WEBVTT 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:47.190 What I’m about to say isn't meant to stop you returning home. As far as I care, you 00:00:47.189 --> 00:00:54.589 can go wherever you wish. But I want you to know how you have behaved towards me, and 00:00:54.590 --> 00:00:56.760 how I have treated you. 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:02.049 I’ll begin, as is right, with my father, Philip. 00:01:02.049 --> 00:01:08.569 When he found you, you were mere peasants, wearing hides, tending a few sheep on the 00:01:08.569 --> 00:01:12.319 mountain slopes, and you could barely defend them from your neighbours. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:19.629 Under him, you began living in cities, with good laws and customs. And he turned you from 00:01:19.629 --> 00:01:26.170 slaves into rulers over those very barbarians who used to plunder your land. 00:01:26.170 --> 00:01:32.070 He conquered most of Thrace, taking the best harbours so there was trade and prosperity, 00:01:32.069 --> 00:01:36.250 and put the mines to steady work. 00:01:36.250 --> 00:01:44.609 The Thessalians - they used to terrify you! Well, we rule them now! 00:01:44.609 --> 00:01:49.950 The Athenians and Thebans, always looking for a chance to attack Macedonia, were so 00:01:49.950 --> 00:01:55.368 humbled – myself playing my small part in the war - that they no longer take tribute 00:01:55.368 --> 00:02:02.340 from Macedonia, but instead depend on us for their protection! 00:02:02.340 --> 00:02:07.859 My father went to the Peloponnese and put their house in order. Then he was declared 00:02:07.859 --> 00:02:13.219 supreme commander of all the Greeks for the campaign against the Persians – an honour 00:02:13.219 --> 00:02:17.568 not just for himself, but for all Macedonians. 00:02:17.568 --> 00:02:25.709 This is what my father Philip did for you. Great enough on its own – but small compared 00:02:25.709 --> 00:02:33.000 to what you’ve gained from me! 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:40.620 I crossed the Hellespont, even though back then the Persians still commanded the sea. 00:02:40.620 --> 00:02:48.289 I defeated the satraps of the Great King Darius, and made you rulers of Ionia, Aeolis, Phrygia 00:02:48.289 --> 00:02:55.539 and Lydia, and took Miletus by siege. 00:02:55.539 --> 00:03:01.030 The rest of the land surrendered willingly, and their wealth became yours. 00:03:01.030 --> 00:03:07.908 All the riches of Egypt and Cyrene, which I won without a fight, are yours now. Syria, 00:03:07.908 --> 00:03:16.180 Palestine, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, all belong to you! The wealth of Lydia, the treasures 00:03:16.180 --> 00:03:24.040 of Persia, the jewels of India and the outer sea! You are now satraps. You are generals, 00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:31.359 and captains. What have I held back for myself, apart from this purple cloak and diadem? 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:39.670 Nothing. No man can point to my riches - only the things I hold in trust for you all. 00:03:39.669 --> 00:03:46.679 And what would I do with them anyway? I eat what you eat. I get no more rest than you. 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:52.280 Many times I spent the night on watch so that you could sleep soundly. 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:57.509 Who among you believes he's worked harder for me than I have for him?! 00:03:57.509 --> 00:04:04.098 Come on! If you’ve got scars, strip and show them to me! I’ll show you mine. There 00:04:04.098 --> 00:04:09.430 isn’t one part of my body – the front, at least – that doesn't bear a wound. My 00:04:09.431 --> 00:04:16.579 body's covered in scars from every weapon you can think of – swords, arrows, stones, 00:04:16.579 --> 00:04:17.590 clubs. 00:04:17.589 --> 00:04:24.779 All for the sake of your lives, your glory and your wealth. 00:04:24.779 --> 00:04:31.149 And yet here I still am, leading you, as conqueror of land and sea, rivers, mountains and the 00:04:31.149 --> 00:04:32.349 plains. 00:04:32.350 --> 00:04:38.650 We’ve celebrated our weddings together. Many of your children will be cousins of my 00:04:38.649 --> 00:04:39.709 own. 00:04:39.709 --> 00:04:45.219 I’ve paid off your debts, without asking how you got them, even though you’re paid 00:04:45.220 --> 00:04:49.300 well enough and pillage every city we take. 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:57.270 Many of you wear golden crowns – badges of courage and honour given you by me. 00:04:57.269 --> 00:05:05.839 Any one of us who was killed, who met a glorious end, we buried with full honours. Many now 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:15.299 stand immortalised by bronze statues in Macedonia. Their families are honoured, and pay no taxes. 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:22.110 Under my command, not one man has been killed fleeing the enemy. 00:05:22.110 --> 00:05:27.020 And now I wanted to send back some of you who’ve been wounded or crippled, or have 00:05:27.019 --> 00:05:32.448 grown old, to be welcomed back home as heroes. 00:05:32.449 --> 00:05:36.770 But since you all wish to go, then all of you – go! 00:05:36.769 --> 00:05:44.589 Go home and tell them that your king, Alexander, conqueror of the Persians, Medes, Bactrians, 00:05:44.589 --> 00:05:45.918 and Scythians; 00:05:45.918 --> 00:05:52.769 who now rules over the Parthians, Chorasmians and Hyrcanians as far as the Caspian Sea; 00:05:52.769 --> 00:05:59.899 who’s marched over the mountains of the Hindu Kush, crossed the Oxus and Tanais rivers, 00:05:59.899 --> 00:06:06.079 even the Indus – the first to cross it since Dionysus himself. I would have crossed the 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:09.370 Hyphasis too if you hadn't cowered in fear… 00:06:09.370 --> 00:06:15.629 … who sailed into the Great Sea from the mouth of the Indus, crossed the desert of 00:06:15.629 --> 00:06:23.210 Gedrosia, where no one had ever led an army. Who took Carmenia, while my fleet sailed the 00:06:23.209 --> 00:06:26.079 Persian Gulf… 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:31.870 When you get home, you tell them that when you made it back to Susa, you abandoned him 00:06:31.870 --> 00:06:38.098 and went home, leaving him under the protection of the foreigners you’d conquered. 00:06:38.098 --> 00:06:44.490 Perhaps this report of yours will seem glorious in the eyes of men, and worthy in the eyes 00:06:44.490 --> 00:06:53.598 of the gods. 00:06:53.598 --> 00:07:11.149 Be gone! 00:07:11.149 --> 00:07:14.109 Thank you to all the Patreon supporters who helped create this video. 00:07:14.110 --> 00:07:18.889 If you’d like exclusive early access to videos like this, and the chance to vote on 00:07:18.889 --> 00:07:22.490 future topics, please visit the Epic History TV Patreon page.