Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/279

 DEATH OF HEPHJ:STI0N. 247 txeessive wine-drinking. Amidst these proceedings, HepJiaestion was seized with a fever. The vigor of his constitution em- boldencd liim to neglect all care or regimen, so that in a f<;W days the disease carried him off. The final crisis cjime on sud- denly, and Alexander was warned of it while sitting in tht theatre ; but though he instantly hurried to the bedside, he found Hepha?stion already dead. His sorrow for this loss was un- oounded, manifesting itself in excesses suitable to the genera] violence of his impulses, whether of affection or of antipathy. Like Achilles mourning for Patroklus, he cast himself on the ground near the dead body, and remained there wailing for several hours ; he refused all care, and even food, for two days ; he cut his hair close, and commanded that all the horses and mules in the camp should have their manes cut close also ; he not only suspended the festivities, but interdicted all music and every sign of joy in the camp ; he directed that the battlements of the Avails belonging to the neighboring cities should be struck off; he hung, or crucified, the physician Glaukias, who hat! pre- scribed for Hephaestion ; lie ordered that a vast funeral pile should be erected at Babylon, at a cost given to us as 10,000 talents (£2,300,000), to celebrate the obsequies; he sent mes- sengers to the oracle of Ammon, to inquire whether it was per- mitted to worship Hephaestion as a god. Many of those around him, accommodating themselves to this passionate impulse of the ruler, began at once to show a sort of worship towards the de- ceased, by devoting to him themselves and their arms ; of which Eumenes set the example, conscious of his own personal dan»er, if Alexander should suspect him of being pleased at the death of his recent rival. Perdikkas was instructed to convey the body in solemn procession to Babylon, there to be burnt in state when preparations should be completed.' ' Anian, vii. 14 ; Plutarch, Alexand. 72 ; Diodor. xvii. 110. It will not do to follow the canon of evidence tacitly assumed hy Anian. wl)o tliiiiKs liimself authorized to discredit all the details of Alexander's conduct on this occasion, which transgress the limits of a dignified, though vehement sorrow. When Masistius was slain, in the Persian army commanded by Mardo- nius in Bceotia, the manes of the horses were cut, as token of mourning* compare also Plutarch, Pelopidas, 33; and Eurifid. Alkestis, 442.