79. Well, someone owes Crateros
for his cheapness.Copy !req
80. He buys neither gloves nor blankets
to warm himself.Copy !req
81. Who needs gloves
when you come from Thrace?Copy !req
82. Who needs clothes
when you can fight naked?Copy !req
83. After tomorrow, even the thrifty
among you shall be kings.Copy !req
84. The gods are with us, Your Majesty.Copy !req
85. You'll stain the ground with Persian blood.Copy !req
86. You're on the first row tomorrow, boy.Copy !req
87. I've always believed, Alexander.Copy !req
88. But this seems
so much bigger than us.Copy !req
89. Did Patroclus doubt Achilles…Copy !req
90. … when they stood side by side
at the siege of Troy?Copy !req
91. Patroclus died first.Copy !req
92. If you do…Copy !req
93. If you were to fall, Hephaistion,
even if Macedonia were to lose a king…Copy !req
94. … I will avenge you…Copy !req
95. … and follow you down
to the house of death.Copy !req
96. I would do the same.Copy !req
97. On the eve of battle,
it's hardest to be alone.Copy !req
98. Yeah.Copy !req
99. Then perhaps…Copy !req
100. Perhaps this is farewell…Copy !req
101. … my Alexander.Copy !req
102. Fear not, Hephaistion.Copy !req
103. We are at the beginning.Copy !req
104. Blood makes the world rise.Copy !req
105. Blood makes the rain fall.Copy !req
106. Blood makes the earth grow.Copy !req
107. And in blood, all men are born and die.Copy !req
108. Blood is the food of the gods below.Copy !req
109. Come, Bucephalus.
Today we ride to our destiny.Copy !req
110. Company, group! Regroup!Copy !req
111. Phalanx, turn!Copy !req
112. Phalanx, attention!Copy !req
113. Neoptolemus.Copy !req
114. I remember you the day
you took the siege tower at Tyre.Copy !req
115. You were a giant.
And today, how will you fight?Copy !req
116. Dexippos, by Athena.Copy !req
117. How far was it you threw your man
wrestling at the last Olympic Games?Copy !req
118. Will you match it with your spear?Copy !req
119. And Timander, son of Menander,
a great soldier to my father.Copy !req
120. I still mourn your brother, Addaios,
who died so bravely at Halicarnassus.Copy !req
121. What an honored family
you descend from, Timander.Copy !req
122. You fight for them today.Copy !req
123. You've all honored
your country and your ancestors.Copy !req
124. And now we come to this
most distant place in Asia…Copy !req
125. … where across from us, Darius
has at last gathered a vast army…Copy !req
126. … to stand with him and fight.Copy !req
127. Yes…Copy !req
128. … these Persians do seem to be so many.Copy !req
129. But look again at this horde…Copy !req
130. … and ask yourselves…Copy !req
131. … who is this great king
who pays assassins in gold coins…Copy !req
132. … to murder my father, our king…Copy !req
133. … in a most despicable
and cowardly manner?Copy !req
134. Who is this great king, Darius,
who enslaves his own men to fight?Copy !req
135. Who is this king but a king of air?Copy !req
136. These men do not fight for their homes.Copy !req
137. They fight because
this king tells them they must.Copy !req
138. And when they fight,
they will melt away like the air…Copy !req
139. … because they know no loyalty
to a king of slaves.Copy !req
140. But we are not here today as slaves.Copy !req
141. We are here today…Copy !req
142. … as Macedonian freemen!Copy !req
143. Some of you…Copy !req
144. … perhaps myself…Copy !req
145. … will not live to see the sun set
over these mountains today.Copy !req
146. For I will be in the very thick…Copy !req
147. … of battle with you.Copy !req
148. But remember this…Copy !req
149. … the greatest honor…Copy !req
150. … a man can ever achieve…Copy !req
151. … is to live with great courage…Copy !req
152. … and to die with his countrymen…Copy !req
153. … in battle for his home.Copy !req
154. I say to you…Copy !req
155. … what every warrior has known
since the beginning of time.Copy !req
156. Conquer your fear…Copy !req
157. … and I promise you,
you will conquer death.Copy !req
158. When they ask you why you fought
so bravely at Gaugamela…Copy !req
159. … you will answer…Copy !req
160. … with all the strength
of your great, great hearts:Copy !req
161. "I was here this day at Gaugamela…Copy !req
162. … for the freedom…Copy !req
163. … and glory…Copy !req
164. … of Greece!"Copy !req
165. Zeus be with us!Copy !req
166. Cassander! Four columns, go!Copy !req
167. Where does he go?Copy !req
168. I don't know, Majesty.Copy !req
169. Envelop him, Bessus.Copy !req
170. Hephaistion, go!Copy !req
171. Phalanx!Copy !req
172. He makes a mistake, Pharnakes.Copy !req
173. Yes, great king.Copy !req
174. Be brave, men.Copy !req
175. Steady on the left, lads!Copy !req
176. Bend if you must, but never break.Copy !req
177. And keep watching
the cavalry on the left.Copy !req
178. Pick up the pace!Copy !req
179. Prepare to repel chariots!Copy !req
180. Cassander!Copy !req
181. Forward, men!Copy !req
182. – Left turn!
– Infantry, clear! Out now!Copy !req
183. Hold your positions!Copy !req
184. Hold your positions!Copy !req
185. Father.
We must fall back to the gully, Father.Copy !req
186. No, hold.Copy !req
187. Where is he? We're far too thin!
Get word to Alexander!Copy !req
188. – Move!
– Yes, sir.Copy !req
189. Come, Macedonians! Ride! Ride!Copy !req
190. Drive for the hole!Copy !req
191. – Drive for the hole!
– Drive for the hole!Copy !req
192. Pharnakes, bring these men up.Copy !req
193. Back and to the left!
Back and to the left!Copy !req
194. Get to home at all costs.Copy !req
195. I cannot see!Copy !req
196. – Philotas! Philotas!
– Father.Copy !req
197. Go. Tell Alexander yourself.Copy !req
198. And if he won't listen, then survive me
and avenge this betrayal!Copy !req
199. Hiya!Copy !req
200. Pay attention, lad!
Your father still watches over you!Copy !req
201. Darius!Copy !req
202. Find your horses.Copy !req
203. Darius!Copy !req
204. Go! Go!Copy !req
205. We can reach those mountains by sunset,
go all night and catch Darius at dawn.Copy !req
206. Provision the horses.Copy !req
207. Alexander!
Alexander, my father's lost.Copy !req
208. They've overrun the flank.
They're into the baggage train.Copy !req
209. Parmenion's crumbling.Copy !req
210. Alexander, if you chase him,
you risk losing your army here.Copy !req
211. And if we capture him,
we gain an empire.Copy !req
212. You can run to the ends of the earth,
you coward…Copy !req
213. … but you'll never run far enough!Copy !req
214. To Parmenion!Copy !req
215. You bleed free, my lord.Copy !req
216. – May I tend to your wound?
– No, Hermolaus, not now.Copy !req
217. There's far worse than me. Go to them.Copy !req
218. Help them.Copy !req
219. How was this done, soldier?Copy !req
220. A spear.Copy !req
221. But I got two of the buggers.Copy !req
222. – Your Majesty.
– You're very brave.Copy !req
223. What shall I call you?Copy !req
224. – Glaukos, my king.
– Glaukos.Copy !req
225. – And where's your home?
– Illyria.Copy !req
226. Let your body go loose.Copy !req
227. Think of home now.Copy !req
228. Be brave again, Glaukos…Copy !req
229. … and you will live on in glory.Copy !req
230. Alexander.Copy !req
231. The Persian Empire,
the greatest the world had yet known…Copy !req
232. … was destroyed.Copy !req
233. And Alexander, at 25,
was now king of all.Copy !req
234. If you hesitate, she will strike.Copy !req
235. Yes.Copy !req
236. They are like people.Copy !req
237. You can love them for years.
Feed them, nurture them…Copy !req
238. … but still, they can turn on you.Copy !req
239. Don't hurt her.Copy !req
240. Good.Copy !req
241. Come.Copy !req
242. He calls me a barbarian.Copy !req
243. He makes a mockery
of Dionysus every night.Copy !req
244. Some called his mother,
Queen Olympias, a sorceress…Copy !req
245. … and said that Alexander
was the child of Zeus.Copy !req
246. But truly, there was not a man
in Macedonia who didn't look…Copy !req
247. … at father and son, side by side,
and wonder.Copy !req
248. My little Achilles.Copy !req
249. Stay, Alexander, down. Down.Copy !req
250. What is it you-?Copy !req
251. Six months. Did you miss me?Copy !req
252. – No. Not here!
– Proud bitch. I'm still your king.Copy !req
253. King of what? Sheepherders?Copy !req
254. – I am of Achilles' royal blood.
– The blood of Herakles runs in my veins.Copy !req
255. You are nothing but a drunken whore.Copy !req
256. Shut your mouth.Copy !req
257. You 10-titted bitch from Hades!Copy !req
258. Which god could I curse to
have ever laid eyes on you!Copy !req
259. Do you think people respect you?Copy !req
260. You think they don't know
your bastards?Copy !req
261. What?Copy !req
262. Damn your sorceress soul! You keep him
here like one of your snakes!Copy !req
263. I told you not!
I told you not.Copy !req
264. – You'll obey me.
– I will not.Copy !req
265. You'll obey me, or I'll kill you
with my own hands.Copy !req
266. Let her go!Copy !req
267. No! Stop! Papa! No!Copy !req
268. – Obey me!
– Your Majesty! No!Copy !req
269. In the name of the gods.Copy !req
270. He will never be yours! Never!Copy !req
271. In my womb, I carried my avenger!Copy !req
272. In the world he grew up to…Copy !req
273. … I've come to believe it was in friendship
that Alexander found his sanity.Copy !req
274. You don't need much to fight.Copy !req
275. When you're in the front ranks
of a battle…Copy !req
276. … facing some Northern
barbarian tribe…Copy !req
277. … courage won't be in the soles
of your feet, Perdiccas…Copy !req
278. … or in the thickness of your tunic,
Philotas…Copy !req
279. … or in the lining
of your stomach, Nearchus.Copy !req
280. It's in the heart of a man.Copy !req
281. You don't need to eat every day
or until you're full, Ptolemy.Copy !req
282. You don't need to lie in bed
in a morning…Copy !req
283. … when you can have some
good bean soup, Cassander…Copy !req
284. … after a forced night march.Copy !req
285. Come on, Alexander.Copy !req
286. Where's your hunger
to twist Hephaistion's head off?Copy !req
287. Is he stronger than you?Copy !req
288. Then beat him another way.Copy !req
289. Come on!Copy !req
290. Who will respect you as a king?
You think because of your father?Copy !req
291. The first rule of war is to do what you
ask your men to do. No more, no less.Copy !req
292. Good. That's it.Copy !req
293. Well done. Good wrestling, Hephaistion.
That's what I want.Copy !req
294. Come, come, come.Copy !req
295. You did well, but you lost.Copy !req
296. Now, both of you, congratulate
the other. Go on.Copy !req
297. Would you want me to let you win,
Alexander?Copy !req
298. You're right.Copy !req
299. But I promise you, I will beat
you one day, Hephaistion.Copy !req
300. It was said later that Alexander
was never defeated…Copy !req
301. … except by Hephaistion's thighs.Copy !req
302. Although an inferior race…Copy !req
303. … the Persians control at least
four-fifths of the known world.Copy !req
304. From Ethiopia and Egypt in the south…Copy !req
305. … the Caucasus
and the two inland seas in the north…Copy !req
306. Philip brought such as Aristotle from Athens…Copy !req
307. … to educate our rough people.Copy !req
308. They rule, and we sit around like frogs.Copy !req
309. – Master?
– Yes?Copy !req
310. – Master!
– Out with it!Copy !req
311. – Why are the Persians so cruel?
– Come on, Nearchus.Copy !req
312. That is not the subject for today,
Nearchus.Copy !req
313. But it is true that the Oriental races
are known for their barbarity…Copy !req
314. … and their slavish devotion
to their senses…Copy !req
315. … which are so dull, they castrate…Copy !req
316. … young boys, such as yourselves…Copy !req
317. – … for their sexual pleasure.
Ha, ha.Copy !req
318. Yes.Copy !req
319. Excess in all things
is the undoing of men.Copy !req
320. That is why we Greeks are superior.Copy !req
321. We practice control of our senses.Copy !req
322. Moderation, heh, we hope.Copy !req
323. And what of Achilles at Troy, master?Copy !req
324. – Was he not excessive?
Achilles simply lacks restraint.Copy !req
325. He dominates others so completely that
even when he withdraws from battle…Copy !req
326. … crazed with grief over
his dead lover, Patroclus…Copy !req
327. … he seriously endangers his own army.
