r sovereign. On the third day he
came out, and when he saw them in such a pitiable state of abasement,
he wept for some time. He then gently blamed them for their conduct,
and spoke kindly to them. He gave splendid presents to all the
invalids, and dismissed them, writing at the same time to Antipater
with orders, that in every public spectacle these men should sit in
the best places in the theatre or the circus with garlands on their
heads. The orphan children of those who had fallen he took into his
own service.

LXXII. After Alexander was come to the city of Ekbatana in Media, and
had despatched the most weighty part of his business there, he gave
himself up entirely to devising magnificent spectacles and
entertainments, with the aid of three thousand workmen, whom he had
sent for from Greece. During this time, Hephaestion fell sick of a
fever, and being a young man, and accustomed to a soldier's life, did
not put himself upon a strict diet and remain quiet as he ought to
have done. As soon as Glaukus, his physician, left him to go to the
theatre, he ate a boiled fowl for his breakfast, and drank a large jar
of cooled wine. Upon this he was immediately taken worse, and very
shortly afterwards died.

Alexander's grief for him exceeded all reasonable measure. He ordered
the manes of all the horses and mules to be cut off in sign of
mourning, he struck off the battlements of all the neighbouring
cities, crucified the unhappy physician, and would not permit the
flute or any other musical instrument to be played throughout his
camp, until a response came from the oracle of Ammon bidding him
honour Hephaestion and offer sacrifice to him as to a hero.[432] To
assuage his grief he took to war, and found consolation in fighting
and man-hunting. He conquered the tribe called Kossaei, and slew their
entire male population, which passed for an acceptable offering to the
manes of Hephaestion. He now determined to spend ten thousand
talents[433] on the funeral and tomb of Hephaestion; and as he wished
to exceed the cost by the ingenuity and brilliancy of invention shown
in this spectacle, he chose Stasikrates out of all his mechanicians to
arrange it, as he was thought to be able both to devise with grandeur
and to execute with skill.

He on one occasion before this, when conversing with Alexander, told
him that of all mountains in the world Mount Athos in Thrace was that
which could most easily be carved into the figure of a