Alexander: Child of a Dream Read Online Free PDF Page A

Alexander would try to climb up onto his knees, as though he hoped that no one would notice at that critical moment.
Only then did Philip seem to be aware of his son and he ; would hold him close to his chest, without a pause, without losing the thread of his speech, but he saw that his generals changed their posture, he saw their eyes turn to the child and their expressions melt into a light smile, whatever the gravity of ( the topic he had been dealing with. And Parmenion would smile too, thinking of the rhyme and Alexander’s antics.
Then, just as he had arrived, the child would leave quietly. -Sometimes he went to his room hoping that his father would come to him there. On other occasions, after waiting for a long time, he would go and sit on one of the palace balconies, staring at the horizon. He would remain there, speechless and motionless, under the spell of the immensity of sky and earth.
And when in those moments his mother approached quietly, she would see the shadow that darkened his left eye deepen slowly, almost as if a mysterious night were falling in the young Prince’s soul.
He was fascinated by weaponry, and more than once the maids found him in the armoury attempting to unsheathe one of the King’s heavy swords from its scabbard.
One day, while he was staring at a giant set of bronze armour that had belonged to his grandfather Amyntas III, Alexander sensed someone behind him. He turned and found himself in front of a tall, wiry man with a goatee beard and two deep, haunted eyes. He said his name was Leonidas and that he was to be his tutor.
‘Why?’ asked Alexander.
And that was only the first in a long series of questions that Leonidas would find himself unable to answer.
From then on Alexander’s life changed profoundly. He saw his mother and sister less often and saw more and more of his tutor. Leonidas began by teaching him the alphabet, and the following day he found the child writing his name correctly with the point of a stick in the ashes in the hearth.
He taught him to read and to count, things that Alexander learned quickly and easily, but without any particular interest. But when Leonidas began to tell him stories of gods and men, stories of the birth of the world, of the struggles of giants and titans, he saw Alexander’s face light up as he listened enrapt.
The child’s spirit inclined towards mystery and religion. One day Leonidas took Alexander to the temple of Apollo near Thermai and allowed him to offer incense to the statue of the god. Alexander took great handfuls and threw it on the brazier, but his teacher shouted at him: ‘Incense costs a fortune! You will be entitled to waste as much as you wish when you have conquered the countries that produce it.’
‘And where are these countries?’ asked the child to whom it seemed strange that one might have to be miserly where the gods were concerned. Then he asked, ‘Isn’t it true that my father is a great friend of the god Apollo?’
     
‘Your father has won the sacred war and has been nominated head of the council of the sanctuary of Delphi, seat of the oracle of Apollo.’
‘Is it true that the oracle tells everyone what they must do?’
‘Not quite,’ replied Leonidas, taking Alexander by the hand and leading him into the open air. ‘You see, when people are about to do something important, they ask a god for advice: I “Should I do it or not? And if I do it, what will happen?” for example. Then there is a priestess called the Pythia and the god replies through her, as if he were using her voice. Do you understand? But the words are always obscure, difficult to interpret, and that is why priests exist to
explain the words to the people.’
Alexander turned back to look at the god Apollo standing erect on his pedestal, rigid and immobile, his lips pulled into that strange smile, and he understood why the gods need men in order to be able to speak.
On another occasion, when the royal family had travelled to Aegae, the