He is a deeply selfish man.Copy !req
328. Would you say the love between Achilles
and Patroclus is a corrupting one?Copy !req
329. When men lie together in lust,
it is a surrender to the passions…Copy !req
330. … and does nothing
for the excellence in us.Copy !req
331. Nor does any other excess, Cassander,
jealousy among them.Copy !req
332. But when men lie together…Copy !req
333. … and knowledge and virtue
are passed between them…Copy !req
334. … that is pure and excellent.Copy !req
335. When they compete to bring out
the good, the best in each other…Copy !req
336. … this is the love between men
that can build a city-state…Copy !req
337. … and lift us from our frog pond.Copy !req
338. But can a man
love a woman equally, master?Copy !req
339. A woman? Of course not.Copy !req
340. A woman is a slave
to her passion, Hephaistion.Copy !req
341. Naturally there are exceptions,
and we must honor them.Copy !req
342. Such as Pallas Athena,
goddess of wisdom and war.Copy !req
343. But never forget, she is sprung
not from the loins of Zeus…Copy !req
344. … but from his mind.Copy !req
345. Now, you think on all this,
my young frogs…Copy !req
346. … for in you resides the future
of Greek civilization.Copy !req
347. To strive for honor…Copy !req
348. … is the highest purpose of all.Copy !req
349. To rule over our baser emotions.Copy !req
350. To follow reason,
the divine part in each of you.Copy !req
351. Yes…Copy !req
352. … to love excellence
is truly to love the gods.Copy !req
353. Now, will you stop distracting me?Copy !req
354. Back to geography
and things that we know.Copy !req
355. Is it possible that the source
of Egypt's mighty River Nile…Copy !req
356. … could rise in these distant
mountains of the outer earth?Copy !req
357. If so, an experienced navigator
could find his way here…Copy !req
358. … by this river east, down
into the great plains of India…Copy !req
359. … out into the eastern ocean
at end of the world…Copy !req
360. … and by this route up the Nile…Copy !req
361. … back to Egypt, into the Middle Sea
and home to Greece.Copy !req
362. Now, if only these frogs
could look outward…Copy !req
363. … and act on their favored position
at the center…Copy !req
364. … Greece could rule the world.Copy !req
365. Why is it, master, in myth,
these lands you speak of are known?Copy !req
366. India, where Herakles
and Dionysus traveled.Copy !req
367. All these men who went east, Theseus,
Jason, Achilles, were victorious.Copy !req
368. From generation to generation,
their stories have been passed on.Copy !req
369. Why? Unless there was truth to them?Copy !req
370. Tales of Amazons?
Minotaurs, Gorgons, Icarus flying into the sun?Copy !req
371. No, Alexander.Copy !req
372. Only common people believe these tales,
as they believe most anything.Copy !req
373. We are here precisely to educate
ourselves against such foolish passions.Copy !req
374. But if we are superior to the Persians,
as you say, why do we not rule them?Copy !req
375. It is… It has always been
our Greek dream to go east.Copy !req
376. My father long wants it.Copy !req
377. The East has a way of swallowing
men and their dreams.Copy !req
378. But still, to think it's these myths…Copy !req
379. … that lead us forward to the greatest glory.Copy !req
380. Why is it wrong to act on them?Copy !req
381. I can only warn you, not teach you.Copy !req
382. Beware of what you dream for.Copy !req
383. The gods have a way
of punishing such pride.Copy !req
384. Growing more ambitious, Philip
now planned the invasion of Persia.Copy !req
385. The best you can do, Cleitus? Back to
the phalanx with you, I'll ride him myself.Copy !req
386. No one will ride that beast,
Your Majesty.Copy !req
387. Not with your leg.Copy !req
388. He's been beaten far too often.Copy !req
389. My noble king, he's a high-spirited animal, yes.Copy !req
390. High-spirited and worthy
of Philip of Macedon.Copy !req
391. For three and a half talents…Copy !req
392. … I couldn't make a profit
on him, but for you-Copy !req
393. Why would I want such a beast?
I already have a wife.Copy !req
394. Do I seem so old?Copy !req
395. Stay down, stay down.Copy !req
396. A broken neck comes free. He's too
nervous for battle. Sell him for meat.Copy !req
397. Buy him for me, Father. I'll ride him.Copy !req
398. And if you don't?Copy !req
399. – I'll pay for him myself.
– With what, your singing voice?Copy !req
400. I'll pay you!Copy !req
401. I tell you, the horse can't be ridden, lad.
His mind is broken.Copy !req
402. He can be ridden. By me.Copy !req
403. If you can rule that horse,
I'll make him yours…Copy !req
404. … at half the price.Copy !req
405. That horse will kill him, Philip.Copy !req
406. – He'll break the boy in two.
– Will he?Copy !req
407. Perhaps she'll make
a musician out of him yet.Copy !req
408. You don't like your shadow, do you?Copy !req
409. It's like a dark spirit
coming up to get you.Copy !req
410. Do you see? That's us.Copy !req
411. It's just a trick of Apollo's.Copy !req
412. He's the god of the sun.Copy !req
413. Shh.Copy !req
414. But I'll show you how to outwit him,
you and me together.Copy !req
415. Shh.Copy !req
416. The boy doesn't have the craft.
He could hurt himself.Copy !req
417. He'll have to figure that out
for himself. It's time.Copy !req
418. Good idea.Copy !req
419. Indeed there are times, Philip,
I wonder if he is your blood.Copy !req
420. – I only worry that—
– What was that, Attalus?Copy !req
421. Nothing.Copy !req
422. I was just noticing how the people
like seeing you and Eurydice together.Copy !req
423. You go, boy.Copy !req
424. You ride that horse,
and by Zeus I say…Copy !req
425. …you can rule the world.Copy !req
426. Shh.Copy !req
427. Shh.Copy !req
428. Shh.Copy !req
429. Shh.Copy !req
430. Bucephalus.Copy !req
431. That's what I'll call you.
Strong and stubborn.Copy !req
432. Bucephalus and Alexander.Copy !req
433. Come now, let's ride together.Copy !req
434. He's got some Titan in him yet.Copy !req
435. Attalus! Cleitus! For Zeus' sake,
he beat you, man!Copy !req
436. Ha, ha!Copy !req
437. Now, Bucephalus, show them.Copy !req
438. My son.Copy !req
439. My son!Copy !req
440. The world was nothing but blood feuds.Copy !req
441. You remember Prometheus, don't you?Copy !req
442. Stole the secret of fire and gave it to man.Copy !req
443. It made Zeus so angry…Copy !req
444. …he chained Prometheus to a rock
in the Great Caucasus…Copy !req
445. …and each day, his eagle pecked out
the poor man's liver.Copy !req
446. Each night, it grew back again so that
it could be eaten the next day.Copy !req
447. Miserable fate.Copy !req
448. Oedipus tore out his eyes when
he found out he'd murdered his father…Copy !req
449. …and married his mother.
Knowledge that came too late.Copy !req
450. Jason…Copy !req
451. …he went east and brought back
the Golden Fleece…Copy !req
452. …and married a barbarian wife, Medea.Copy !req
453. Later, when he left her for a younger wife…Copy !req
454. …Medea slaughtered
their two children in vengeance.Copy !req
455. My mother would never hurt me.Copy !req
456. It's never easy to escape our mothers,
Alexander.Copy !req
457. All your life, beware of women.
They're far more dangerous than men.Copy !req
458. I'm sure you remember Achilles
from Tales of Troy.Copy !req
459. – He's my favorite.
– Why?Copy !req
460. Because he loved Patroclus
and avenged his death.Copy !req
461. Because he lived without fear,
and slew Hector.Copy !req
462. Some say he was a hotheaded fool who
fought only for himself and not for the Greeks.Copy !req
463. But he was a hero.Copy !req
464. The greatest at Troy.Copy !req
465. And his fate?Copy !req
466. That he must die young, with great glory.Copy !req
467. Did he have a choice?Copy !req
468. Yes. He could have a long life,
but there would be no glory.Copy !req
469. You dream of glory, Alexander.
Your mother encourages you.Copy !req
470. There's no glory without suffering,
and this she will not allow.Copy !req
471. She makes you weak.Copy !req
472. The gods have never
made it easy for man.Copy !req
473. Look.Copy !req
474. Herakles. Even after he accomplished
his 12 labors…Copy !req
475. …he was punished with madness,
slaughtered his three children.Copy !req
476. Poor Herakles.Copy !req
477. Great Herakles.Copy !req
478. All greatness comes from loss.Copy !req
479. Even you, the gods will
one day judge harshly.Copy !req
480. When I'm king like you, Father?Copy !req
481. Don't rush the day, boy. You risk all.Copy !req
482. My father threw me into battle
before I knew how to fight.Copy !req
483. When I killed my first man, he said:Copy !req
484. "Now you know."Copy !req
485. I hated him then,
but I understand why now.Copy !req
486. A king isn't born, Alexander.Copy !req
487. He's made by steel and by suffering.Copy !req
488. A king must know
how to hurt those he loves.Copy !req
489. It's lonely. Ask Herakles.Copy !req
490. Ask any of them. Fate is cruel.Copy !req
491. No man or woman can be too powerful
or too beautiful without disaster befalling.Copy !req
492. They laugh when you rise too high…Copy !req
493. …and crush everything
you've built with a whim.Copy !req
494. What glory they give,
in the end, they take away.Copy !req
495. They make of us slaves.Copy !req
496. Truth is in our hearts,
and none will tell you this but your father.Copy !req
497. Men hate the gods.Copy !req
498. The only reason we worship any of them…Copy !req
499. …is because we fear worse.Copy !req
500. – What's worse?
– The Titans.Copy !req
501. If they were ever to be set free…Copy !req
502. …it'd be a darkness
such as we've never seen before.Copy !req
503. Could they ever come back?Copy !req
504. Couldn't Zeus imprison the Titans forever
under Mount Olympus?Copy !req
505. It's said that when Zeus…Copy !req
506. …burned them to dust
with his lightning bolt…Copy !req
507. …they took the Titans' ashes
and, in cold revenge…Copy !req
508. …mixed it with those of mortal men.Copy !req
509. Why?Copy !req
510. Who knows these things?Copy !req
511. One day, things will change.Copy !req
512. Men will change.Copy !req
513. But first, the gods must change.Copy !req
514. But all this you'll forget, Alexander.Copy !req
515. That's why we call them myths.Copy !req
516. We can't bear to remember them.Copy !req
517. I'll remember.Copy !req
518. One day, I'll be on walls like these.Copy !req
519. "We are most alone
when we are with the myths."Copy !req
520. Phalanx!Copy !req
521. And thus, it came to pass in a dream…Copy !req
522. …as mythical to all Greeks
as Achilles defeating the Trojans.Copy !req
523. At this one glorious moment in time…Copy !req
524. …Alexander was loved by all.Copy !req
525. But in the end, I believe Babylon
was a far easier mistress to enter…Copy !req
526. …than she was to leave.Copy !req
527. Sikander! Sikander!Copy !req
528. Aristotle may have called them
barbarians, but he never saw Babylon.Copy !req
529. We have enough gold here
to support three generations…Copy !req
530. …of Macedonian armies.Copy !req
531. And Macedonia would soon corrupt,
Cassander.Copy !req
532. Wealth in great quantities
brings the crows.Copy !req
533. Not for the men who fought, I trust.Copy !req
534. We'll pay them well, Antigonus, but not
as mercenaries for future services.Copy !req
535. Now you sound like Philip.Copy !req
536. Philip never saw Babylon.Copy !req
537. No, he didn't, Hephaistion.Copy !req
538. – Hello!
Hello!Copy !req
539. Alexander, I know you think me
a stiff old sod…Copy !req
540. …but whatever our differences,
know this day…Copy !req
541. …your father
would be very proud of you.Copy !req
542. Thank you, Parmenion.Copy !req
543. I ask you to forgive me
my own anger, my pride.Copy !req
544. They, too, blind me.Copy !req
545. Magnificent mainland work
from the last century.Copy !req
546. The golden age, Alexander.Copy !req
547. Worth much to Athens
and to our alliances.Copy !req
548. Take back what is ours…Copy !req
549. …but spare what belongs to the Persians.Copy !req
550. Yes.Copy !req
551. We're the richest men
to walk the earth, my friends.Copy !req
552. Not if we keep giving it all away.Copy !req
553. The grandsons of goat herders…Copy !req
554. …we now rule 2 million square miles.Copy !req
555. But…Copy !req
556. …none of you fear that this great fortune
may drive us all to destruction.Copy !req
557. You overvalue us.Copy !req
558. For as long as Darius breathes,
he is the legitimate king of Asia…Copy !req
559. …and I but the king of air.Copy !req
560. – But he has no power, Alexander.
– Whoo!Copy !req
561. He's lost in the mountains with no army.Copy !req
562. As long as he's lost, Philotas,
he can be believed in.Copy !req
563. Only when he's found
will it be decided.Copy !req
564. It seems you've already
made up your mind.Copy !req
565. We must finish what we failed
to do at Gaugamela.Copy !req
566. We must hunt Darius down
to the ends of earth.Copy !req
567. – That was not your father's mission.
– And I am not my father.Copy !req
568. Come on. Have you so quickly forgotten?Copy !req
569. Fortune favors the bold.Copy !req
570. No wonder Darius fled
when he had this to come back to.Copy !req
571. One for every night of the year.Copy !req
572. How will I go back to Lysimache
after this?Copy !req
573. I advise you not to touch, Leonnatus.
Here, I'll take care of it for you.Copy !req
574. Aristotle was perhaps prescient.Copy !req
575. Do these images fool us with
their beauty and degrade our souls?Copy !req
576. Bagoas, great king. Darius' boy.Copy !req
577. Bagoas.Copy !req
578. Nicely gelded, Your Majesty.Copy !req
579. Most successful.Copy !req
580. He was certainly
one of the great king's favorites.Copy !req
581. He's writ well with the years.Copy !req
582. What are you now, Bagoas?
Eighteen, 19?Copy !req
583. – Where does he come from?
