of the conduct
of the Thebans towards them. With the exception of the priests, the
personal friends and guests of the Macedonians, the descendants of the
poet Pindar, and those who had opposed the revolt, he sold for slaves
all the rest of the inhabitants, thirty thousand in number. More than
six thousand men perished in the battle.

XII. Amidst the fearful scene of misery and disorder which followed
the capture of the city, certain Thracians broke into the house of one
Timoklea, a lady of noble birth and irreproachable character. Their
leader forcibly violated her, and then demanded whether she had any
gold or silver concealed. She said that she had, led him alone into
the garden, and, pointing to a well, told him that when the city was
taken she threw her most valuable jewels into it. While the Thracian
was stooping over the well trying to see down to the bottom, she came
behind, pushed him in, and threw large stones upon him until he died.
The Thracians seized her, and took her to Alexander, where she proved
herself a woman of courage by her noble and fearless carriage, as she
walked in the midst of her savage captors. The king enquired who she
was, to which she replied she was the sister of Theagenes, who fought
against Philip to protect the liberty of Greece, and who fell leading
on the Thebans at Chaeronea. Alexander, struck by her answer, and
admiring her exploit, gave orders that she and her children should be
set at liberty.

XIII. Alexander came to terms with the Athenians, although they had
expressed the warmest sympathy for the Thebans, omitting the
performance of the festival of Demeter, out of respect for their
misfortunes, and giving a kindly welcome to all the fugitives who
reached Athens. Either he had had his fill of anger, like a sated
lion, or possibly he wished to perform some signal act of mercy by way
of contrast to his savage treatment of Thebes. Be this as it may, he
not only informed the Athenians that he had no grounds of quarrel with
them, but even went so far as to advise them to watch the course of
events with care, since, if anything should happen to him, they might
again become the ruling state in Greece. In after times, Alexander
often grieved over his harsh treatment of the Thebans, and the
recollection of what he had done made him much less severe to others.
Indeed, he always referred his unfortunate drunken quarrel with
Kleitus, and the refusal of the Macedonian soldiers to invade I