Showing posts with label Crateros. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crateros. Show all posts

3. A moonlit vow

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Crateros:
I’ve seen one before, it was still alive.

Hephaistion:
To whom do you pray?

Alexander:
Phobos.

Hephaistion:
Fear?

Alexander:
A bad omen. More so for Darius. I’ve come to believe the fear of death drives all men, Hephaistion. And this we didn’t learn as schoolboys. It is the cause of all our misfortunes.
So, mighty Crateros.

Crateros:
Your Majesty.

Alexander: Are you ready for tomorrow?

Crateros:
It’s been too long coming, if you ask me. The men are skittish as colts and the damn bulls won’t shut their snouts.

Alexander:
Good. Fear makes man fight better. Post your sentries alertly, but rest them well.

Crateros:
Don’t worry, general. I’m known to sleep with my eyes open as a baby arse.

Young soldier:
Only because someone might steal his loot, sire. Well, someone owes Crateros for his cheapness. He buys neither gloves nor blankets to warm himself.

Soldier:
He’s right.

Alexander:
Who needs gloves when you come from grace? Who needs clothes when you can fight naked?
After tomorrow, even the thrifty among you shall be kings.

Soldier:
The gods are with us, Your Majesty.

Soldier:
We’ll stain the ground in Persian’s blood.

Crateros (to the young soldier):
You’re on the first row tomorrow, boy.

Hephaistion:
I’ve always believe, Alexander, but this seems so much bigger than us.

Alexander:
Did Patroclus doubt Achilles when they stood side by side at the seat of Troy?

Hephaistion:
Patroclus died first.

Alexander:
If you do… If you were to fall, Hephaistion, even if Macedonia were to lose a king, I will avenge you. And follow you down to the house of death. Hephaistion: I would do the same.

Alexander:
On the eve of battle, it’s hardest to be alone.

Hephaistion:
Then perhaps… Perhaps this is farewell, then… My Alexander.

Alexander:
Fear not, Hephaistion. We are at the beginning.

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5. Battle of Gaugamela

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Alexander:
Hephaistion, go!

Macedonian center:
Phalanx leader:
Phalanx!

Darius:
He makes a mistake, Pharnakes.

Pharnakes:
Yes, Great King.

Macedonian left:
Infantry leader:
Be brave, men. Steady on the left, lads! Bend if you must, but never break. And keep watching the cavalry on the left!

Macedonian right:
Alexander:
Pick up the pace!

Antigonus:
Prepare to repel chariots!

Soldier:
Forward!

Alexander:
Cassander!

Cassander:
Forward, men! Soldier: Forward!

Alexander:
Left turn! Soldier: Infantry, clear! Out now!

Crateros:
Hold your positions! Hold your positions!

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26. Mired in India

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India – 7 B.C

PTOLEMY (vo):
India, the land where the sun was born, fabled to be even richer than Persia, had never been explored or conquered. From the beginning, we struggled to unify a land without a center. Kings who conspired against one another. A labyrinth of tribes urged on by zealots and philosophers to die by the thousands for theirs strange gods.
We saw things we’d never dreamed and could hardly describe. We saw birds that could talk and men that couldn’t. Craterus, in the advance party, fought against men with hairy skins who were tiny and lived in the tops of trees.

Soldier:
Over there!

Hephaistion:
They’re animals.

PTOLEMY (vo):
Until Hephaistion convinced us these were animals who imitated men, but wore their own skin. They called this tribe “monkey.”

Alexander:
Monkey. Monkey.

PTOLEMY (vo):
But we saw little difference with the tribes who lived among them.

Alexander:
Look at his hand.

Hephaistion:
It’s so much like ours.

Alexander:
(To the monkey) Hello, little man.
(To Hephaistion) Do they speak?

Hephaistion:
No, but they do sing and make noises from the roofs of the forests.

PTOLEMY (vo):
We saw men who walked naked in public and spent hours at a time staring and doing nothing. Some who lived 200 years.
And then, there was the rain. Never before had we seen water that fell from the gods for 60 days and nights.

Alexander:
Well done today. Make sure the women and children are fed.
You know better, Machatas. What’s your son going to say? Come on, man. The older you get, the stronger.

Machatas:
Right, my king. You’re my horse, Alexander. I’ll be with you at your side.

PTOLEMY (vo):
Everything rotted in this rain and scores of men died miserably from the tiny serpents that were everywhere in this evil land.

Crateros:
What happened?

Alexander:
It’s to the neck.

Crateros:
Oh, no. Zeus, no. Hold on, hold on. Be brave. Be brave. Oh, Zeus…

PTOLEMY (vo):
Our quest for gold and glory evaporated as we realized there was none to be had. Tempers worsened. We massacred all Indians who resisted. And with the local water putrid, we drank the strong wine.
And as we moved south and east, Alexander often returned the lands we’d conquered to their defeated kings, so as to make them allies. But this did not sit well with the army who began to wonder:
Were we here for riches? Or had Alexander in some remorseless and crazed quest to imitate the glory of Herakles forgotten them? One thing an army knows quickly in their bones is which way the gods are blowing.

