provided with
much better relishes for his food by his tutor Leonidas, who had
taught him to earn his breakfast by a night-march, and to obtain an
appetite for his dinner by eating sparingly at breakfast. "My tutor,"
he said, "would often look into my chests of clothes, and of bedding,
to make sure that my mother had not hidden any delicacies for me in
them."

XXIII. He was less given to wine than he was commonly supposed to be.
He was thought to be a great drinker because of the length of time
which he would pass over each cup, in talking more than in drinking
it, for he always held a long conversation while drinking, provided he
was at leisure to do so. If anything had to be done, no wine, or
desire of rest, no amusement, marriage, or spectacle could restrain
him, as they did other generals. This is clearly shown by the
shortness of his life, and the wonderful number of great deeds which
he performed during the little time that he lived. When he was at
leisure, he used to sacrifice to the gods immediately after rising in
the morning, and then sit down to his breakfast. After breakfast, he
would pass the day in hunting, deciding disputes between his subjects,
devising military manoeuvres, or reading. When on a journey, if he was
not in any great hurry, he used, while on the road, to practice
archery, or to dismount from a chariot which was being driven at full
speed, and then again mount it. Frequently also he hunted foxes and
shot birds for amusement, as we learn from his diaries. On arriving at
the place where he intended to pass the night, he always bathed and
anointed himself, and then asked his cooks what was being prepared for
his dinner.

He always dined late, just as it began to grow dark, and was very
careful to have his table well provided, and to give each of his
guests an equal share. He sat long over his wine, as we have said,
because of his love of conversation. And although at all other times
his society was most charming, and his manners gracious and pleasant
beyond any other prince of his age, yet when he was drinking, his talk
ran entirely upon military topics, and became offensively boastful,
partly from his own natural disposition, and partly from the
encouragement which he received from his flatterers. This often
greatly embarrassed honest men, as they neither wished to vie with the
flatterers in praising him to his face, nor yet to appear to grudge
him his due share of admiration. To bestow su