On another occasion, Alexander with his retinue passed a meadow where the gymnosophistae [sort of like Indian philosopher druids] gathered for philosophical discussion. At the approach of the troops ‘these venerable men stamped with their feet and gave no other sign of interest’.
When Alexander, through an interpreter, inquired the reason for their curious behaviour, this was the reply he got: ‘King Alexander, every man can possess only so much of the earth’s surface as this we are standing on. You are but human like the rest of us, save that you are always busy and up to no good, travelling so many miles from your home, a nuisance to yourself and to others. Ah well! You will soon be dead, and then you will own just as much of the earth as will suffice to bury you.’
Alexander is said to have applauded such sentiments.
Source:
Green, Peter. “How Many Miles to Babylon?” Alexander of Macedon: 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography. Univ. of California Press, 2005. 428. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Arrian 7.1.4-7.2.1. For the literature on the gymnosophistae see esp. Arrian 7.3 passim.
Plut. Alex. 59.4, 65.
Strabo 15.1.61, 63-5, 68, C. 714-18.
cf. Woodcock, pp. 26-7.
Narain, GR, pp. 160-61.
H. Van Thiel, Hermes 100 (1972), 343 ff.
Further Reading:
Alexander III of Macedon / Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας (Alexander the Great)
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