– The north, sire.Copy !req
584. From the hills near Susa.Copy !req
585. You speak our language.Copy !req
586. – Good. I'd like to learn yours.
– It is learnable, my lord.Copy !req
587. So tell me, Bagoas…Copy !req
588. …do my eyes betray me,
or do you wish to be set free…Copy !req
589. …to go back to your homeland?Copy !req
590. All my family's long dead, great king.Copy !req
591. With your permission, I will stay on.Copy !req
592. Very well then, Bagoas.Copy !req
593. Ptolemy, administer this.Copy !req
594. And that's the same of every person
in the harem…Copy !req
595. …woman and eunuch.Copy !req
596. Whoever wishes to be sent home
to their families, let them.Copy !req
597. What?Copy !req
598. Hear that, boys? Set them free.Copy !req
599. Don't worry, Alexander.Copy !req
600. – I'm on your side.
– Get off.Copy !req
601. Great King Alexander.Copy !req
602. The Princess of the Thousand Roses…Copy !req
603. …and eldest daughter of the formerly
Great King Darius…Copy !req
604. …Stateira.Copy !req
605. Noble Alexander…Copy !req
606. …I come to beg for the lives…Copy !req
607. …of my sisters…Copy !req
608. …my mother, my grandmother.Copy !req
609. You are not wrong, Princess Stateira.Copy !req
610. He, too, is Alexander.Copy !req
611. Please.Copy !req
612. I plead for my family's lives.Copy !req
613. – Sell me as a slave, great king, but-
– Look now…Copy !req
614. …in my eyes…Copy !req
615. …princess…Copy !req
616. …and tell me…Copy !req
617. …how would you like to be treated?Copy !req
618. As I am…Copy !req
619. …a princess.Copy !req
620. Then so be it.Copy !req
621. You and your family shall
be treated as my family.Copy !req
622. You shall live in this palace
as long as you choose.Copy !req
623. Have you any other requests for me,
my noble princess?Copy !req
624. No.Copy !req
625. Everything I wish…Copy !req
626. …I have requested.Copy !req
627. You truly are…Copy !req
628. …a queen.Copy !req
629. Yes, she would be a perfect match for you…Copy !req
630. …but you do nothing.Copy !req
631. Three months you've been in Babylon
and leave me in Pella…Copy !req
632. …at the mercy of your enemies,
of which you have many.Copy !req
633. Antipater, accustomed now to the power
that you have given him.Copy !req
634. I must watch him grow stronger.Copy !req
635. I'm certain that
he communicates secretly with Parmenion…Copy !req
636. …who is dangerous.Copy !req
637. But beware, most of all,
of those closest to you.Copy !req
638. They are like snakes…Copy !req
639. …and can be turned.Copy !req
640. General Crateros.Copy !req
641. Cassander is Antipater's son.Copy !req
642. Even Cleitus, your father's favorite…Copy !req
643. …and Ptolemy, your friend, yes.Copy !req
644. But beware of men
who think too much.Copy !req
645. They blind themselves.Copy !req
646. Only Hephaistion do I leave out.Copy !req
647. But all of them you make rich…Copy !req
648. …while your mother and yourself,
you leave in generous poverty.Copy !req
649. Why won't you ever believe me?Copy !req
650. It is only a dark mind like mine that
can know these secrets of the heart.Copy !req
651. For they are dark, Alexander.Copy !req
652. So dark.Copy !req
653. But in you…Copy !req
654. …the son of Zeus,
lies the light of the world.Copy !req
655. Your companions will be shadows
in the underworld…Copy !req
656. …when you are a name living forever
in history as the most glorious…Copy !req
657. …shining light of youth,
forever young, forever inspiring.Copy !req
658. Never will there be
an Alexander like you.Copy !req
659. Alexander the Great.Copy !req
660. Remember, bring me to Babylon
as you promised.Copy !req
661. I can only help you, for they know
if they harm you…Copy !req
662. …they will face my wrath,
as Queen of Babylon.Copy !req
663. It's a high ransom she charges
for nine months' lodging in the womb.Copy !req
664. Bring her, Alexander.Copy !req
665. – It'll give her such joy.
– Joy?Copy !req
666. When I'm the cracked mirror
of her dreams?Copy !req
667. Stay with me tonight, Hephaistion.Copy !req
668. I'll take my own bath.Copy !req
669. Thank you, Bagoas.Copy !req
670. What bothers you?Copy !req
671. I see in her everything I fear.Copy !req
672. Yet I have no idea what it is…Copy !req
673. …this fear.Copy !req
674. She was always so sure I was born of Zeus.Copy !req
675. Why, Hephaistion?Copy !req
676. I think there are things
beyond our imagining…Copy !req
677. …like the lightning…Copy !req
678. …tales of strange conceptions.Copy !req
679. I don't doubt it.Copy !req
680. What is being told me?Copy !req
681. What destiny do-? Do I have?Copy !req
682. Well, if I'm Patroclus…Copy !req
683. …I die first.Copy !req
684. Then you, Achilles.Copy !req
685. The generals are upset.Copy !req
686. They question your obsession with Darius.Copy !req
687. They say it was never meant
for you to be king of Asia.Copy !req
688. Naturally.Copy !req
689. They want only to return to their homes,
rich with gold. But I've seen the future.Copy !req
690. I've seen it now 1000 times,
on 1000 faces.Copy !req
691. These people want…Copy !req
692. Need change.Copy !req
693. Aristotle was wrong about them.Copy !req
694. How so?Copy !req
695. Look at those we've conquered.Copy !req
696. They leave their dead unburied.Copy !req
697. They smash their enemies' skulls
and drink them as dust.Copy !req
698. They mate in public.Copy !req
699. What can they think or sing or write
when none can read?Copy !req
700. But as Alexander's army, they can go
where they never thought possible.Copy !req
701. They can soldier or work in the cities.Copy !req
702. The Alexandras,
from Egypt to the outer ocean.Copy !req
703. We could connect these lands,
Hephaistion…Copy !req
704. …and the people.Copy !req
705. Some say these Alexandras have become
extensions of Alexander himself.Copy !req
706. They draw people into the cities
to make slaves of them.Copy !req
707. But we freed them, Hephaistion, from
the Persia where everyone lived as slaves.Copy !req
708. To free the people of the world…Copy !req
709. …such would be beyond the glory
of Achilles, beyond Herakles…Copy !req
710. …a feat to rival Prometheus…Copy !req
711. …who was always a friend to man.Copy !req
712. Remember the fates of these heroes.Copy !req
713. – They suffered greatly.
– We all suffer.Copy !req
714. Your father, mine.Copy !req
715. They all came to the end of their time.Copy !req
716. And in the end, when it's over,
all that matters is what you've done.Copy !req
717. You once said,
"The fear of death drives all men."Copy !req
718. Are there no other forces?Copy !req
719. Is there not love in your life…Copy !req
720. …Alexander?Copy !req
721. What would you do if you ever reached
the end of the world?Copy !req
722. I'd turn back and conquer its opposite.Copy !req
723. I wonder sometimes if it's not
your mother you run from.Copy !req
724. So many years,
so many miles between you.Copy !req
725. What is it you fear?Copy !req
726. Who knows these things?Copy !req
727. When I was a child, my mother thought
me divine. My father, weak.Copy !req
728. Which am I, Hephaistion?Copy !req
729. Weak or divine?Copy !req
730. All I know is…Copy !req
731. …I trust only you in this world.Copy !req
732. I've missed you.Copy !req
733. I need you.Copy !req
734. It is you I love, Hephaistion.Copy !req
735. No other.Copy !req
736. You're everything I care for…Copy !req
737. …and by the sweet breath
of Aphrodite…Copy !req
738. …I'm so jealous of losing you
to this world you want.Copy !req
739. You'll never lose me, Hephaistion.Copy !req
740. I'll be with you always.Copy !req
741. Till the end.Copy !req
742. The campaign in the northeast of Persia…Copy !req
743. …turned into a hard guerrilla war
of almost three years.Copy !req
744. We chased Darius towards Bactria
but missed taking him by hours.Copy !req
745. He was dying when we found him, sire.Copy !req
746. He asked for water.Copy !req
747. He drank and died.Copy !req
748. The Great King Darius
had been betrayed by his own commanders.Copy !req
749. Fully honoring his corpse…Copy !req
750. …Alexander hunted down
these commanders into unknown lands…Copy !req
751. …crossing even beyond
the River Oxus into Sogdia.Copy !req
752. We fought them as far as
the unknown steppes ofScythia…Copy !req
753. …where only legendary heroes
had once trod.Copy !req
754. The surveyors told us
we were now on the borders…Copy !req
755. …of where Europe and Asia meet.Copy !req
756. In fact, we were totally lost.Copy !req
757. Here, Alexander founded
his 10th Alexandria…Copy !req
758. …and settled it with veterans,
their women…Copy !req
759. …and any who would dare
the frontier life.Copy !req
760. Unable to accept defeat in any form…Copy !req
761. …Alexander persisted in breaking
every tribe that resisted…Copy !req
762. …until the day he received the head
of his last enemy in surrender.Copy !req
763. For Alexander, there could be
no pretender to the throne of Asia…Copy !req
764. …which now included all
of Sogdia and Bactria.Copy !req
765. It was here that he made
one of his most mysterious decisions.Copy !req
766. Ten years after his mother's insistence
he marry a Macedonian…Copy !req
767. Through our union…Copy !req
768. …Greek and barbarian…Copy !req
769. …may be reconciled in peace.Copy !req
770. …the most powerful man in the
world took a girl of no political significance.Copy !req
771. Why?Copy !req
772. Some say it was for alliance
with the tribes.Copy !req
773. Others, the desire for a successor.Copy !req
774. And yet others said Alexander
truly fell in love.Copy !req
775. Who Roxane really was…Copy !req
776. …I doubt any of us ever saw further
than the pools of those black eyes.Copy !req
777. On this glorious occasion…Copy !req
778. …I toast this great army
that has given so much.Copy !req
779. And in honor of them, those of you who
set out with us seven long years ago…Copy !req
780. …I pronounce all your debts paid
forthwith from the royal treasury.Copy !req
781. Praise Alexander!Copy !req
782. And in honor of my bride…Copy !req
783. …my beautiful bride…Copy !req
784. …we recognize the many women
who've shared the long road with us…Copy !req
785. …and grant them dowries
befitting a proper marriage.Copy !req
786. And what about our boys?Copy !req
787. And lastly…Copy !req
788. …lastly, the gods demand
no less of us…Copy !req
789. …that your children be given
a proper Greek education…Copy !req
790. …and military training
under our protection…Copy !req
791. …so as to be the new soldiers
of our kingdom…Copy !req
792. …in Asia.Copy !req
793. Your father must be turning in his grave.Copy !req
794. After all this, a hill chiefs daughter.Copy !req
795. Not tonight, Parmenion.Copy !req
796. You call this tribal wedding legitimate?Copy !req
797. Do you forget, Parmenion, my father
took a barbarian as his queen?Copy !req
798. Yes, but few would call it
a profoundly happy marriage.Copy !req
799. But what's the point, Alexander?
She's your captive.Copy !req
800. Just take her as your concubine.Copy !req
801. Because I want a son.
Damn you, Philotas.Copy !req
802. Then half your nobles have sisters
who'd make fine Macedonian mothers.Copy !req
803. To take an Asian as my queen,
not a captive, is a sign of deep respect.Copy !req
804. It will bring us together, unify us.Copy !req
805. Which is not to say I won't take
a Macedonian.Copy !req
806. As a second wife? You insult Macedonia.Copy !req
807. Never will our people
accept this girl's son as king.Copy !req
808. They'll be angry when they find out…Copy !req
809. …their husbands
all have second wives in Barbaria.Copy !req
810. Then they'll learn.Copy !req
811. By Athena's justice, this girl has spirit.Copy !req
812. She'll breed a brave son.Copy !req
813. Alexander!Copy !req
814. This is about the honor
of our kingdom.Copy !req
815. Exactly. What can be won, Alexander?Copy !req
816. We're in Asia to punish them
for their crimes. We've achieved that.Copy !req
817. Seven years from home, now we drift
from one far region to another…Copy !req
818. …chasing nomads and bandits
when Macedonia bleeds its manpower.Copy !req
819. For what? To build roads in Asia?Copy !req
820. To give these people cities?Copy !req
821. And now make an army of them?Copy !req
822. To found cities and expand
our reach is not to drift.Copy !req
823. – What benefit to Macedon?
– It's far richer!Copy !req
824. – Look what you give them.
– With respect…Copy !req
825. …had you fought better at Gaugamela
when your flank was crumbling-Copy !req
826. – How dare you, Nearchus?
– General Nearchus to you, boy.Copy !req
827. Alexander spread our flank too thin!
There was nothing my father…Copy !req
828. – …or any of you could've done!
– Philotas!Copy !req
829. Alexander, I've known you
since you were born.Copy !req
830. I supported you at your father's death.Copy !req
831. At the very least, for Zeus' sake…Copy !req
832. …and in respect to the council
that chose you king…Copy !req
833. …give us a Macedonian heir.Copy !req
834. A Macedonian heir.Copy !req
835. – You've been heard clearly.
