im that once a friend of his
came to him to borrow money, and he at once commanded one of his
servants to let him have it. His purse-bearer answered that he had no
money, upon which Philotas exclaimed, "What! Have I no plate or
furniture upon which you can raise money for my friend?"

His lofty carriage, his immense wealth, and the splendour in which he
lived, caused him to appear too great for a private station, while
his pride and vulgar ostentation made him generally disliked. His own
father, Parmenio, once said to him: "My son, I pray you show a little
more humility." He had long been an object of suspicion to Alexander,
who was kept constantly informed about him by the following
means:--After the battle of Issus, when the baggage of Darius was
captured at Damascus, there was taken among the captives a beautiful
Greek girl, named Antigone. She fell to the lot of Philotas, and
became his mistress; and the young man, who was much enamoured of her,
used to boast to her over his wine that all the conquests of the
Macedonians were really due to the prowess of his father and himself,
and that Alexander was merely a foolish boy, who owed his crown and
his empire to their exertions. Antigone repeated these expressions to
one of her friends, who, as was natural, did not keep them secret, so
that at last they reached the ears of Kraterus. Kraterus privately
introduced the woman to Alexander; and he, after he had heard her
repeat what she had been told, ordered her to take secret note of the
confidential expressions of Philotas, and to report them, from time to
time, to himself.

XLIX. Philotas had no idea that he was being spied upon in this
manner, and in his conversation with Antigone frequently spoke
insolently and slightingly of his sovereign. Alexander, although he
had accumulated terrible proofs of treason against Philotas,
nevertheless remained silent, either because he felt assured of the
loyalty of Parmenio, or because he feared to attack a man of such
power and importance. At length, however, a Macedonian of Chalastra,
named Simnus, formed a plot against Alexander's life, and invited a
young man, named Nikomachus, his own intimate friend, to join him.
Nikomachus refused compliance, and told the whole story of the plot to
his brother, Kebalinus, who at once had an interview with Philotas,
and bade him bring them at once to Alexander, as persons who had a
most important communication to make to him. Philotas, howeve