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28. Clash with Cleitus

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Black Cleitus:
A toast to Bagoas. And the 30,000 beautiful Persian boys...we're training to fight in this great army. And to the memory of Philip. Had he lived to see his Macedonians...transformed into such...a pretty army. To Philip. To a real hero.

The crowd:
Philip!

Ptolemy:
To Cleitus and his new appointment as satrap of Bactria.

The crowd:
Cleitus.

 Black Cleitus:
That's a fancy way of putting it, Ptolemy. But we all know what a pension and an exile is...after 30 years' service.

Alexander:
Exile? From where, Cleitus?

Black Cleitus:
From my home, Alexander, Macedonia. You could've asked me where I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

Alexander:
You call governing this major province exile?

Black Cleitus:
Has Your Majesty given any of his closest companions...a province so far from home?

Alexander:
Then you won't make a very good satrap, will you, Cleitus?

 Black Cleitus: So be it. Let me rot in Macedonian rags...rather than shine...in Eastern pomp. I won't quake and bow down like the sycophants you have around you. Hephaistion, Nearchus, Perdiccas.

Alexander:
As governor of one of our most Asian of satrapies...Cleitus, does it not occur to you that if my Persian subjects...bow down before me, it's important for them to do so? Do I insist on Greeks doing the same? 

Black Cleitus:
You accept Greek offerings as a son of Zeus, do you not?

Alexander:
Only when offered.

Black Cleitus:
Why don't you refuse these vain flatteries? What freedom is this, to bow before you?

Alexander:
You bow before Herakles, and he was mortal...but a son of Zeus. 

Black Cleitus:
How can you, so young, compare yourself to Herakles?

Alexander:
Why not? I've achieved more in my years. Traveled as far. Probably farther.

Black Cleitus:
Herakles did it by himself. Did you conquer Asia by yourself, Alexander? Who planned the Asian invasion...when you were still being spanked on your bottom by my sister Lanice? Was it not your father? Or is his blood no longer good enough? 

Crateros:
Hei...

Black Cleitus:
Zeus-Amon, is it?

Alexander:
You insult me, Cleitus. You mock my family. Be careful.

Black Cleitus:
Never would your father have taken barbarians as his friends...asked us to fight with them as equals in war. Are we not good enough any longer? I remember a time...when we could talk as men, straight to the eye. None of this scraping, groveling. I remember a time when we hunted...when we wrestled on the gymnasium floor. Now you kiss them? Take a barbarian, childless wife and dare call her queen?

Alexander:
Go quickly, Cleitus, before you ruin your life.

Black Cleitus:
Doesn't your great pride fear the gods any longer? This army...This army is your blood, boy!

Philip ghost:
Without it, you're nothing!

Alexander:
You no longer serve the purpose of this march! Get him from my sight!

Black Cleitus:
I don't serve your purpose?! What was I serving when I saved your puppy life at Gaugamela? Were you Zeus' boy? What if I left you to die in the dust there? Do you think we'd be forced now to mate with brown apes? 

Hephaistion:
Alexander!

Alexander:
Turn out the guards! Arrest him for treason!

Crateros:
I'll go with him. -Alexander.

Alexander:
Who's with him?

Guest:
No.

Alexander:
Who's with him? I call Father Zeus to witness. I call you to trial before him! And we'll see how deep this conspiracy cuts! Take him!

Hephaistion:
In the name of the gods, get him out!

Black Cleitus:
Now look at you! Great white ass, Alexander. Hiding behind his fairy god! Oh! Or are you too great to remember whose life was saved by me?! I am more a man than you'll ever be! Ever!

Crateros:
Get him out!

Antigonus:
He's gone. He's gone.

Hephaistion:
Alexander. 

Antigonus:
Come on!

Black Cleitus:
What a tyrant you are! An evil tyrant you've become, Alexander. You speak of plots against you? What about poor Parmenion?

Antigonus:
Get out! Get out of here!

Black Cleitus:
He served you well. Look how you repaid him. You made me do your foul deed. Have you no shame?

Alexander:
You ungrateful wretch! No one, not my vilest enemy, has spoken like you to me.

Black Cleitus:
Getting what I say?! Despot. False king. You and your barbarian mother live in shame.

Alexander:
Cleitus. Oh, my Cleitus. Cleitus.

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32. Rebellion in the ranks

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India - 9 Years Later

Alexander:
You break my heart, you men. Afraid. Of course you have fears. We all have fears...because no one has ever gone this far before. And now we are weeks from the encircling ocean, our route home.  
We'll build a fleet of ships...and sail all the way back down the Nile to Egypt. And from Alexandria, we shall be home within weeks. There to be reunited with our loved ones. To share our great treasures and tales of Asia. And to enjoy our imperishable glory to the ends of time.

Crowd:
Follow Alexander. I'll follow you.

Alexander:
What? Silence?

Crowd:
We're with you, Alexander!
Crateros. Crateros. And another one.