– But…Copy !req
836. Parmenion!Copy !req
837. After the wedding, take two brigades
to Babylon, where I look to you…Copy !req
838. …and Antipater in Greece, to maintain
our empire and supply this expedition.Copy !req
839. I'll winter with my army at Marakand.Copy !req
840. I pray to Apollo you realize how far
you've turned from your father's path.Copy !req
841. Damn you, Parmenion,
by the gods and your Apollo.Copy !req
842. What was in my father's guts
wasn't overripe in reason like yours!Copy !req
843. He never lusted for war, Alexander,
or enjoyed it so.Copy !req
844. He consulted his peers in council,
among equals, the Macedonian way.Copy !req
845. He didn't decide based
on his personal desires.Copy !req
846. I've taken us further
than my father ever dreamed.Copy !req
847. Old man…Copy !req
848. …we're in new worlds.Copy !req
849. Alexander, be reasonable!Copy !req
850. Were they ever meant to be our equals?Copy !req
851. Share our rewards?Copy !req
852. You remember what Aristotle said.Copy !req
853. An Asian?Copy !req
854. What would a vow mean to a race
that's never kept their word to a Greek?Copy !req
855. – Aristotle be damned!
– Alexander!Copy !req
856. By Zeus and all the gods…Copy !req
857. …what makes you so much better
than them, Cassander?Copy !req
858. Better than you really are.
In you and those like you is this.Copy !req
859. Alexander.Copy !req
860. What disturbs me most is not your lack
of respect for my judgment.Copy !req
861. It's your contempt for a world
far older than ours.Copy !req
862. If I ever kneel down like that to any man…Copy !req
863. kill me.
– Have another drink, Cleitus.Copy !req
864. – Shouldn't you be bound to a king?
– Cleitus.Copy !req
865. Alexander, you look weak
when you not accept these honors.Copy !req
866. I understand, my dear father,
but it's against Greek ways.Copy !req
867. Then Greek ways are weak.Copy !req
868. I still think she got the better of him
in this bargain.Copy !req
869. My daughter, Roxane…Copy !req
870. …she shall make you a good wife.Copy !req
871. She shall kill for you.Copy !req
872. Lord Sikander…Copy !req
873. …ruler of heaven…Copy !req
874. …and earth.Copy !req
875. In honor of this great alliance…Copy !req
876. …I, Oxyartes…Copy !req
877. – …offer you these great gifts.
– Alexander…Copy !req
878. …I would like to honor a toast to you
from my people.Copy !req
879. Good morning, sire.Copy !req
880. Come now, Alexander. Give us a kiss.Copy !req
881. We shall fight for you, Alexander.Copy !req
882. It shall be bloody.Copy !req
883. Who's the bear?Copy !req
884. Parmenion.Copy !req
885. You've been in complete control
of your supply lines.Copy !req
886. His pessimism is infectious.Copy !req
887. But he'll stay loyal…Copy !req
888. …as long as his son remains with us.Copy !req
889. Hey!Copy !req
890. Her eyes tell me
she cares for you, Alexander.Copy !req
891. Perhaps too much.Copy !req
892. In the ways of my country…Copy !req
893. …those who love too much
lose everything…Copy !req
894. …and those who love with irony…Copy !req
895. …last.Copy !req
896. Shh.Copy !req
897. I found it in Egypt.Copy !req
898. The man who sold it said it came
from a time…Copy !req
899. …when man worshipped
sun and stars.Copy !req
900. I'll always think of you…Copy !req
901. …as the sun, Alexander.Copy !req
902. And I pray your dream
will shine on all men.Copy !req
903. I wish you a son.Copy !req
904. You're a great man.Copy !req
905. Many will love you, Alexander,
but none so pure and deep…Copy !req
906. You…Copy !req
907. …love him?Copy !req
908. He is Hephaistion.Copy !req
909. Thank you, Bagoas.Copy !req
910. Your boy?Copy !req
911. There are many different ways
to love, Roxane.Copy !req
912. Come.Copy !req
913. No.Copy !req
914. No, no.Copy !req
915. You have no fear.Copy !req
916. It's fitting.Copy !req
917. A man searches for a woman
at Earth's top…Copy !req
918. …and finds her.Copy !req
919. The myth becomes real.Copy !req
920. Great man?Copy !req
921. Sikander.Copy !req
922. You, I kill now.Copy !req
923. Do it.Copy !req
924. End it. I would do-Copy !req
925. I would do the same.Copy !req
926. I'll die a fool for this…Copy !req
927. …love.Copy !req
928. My life is now yours.Copy !req
929. You will have my son.Copy !req
930. Who is this woman you call
your queen, Alexander?Copy !req
931. A hill girl?Copy !req
932. You, with your breeding.Copy !req
933. Already she makes enemies
with her strong, clumsy nature.Copy !req
934. Do not confuse us.Copy !req
935. I was never a barbarian as Philip said.Copy !req
936. We are of Achilles' royal blood.Copy !req
937. Zeus is your father.Copy !req
938. I understand she brings
you some happiness.Copy !req
939. But how can she help you?Copy !req
940. You must know that
she does not speak in your name…Copy !req
941. …which is yours and yours alone.Copy !req
942. Preserve it, secret it…Copy !req
943. …and hear me when I tell you,
act and act soon.Copy !req
944. After seven years, people wonder:Copy !req
945. "Who is this King Alexander?"Copy !req
946. I have given you ample proof. Antipater
daily undermines your authority.Copy !req
947. Return to Babylon
and strengthen your center.Copy !req
948. Or come home to Macedonia
and reorganize.Copy !req
949. But do not chase your dream…Copy !req
950. …further east.Copy !req
951. Your life and mine depend on it.Copy !req
952. Remember…Copy !req
953. …my only thoughts are of you.Copy !req
954. As you, too, must face
your glorious destiny.Copy !req
955. Think kindly of your mother.Copy !req
956. Provide for me.Copy !req
957. Protect me from your enemies
when you are gone.Copy !req
958. And remember always…Copy !req
959. …it is I who love you more than any.Copy !req
960. If only you were not a pale reflection…Copy !req
961. …of my mother's heart.Copy !req
962. Pregnant so soon. The little whore.Copy !req
963. He will marry her in the spring,
during Dionysus' Festival…Copy !req
964. …and when her first son is born…Copy !req
965. …her sweet uncle Attalus will convince
Philip to name the boy his successor…Copy !req
966. …with himself as regent.Copy !req
967. And you…Copy !req
968. …you will be sent on
some impossible mission…Copy !req
969. …against some monstrous
Northern tribe…Copy !req
970. …to be mutilated in one more
meaningless battle over cattle.Copy !req
971. And I, no longer queen,
will be put to death…Copy !req
972. …with your sister and the remaining
members of our family.Copy !req
973. I wish sometimes you could see
the light, Mother.Copy !req
974. The truth is, he's taken nothing from you
that you've not been long without.Copy !req
975. The only way is to strike.Copy !req
976. Announce your marriage
to a Macedonian now.Copy !req
977. Beget a child of pure blood. He would
be one of them, not mine…Copy !req
978. …and he would have no choice
but to make you king.Copy !req
979. There is still Kynnane.Copy !req
980. Eurydice was perfect. If your father,
that pig, had not ravaged her first!Copy !req
981. Say nothing more of my father.Copy !req
982. Do you hear me? Say nothing.Copy !req
983. You're right.Copy !req
984. Forgive me.Copy !req
985. A mother loves too much.Copy !req
986. Who shall I sing to sleep
at night anymore?Copy !req
987. I wish… I wish we could spend
more time together.Copy !req
988. Like we used to, when you were
the sweetest boy.Copy !req
989. There's never been time, Mother.Copy !req
990. Since I was a child, I've been groomed
to be ever the best.Copy !req
991. My poor child, you're like Achilles…Copy !req
992. …cursed by your greatness.Copy !req
993. Take my strength.Copy !req
994. You must never confuse your feelings
with your duties, Alexander.Copy !req
995. A king must make public gestures
for the common people.Copy !req
996. I know, but you will be 19
this summer…Copy !req
997. …and the girls already say you don't
like them. You like Hephaistion more.Copy !req
998. I understand.
It's natural for a young man.Copy !req
999. But if you go to Asia without leaving
your successor, you risk all.Copy !req
1000. Hephaistion loves me,
as I am…Copy !req
1001. …not who.Copy !req
1002. Loves? Loves?Copy !req
1003. In the name of Dionysus…Copy !req
1004. …understand how Philip thinks,
for your own sake.Copy !req
1005. Your life hangs in the balance.Copy !req
1006. I know these things, Alexander.Copy !req
1007. You are nothing to him.Copy !req
1008. His spies are inside your closest circle…Copy !req
1009. …to ensure that you don't plot against him.Copy !req
1010. And still you sleep.Copy !req
1011. You will not live out this year…Copy !req
1012. – …unless you act.
– Stop!Copy !req
1013. I'm his only worthy son.Copy !req
1014. You crazed woman.Copy !req
1015. He'd never hurt me.Copy !req
1016. Even if Eurydice had a boy,
he'd be 20 before he'd let him rule.Copy !req
1017. Yes, and you would be 40.Copy !req
1018. Old and wise like Parmenion.
And Philip's young son would be 20.Copy !req
1019. Like you now,
but raised by him, his blood.Copy !req
1020. He will never give you
the throne now, Alexander.Copy !req
1021. Never.Copy !req
1022. What would you have me do?Copy !req
1023. Whatever is necessary.Copy !req
1024. Where have you lost your mind?Copy !req
1025. There'd be civil war,
clan against clan, chaos.Copy !req
1026. Yes. And you would win…Copy !req
1027. …because the young ones
love you like a god.Copy !req
1028. I forbid you to ever talk to me like that!Copy !req
1029. Such a man would be forever chased
by the Furies!Copy !req
1030. What have you to fear from the Furies…Copy !req
1031. …for killing an impostor to the throne…Copy !req
1032. …before he murders you
and your mother?Copy !req
1033. Why won't you ever believe me?Copy !req
1034. Philip did not want you.Copy !req
1035. You had a condition of the breathing…Copy !req
1036. …and he wanted to leave you
in the mountains…Copy !req
1037. …for the birds to peck at your eyes.Copy !req
1038. What you don't know, my poor child.Copy !req
1039. Lanice knows nothing of this.Copy !req
1040. Lanice.Copy !req
1041. I was there.Copy !req
1042. Lanice was not.Copy !req
1043. No, Alexander…Copy !req
1044. …Zeus is your father.Copy !req
1045. I lay with him that night…Copy !req
1046. …in the wind,
as sure as any mortal man.Copy !req
1047. Never have I been made love to…Copy !req
1048. …as I was then.Copy !req
1049. Enough.Copy !req
1050. Half the mothers in Greece
share such a fantasy.Copy !req
1051. I warn you, Mother.Copy !req
1052. Make no mistake.Copy !req
1053. You will treat this girl as nothing
more important than his other wives.Copy !req
1054. You will behave as we always have.Copy !req
1055. As the first.Copy !req
1056. I wonder…Copy !req
1057. …did you ever love him?Copy !req
1058. What?Copy !req
1059. I never stopped.Copy !req
1060. What is it, Orestes?Copy !req
1061. I beg your forgiveness, my king.Copy !req
1062. I cannot be part of this.Copy !req
1063. Who did this?Copy !req
1064. Tell me.Copy !req
1065. – Say it!
– Hermolaus.Copy !req
1066. Death to all tyrants.Copy !req
1067. All of youse, I didn't do this.Copy !req
1068. I've known you and loved you
as long as I know.Copy !req
1069. Never will you find a man
as devoted as I.Copy !req
1070. The conspiracy, such as it was,
deeply upset Alexander…Copy !req
1071. …not only because it involved
the young people…Copy !req
1072. …who'd shared his dream…Copy !req
1073. …but, more intimately,
it implicated Philotas…Copy !req
1074. …his companion from boyhood…Copy !req
1075. …when a page confessed…Copy !req
1076. …that a few days before,
he'd informed Philotas…Copy !req
1077. Alexander.Copy !req
1078. …of the plot.Copy !req
1079. Remember me for who I am.Copy !req
1080. I do remember you, Philotas,
but not as you remember yourself.Copy !req
1081. And it appears to me and others here…Copy !req
1082. …from the testimony given
by your mistress…Copy !req
1083. …that the true weather of your soul
is ambition.Copy !req
1084. – No.
– We all felt…Copy !req
1085. …there was more here
than sexual bickering.Copy !req
1086. Alexander wanted the truth…Copy !req
1087. …and Phi lotas' answers
were lacking merit.Copy !req
1088. Please take him away.Copy !req
1089. Alexander put him, silently and quickly…Copy !req
1090. – …to trial by his peers…
– Remove him.Copy !req
1091. …and whether plotter or opportunist…Copy !req
1092. …Philotas was found guilty of treason.Copy !req
1093. – No, Alexander, no!
– Remove him.Copy !req
1094. The suspects were all executed.Copy !req
1095. None of us defended Philotas.Copy !req
1096. Then again, none of us ever liked him.Copy !req
1097. And, of course, his power
was carved up by the rest of us.Copy !req
1098. Before he died, we tortured him…Copy !req
1099. …to find out what
his father, Parmenion, knew.Copy !req
1100. But this we never learned.Copy !req
1101. What to do with Parmenion and his
20,000 troops guarding our supply lines…Copy !req
1102. …was a far more delicate matter.Copy !req
1103. Was he innocent in this,
or had he decided to act…Copy !req
1104. …before age further
withered his power?Copy !req
1105. – The men will follow their king.
