Historiae Alexandri Magni 9.6.18

9.6.18

Ceterum non eadem est cogitatio eorum, qui pro me mori optant, et mea, qui pridem hanc benivolentiam vestram virtute meruisse me iudico. Vos enim diuturnum fructum ex me, forsitan etiam perpetuum percipere cupiatis: ego me metior non aetatis spatio, sed gloriae.

Then, in addressing them, he went far back in a review of his career and said : "I return you, most faithful and most dutiful subjects and friends, my most heartfelt thanks, not only because you at this time prefer my safety to your own, but also because from the very outset of the war you have lost no opportunity of showing by every pledge and token your kindly feelings towards myself, so that I must confess my life has never been so dear to me as it is at present, and chiefly so, that I may long enjoy your companionship. At the same time, I must point out that those who are willing to lay down their lives for me do not look at the matter from my point of view, inasmuch as I judge myself to have deserved by my bravery your favourable inclinations towards me, for you may possibly be coveting to reap the fruit of my favour for a great length of time, perhaps even in perpetuity, but I measure myself not by the span of age, but by that of glory. "Had I been contented with my paternal heritage, I might have spent my days within the bounds of Macedonia, in slothful ease, to an obscure and inglorious old age ; although even those who remain indolently at home are not masters of their own destiny, for while they consider a long life to be the supreme good, an untimely death often takes them by surprise. I, however, who do not count my years but by my victories, have already had a long career of life, if I reckon aright the gifts of fortune.