[2,15] Οὐ μέντοι, ἦ δ´ ὃς ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, ἀλλὰ ὑπερβάλλειν πολὺ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους. οὔτε γὰρ σὲ χείρονα νομίζω τοῦ Πηλέως οὔτε τῆς Φθίας ἀσθενεστέραν τὴν Μακεδονίαν οὔτε τὸν Ὄλυμπον ἀδοξότερον {ὄρους} τοῦ Πηλίου φαίην ἄν· ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ παιδείας φαυλοτέρας ἐπιτετύχηκα ὑπ´ Ἀριστοτέλους ἢ ἐκεῖνος ὑπὸ Φοίνικος τοῦ Ἀμύντορος, φυγάδος ἀνδρὸς καὶ διαφόρου τῷ πατρί. πρὸς δὲ αὖ τούτοις ὁ μὲν Ἀχιλλεὺς ὑπήκουεν ἑτέροις, καὶ πέμπεται μετὰ μικρᾶς δυνάμεως {οὐ κύριος ἀλλ´} ἄλλῳ συστρατευσόμενος· ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ ἄν ποτε ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων οὐδενὸς βασιλευθείην. (16) καὶ ὁ Φίλιππος μικροῦ παροξυνθείς, Ἀλλ´ ὑπ´ ἐμοῦ γε βασιλεύῃ, ὦ Ἀλέξανδρε. Οὐκ ἔγωγε, εἶπεν· οὐ γὰρ ὡς βασιλέως, ἀλλ´ ὡς πατρὸς ἀκούω σου. Οὐ δήπου καὶ θεᾶς φήσεις μητρὸς γεγονέναι σεαυτόν, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἀχιλλεύς; εἶπεν ὁ Φίλιππος, ἢ Ὀλυμπιάδα συμβαλεῖν ἀξιοῖς Θέτιδι; καὶ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἡσυχῇ μειδιάσας, Ἐμοὶ μέν, εἶπεν, ὦ πάτερ, ἀνδρειοτέρα δοκεῖ πασῶν τῶν Νηρηίδων. (17) ἐνταῦθα ὁ Φίλιππος γελάσας, Οὐκ ἀνδρειοτέρα μόνον, ἔφη, ὦ παῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολεμικωτέρα. ἐμοὶ γοῦν οὐ παύεται πολεμοῦσα. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἅμα σπουδῇ ἐπαιξάτην. πάλιν δὲ ἤρετο αὐτὸν ὁ Φίλιππος, Ἀλλὰ τὸν Ὅμηρον οὕτω σφόδρα, ὦ Ἀλέξανδρε, θαυμάζων, πῶς ὑπερορᾷς αὐτοῦ τὴν σοφίαν; Ὅτι, ἔφη, καὶ τοῦ Ὀλυμπίασι κήρυκος ἥδιστ´ ἂν ἀκούοιμι φθεγγομένου μέγα καὶ σαφές, οὐ μέντοι κηρύττειν ἐβουλόμην αὐτὸς ἑτέρους νικῶντας, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον κηρύττεσθαι. (18) {ταῦτα δὲ λέγων ἐποίει φανερὸν ὅτι τὸν μὲν Ὅμηρον ἐνόμιζε δαιμόνιον καὶ θεῖον τῷ ὄντι κήρυκα τῆς ἀρετῆς, αὑτὸν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐκείνους ἀθλητάς τε καὶ ἀγωνιστὰς τῶν καλῶν ἔργων ἡγεῖτο.} οὐδὲν μέντοι ἄτοπον, εἶπεν, ὦ πάτερ, εἰ καὶ ποιητὴς ἀγαθὸς εἴην παρεχούσης τῆς φύσεως· ἐπεί τοι καὶ ῥητορικῆς δέοι ἂν τῷ βασιλεῖ. σὺ γοῦν ἀντιγράφειν πολλάκις ἀναγκάζει καὶ ἀντιλέγειν Δημοσθένει, μάλα δεινῷ ῥήτορι καὶ γόητι, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς Ἀθήνησι πολιτευομένοις. (19) Καὶ ἐβουλόμην γε, εἶπεν ὁ Φίλιππος παίζων, παραχωρῆσαι Ἀθηναίοις Ἀμφιπόλεως ἀντὶ τῆς Δημοσθένους δεινότητος. ἀλλὰ πῶς Ὅμηρον οἴει διανοεῖσθαι περὶ ῥητορικῆς; Δοκεῖ μοι, ἔφη, τὸ πρᾶγμα θαυμάζειν, ὦ πάτερ. οὐ γὰρ ἂν τῷ τε Ἀχιλλεῖ διδάσκαλον λόγων ἐπήγετο τὸν Φοίνικα (φησὶ γοῦν πεμφθῆναι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς μύθων τε ῥητῆρ´ ἔμεναι πρηκτῆρά τε ἔργων.)

[2,15] "No, indeed," said Alexander, " but I should like to go far beyond Achilles and the others. For you are not inferior to Peleus, in my opinion; nor is Macedonia less powerful than Phthia; nor would I admit that Olympus is a less famous mountain than Pelion; and, besides, the education I have gained under Aristotle is not inferior to that which Achilles derived from Amyntor's son, Phoenix, an exiled man and estranged from his father. Then, too, Achilles had to take orders from others and was sent with a small force of which he was not in sole command, since he was to share the expedition with another. I, however, could never submit to any mortal whatsoever being king over me." Whereupon Philip almost became angry with him and said : "But I am king and you are subject to me, Alexander." "Not I," said he, " for I hearken to you, not as king, but as father." "I suppose you will not go on and say, will you, that your mother was a goddess, as Achilles did," said Philip ; "or do you presume to compare Olympias with Thetis ? " At this Alexander smiled slightly and said, "To me, father, she seems more courageous than any Nereid." Whereupon Philip laughed and said, `Not merely more courageous, my son, but also more warlike ; at least she never ceases making war on me." So far did they both go in mingling jest with earnest. Philip then went on with his questioning : "If, then, you are so enthusiastic an admirer of Homer, how is it that you do not aspire to his poetic skill ? " "Because," he replied, " while it would give me the greatest delight to hear the herald at Olympia proclaim the victors with strong and clear voice, yet I should not myself care to herald the victories of others ; I should much rather hear my own proclaimed." With these words he tried to make it clear that while he considered Homer to be a marvellous and truly divine herald of valour, yet he regarded himself and the Homeric heroes as the athletes who strove in the contest of noble achievement. "Still, it would not be at all strange, father," he continued, " if I were to be a good poet as well, did nature but favour me ; for you know that a king might find that even rhetoric was valuable to him. You, for example, are often compelled to write and speak in opposition to Demosthenes, a very clever orator who can sway his audience—to say nothing of the other political leaders of Athens." "Yes," said Philip playfully, "and I should have been glad to cede Amphipolis to the Athenians in exchange for that clever Demosthenes. But what do you think was Homer's attitude regarding rhetoric ? " "I believe that he admired the study, father," said he, "else he would never have introduced Phoenix as a teacher of Achilles in the art of discourse. Phoenix, at any rate, says that he was sent by Achilles' father, To teach thee both, that so thou mightst become In words an orator, in warlike deeds A doer.'