– Alexander won't be there.Copy !req
1106. Necessity required Alexander to act.Copy !req
1107. The infantry will follow me.Copy !req
1108. And he sealed the camp within the hour…Copy !req
1109. …of the first accusations against Philotas.Copy !req
1110. Then go, Antigonus, and Cleitus.Copy !req
1111. And go quickly.Copy !req
1112. Three days'hard riding
sent Antigonus and Cleitus to Parmenion…Copy !req
1113. …the general most loyal to Philip.Copy !req
1114. His soldiers accepted the finding
of guilt against Parmenion…Copy !req
1115. …as they understood well
the code of vengeance…Copy !req
1116. …that made the head of family
responsible…Copy !req
1117. …for the behavior of all.Copy !req
1118. Many of us felt we were better off
without that pompous thorn, Parmenion…Copy !req
1119. …as Alexander promoted all of us
generously.Copy !req
1120. If we issue the gold bullion in the name
of Alexander, there'd be little resistance.Copy !req
1121. Cleitus. Antigonus.Copy !req
1122. Parmenion.Copy !req
1123. Come, Alexander,
drink this sadness away.Copy !req
1124. If only thirst could quench sorrow,
Ptolemy.Copy !req
1125. There's only one thing better
than winning a battle, son…Copy !req
1126. …and that's the taste
of a new woman.Copy !req
1127. You'll find it far sweeter than self-pity.Copy !req
1128. Pausanias, you bore me.
Be gone with you.Copy !req
1129. Alexander, I found you the right girl.Copy !req
1130. – What's your name, darling?
Antigone.Copy !req
1131. – What's your name?
– Antigone. Whoo!Copy !req
1132. I love you.Copy !req
1133. And I love you, Cleitus.Copy !req
1134. Please, no!
– There you go.Copy !req
1135. I'll sleep in my grave, Hephaistion.Copy !req
1136. While alive, I prefer dancing.Copy !req
1137. Pausanias.Copy !req
1138. Who's your new friend?Copy !req
1139. – There's your new friend.
– Please don't!Copy !req
1140. No! Please, no!Copy !req
1141. No! Please!Copy !req
1142. A toast.Copy !req
1143. A toast!Copy !req
1144. I drink to our Greek friends
and to our new union…Copy !req
1145. …Macedonia and Greece,
equals in greatness!Copy !req
1146. And to Philip, our king, without whom
this union could not be possible.Copy !req
1147. Come, Attalus, leave some
damn air in the hall!Copy !req
1148. And last, I drink to the king's marriage
to my niece, Eurydice…Copy !req
1149. …a Macedonian queen
we can be proud of!Copy !req
1150. To Philip and Eurydice…Copy !req
1151. …and to their legitimate sons!Copy !req
1152. Alexander, don't!Copy !req
1153. What am I, you son of a dog?
Come, then.Copy !req
1154. – Shut up.
– Shut up.Copy !req
1155. Shut up, all of you!Copy !req
1156. This is my wedding,
not some public brawl.Copy !req
1157. Insolent pup.Copy !req
1158. Apologize, by Zeus,
before you dishonor me.Copy !req
1159. You defend the man who called
my mother a whore and me a bastard.Copy !req
1160. – And I dishonor you?
– Ha! You listen like your mother.Copy !req
1161. Attalus is my family now,
the same as you.Copy !req
1162. Then choose your relatives
more carefully.Copy !req
1163. Don't expect me to sit here
and watch you shame yourself.Copy !req
1164. – You insult me!
– I insult you!Copy !req
1165. A man not fit to lick the ground
my mother walks on.Copy !req
1166. – You dog, questioning your queen.
– Shame?Copy !req
1167. I've nothing to be ashamed of,
you arrogant brat.Copy !req
1168. I'll marry the girl if I want,
and I'll have as many sons as I want.Copy !req
1169. There's nothing you
or your harpy mother can do.Copy !req
1170. Why, drunken man, must you think…Copy !req
1171. …everything I do and say
comes from my mother?Copy !req
1172. Because I know her heart, by Hera…Copy !req
1173. …and I see her in your eyes.Copy !req
1174. You covet this throne too much.Copy !req
1175. We all know that she-wolf
of a mother of yours wants me dead.Copy !req
1176. Well, you can both dream, boy.Copy !req
1177. Philip, this is the wine talking.
Leave the boy. It'll wait.Copy !req
1178. Now!Copy !req
1179. I command you.Copy !req
1180. Apologize to your kinsman.Copy !req
1181. Apologize.Copy !req
1182. No kinsman to me.Copy !req
1183. Good night, old man.Copy !req
1184. And when my mother remarries,
I'll invite you to her wedding.Copy !req
1185. You bastard!Copy !req
1186. You'll obey me. Come here.Copy !req
1187. And this is the man who is going
to take you from Greece to Persia?Copy !req
1188. He can't even make it
from one couch to the next.Copy !req
1189. Get out of my palace!
You're exiled, you bastard!Copy !req
1190. Banished from the land.
You're not welcome here.Copy !req
1191. You're no son of mine!Copy !req
1192. In the spring, Alexander marched
an army of 150,000…Copy !req
1193. …across the passes
of the Hindu Kush…Copy !req
1194. …into the unknown.Copy !req
1195. In his dream, it was the promised route
to the end of the world.Copy !req
1196. We were now a mobile empire…Copy !req
1197. …stretching back thousands of miles
to Greece.Copy !req
1198. Cooks and architects,
doctors, surveyors…Copy !req
1199. …moneylenders and wives…Copy !req
1200. …children, lovers, whores.Copy !req
1201. And slaves…Copy !req
1202. …that anonymous, bent, working spine
of this new beast.Copy !req
1203. Ravaged or expanded,
for better or worse…Copy !req
1204. …no occupied territory
remained the same again.Copy !req
1205. Although devoted to Roxane…Copy !req
1206. …Alexander's visits
to her tent diminished…Copy !req
1207. …as a year, then two, went by
without a successor…Copy !req
1208. …wounding Alexander's great pride.Copy !req
1209. The surveyors are saying that Zeus
chained Prometheus up there.Copy !req
1210. In one of those caves.Copy !req
1211. They say there's a giant eagle's nest
just above it.Copy !req
1212. I suppose he drops down each night
to peck out poor Prometheus' liver.Copy !req
1213. You remember
what Aristotle told us of these mountains?Copy !req
1214. Yes, I do.Copy !req
1215. That when we reach these heights…Copy !req
1216. …we'd look back and see Macedonia
to the west…Copy !req
1217. …and the outer ocean to the east.Copy !req
1218. But I fear this world is far larger
than anyone dreamed.Copy !req
1219. A world of Titans.Copy !req
1220. The scouts have been up
every known trail, Alexander.Copy !req
1221. There is no way across.Copy !req
1222. Except to the south, into India.Copy !req
1223. Were we gods, we'd breach
these walls to the eastern ocean.Copy !req
1224. We will, Alexander.Copy !req
1225. In a few years' time, we will return.Copy !req
1226. But first, the men
must see their homes.Copy !req
1227. Have you found your home…Copy !req
1228. …Ptolemy?Copy !req
1229. More and more, I think
it will be Alexandria.Copy !req
1230. Well, at least it's hot.Copy !req
1231. And Thais…Copy !req
1232. …she loved it there.Copy !req
1233. Women bring men home.Copy !req
1234. – I have no such feeling.
– You have Babylon, Alexander.Copy !req
1235. Where your mother
awaits your invitation.Copy !req
1236. Yes, I have Babylon.Copy !req
1237. But each land, each boundary I cross…Copy !req
1238. …I strip away another illusion.Copy !req
1239. I sense death will be the last.Copy !req
1240. Yet still I push harder and harder…Copy !req
1241. …to reach this home.Copy !req
1242. Where has our eagle gone?Copy !req
1243. We must go on, Ptolemy.Copy !req
1244. Until we find an end.Copy !req
1245. India, the land where the sun was born…Copy !req
1246. …fabled to be even richer
than Persia…Copy !req
1247. …had never been explored
or conquered.Copy !req
1248. From the beginning, Alexander struggled
to unify a land without a center.Copy !req
1249. Kings who conspired
against one another.Copy !req
1250. A labyrinth of tribes urged on
by zealots and philosophers…Copy !req
1251. …to die by the thousands
for their strange gods.Copy !req
1252. Crateros, in the advance party,
fought against men with hairy skins…Copy !req
1253. … who were tiny and lived
in the tops of trees.Copy !req
1254. They're animals.Copy !req
1255. Until Hephaistion convinced us
these were animals…Copy !req
1256. … who imitated men
but wore their own skin.Copy !req
1257. Keep that away from me.Copy !req
1258. It's a monkey. Very intelligent.Copy !req
1259. Hello, little man.Copy !req
1260. – Do they speak?
– No, but they do sing…Copy !req
1261. …and make noises.Copy !req
1262. We saw men who walked naked in public…Copy !req
1263. …and spent hours at a time
staring and doing nothing.Copy !req
1264. And then, there was the rain.Copy !req
1265. Never before had we seen water
that fell from the gods…Copy !req
1266. …for 60 days and nights.Copy !req
1267. You know better, Machatas.Copy !req
1268. What's your son going to say?Copy !req
1269. Come on, man.
The older you get, the stronger.Copy !req
1270. Right, my king.Copy !req
1271. Give me my horse, Alexander.Copy !req
1272. I'll be with you at your side. Aah!Copy !req
1273. Watch out for the serpent.Copy !req
1274. Everything rotted in this rain.Copy !req
1275. Scores of men died miserably
from the tiny serpents…Copy !req
1276. – …that were everywhere in this evil land.
– Cleitus, bring the snake healers!Copy !req
1277. Pauvanus. Someone bring Pauvanus.Copy !req
1278. Where's the bite?Copy !req
1279. – What happened?
– It's to the neck.Copy !req
1280. No. Zeus, no.Copy !req
1281. Hold on. Hold on.Copy !req
1282. – Aah!
– Be brave.Copy !req
1283. Be brave.Copy !req
1284. Zeus.Copy !req
1285. Our quest for gold and glory
evaporated as we realized…Copy !req
1286. …there was none to be had.Copy !req
1287. Tempers worsened.Copy !req
1288. We massacred all Indians
who resisted.Copy !req
1289. And with the local water putrid…Copy !req
1290. …we drank the strong wine.Copy !req
1291. And as we moved south and east…Copy !req
1292. …Alexander often returned the lands
we conquered to their defeated kings…Copy !req
1293. …so as to make them allies.Copy !req
1294. But this did not sit well
with the army…Copy !req
1295. "Were we here for riches?"Copy !req
1296. Or had Alexander,
in some remorseless and crazed quest…Copy !req
1297. …to imitate the glory of Herakles,
forgotten them?Copy !req
1298. One thing an army
knows quickly in their bones…Copy !req
1299. …is which way the gods are blowing.Copy !req
1300. Come on.Copy !req
1301. Kiss him!Copy !req
1302. – To Bagoas.
– To Bagoas!Copy !req
1303. – And to my mother's god, Dionysus…
– Dionysus!Copy !req
1304. …who, we're told by our Indian allies,
traveled here before Herakles…Copy !req
1305. …some 6000 years ago.Copy !req
1306. To a hero.Copy !req
1307. To a hero!Copy !req
1308. Roxane.Copy !req
1309. You lose face.Copy !req
1310. These Indians…Copy !req
1311. …they are a low, evil people.Copy !req
1312. You don't try to understand them.Copy !req
1313. I try.Copy !req
1314. But this I know, Alexander.Copy !req
1315. In Persia, you are a great king.Copy !req
1316. Here…Copy !req
1317. …they hate you.Copy !req
1318. Let us go back to Babylon.Copy !req
1319. There, you are strong.Copy !req
1320. We'll talk about this later.Copy !req
1321. Yes.Copy !req
1322. Later.Copy !req
1323. Talk.Copy !req
1324. I shall come.Copy !req
1325. Tonight.Copy !req
1326. And I shall wait.Copy !req
1327. Good night, my king.Copy !req
1328. Your Majesty.Copy !req
1329. Come, Alexander, drink with us.Copy !req
1330. – Alexander.
– Alexander.Copy !req
1331. I remember a time you hated…Copy !req
1332. – …how your father drank.
– Now I know why.Copy !req
1333. Dionysus is hero…Copy !req
1334. …but he is also mind-breaker.Copy !req
1335. He destroys our self-control.Copy !req
1336. Self-control is a lover
I've known too long, Ptolemy.Copy !req
1337. The struggle wearies me to the bone.Copy !req
1338. And success I find to be
as corrupt as failure.Copy !req
1339. But Dionysus…Copy !req
1340. …bless his ancient soul…Copy !req
1341. …frees me from myself.Copy !req
1342. And then, I'm with them.Copy !req
1343. I am simply Alexander.Copy !req
1344. A toast to Bagoas.Copy !req
1345. And the 30,000 beautiful
Persian boys…Copy !req
1346. …we're training to fight
in this great army.Copy !req
1347. And to the memory of Philip.Copy !req
1348. Had he lived to see
his Macedonians…Copy !req
1349. …transformed into such…Copy !req
1350. …a pretty army.Copy !req
1351. To Philip.Copy !req
1352. To a real hero.Copy !req
1353. Philip!Copy !req
1354. And to Cleitus and his new appointment
as satrap of Bactria.Copy !req
1355. Cleitus.Copy !req
1356. That's a fancy way
of putting it, Ptolemy.Copy !req
1357. But we all know what a pension
and an exile is…Copy !req
1358. …after 30 years' service.Copy !req
1359. Exile?Copy !req
1360. From what, Cleitus?Copy !req
1361. From my home, Alexander, Macedonia.Copy !req
1362. You could've asked me where
I wanted to spend the rest of my life.Copy !req
1363. You call governing
this major province exile?Copy !req
1364. Has Your Majesty given any
of his closest companions…Copy !req
1365. …a province so far from home?Copy !req
1366. Then you won't make a very
good satrap, will you, Cleitus?Copy !req
1367. So be it.Copy !req
1368. Let me rot in Macedonian rags…Copy !req
1369. …rather than shine…Copy !req
1370. …in Eastern pomp.Copy !req
1371. I won't quake and bow down like
the sycophants you have around you.Copy !req
1372. – Hephaistion, Nearchus, Perdiccas.
