Alexander Revisited:
The Final Cut

Alexander:
It’s high ransom she charges for nine months lodging in the womb. Hephaistion: Bring her, Alexander. It will bring her such joy.

Alexander:
Joy? When I’m the cracked mirror of her dream? Stay with me tonight, Hephaistion. I’ll take my own bath. (To Bagoas) Thank you, Bagoas.

Hephaistion:
What bother you?

Alexander:
I see in her everything I fear. Yet I have no idea what it is, this fear. She was always so sure I was born of Zeus. Why, Hephaistioin?

Hephaistion:
I think there are things beyond our imagining. Like the lightning, tales of strange conceptions. I don’t doubt it.  Alexander: What is being told me? What destiny do we--? Do I have?

Hephaistion:
Well, if I’m Patroclus, I die first. Then you, Achilles. The generals are upset. They question your obsession with Darius. They say it was never meant for you to be king of Asia.

Alexander: Naturally.
They want only to return to their homes, rich with gold. But I’ve seen the future, Hephaistion. I’ve seen it now a thousand times on a thousand faces. These people want --need change. Aristotle was wrong about them.

Hephaistion:
How so?

Alexander:
Look at those we’ve conquered. They leave their dead unburied. They smashed their enemies’ skulls and drink them as dust. They mate in public. What can they think or can sing or write if none can read? But as Alexander’s army, they can go where they never thought possible. They can soldier or work in the cities. The Alexandrias, from Egypt to the outer ocean. We could connect these lands, Hephaistion …and the people.

Hephaistion:
Some say that these Alexandrias have become extensions of Alexander himself. They draw people into the cities to make slaves of them.

Alexander:
But we freed them, Hephaistion, from Persia where everyone lived as slaves. To free the people of the world, such would be beyond the glory of Achilles, beyond Herakles, a feat to rival Prometheus who was always a friend to man.

Hephaistion:
Remember the fate of these heroes. They suffered greatly.

Alexander:
Oh, we all suffer. Your father, mine. They all came to the end of their time. And in the end, when it’s over, all that matters is what you’ve done.

Hephaistion:
You once said, The fear of death drives all men. Are there no other forces? Is there not love in your life… Alexander? What would you do if you ever reach the end of the world? Alexander: I’d turn back and conquer its opposite.

Hephaistion:
I wonder sometimes if it’s not your mother you run from. So many years, so many miles between you. What is it you fear?

Alexander:
Who knows these things? When I was a child, my mother thought me divine. My father, weak. Which am I Hephaistion? Weak or divine? All I know is, I trust only you in this world. I’ve missed you. I need you. It is you I love, Hephaistion. No other.

Hephaistion:
You’re everything I care for. And by the sweet breath of Aphrodite, I’m so jealous of losing you to this world you want.

Alexander:
You’ll never lose me, Hephaistion. I’ll be with you always. Till the end.