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Amyntas, when he had thus besought his son, went out; and Alexander
said to the Persians, "Look on these ladies as your own, dear
strangers, all or any of them - only tell us your wishes. But now,
as the evening wears, and I see you have all had wine enough, let
them, if you please, retire, and when they have bathed they shall
come back again." To this the Persians agreed, and Alexander,
having got the women away, sent them off to the harem, and made ready
in their room an equal number of beardless youths, whom he dressed in
the garments of the women, and then, arming them with daggers,
brought them in to the Persians, saying as he introduced them,
"Methinks, dear Persians, that your entertainment has fallen short
in nothing. We have set before you all that we had ourselves in
store, and all that we could anywhere find to give you - and now, to
crown the whole, we make over to you our sisters and our mothers, that
you may perceive yourselves to be entirely honoured by us, even as you
deserve to be - and also that you may take back word to the king who
sent you here, that there was one man, a Greek, the satrap of
Macedonia, by whom you were both feasted and lodged handsomely." So
speaking, Alexander set by the side of each Persian one of those whom
he had called Macedonian women, but who were in truth men. And these
men, when the Persians began to be rude, despatched them with their daggers.
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