– Hey.Copy !req
1373. As governor of one
of our most Asian of satrapies…Copy !req
1374. …Cleitus, does it not occur to you
that if my Persian subjects…Copy !req
1375. …bow down before me,
it's important for them to do so?Copy !req
1376. Do I insist on Greeks doing the same?Copy !req
1377. You accept Greek offerings
as a son of Zeus, do you not?Copy !req
1378. Only when offered.Copy !req
1379. Why don't you refuse
these vain flatteries?Copy !req
1380. What freedom is this,
to bow before you?Copy !req
1381. You bow before Herakles,
and he was mortal…Copy !req
1382. …but a son of Zeus.Copy !req
1383. How can you, so young,
compare yourself to Herakles?Copy !req
1384. Why not?Copy !req
1385. I've achieved more in my years.Copy !req
1386. Traveled as far.Copy !req
1387. Probably farther.Copy !req
1388. Herakles did it by himself.Copy !req
1389. Did you conquer Asia
by yourself, Alexander?Copy !req
1390. Who planned the Asian invasion…Copy !req
1391. …when you were still being spanked
on your bottom by my sister Lanice?Copy !req
1392. Was it not your father?Copy !req
1393. Or is his blood
no longer good enough?Copy !req
1394. – Zeus-Amon, is it?
– You insult me, Cleitus.Copy !req
1395. You mock my family. Be careful.Copy !req
1396. Never would your father have taken
barbarians as his friends…Copy !req
1397. …asked us to fight with them
as equals in war.Copy !req
1398. Are we not good enough any longer?Copy !req
1399. I remember a time…Copy !req
1400. …when we could talk as men,
straight to the eye.Copy !req
1401. None of this scraping, groveling.Copy !req
1402. I remember a time when we hunted…Copy !req
1403. …when we wrestled
on the gymnasium floor.Copy !req
1404. Now you kiss them?Copy !req
1405. Take a barbarian, childless wife
and dare call her queen?Copy !req
1406. Go quickly, Cleitus,
before you ruin your life.Copy !req
1407. Doesn't your great pride
fear the gods any longer?Copy !req
1408. This army…
This army is your blood, boy!Copy !req
1409. Without it, you're nothing!Copy !req
1410. You no longer serve the purpose
of this march!Copy !req
1411. – Get him from my sight!
– I don't serve your purpose?Copy !req
1412. What was I serving when I saved
your puppy life at Gaugamela?Copy !req
1413. Were you Zeus' boy?Copy !req
1414. What if I left you to die in the dust there?Copy !req
1415. Do you think we'd be forced now
to mate with brown apes?Copy !req
1416. Alexander!Copy !req
1417. Turn out the guards!
Arrest him for treason!Copy !req
1418. – Who's with him?
– No.Copy !req
1419. Who's with him?Copy !req
1420. I call Father Zeus to witness.Copy !req
1421. I call you to trial before him!Copy !req
1422. And we'll see how deep
this conspiracy cuts!Copy !req
1423. – Take him!
– In the name of the gods, get him out!Copy !req
1424. Now look at you!Copy !req
1425. Great white arse, Alexander.Copy !req
1426. Hiding behind his fairy god!Copy !req
1427. Or are you too great to remember…Copy !req
1428. …whose life was saved by me?Copy !req
1429. I am more man than you'll ever be!Copy !req
1430. – Aah!
– Ever!Copy !req
1431. – He's gone. He's gone.
– Get him out!Copy !req
1432. – Alexander! Alexander!
– Come on!Copy !req
1433. What a tyrant you are!Copy !req
1434. Evil tyrant you've become, Alexander.Copy !req
1435. You speak about plots against you?
What about poor Parmenion?Copy !req
1436. – Parmenion?
– Yeah.Copy !req
1437. He served you well.Copy !req
1438. Look how you repaid him.
You made me do your foul deed.Copy !req
1439. – Have you no shame?
– You ungrateful wretch!Copy !req
1440. No one, not my vilest enemy,
has spoken like you to me.Copy !req
1441. Hear what I say!Copy !req
1442. Despot. False king.Copy !req
1443. You and your barbarian mother
live in shame.Copy !req
1444. Cleitus.Copy !req
1445. My Cleitus.Copy !req
1446. – Let me pass.
– None can enter.Copy !req
1447. I am the queen.Copy !req
1448. I want to see him.
I've waited three days.Copy !req
1449. He says none, not even you.Copy !req
1450. – He needs me.
– No, he doesn't.Copy !req
1451. And he needs you?Copy !req
1452. Hephaistion, you make a mistake.Copy !req
1453. The army grows restless…Copy !req
1454. …questioning.Copy !req
1455. Alexander.Copy !req
1456. They need your reassurance.Copy !req
1457. Yes.Copy !req
1458. Like an old lover they forgive,
but they will never forget.Copy !req
1459. He was an aging drunk.Copy !req
1460. He was my friend.Copy !req
1461. His sister Lanice nursed me.Copy !req
1462. And how did I repay her?Copy !req
1463. Two brothers dead, fighting,
and by my own hands…Copy !req
1464. …her last remaining blood.Copy !req
1465. What will she do but weep
on the day of my birth?Copy !req
1466. Come.Copy !req
1467. You know more than any…Copy !req
1468. …great deeds are done by men
who took and never regretted.Copy !req
1469. You're Alexander.Copy !req
1470. Pity and grief will only destroy you.Copy !req
1471. Have I become so arrogant
that I am blind?Copy !req
1472. Sometimes…Copy !req
1473. …to expect the best of everyone…Copy !req
1474. …is arrogance.Copy !req
1475. Then Cleitus spoke true.Copy !req
1476. I am become a tyrant.Copy !req
1477. No.Copy !req
1478. But perhaps a stranger.Copy !req
1479. You've gone too far.Copy !req
1480. They don't understand you anymore.Copy !req
1481. They speak of Philip now…Copy !req
1482. …as if I were a passing cloud…Copy !req
1483. …soon to be forgotten.Copy !req
1484. I've failed…Copy !req
1485. …utterly.Copy !req
1486. You're mortal.Copy !req
1487. And they know it.Copy !req
1488. And they forgive you because
you make them proud of themselves.Copy !req
1489. Philip once said…Copy !req
1490. …that there's a Titan in all of us.Copy !req
1491. That they wait, mixed in our ashes.Copy !req
1492. It wasn't because of the wine I killed him.Copy !req
1493. It was because I wanted to.Copy !req
1494. Philip, King of Macedonia…Copy !req
1495. …and leader of the Greeks.Copy !req
1496. All my life, I've waited to see Greeks
grovel with respect for Macedonia.Copy !req
1497. Today is that day.Copy !req
1498. They say already,
"Philip was a great general…Copy !req
1499. …but Alexander is simply great."Copy !req
1500. But if you ever insult me again…Copy !req
1501. …I'll kill you.Copy !req
1502. I've missed you.Copy !req
1503. In the spring, Persia…Copy !req
1504. …you'll command my horse
from the right.Copy !req
1505. I'm honored, Father.Copy !req
1506. I wouldn't miss it
for all the gold in the world.Copy !req
1507. Which, one day, you'll have.Copy !req
1508. Making himself a 13th god.Copy !req
1509. He's drunk so much wine,
my poor Philip.Copy !req
1510. He's lost his mind.Copy !req
1511. – Your Majesty.
– Attalus.Copy !req
1512. I hope the prince
is enjoying the spectacle…Copy !req
1513. …as much as our regent.Copy !req
1514. He's very tired.Copy !req
1515. Hey.Copy !req
1516. – Pausanias, bring the rest of the guard.
– Royal guard!Copy !req
1517. To the arena! March!Copy !req
1518. No guard, Your Majesty?
In all this crowd?Copy !req
1519. – Greeks all over the place.
– Cleitus, Cleitus.Copy !req
1520. My Cleitus.Copy !req
1521. This man you can
always trust, Alexander.Copy !req
1522. Treat him as you would me.Copy !req
1523. He'll guard your back for you.Copy !req
1524. Yes, Father.Copy !req
1525. My people are guard enough today.Copy !req
1526. Let these Greeks see for themselves
how I can walk through my people.Copy !req
1527. Then let them call me tyrant.Copy !req
1528. Bring the main guard in
after my entry only.Copy !req
1529. Cleitus, make sure the wine
flows steady all day.Copy !req
1530. I want them to like me.Copy !req
1531. Weren't you told? I go in alone.Copy !req
1532. Follow with the main guard.Copy !req
1533. Go on.Copy !req
1534. – Go on.
– Father, it's best I go with you.Copy !req
1535. You want the world to see
you're my successor.Copy !req
1536. Is that what she wants?Copy !req
1537. Don't look so hurt all the time,
Alexander. Be a man.Copy !req
1538. You count yourself lucky you were here
at all today, after your public display.Copy !req
1539. By Herakles, by Zeus,
by all the gods…Copy !req
1540. …obey me this once!Copy !req
1541. Have courage, Father.Copy !req
1542. And go on your way
rejoicing that at each step…Copy !req
1543. …you may recall your valor.Copy !req
1544. And now, our beloved King Philip…Copy !req
1545. …in whose honor
these wedding games begin.Copy !req
1546. Pausanias, I told you…Copy !req
1547. Who's your new friend?
There's your new friend.Copy !req
1548. No! Please, no!Copy !req
1549. Please, no!Copy !req
1550. The king lives!Copy !req
1551. Alexander, son of Philip!Copy !req
1552. May the gods bless the king!Copy !req
1553. Long live Alexander!Copy !req
1554. Alexander is king!Copy !req
1555. You're king now. You're king.Copy !req
1556. Long live Alexander!Copy !req
1557. Alexander!Copy !req
1558. – King Alexander!
– Alexander is king!Copy !req
1559. – Alexander!
– Alexander!Copy !req
1560. Alexander is king!Copy !req
1561. Alexander is king!Copy !req
1562. May the gods bless Alexander!Copy !req
1563. May the gods bless the king!Copy !req
1564. – Alexander!
– Alexander!Copy !req
1565. Get out.Copy !req
1566. Go.Copy !req
1567. How can you behave
so shamelessly in public?Copy !req
1568. Because it was meant to be.Copy !req
1569. This isn't how I wanted to become king.Copy !req
1570. – No one blames you.
– They blame me already behind my back!Copy !req
1571. – In secret.
– Slander is not power.Copy !req
1572. Shame is?
Who killed my father?Copy !req
1573. Tell me.Copy !req
1574. Tell me, or shall I put you on trial
for his murder?Copy !req
1575. – Pausanias.
– He had help!Copy !req
1576. Did you help him?Copy !req
1577. No, never.Copy !req
1578. Why? Why would I?Copy !req
1579. So many wanted it.Copy !req
1580. Greeks, Persians, men, women…Copy !req
1581. I would be shocked if there were not
a god or two he had not profaned.Copy !req
1582. How ironic though, in the end…Copy !req
1583. …a boy he rodded with once too often,
returned the favor.Copy !req
1584. – You're mad. You're cursed.
–Copy !req
1585. You've unleashed Furies,
you don't know their power.Copy !req
1586. Now who is exaggerating?Copy !req
1587. Even if it was the wish of your heart-Copy !req
1588. That's a lie! He was my father!
I loved him!Copy !req
1589. He was not your father!Copy !req
1590. You owe no blood debt to that man.Copy !req
1591. You lie and lie and lie.Copy !req
1592. So many lies you've spun
like a sorceress, confusing me.Copy !req
1593. Look at you. Look at you.Copy !req
1594. You are everything that he was not.Copy !req
1595. He was coarse, you are refined.Copy !req
1596. He was a general, and you are a king.Copy !req
1597. He could not rule himself…Copy !req
1598. …and you shall rule the world.Copy !req
1599. You're so cursed by all the gods
when you speak like this.Copy !req
1600. Such thick pride…Copy !req
1601. …and no mourning for your husband.Copy !req
1602. Mourn…Copy !req
1603. …him?Copy !req
1604. What do you know of Philip?Copy !req
1605. No, Alexander. Zeus is your father.Copy !req
1606. – Act like it.
– My first act would be to kill you!Copy !req
1607. You murdered me in my cradle.Copy !req
1608. You birthed me in a sack of hate.Copy !req
1609. Hate you have for those
stronger than you.Copy !req
1610. – Hate you have for men.
