[4,75] Εὖ δὲ ἴσθι, ἔφη, ὅτι οὐ πρότερον ἔσῃ βασιλεύς, πρὶν ἂν ἱλάσῃ τὸν αὑτοῦ δαίμονα καὶ θεραπεύσας ὡς δεῖ ἀποδείξῃς ἀρχικόν τε καὶ ἐλευθέριον καὶ βασιλικόν, ἀλλὰ μή, ὡς νῦν ἔχεις, δοῦλον καὶ ἀνελεύθερον καὶ (76) πονηρόν. ἐνταῦθα δὴ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐκπεπληγμένος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ ἀνδρεῖον καὶ τὸ ἀδεές, νομίσας πλέον τι τῶν ἄλλων ἐπίστασθαι αὐτόν, παντοδαπὸς ἦν ἱκετεύων μὴ φθονῆσαι μηδένα τρόπον, ἀλλὰ φράσαι τίς ἔστιν ὁ δαίμων αὐτοῦ καὶ πῶς χρὴ ἱλάσασθαι αὐτόν. ἤλπιζε γὰρ ὄνομά τι ἀκούσεσθαι δαίμονος καὶ θυσίας τινὰς ἢ (77) καθαρμούς, οὓς δεῖ ἐπιτελέσαι. κατιδὼν οὖν αὐτὸν ὁ Διογένης τεθορυβημένον καὶ σφόδρα τῇ ψυχῇ μετέωρον, προσέπαιζε καὶ περιεῖλκεν, εἴ πως δύναιτο κινηθεὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ τύφου καὶ τῆς δόξης (78) μικρόν τι ἀνανῆψαι. καὶ γὰρ δὴ ᾐσθάνετο αὐτὸν νῦν μὲν ἡδόμενον, νῦν δὲ λυπούμενον ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἄκριτον οὖσαν, ὥσπερ τὸν ἀέρα ἐν ταῖς τροπαῖς, ὅταν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ νέφους ὕῃ τε καὶ λάμπῃ ὁ ἥλιος. συνίει δὲ ὅτι καὶ τοῦ τρόπου κατεφρόνει, ἐν ᾧ διελέγετο πρὸς αὐτόν, ἅτε οὐδέποτε ἀκηκοὼς δεινοῦ λέγειν ἀνδρός, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τῶν σοφιστῶν θαυμάζων λόγους, ὡς (79) ὑψηλούς τε καὶ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς. βουλόμενος οὖν χαρίσασθαι αὐτῷ, ἅμα τε ἐπιδεῖξαι ὅτι οὐκ ἀδύνατός ἐστιν ὥσπερ ἵππον εὐμαθῆ καὶ πειθόμενον, ὅταν αὐτῷ δοκῇ, τὸν λόγον ἐπᾶραι, λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν οὕτως περὶ δαιμόνων, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν ἔξωθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἱ πονηροὶ καὶ ἀγαθοὶ δαίμονες, οἱ τὰς συμφορὰς καὶ τὰς εὐτυχίας φέροντες αὐτοῖς,

[4,75] "Be assured," he continued, " that you will never be king until you have propitiated your attendant spirit and, by treating it as you should, have made it commanding, free-spirited and kingly, instead of, as in your present state, slavish, illiberal, and vicions." Then was Alexander amazed at the courage and fearlessness of the man ; yet deeming him to have greater knowledge than other men, he urgently besought him not to say him nay but to explain what his attendant spirit was and how he must propitiate it. For he assumed that he would hear some deity's name and of certain sacrifices or purifications that he would have to perform. So when Diogenes perceived that he was greatly excited and quite keyed up in mind with expectancy, he toyed with him and pulled him about in the hope that somehow he might be moved from his pride and thirst for glory and be able to sober up a little. For he noticed that at one moment he was delighted, and at another grieved, at the same thing, and that his soul was as unsettled as the weather at the solstices when both rain and sunshine come from the very same cloud. He realized, too, that Alexander despised the way in which he argued with him, due to the fact that the prince had never heard a real master of discourse but admired the style of the sophists, as being lofty and distinguished. So wishing to win his favour and at the same time to show that he was quite able, whenever he chose, to make his discourse step out like a well-trained and tractable horse, he spoke to him as follows about attendant spirits, showing that the good and the bad spirits that bring happiness and misery are not outside the man,