Read Online Alexander: Child of a Dream by Valerio Massimo Manfredi - Free Book Online Page B

but more often than not it was their teacher, old Leonidas, who took the brunt of it all: lizards in his bed and live frogs in his lentil soup for example. Such activities constituted revenge for the tutor’s liberal use of the cane when his pupils failed to apply themselves sufficiently to their studies.
One evening Leonidas, who still directed their schooling, announced proudly that the following day their King would receive the Persian envoys and that he, too, would take part in the diplomatic proceedings because of his knowledge of Asia and the customs of the peoples there. He told them that the oldest among them would serve in the King’s guard of honour, wearing dress armour, while the youngest would carry out similar duties alongside Prince Alexander.
The news created much excitement among Leonidas’ pupils: none of them had ever seen a Persian before and what they knew of Asia came from their readings of Herodotus or Ctesias or the famous diary of Xenophon the Athenian the Anabasis, also known as the ‘march of the ten thousand’. They all set to polishing their weapons and preparing their ceremonial clothes.
‘My father once spoke to a man who was on the expedition of the ten thousand,’ Hephaestion recounted, ‘a man who saw the Persian armies line up against him at the battle of Kunaxa.’
‘Can you imagine, lads?’ Seleucus joined in. ‘A million men!’ and he put his hands in front of his face, opening them out like fans as though representing the huge advance of the warriors.
‘And the scythed chariots?’ Lysimachus exclaimed. ‘They fly like the wind across the plains, with scythes sticking out from underneath the carriage and from the hubs of the axles, and they mow down men like wheat. I wouldn’t like to find myself up against them on the battlefield.’
‘Tricks that create more fuss and panic than they cause real damage,’ Alexander said. Up until that moment he had been quiet, listening to his friends’ comments. ‘Xenophon says so in his diary. Anyway, we’ll all have a chance to see how the Persians really handle their weapons because my father the King has organized a lion hunt in Eordaea, in honour of our guests.’
‘Oh! And are the little ones to be allowed along as well?’ Ptolemy giggled.
Alexander took up position in front of his elder classmate: ‘I am thirteen years of age and I am afraid of nothing and of no one. Try saying that once more and I’ll send your teeth down your throat.’
Ptolemy bit his lip and the others stopped laughing. They had all learned not to provoke Alexander, even though he was not particularly well developed from a physical point of view. More than once he had demonstrated surprising energy and a lightning speed in his movements.
Eumenes piped up and suggested they should have a game of dice for their weekly allowance and that was the end of the argument. Much of the money ended up in Eumenes’ pockets because he was truly fond both of gambling and of gold.
Having cooled off a little, Alexander left his companions to their games and went to visit his mother before retiring. Although she still held considerable power at court as mother of the heir to the throne, Olympias now lived a very secluded life. Her meetings with Philip were limited almost exclusively to those occasions required by protocol.
In the meantime the King had married other women for
     
political reasons, but he still respected Olympias and, had she been less cantankerous and difficult, he would perhaps have shown that the passion he once held for her had not withered completely.
The Queen was sitting on a high-backed chair with armrests near a lamp with five flames, a papyrus scroll open on her knees. Her room, outside this circle of light, was completely dark.
Alexander entered briskly and quietly: ‘What are you reading, Mother?’
Olympias lifted her head: ‘Sappho,’ she replied. ‘Her poetry is wonderful and her feelings of solitude are so close to my own …’
She