– I taught you my heart, Alexander!Copy !req
1611. And by Zeus and Dionysus,
you grew beautiful.Copy !req
1612. Damn your sorceress soul.Copy !req
1613. Your soul is mine, Alexander.Copy !req
1614. No! No!Copy !req
1615. You've taken from me everything
I've ever loved and made me you!Copy !req
1616. Stop it. Stop acting like a boy.Copy !req
1617. You're a king. Act like one.Copy !req
1618. Parmenion is with us, for once.Copy !req
1619. Execute Attalus without delay.Copy !req
1620. Confiscate their lands and root out
that family forever.Copy !req
1621. Eurydice? Never.Copy !req
1622. Laugh, you monster.Copy !req
1623. You heartbreaker.Copy !req
1624. How will you
live out the year like this?Copy !req
1625. – Have you learned nothing from Philip?
– No. From you, Mother.Copy !req
1626. The best.Copy !req
1627. What have I done
to make you hate me so?Copy !req
1628. One day, you will understand this.Copy !req
1629. But I have only you in my heart.Copy !req
1630. I know what you need.Copy !req
1631. Now is the time.Copy !req
1632. The gods favor you.Copy !req
1633. Great wealth, power, conquest.Copy !req
1634. All you desire.Copy !req
1635. The world is yours!Copy !req
1636. Take it.Copy !req
1637. Take it.Copy !req
1638. He never saw his mother again.Copy !req
1639. And while he was away,
fighting the Northern tribes…Copy !req
1640. …Olympias had Philip's new wife,
Eurydice, and her infant son murdered.Copy !req
1641. By necessity…Copy !req
1642. …Alexander had her uncle Attalus executed.Copy !req
1643. You break my heart, you men.Copy !req
1644. Afraid.Copy !req
1645. Of course you have fears.Copy !req
1646. We all have fears…Copy !req
1647. …because no one has ever
gone this far before.Copy !req
1648. And now we are weeks from
the encircling ocean, our route home.Copy !req
1649. We'll build a fleet of ships…Copy !req
1650. …and sail all the way
back down the Nile to Egypt.Copy !req
1651. And from Alexandria,
we shall be home within weeks.Copy !req
1652. There to be reunited
with our loved ones.Copy !req
1653. To share our great treasures
and tales of Asia.Copy !req
1654. And to enjoy our imperishable glory
to the ends of time.Copy !req
1655. – Follow Alexander.
– I'll follow you.Copy !req
1656. What?Copy !req
1657. – Silence?
– We're with you, Alexander!Copy !req
1658. Crateros.Copy !req
1659. Crateros.Copy !req
1660. And another one.Copy !req
1661. My king.Copy !req
1662. I'm a fighting man.Copy !req
1663. I don't like no bellyaching.
I won't tolerate it in any of my units.Copy !req
1664. I lost many a man.Copy !req
1665. Young ones,
never been with a woman.Copy !req
1666. Some died of disease.Copy !req
1667. Some were butchered in Scythia
by the banks of the Oxus.Copy !req
1668. Some died good.Copy !req
1669. Some just didn't get no luck.Copy !req
1670. But they died.Copy !req
1671. Forty thousand I come over with
eight years ago.Copy !req
1672. And we march after you
more than 10,000 miles.Copy !req
1673. In the rain and the sun,
we fought for you.Copy !req
1674. Some of us, 50 battles we've been in.Copy !req
1675. We killed many a barbarian.Copy !req
1676. And now when I look around,
how many of them faces do I see?Copy !req
1677. Now you want us to fight more of these
crazy monkey tribes east of here.Copy !req
1678. We hear talk of thousands
of these elephant monsters…Copy !req
1679. …cross a hundred more rivers.Copy !req
1680. – Crateros. Good Crateros.
– Quiet!Copy !req
1681. Who better than you to speak,
most noble of men.Copy !req
1682. But you know there's no part of me
without a scar or a bone broken.Copy !req
1683. By sword, knife, stone,
catapult and club.Copy !req
1684. I've shared every hardship
with all of you.Copy !req
1685. You have, my king,
and we love you for it.Copy !req
1686. But, by Zeus, too many have died.Copy !req
1687. You have no children, Alexander,
and we're just…Copy !req
1688. …humble men, we seek no disturbance
with the gods. All we wish for…Copy !req
1689. …is to see our children and our wives
and our grandchildren one last time…Copy !req
1690. …before we join our brothers
in that dark house they call Hades.Copy !req
1691. Yes. You're right, Crateros.Copy !req
1692. I have been negligent.Copy !req
1693. I should've sent you
veterans home sooner, and I will.Copy !req
1694. The first of you
shall be the Silver Shields.Copy !req
1695. Then every man
who's served seven years.Copy !req
1696. With full pensions from our treasury.Copy !req
1697. And respected, rich, loved.Copy !req
1698. You'll be treated
by your wives and children…Copy !req
1699. …as heroes for the rest of your lives…Copy !req
1700. …and enjoy a peaceful death.Copy !req
1701. But you dream, Crateros.Copy !req
1702. Your simplicity long ended when you
took Persian mistresses and children…Copy !req
1703. …and you thickened your holdings
with plunder and jewels.Copy !req
1704. Because you've fallen in love with all
the things in life that destroy men.Copy !req
1705. Do you not see?Copy !req
1706. And you, as well as I, know…Copy !req
1707. …that as the years decline
and the memories stale…Copy !req
1708. …and all your great victories fade…Copy !req
1709. …it will always be remembered,
you left your king in Asia!Copy !req
1710. For I will go on, with my Asians.Copy !req
1711. To the jackals with you, then, Alexander.Copy !req
1712. We come for you, and you discard us.Copy !req
1713. – Shame!
– We want to go home, Alexander.Copy !req
1714. We're tired of glory.Copy !req
1715. We want to see our wives
and children before we die.Copy !req
1716. I've got children I haven't even seen.Copy !req
1717. I want to see my children.Copy !req
1718. I paid for your bastard children.
I've taken nothing for myself.Copy !req
1719. And all I've asked of you
is one more month.Copy !req
1720. – Shame.
– That's your king.Copy !req
1721. What would your father say?Copy !req
1722. I've taken you further
than my father ever dreamed.Copy !req
1723. So go home. I look to the
barbarians for their courage.Copy !req
1724. I go east.Copy !req
1725. He wants us dead
so we can't speak of his crimes.Copy !req
1726. – Who said that?
– We won't make it to Macedonia.Copy !req
1727. You despicable coward. Come forth.Copy !req
1728. – Make your accusations public.
– So you can have us killed?Copy !req
1729. Son of Zeus.Copy !req
1730. You desecrate your real father's memory.Copy !req
1731. Or did you murder him like you did Cleitus?Copy !req
1732. Hide. Hide in this mob
because I will take your-Copy !req
1733. You men insult my honor,
my paternity. Arrest him.Copy !req
1734. And him. Yes.
And you, this loudmouth Demetrius.Copy !req
1735. You call me murderer?
I have no such blood on my hands.Copy !req
1736. And him.
Yes, you'll know the pain of treason.Copy !req
1737. You mock my shame for Cleitus and say
I'd harm a hair of my father's head.Copy !req
1738. Arrest him.
After all I've done for you, you swine.Copy !req
1739. You cowards. Traitors.Copy !req
1740. Come on, then.
Where are your daggers?Copy !req
1741. In smashing the mutiny
and executing the ringleaders…Copy !req
1742. …he did nothing, to my mind, that any
general in wartime would not have done.Copy !req
1743. But clearly, the army was divided.Copy !req
1744. And Alexander was no longer
loved by all.Copy !req
1745. He drove on, south to the outer ocean.Copy !req
1746. I confess a disappointment.Copy !req
1747. Especially on these reports
of your taking on Eastern ways.Copy !req
1748. Beware how these manners…Copy !req
1749. …inflame the senses with pride.Copy !req
1750. However, I have lived long enough now…Copy !req
1751. …to question…Copy !req
1752. …when so many others
invest such emotion…Copy !req
1753. …in their disrespect for you.Copy !req
1754. I can only hope that you continue
what you began…Copy !req
1755. …as the boy I knew at 12.Copy !req
1756. Be that man always, Alexander…Copy !req
1757. …and you will not slip.Copy !req
1758. And perhaps you will prove
this old materialist…Copy !req
1759. …as you always thought me…Copy !req
1760. …a dreamer after all.Copy !req
1761. Aristotle.Copy !req
1762. Stay calm.Copy !req
1763. Together we are strong as gods.Copy !req
1764. Cover with your left,
strike hard with your right.Copy !req
1765. Fear is rot. A waste of time.Copy !req
1766. Lock shields.Copy !req
1767. Battle positions.Copy !req
1768. Move.Copy !req
1769. Choppers, prepare your knives.Copy !req
1770. Follow me.Copy !req
1771. Strike hard, boys. Strike hard.Copy !req
1772. Come, Macedonians.
Why do you hang back? Hurry.Copy !req
1773. Cavalry!Copy !req
1774. Split to thirds. Regroup and encircle.Copy !req
1775. Hold the line!Copy !req
1776. – No. Cavalry on me.
– Follow Alexander.Copy !req
1777. Charge. Charge. Charge.Copy !req
1778. The phalanx is in jeopardy.Copy !req
1779. Meleager, ride to Pharnakes
and tell him return to the center.Copy !req
1780. Find Hephaistion at the riverbank
and bring all cavalry to the center.Copy !req
1781. We must reach Crateros
before it's too late.Copy !req
1782. Hephaistion. To the center.Copy !req
1783. Come, Macedonians. Ride.Copy !req
1784. Ride.Copy !req
1785. Coenus! Get out of there.Copy !req
1786. No.Copy !req
1787. – The horses won't go.
– On foot, then.Copy !req
1788. Fall back, men! Fall back!Copy !req
1789. Come, Bucephalus.Copy !req
1790. Fear not, my friend.Copy !req
1791. Bucephalus.Copy !req
1792. Tis only sun and shadow.Copy !req
1793. Bucephalus and Alexander.Copy !req
1794. One last time. It's you and I.Copy !req
1795. Isn't it a lovely thing
to live with great courage…Copy !req
1796. …and to die leaving
an everlasting fame?Copy !req
1797. Come, Macedonians.
Why do you retreat?Copy !req
1798. Do you want to live forever?
In the name of Zeus, attack.Copy !req
1799. Attack.Copy !req
1800. – Alexander!
– Aah!Copy !req
1801. Alexander.Copy !req
1802. – The king is down!
– To the king!Copy !req
1803. It was the bloodiest of his battles.Copy !req
1804. Pure butchery.Copy !req
1805. We'd never be men again.Copy !req
1806. He lives! Alexander!Copy !req
1807. Alexander!Copy !req
1808. Men of Macedon…Copy !req
1809. …we're going home.Copy !req
1810. – What?
– What?Copy !req
1811. – We're going home.
– Home?Copy !req
1812. We're going.Copy !req
1813. We're going home.Copy !req
1814. Yes!Copy !req
1815. His life should have ended in India…Copy !req
1816. …but that's myth.Copy !req
1817. In life, Herakles died of a poisoned shirt,
given him in error by his jealous wife.Copy !req
1818. Great Zeus, we have worshiped you in blood.Copy !req
1819. Look kindly on our homeward steps…Copy !req
1820. …and smile upon our backs.Copy !req
1821. May all those who come here after us…Copy !req
1822. …know, when they see this altar…Copy !req
1823. …that Titans were once here.Copy !req
1824. Making his devotions to the gods
at the end of the great journey…Copy !req
1825. …Alexander bade the East farewell
and marched his army directly west…Copy !req
1826. …across the great Gedrosian desert…Copy !req
1827. …seeking the shortest route home
to Babylon.Copy !req
1828. Here, he watched helplessly
the cruel breaking of his army.Copy !req
1829. Not by any human form…Copy !req
1830. …but by nature.Copy !req
1831. To this day, there is no accounting
of how many died.Copy !req
1832. It was the worst blunder of his life.Copy !req
1833. And when he finally reentered Babylon,
after six years in the Far East…Copy !req
1834. …Alexander again seized the imagination
of the world by taking two more wives.Copy !req
1835. Now Alexander had three wives…Copy !req
1836. …two lovers…Copy !req
1837. …a contentious mother
and a turbulent Greece…Copy !req
1838. …satraps of dubious loyalty
in several provinces…Copy !req
1839. …generals questioning his every decision.Copy !req
1840. And beneath it all,
a restive new army…Copy !req
1841. …made up of 10 Asians
for every Greek…Copy !req
1842. …all held together by one slender thread.Copy !req
1843. They took another reading.
The harbor can only be dredged to 20 feet.Copy !req
1844. Get me a second opinion from the Phoenicians.Copy !req
1845. – I tell you, it goes deeper.
– Alexander.Copy !req
1846. We're well over 12,000 talents
on wood alone for the fleet.Copy !req
1847. And their armor costs are staggering.Copy !req
1848. – Cast another dye, we shall back them.
– How?Copy !req
1849. – Aren't our treasuries-?
– With our future, Cassander.Copy !req
1850. The best capital we have.Copy !req
1851. Even so, Majesty,
I seriously doubt the Phoenicians…Copy !req
1852. …can make a timber quote in time.Copy !req
1853. Perhaps we could sail with fewer ships…Copy !req
1854. – …or delay until the spring-
– There'll be no delays, Nearchus.Copy !req
1855. Ptolemy, how goes our library?Copy !req
1856. – Trees are falling as we speak, Your Majesty.
– Good.Copy !req
1857. We must not forget our libraries.Copy !req
1858. All the Alexandras we have,
I want libraries.Copy !req
1859. – Just last night he was-
– It's the water, Your Majesty.Copy !req
1860. He mixed it with the wine.Copy !req
1861. But how can this be?Copy !req
1862. – Typhus of India?
