The Way of a Conqueror

Hardship and danger are the price of glory. Alexander the Great said that to his army on the bank of a river at the edge of India, in one of the most dangerous moments of his life. Not a battle. A mutiny. After almost eight years of marching, the greatest army in the world stopped, and refused to go any further. Every man who has ever tried to conquer anything reaches this moment. Not the beginning. Not the end. The long middle. This film is about how a conqueror handles it: what Xenophon told a stranded army of ten thousand, the five moves in Alexander's speech at the river, and the reply from his general Coenus that every ambitious man should carry with him. SOURCES Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, Book V, chapters 25 to 29 (the speech at the Hyphasis, Coenus's reply, the turning back) and Book VI, chapter 24 (the Gedrosian desert). The Greek and Latin page on screen is from the Firmin-Didot edition (Paris, 1865). Xenophon, Anabasis, Book III, chapter 1 ("neither numbers nor strength") and Book IV, chapter 7 ("The sea! The sea!"). The Greek page on screen is from Hutchinson's edition (Cambridge, 1785). Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Book XVII, chapter 94 (the worn-out army and the rains). The map is Abraham Ortelius, "Alexandri Magni Macedonis Expeditio" (1595). PICTURES The paintings, prints, maps and book pages in this film are in the public domain. The Greek armour, the coins, Tempesta's etchings of Alexander (1608) and the Indian paintings are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's open-access collection. Two photographs are used under Creative Commons Attribution licences: Niels Simonsen, "A Caravan Overtaken by a Storm in the Desert" (1855), photo Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, CC BY 4.0; and Eugène Fromentin, "The Land of Thirst" (c. 1869), photo Sailko, CC BY 3.0. #alexanderthegreat #philosophy #selfimprovement #discipline #ancienthistory #leadership