[For context: Alexander the Great and his father, Philip II, always had a somewhat volatile and uneasy relationship. Later, when Alexander was a young man, he sort of fell out of favor with his father and, it was rumored, Philip later remarried to a woman named Cleopatra. Supposedly, and there were rumors of this at the time, Philip intended to beget another son by her, thereby replacing Alexander as the chosen successor.]
The wedding-feast, as might be expected, was a tense occasion. When Alexander walked in, and took the place of honour which was his by right – opposite his father – he said to Philip: ‘When my mother remarries I’ll invite you to her wedding’ – not a remark calculated to improve anyone’s temper. >During the evening, in true Macedonian fashion, a great deal of wine was drunk. At last Attalus rose, swaying, and proposed a toast, in which he ‘called upon the Macedonians to ask of the gods that from Philip and Cleopatra there might be born a legitimate successor to the kingdom’. The truth was finally out, and made public in a way which no one – least of all Alexander – could ignore.
Infuriated, the crown prince sprang to his feet. ‘Are you calling me a bastard?’ he shouted, and flung his goblet in Attalus’ face. Attalus retaliated in kind. Philip, more drunk than either of them, drew his sword and lurched forward, bent on cutting down not Attalus (who had, after all, insulted his son and heir) but Alexander himself – a revealing detail.
However, the drink he had taken, combined with his lame leg, made Philip trip over a stool and crash headlong to the floor. ‘That, gentlemen,’ said Alexander, with icy contempt, ‘is the man who’s been preparing to cross from Europe into Asia- and he can’t even make it from one couch to the next!’
Source:
Green, Peter. “From a View to a Death.” Alexander of Macedon: 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography. Univ. of California Press, 2005. 89. Print.
Further Reading:
Alexander III of Macedon / Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας (Alexander the Great)
Φίλιππος Β΄ ὁ Μακεδών (Philip II of Macedon)
Ἄτταλος (Attalus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attalus_(general)
sounds like a fun time