Createros:
My king. I'm a fighting man. I don't like no bellyaching. I won't tolerate it in any of my units. I lost many a man. Young ones, never been with a woman. Some died of disease. Some were butchered in Scythia by the banks of the Oxus.
Some died good. Some just didn't get no luck. But they died. Forty thousand I come over with eight years ago. And we march after you more than 10,000  miles. In the rain and the sun, we fought for you. Some of us, 50 battles we've been in. We killed many a barbarian. And now when I look around, how many of them faces do I see?
Now you want us to fight more of these crazy monkey tribes east of here. We hear talk of thousands of these elephant monsters...cross a hundred more rivers.

Alexander:
Crateros. Good Crateros. Who better than you to speak, most noble of men. But you know there's no part of me without a scar or a bone broken. By sword, knife, stone, catapult and club.
I've shared every hardship with all of you.
  
Createros:
Aye, you have, my king, and we love you for it.

Crowd: 
You have, you have!

Crateros:
But, by Zeus, too many have died.
You have no children, Alexander, and we're just...humble men, we seek no disturbance with the gods. All we wish for...is to see our children and our wives and our grandchildren one last time...before we join our brothers in that dark house they call Hades.

Alexander:
Yes. You're right, Crateros. I have been negligent. I should've sent you veterans home sooner, and I will. The first of you shall be the Silver Shields.
Then every man who's served seven years. With full pensions from our treasury. And respected, rich, loved. You'll be treated by your wives and children as heroes for the rest of your lives...and enjoy a peaceful death.
But you dream, Crateros. Your simplicity long ended when you took Persian mistresses and children...and you thickened your holdings with plunder and jewels.
Because you've fallen in love with all the things in life that destroy men!
Do you not see? And you, as well as I, know...that as the years decline and the memories stale...and all your great victories fade...it will always be remembered, you left your king in Asia!
For I will go on, with my Asians.

Crowd:
To the jackals with you, then, Alexander. We come for you, and you discard us. Shame!
We want to go home, Alexander.
We're tired of glory.
We want to see our wives and children before we die.
I've got children I haven't even seen.
I want to see my children.

Alexander:
I paid for your bastard children. I've taken nothing for myself. And all I've asked of you is one more month.

   
Crowd: 
Shame.

Hephaistion: 
That's your king.

Crowd: 
What would your father say?

Alexander:
I've taken you further than my father ever dreamed. So go home. I look to the barbarians for their courage. I go east.

Crowd: 
He wants us dead so we can't speak of his crimes.

Alexander: 
Who said that?

Crowd: 
We won't make it to Macedonia.

Alexander:
You despicable coward. Come forth. Make your accusations public.

Crowd:
Why? So you can have us killed?
Son of Zeus.
You desecrate your real father's memory.
Or did you murder him like you did Cleitus?

Alexander:
Hide! Hide in this mob because I'll take your life.   
You men insult my honor, my paternity. Arrest him.
And him. Yes. And you, this loudmouth Demetrius.
You call me murderer? I have no such blood on my hands.
And him. Yes, you'll know the pain of treason.
You mock my shame for Cleitus and say I'd harm a hair of my father's head.
Arrest him. After all I've done for you, you swine. You cowards. Traitors. Come on, then. Where are your daggers?

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34. Elephant attack

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Macedonian Center:
Crateros: 
Stay calm. Together we are strong as gods.
Cover with your left, strike hard with your right.

Soldier: 
Fear is rot. A waste of time.

Soldier: 
Lock shields.

Crateros: 
Battle positions!

Soldier:
Move.

Antigonus: 
Choppers, prepare your knives. Follow me!

Polyperchon: 
Strike hard, boys. Strike hard.

Macedonian Right:
Alexander: 
Come, Macedonians. Why do you hang back? Hurry.

Soldier: 
Cavalry!

Alexander: 
Split to thirds. Regroup and encircle.

Macedonian Center:
Crateros: 
Hold the line. We must hide!

Macedonian Right:
Alexander: Oh, no. Cavalry on me.

Soldier: 
Follow Alexander.

Soldier: 
Charge. Charge. Charge.

Alexander:
The phalanx is in jeopardy.
Meleager, ride to Pharnakes and tell him return to the center, at once.
Find Hephaistion at the riverbank and bring all cavalry to the center.
We must reach Crateros before it's too late.

Macedonian center:
Alexander:
Hephaistion. To the center.
Come, Macedonians. Ride. Ride!

Soldier: 
Coenus! Get out of there.

Coenus: 
No!

Hephaistion: 
The horses won't go.

Soldier: 
On foot, then.
   
Crateros:
Fall back, men! Fall back!

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35. Brought down

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Alexander:
Come, Bucephalus. Fear not, my friend.
Bucephalus. 'Tis only sun and shadow.
Bucephalus and Alexander. One last time, it's you and me.
Isn't it a lovely thing to live with great courage...and to die leaving an everlasting fame?
Come, Macedonians. Why do you retreat? Do you want to live forever? In the name of Zeus, attack.
Attack!

Hephaistion: 
Alexander!

Crateros: 
Alexander!

Hephaistion: 
The king is down!

Soldier: 
To the king!

PTOLEMY (v.o):
It was the bloodiest of his battles. Pure butchery.
We'd never be men again. 

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