59

He punishes the murderers of Darius.

'swore thou not to us, by our gods that our Almighty, & by the health of thy mother Olympias, that thou should [gerre] do us no harm, but that thou sould give us a worthy reward.' And Alexander said again unto them: 'So [aught] me well for to swear, for to get to know of the slayers of Darius. For I should never have gotten knowing thereof had I not sworn so. And this I shall save mine [athe] well enough. For it was always mine intent, that if I might [wete] what they were, they should have such a reward. For they that slays their own lord it is a taken that they will have no conscience to slay another man.' And when the persians heard this they began to praise Alexander & to commend him and bless him as he had been a god. Then king Alexander [gert hede] the two homicides. And all the [rewme] he set in governance of certain lords. Amongst others there was an old lord was uncle to Darius, the which [highte] Climitus, that was greatly loved by the persians; And Alexander at the request of all the persians ordained him for to be chief governor under him of all persia. And on the morn Alexander set him in his throne, with his crown on his head, and after the bidding of Darius he command to bring before him Roxana, Darius' daughter, with a crown on her head, set full of precious stones. And there, as the manner was of the persians, he took her to his wife, and made her to sit with him in his throne & command all men to worship her as queen. And then the persians were very glad, & anon they brought their gods before Alexander, and began to worship him, & love him right as he had been a god, and said unto him, [hallely] with a voice, 'thou thyself is a god, For that that is pleasing to our gods always thou does.' And when Alexander saw this, he was greatly troubled & right feared & said unto them: 'Worshipful sirs,' quoth he, 'I pray thou that thee worship me not as a god, for truly I am as thee are, a corruptible & a mortal man, and in me there is no parcel of the godhead. And therefore, I beseech thou, ceases of this worship that thee do me.'

Then [gert] Alexander write a letter to Olympias his mother & to Aristotle his master, making mention of all the battles & the diseases that he had suffered in Persia, and of the great riches