– I wouldn't tax yourself, Your Majesty.Copy !req
1863. A few good nights' rest will do it.
But no wine or cold chicken.Copy !req
1864. With the regimen of care
that I've put in place-Copy !req
1865. Come, doctor.Copy !req
1866. I feel better.Copy !req
1867. Soon, I'll be up.Copy !req
1868. We leave for Arabia in the spring,
and I couldn't leave without you.Copy !req
1869. Arabia.Copy !req
1870. You used to dress me up like a sheik…Copy !req
1871. …wave your wooden scimitar.Copy !req
1872. You were the only one
who'd never let me win.Copy !req
1873. The only one who's ever been
honest with me.Copy !req
1874. You saved me from myself.Copy !req
1875. Please don't leave me, Hephaistion.Copy !req
1876. I remember the young man who wanted
to be Achilles and then outdid him.Copy !req
1877. And then what happened?Copy !req
1878. Ours is a myth only young men believe.Copy !req
1879. – But how beautiful a myth it was.
– We reach, we fall.Copy !req
1880. Hephaistion.Copy !req
1881. – I worry for you without me.
– I am nothing without you.Copy !req
1882. Come, fight, Hephaistion.Copy !req
1883. We will die together.Copy !req
1884. We'll have children with our wives…Copy !req
1885. …and our sons will play together
as we once did.Copy !req
1886. A thousand ships
we'll launch from here, Hephaistion.Copy !req
1887. We'll round Arabia
and sail up the gulf to Egypt.Copy !req
1888. From there, we'll build a channel through
the desert and out to the Middle Sea.Copy !req
1889. Then we'll move on Carthage.Copy !req
1890. And that great island, Sicily,
they'll pay large tribute.Copy !req
1891. After that, the Roman tribe,
good fighters. We'll beat them.Copy !req
1892. And then explore
the northern forests…Copy !req
1893. …and out the Pillars of Herakles
to the western ocean.Copy !req
1894. And then one day,
populations will mix and travel freely.Copy !req
1895. Asia and Europe will come together.Copy !req
1896. And we'll grow old, Hephaistion…Copy !req
1897. …looking out our balcony
at this new world.Copy !req
1898. Hephaistion?Copy !req
1899. Hephaistion?Copy !req
1900. No!Copy !req
1901. – Where is this doctor?
– I can't explain this, Your Majesty.Copy !req
1902. – It's not possible. I swear by Apollo.
– Execute him!Copy !req
1903. Take him out now and execute him.Copy !req
1904. – Come away, come away.
– Liars. You all hated him. All of you.Copy !req
1905. Get out. Get out now!Copy !req
1906. Be gone with you!
Harpies! Get out! Get out!Copy !req
1907. Are you drunk again?Copy !req
1908. – Get out.
– He's dead.Copy !req
1909. – Who?
– Many hated him…Copy !req
1910. …but I don't think any other
would have dared.Copy !req
1911. Hephaistion is dead?Copy !req
1912. Are you mad?Copy !req
1913. You monster.Copy !req
1914. – Aah! Are you mad?
– You've taken from me all I've ever loved.Copy !req
1915. May all the Furies through time
damn your miserable heart. Obey me.Copy !req
1916. Alexander.
I have your child. Alexander.Copy !req
1917. – Alexander, we have a son.
– No.Copy !req
1918. – The child.
– Your Majesty, no.Copy !req
1919. Alexander, I have your child.
Alexander, my husband, my king.Copy !req
1920. We have a son.Copy !req
1921. My poor, poor, ill-fated son.Copy !req
1922. Never touch me again.Copy !req
1923. No!Copy !req
1924. One last toast!Copy !req
1925. Before the dawn.Copy !req
1926. To my old friends.Copy !req
1927. – And to the myths.
– To the myths.Copy !req
1928. Drink it down, Alexander.Copy !req
1929. Drink it down.Copy !req
1930. Yes, come on. Finish it.Copy !req
1931. To the next dawn.Copy !req
1932. Men hate the gods.Copy !req
1933. This because we fear worse.Copy !req
1934. The Titans.Copy !req
1935. My little Achilles.Copy !req
1936. Lord, we love you.Copy !req
1937. Bless you, Alexander.Copy !req
1938. My lord, these herbs are from Delphi.Copy !req
1939. They saved my brother at Ghilam.Copy !req
1940. – Bless your soul.
– Thank you.Copy !req
1941. – We love you, Alexander.
– Section of the Iliad…Copy !req
1942. Alexander.Copy !req
1943. Alexander.Copy !req
1944. We love you, Alexander.Copy !req
1945. And your seed.Copy !req
1946. Keep moving, men.Copy !req
1947. Yes, come.Copy !req
1948. Come to Babylon. I await you.
Your only loving son.Copy !req
1949. For the men.Copy !req
1950. Bagoas.Copy !req
1951. Can you prop me up a little?
It catches me here.Copy !req
1952. I've never been so idle.Copy !req
1953. The fleet will never get out by spring.
I must go.Copy !req
1954. You have given me all…Copy !req
1955. …Bagoas.Copy !req
1956. And you have given me…Copy !req
1957. …the happiest times in my life,
Alexander.Copy !req
1958. Happy?Copy !req
1959. What is happy?Copy !req
1960. When your mind and body
are stretched to breaking…Copy !req
1961. …and you have no thought beyond the next.Copy !req
1962. And you look back then…Copy !req
1963. …and there it was, happiness.Copy !req
1964. In the doing, never the thinking.Copy !req
1965. Still, you have made me so happy.Copy !req
1966. It is done, Bagoas.Copy !req
1967. It is done.Copy !req
1968. Wait. We have a son.Copy !req
1969. Alexander.Copy !req
1970. Wait. Wait.Copy !req
1971. Vultures. Wait.Copy !req
1972. We have a son.Copy !req
1973. Just three more months.Copy !req
1974. Please live.Copy !req
1975. Alexander, the army will divide.Copy !req
1976. Satrapies will revolt.
Without your orders, there'll be war.Copy !req
1977. We beg you. Tell us who.Copy !req
1978. Who will rule this great empire if you leave us?Copy !req
1979. Who do you want, Alexander?Copy !req
1980. – We beg you. Tell us who.
– Fear not.Copy !req
1981. The myth becomes real.Copy !req
1982. Beyond Herakles.Copy !req
1983. Zeus is your father.Copy !req
1984. Who will it be?Copy !req
1985. Pray tell us, who.Copy !req
1986. – What did he say?
– "To the best."Copy !req
1987. – He said, "To the best."
What?Copy !req
1988. – No, he said, "To Crateros."
To Crateros?Copy !req
1989. Why would he say Crateros?Copy !req
1990. On the 10th of June,
a month short of his 33rd year…Copy !req
1991. …Alexander's great heart
finally gave out.Copy !req
1992. And as he vowed,
he joined Hephaistion.Copy !req
1993. But in his short life,
he achieved, without doubt…Copy !req
1994. …the mythic glory
of his ancestor Achilles and more.Copy !req
1995. Olympias' transgression
in the murder of his father…Copy !req
1996. …is, to my mind, a probability.Copy !req
1997. His, a burden.Copy !req
1998. Alexander was too in love with glory
for him to steal it.Copy !req
1999. But by blood, and blood alone,
he was guilty.Copy !req
2000. No!Copy !req
2001. Bolt the doors.Copy !req
2002. – The body stays in Babylon.
– The body belongs to Macedon.Copy !req
2003. – This must be decided…
– Within hours…Copy !req
2004. …we were fighting like jackals
for his corpse.Copy !req
2005. The wars of the world had begun.Copy !req
2006. Forty years, off and on, they endured.Copy !req
2007. Cassander in Greece.
Crateros and Antigonus in western Asia.Copy !req
2008. Solucas and Perdiccas in the East.
Myself in Egypt.Copy !req
2009. – Until we divided his empire in four parts.
– Gentlemen, we are not savages.Copy !req
2010. We are the future-!Copy !req
2011. I think Alexander
would have been disappointed in us.Copy !req
2012. Naturally, rumors grew he'd been poisoned…Copy !req
2013. …by one faction of his generals
or another.Copy !req
2014. But the truth in these matters…Copy !req
2015. …has long since been driven from currency.Copy !req
2016. Cassander saw to that
with his fake diaries…Copy !req
2017. …painting Alexander
as a sick and bloated drunk.Copy !req
2018. Many believed,
to remove suspicion from himself.Copy !req
2019. He certainly proved he had the temperament
for politics and murder.Copy !req
2020. …when seven years later,
he executed Olympias…Copy !req
2021. …who met her death with great courage.Copy !req
2022. Five years-
No, it was six years after that…Copy !req
2023. …Cassander finally achieved…Copy !req
2024. …the complete destruction
of Alexander's bloodline…Copy !req
2025. …when he poisoned Roxane…Copy !req
2026. …and Alexander's 13-year-old son…Copy !req
2027. …the true heir to the empire.Copy !req
2028. But Roxane, too, like Olympias…Copy !req
2029. …played by stern rules.Copy !req
2030. Supported by several generals…Copy !req
2031. …days after Alexander's death…Copy !req
2032. …she had Stateira poisoned.Copy !req
2033. It was reason enough for some
to believe she was the one behind…Copy !req
2034. …Hephaistion's sudden demise.Copy !req
2035. But this is unproven in my mind.Copy !req
2036. Bagoas disappeared
from the histories entirely.Copy !req
2037. A wise move perhaps.Copy !req
2038. But I will say his love and devotion
for Alexander…Copy !req
2039. …were unquestionable and extraordinary.Copy !req
2040. Now I am the keeper of his body…Copy !req
2041. …embalmed here, in the Egyptian ways.Copy !req
2042. I followed him as Pharaoh
and have now ruled 40 years.Copy !req
2043. I have two sons…Copy !req
2044. …each jealous of the other's power.Copy !req
2045. But they will grow to make fine fathers
and husbands…Copy !req
2046. …and I trust…Copy !req
2047. …will be just in their affairs.Copy !req
2048. But they have never seen…Copy !req
2049. …the great cavalry charge
at Gaugamela…Copy !req
2050. …or the mountains
of the Hindu Kush…Copy !req
2051. …when we crossed
a 100,000-man army into India.Copy !req
2052. He was a god, Cadmos…Copy !req
2053. …or as close as anything
I've ever known.Copy !req
2054. "Tyrant!" they yell so easily. I laugh.Copy !req
2055. No tyrant ever gave back so much.Copy !req
2056. What do they know of the world,
these schoolboys?Copy !req
2057. It takes strong men to rule.Copy !req
2058. Alexander was more,
he was a Prometheus, a friend to man.Copy !req
2059. He changed the world.Copy !req
2060. Before him, there were tribes…Copy !req
2061. …and after him, all was possible.Copy !req
2062. There was suddenly a sense the world
could be ruled by one king…Copy !req
2063. …and be better for all.Copy !req
2064. Eighteen great Alexandrias he built
across this world.Copy !req
2065. It was an empire, not of land
and gold, but of the mind.Copy !req
2066. A Hellenic civilization…Copy !req
2067. …open to all.Copy !req
2068. But the truth is never simple…Copy !req
2069. …and yet it is.Copy !req
2070. The truth is, we did kill him.Copy !req
2071. By silence, we consented.Copy !req
2072. Because-Copy !req
2073. Because we couldn't go on.Copy !req
2074. What, by Ares,
did we look forward to…Copy !req
2075. …but to be discarded in the end,
like Cleitus?Copy !req
2076. After all this time,
to give away our wealth…Copy !req
2077. …to Asian sycophants we despised?Copy !req
2078. Mixing the races, harmony?Copy !req
2079. Ha!Copy !req
2080. He talked of these things…Copy !req
2081. …but wasn't it really about Alexander…Copy !req
2082. …and another population
ready to obey him?Copy !req
2083. I never believed in his dream.Copy !req
2084. None of us did.Copy !req
2085. That's the truth of his life.Copy !req
2086. The dreamers exhaust us.Copy !req
2087. They must die before they kill us
with their blasted dreams.Copy !req
2088. Just throw all that away, Cadmos.Copy !req
2089. It's an old fool's rubbish.Copy !req
2090. You shall write, "He died of fever
and a weakened condition."Copy !req
2091. Yes, great Pharaoh.Copy !req
2092. He could've stayed home
in Macedonia, married, raised a family.Copy !req
2093. He'd have died a celebrated man.Copy !req
2094. But this was not Alexander.Copy !req
2095. All his life,
he fought to free himself from fear.Copy !req
2096. And by this, and this alone,
he was made free.Copy !req
2097. The freest man I've ever known.Copy !req
2098. His tragedy was one
of increasing loneliness…Copy !req
2099. …and impatience with those
who could not understand.Copy !req
2100. And if his desire…Copy !req
2101. …to reconcile Greek and barbarian
ended in failure… Heh.Copy !req
2102. What failure! Heh.Copy !req
2103. His failure towered
over other men's successes.Copy !req
2104. I've lived-Copy !req
2105. I've lived long life, Cadmos…Copy !req
2106. …but the glory
and the memory of man…Copy !req
2107. …will always belong to the ones
who follow their great visions.Copy !req
2108. And the greatest of these
is the one they now call…Copy !req
2109. …Megas Alexandras.Copy !req
2110. The greatest Alexander of them all.Copy !req