Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/255

 KALLISTHENES TORTURED AND SLAIN. 223 have addressed dangerous and inflammatory language to the pages, holding up Alexander to odium, instigating them to con- spiracy, and pointing out Athens as a place of refuge ; he was moreover well known to have been often in conversation with Hermolaus. For a man of the violent temper and omnipotent authority of Alexander, such indications were quite sutficient as grounds of action against one whom he hated. On this occasion, we have the state of Alexander's mind dis- closed by himself, in one of the references to his letters given by Plutarch. AYriting to Kraterus and to others immediately after- wards, Alexander distinctly stated that the pages throughout all their torture had deposed against no one but themselves. Never- theless, in another letter, addressed to Antipater in Macedonia, he used these expressions — " The pages were stoned to death by the Macedonians ; but I myself shall punish the sophist, as well as those who sent him out here, and those who harbor in their cities conspirators against me." ' The sophist Kallisthenes had been sent out by Aristotle, who is here designated ; and probably the Athenians after him. Fortunately for Aristotle, he was not at Baktra, but at Athens. That he could have had any concern in the conspiracy of the pages, was impossible. In this savage outburst of menace against his absent preceptor, Alexan- ^ Plutarch, Alex. 55. Ka'iroi tuv ■r.epl 'Epuu?Mov oidpo^ avrdc evT&iJc y pa^uv Kparepcj Knt 'ArruAw koc 'A A/cera (prjai roij^ Tzaidac [iaaa- '^tCofih'ovc 6fj.o7My£lv, cl)r avTol Tavra T^pu^eiav, u?^loc <^£ ovieiQ avvet- d eir]. "Xarepov de ypa<puv npo^ ^ AvTiTraTpoi; Kal rov KaAAiadevrfv cvve- TTatTiaadfiEvo^, 01 /lev 7zal6ig, <^rjaiv, VT:b ruv Ma«ei56i'(jv KaTtAevadt^anv, rbv 6e ao ip tarr/v eyu Ko2.ua u, Kal rovf iKTrffjipavrac av r ov , Kal Toijc v~o6exo/iEvoix rale "i^okeai tovq e/iol kTttjiovXevovra^ uvTtKptx fv ye Toirotc uTZOKaXvTrrufzevoc rrpof 'ApiaroriAJir, etc. About the hostile dispositions of Alexander towards Aristotle, see Dio Chrysostom, Orat. 64. de Fortana, p. 598. Kraterus was at this time absent in Sogdiana, engaged in finisliing the suppression of the resistance (Arrian, iv. 22, 1). To him, therefore, Alex- ander would naturally write. This statement, from the pen of Alexander himself, distinctly contra- dicts and refutes (as I have before observed) the affirmation of Piolcmy and Aristobulus as given by Arrian (iv. 14, 1) — that the pages deposed against Kallisthenes.