Believe it or not, that previous post was very important for me to recall, and it all came back to me because of that extract from a pledge made by Alexander. It is strange sounding pledge. I suppose that the dark skinned people were from Sogdiana, as I believe some are probably immigrants from China as well, and the Egptians are considered somewhat dark in some regions. He does make distinctions according to this plaque about the difference between Barbarians and Greeks, and good barbarians, and bad Greeks. So it is a very interesting comment which to me is directed at Aristotle to some extent.
However, I cannot say as I just read it, and need to know more about it to make any worthwhile kind of statement.
For me, it did take me back to the time that Alexander is forced to give in to a mutiny by his troops. One, whose name is Coenus,(spelling must be checked on that name) is a man who spoke up for the men who were tired of traveling so long and so hard with Alexander and not being given their due. These were the Macedonians who had stayed with him through all his long journeys. Nothing has amazed me more than that these soldiers stayed so valiantly true to their leader as they had, but snakes squeezing the life out of some of their members, monsoon type rains that were endless, and uniforms becoming ruined and discarded, caused these men to want to end this ongoing march to nowhere. Every time they turned around, they were forced to fight another battle.
For Alexander, it was a cruel end to his own desire to go as far as he could, to rule far and wide, to conquer all that was left to conquer. In truth, he had no idea of the vast amount of territory left to be conquered nor any real sense most likely of where he had already been and achieved success after warring it all the way through.
Even on top of the mountain he could not have properly realized or invisualized his struggle from Macedonia to Egypt, back up into the mountains of what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan, to what is Iran and Iraq, and finally India. It is incredible to realize that this is all on foot or horseback...no tanks, no trucks,no cars, just the physical human body and all that either on horseback or on foot, and a few granted did ride in chariots at special times in special places...
I will say this about this extraodinary feat of so many men, so many warriors, and that is that they were healthy, fit, and extremely well kept. They were men of muscle, fortitude, character, and worth. They labored hard...cutting down trees, mining quarries, building altars, catapaults, towers, shoeing horses, preparing feasts and feeds, nourishing themselves, caring for themselves, and keeping spirits up all the while so that when a battle ensued, each was well prepared, disciplined, and capable of battling for all it was worth. Incredible, isn't it?
Plus, they were well paid, they received furloughs, they were able to return to their wives and family, and re-enlist, and they moved on, realizing that their real call was to serve Alexander and his mission, his dream, his goal. All hinged on Alexander the man, the god.
A god was a recognized entity then, and some reproached Alexander for his belief in his divine status, and others gave into it.
And therein is the crux of the entire thing: to believe that Alexander is one of the gods called to do his turn in taking the Macedonians and Greece into the annals of history, his "gloire".
And then of course, that leads back to me, who is having to relive this life for what reason that I believe that it is revealed and exposed to me...which is what I was just doing when I realized what I had been realizing while treading over this ground again of resignation, defeat, and submission, and giving it up.
I am thinking on it, and I am waking up a bit...the light may be dawning, and on that I will leave it til another day.
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