Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander 9.2.31

9.2.31

Cumque illi in terram demissis capitibus tacere perseverarent: Nescio quid, inquit, in vos inprudens deliqui, quod me ne intueri quidem vultis. In solitudine mihi videor esse. Nemo respondet, nemo saltem negat.

When the soldiers, with their heads bent earthwards, still suppressed what they felt, "I must," he said, "have inadvertently given you some offence that you will not even look at me. Methinks I am in a solitude. No one answers me; no one so much as says me nay. Is it to strangers I am speaking? Am I claiming anything unreasonable? Why, it is your glory and your greatness we are asserting. Where are those whom but the other day I saw eagerly striving which should have the prerogative of receiving the person of their wounded king? I am deserted, forsaken, surrendered into the hands of the enemy. But I shall still persist in going forward, even though I should march alone. Expose me then to the dangers of rivers, to the rage of elephants, and to those nations whose very names fill you with terror. I shall find men that will follow me though I be deserted by you. The Scythians and Bactrians, once our foemen, but now our soldiers — these will still be with me. Let me tell you, I had die rather than be a commander on sufferance. Begone then to your homes, and go triumphing because ye have forsaken your king! For my part, I shall here find a place, either for the victory of which you despair, or for an honourable death."