Aristander:
Blood makes the world rise. Blood makes the rain fall. Blood makes the earth grow. And in blood, all men are born and die. Blood is the food of the gods below.
Alexander:
Come, Bucephalus. Today, we ride to our destiny.
Phalanx leader:
Company, regroup! Regroup!
Phalanx, turn right! Phalanx, attention!
Alexander:
Neoptolemus. I remember you the day you took siege tower at Tyre. You were a giant. And today, how will you fight?
Dexippos, by Athena. How far was it you threw your man wrestling at the last Olympic Games? Will you match it with your spear?
And Timander, son of Menander, a great soldier to my father. I still mourn your brother, Addaios, who died so bravely at Halicarnassus. What an honoured family you descent from, Timander. You fight for them today.
You’ve all honoured your country and your ancestors. And now we come to this most distant place in Asia, where across from us, Darius has at last gathered a vast army.
But ask yourselves, who is this great king who pays assassins in gold coins to murder my father, our king, in a most despicable and cowardly manner? Who is this great king, Darius, who enslaves his own men to fight? Who is this king but a king of air? These men do not fight for their homes. They fight because this king tells them they must. And when they fight, they will melt away like the air because they know no loyalty to a king of slaves.
But we are not here today as slaves. We are here today, as Macedonian freemen!
And though outnumbered, I say to you who know the price of tyranny, who’ve carried the Persian yoke (for) too long, you have a strength born of your hearts and all their arms, theirs numbers, their chariots and all their fine horses will mean nothing in the hands of slaves.
Some of you, perhaps myself, will not live to see the sun set over these mountains today. For I will be in the very thick of battle with you. But remember this: The greatest honor a man can ever achieve is to live with great courage and to die with his countrymen in battle for his home.
I say to you what every warrior has known since the beginning of time: Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.
And someday I vow to you, your sons and your grandsons will look into your eyes. And when they ask you why you fought so bravely at Gaugamela, you will answer with all the strength of your great, great hearts: I was here this day at Gaugamela for the freedom… and glory of Greece!
Zeus be with us!
Cassander, four colums, go!
Darius:
Where does he go?
Bessus:
I don’t know, Your Majesty.
Darius:
Envelope him, Bessus.
Showing posts with label Aristander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aristander. Show all posts
India - 9 Years Later
The crowd:
He lives! Alexander!
Alexander:
Men of Macedon...we're going home.
The crowd:
What? What? Home? We're going.
Alexander:
We're going home.
PTOLEMY (v.o):
His life should have ended in India...but that's myth.
In life, Herakles died of a poisoned shirt, given him in
error by his jealous wife.
Aristander:
Great Zeus...we have worshipped you in blood.
Look kindly on our homeward steps...and smile upon our
backs.
Alexander:
May all those who come here after us know, when they see
this altar...that Titans were once here.
PTOLEMY (v.o):
Making his devotions to the gods at the end of the great
journey...Alexander bade the East farewell and marched his army directly
west...across the great Gedrosian desert...seeking the shortest route home to
Babylon.
Here, he watched helplessly the cruel breaking of his army. Not
by any human foe...but by nature.
To this day, there is no accounting of how many died. It was
the worst blunder of his life.
And when he finally reentered Babylon, after six years in
the Far East...Alexander again seized the imagination of the world by taking
two more wives.
Now Alexander had three wives, two lovers...a contentious
mother and a turbulent Greece...satraps of dubious loyalty in several provinces...generals
questioning his every decision.
And beneath it all, a restive new army made up of 10 Asians
for every Greek...all held together by one slender thread.
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