Alexander, observing a large statue of Xerxes which had been thrown down and was being carelessly trampled upon by the soldiers as they pressed into the royal palace, stopped, and addressed it as though it were alive.  “Shall we,” said he, “leave thee lying there, because of thy invasion of Greece, or shall we set thee up again because of thy magnificence and greatness of soul?” He then stood musing for a long time, till at length he roused himself from his reverie and went his way.  Being desirous of giving his soldiers some rest, as it was now winter, he remained in that country for four months.  It is related that when he first took his seat upon the royal throne of Persia, under the golden canopy, Demaratus, an old friend and companion of Alexander, burst into tears, and exclaimed that the Greeks who had died before that day had lost the greatest of pleasures, because they had not seen Alexander seated on the throne of Darius.

XXXVIII.  After this, while he was engaged in preparing to march in pursuit of Darius, he chanced to be present at a banquet where his friends had brought their mistresses.  Of these ladies the chief was the celebrated Thais, who afterwards became the mistress of King Ptolemy of Egypt, and who was of Attic parentage.

She at first amused Alexander by her conversation, then adroitly flattered him, and at last, after he had been drinking for some time, began to speak in a lofty strain of patriotism which scarcely became such a person.  She declared, that she was fully repaid for all the hardships which she had undergone while travelling through Asia with the army, now that she was able to revel in the palace of the haughty Kings of Persia; but that it would be yet sweeter to her to burn the house of Xerxes, who burned her native Athens, and to apply the torch with her own hand in the presence of Alexander, that it might be told among men that a woman who followed Alexander’s camp had taken a more noble revenge upon the Persians for the wrongs of Greece, than all the admirals and generals of former times had been able to do.  This speech of hers was enthusiastically applauded, and all Alexander’s friends pressed him to execute the design.  Alexander leaped from his seat, and led the way, with a garland upon his head and a torch in his hand.  The rest of the revellers followed, and surrounded the palace, while the remainder of the Macedonians, hearing what was going on, brought them torches.  They did so the more readily because they thought that the destruction of the palace indicated an intention on Alexander’s part to return home, and not to remain in Persia.  Some historians say that this was how he came to burn the palace, while others say that he did it after mature deliberation:  but all agree that he repented of what he had done, and gave orders to have the fire extinguished.