"Is it not worthy of tears, that, when the number of worlds is infinite, we have not yet become lords of a single one?"

I had not heard that. I really, really dislike Alexander. He had no control over himself, never mind his cobbled together empire. He used the army his father built to do the fighting, and was well on his way to Stalinesqe paranoia when he died. He was a great general, no doubt. I used to be enthralled by his story, but now I realize that most of his biographers were apologists. One of the most readable, and most fucked up of his biographies is by Mary Renault. She argued that, like theater people, he liked to stay up late and chat. Even at the age of 25 I knew this was hogwash. He was a raging drunk even by Macedonian standards, which are high. The incident illustrated is on the day of a banquet where he and Craterus started shouting at each other. Craterus was being backwatered to run some province, and was very bitter. It ended up with Alex running his very loyal and excellent general through with a spear. No biographer has ever been able to whitewash this, and many have tried, usually putting the blame on Craterus. There is a book, fairly recent, entitled Ghost on the Throne. It tells the story of the successor wars and there is not a dull page in it. All this reminds me of what the Lampoon said about chess. There was a faux essay in which the writer is talking about how knights played it to sharpen their warrior skills,... aw hell. I am sure that is what they were doing, playing with dolls on a checkered tablecloth. They were out killing Jews and raping peasant girls and you know it!
My viewpoint is not popular, as I have learned to my utter shock.

I find it entertaining that Adolf Hitler admired Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte above all other generals. Three failed tyrants; the two earlier monsters both felled by disease, the latter (allegedly) by his own hand.

Alexander died in bed, Napoleon did fail but he sure lit up the sky for awhile. I have nothing but contempt for the Third Reich. Alexander's death looked like that scene in It's A Mad Mad Mad World where everyone starts edging away from each other and then run for their cars. I have read ingenious theories on Napoleon's supposed murder but his health is the Occam's Razor solution to that. Why on earth no one capped Hitler and Stalin is beyond me. At least several people tried with Adolf, yet no one killed Stalin. I think there were very few men left in Russia as in North Korea. Alexander was a monster, Napoleon I have a bit more sympathy for, Hitler a squalid caucus butcher, according to Churchill. But- Alexander and Napoleon were outstanding commanders, Hitler got lucky once and went downhill from there.
But it is not like I have an opinion. https://youtu.be/hmyuE0NpNgE?t=38

Waitaminnit. Which general did Alexander murder, Craterus or Cleitus the Black? Pretty sure Craterus buried the Bad Boy of Macedon.

Anyway, Alexander had a whoop-ass case of Typhoid, as far as I know, but it is also quite possible he was poisoned. As to Napoleon's final decline, I'm inclined to agree with you. If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.



It's... ♪* ding! *♫

Oh, it may have been Cleitus, and probably was. On his death bed Alex was asked who he left the Kingdom to, and he replied, Cratero, or, to the strongest, but he may, and did, mean Craterus. I make mistakes all the time, I tend to not look up things I think I know. Like my address and phone number.