Dio Chrysostom, On Kingship 2.3

Philip next asked him: "But as for you, Alexander, would you like to have been Agamemnon or Achilles or any one of the heroes of those days, or Homer?" 

"No, indeed," said Alexander, "but I should like to go far beyond Achilles and the others. For you are not inferior to Peleus, in my opinion; nor is Macedonia less power­ful than Phthia;​ nor would I admit that Olympus​ is a less famous mountain than Pelion;​ and, besides, the education I have gained under Aristotle is not inferior to that which Achilles derived from Amyntor's son, Phoenix, an exiled man and estranged from his father. Then, too, Achilles had to take orders from others and was sent with a small force of which he was not in sole command, since he was to share the expedition with another. I, however, could never submit to any mortal whatsoever being king over me." 

Whereupon Philip almost became angry with him and said: "But I am king and you are subject to me, Alexander." 

"Not I," said he, "for I hearken to you, not as king, but as father." 

"I suppose you will not go on and say, will you, that your mother was a goddess, as Achilles did," said Philip, "or do you presume to compare Olympias with Thetis?" 

At this Alexander smiled slightly and said, "To me, father, she seems more courageous than any Nereid." 

Whereupon Philip laughed and said, "Not merely more courageous, my son, but also more warlike; at least she never ceases making war on me." So far did they both go in mingling jest with earnest. 

Philip then went on with his questioning: "If, then, you are so enthusiastic an admirer of Homer, how is it that you do not aspire to his poetic skill?" 

"Because," he replied, "while it would give me the greatest delight to hear the herald at Olympia proclaim the victors with strong and clear voice, yet I should not myself care to herald the victories of others; I should much rather hear my own proclaimed." 

With these words he tried to make it clear that while he considered Homer to be a marvelous and truly divine herald of valor, yet he regarded himself and the Homeric heroes as the athletes who strove in the contest of noble achievement. 

"Still, it would not be at all strange, father," he continued, "if I were to be a good poet as well, did nature but favor me; for you know that a king might find that even rhetoric was valuable to him.​ You, for example, are often compelled to write and speak in opposition to Demosthenes, a very clever orator who can sway his audience—to say nothing of the other political leaders of Athens." 

"Yes," said Philip playfully, "and I should have been glad to cede Amphipolis to the Athenians in exchange for that clever Demosthenes. But what do you think was Homer's attitude regarding rhetoric?" 

"I believe that he admired the study, father," said he, "else he would never have introduced Phoenix as a teacher of Achilles in the art of discourse. Phoenix, at any rate, says that he was sent by Achilles' father, 

To teach thee both, that so thou mightst become

In words an orator, in warlike deeds

A doer. 

"And as for the other chieftains, he depicted the best and the best qualified for kingly office as having cultivated this art with no less zeal: I mean Diomede, Odysseus, and particularly Nestor, who surpassed all the others in both discernment and persuasiveness. Witness what he says in the early part of his poem: 

whose tongue 

Dropped words more sweet than honey. 

"It was for this reason that Agamemnon prayed that he might have ten such elders as counsellors rather than youths like Ajax and Achilles, implying that the capture of Troy would thus be hastened. And, indeed, in another instance​ he showed the importance of rhetorical skill. 

"For when the Greeks had at last become faint-hearted in pursuing the campaign because the war had lasted so long and the siege was so difficult, and also, no doubt, because of the plague that laid hold of them and of the dissensions between the kings, Agamemnon and Achilles; and when, in addition, a certain agitator​ rose to oppose them and threw the assembly into confusion—at this crisis the host rushed to the ships, embarked in hot haste, and were minded to flee. Nobody was able to restrain them, and even Agamemnon knew not how to handle the situation. 

"Now in this emergency the only one who was able to call them back and change their purpose was Odysseus, who finally, by the speech he made, and with the help of Nestor, persuaded them to remain. Consequently, this achievement was clearly due to the orators; and one could point to many other instances as well. It is evident, then, that not only Homer but Hesiod, too, held this view, implying that rhetoric in the true meaning of the term, as well as philosophy, is a proper study for the king; for the latter says of Calliope, 

She attendeth on kings august that the daughters of great Zeus

Honor and watch at their birth, those kings that of Zeus are nurtured. 

"But to write epic poetry, or to compose pieces in prose like those letters of yours,​ father, which are said to have won you high repute, is not altogether essential for a king, except indeed when he is young  and has leisure, as was the case with you when, as they say, you diligently cultivated rhetorical studies in Thebes. 

"Nor, again, is it necessary that he study philosophy to the point of perfecting himself in it; he need only live simply and without affectation, to give proof by his very conduct of a character that is humane, gentle, just, lofty, and brave as well, and, above all, one that takes delight in bestowing benefits—a trait which approaches most nearly to the nature divine. 

"He should, indeed, lend a willing ear to the teachings of philosophy whenever opportunity offers, inasmuch as these are manifestly not opposed to his own character but in accord with it; yet I should especially counsel the noble ruler of princely soul to make poetry his delight and to read it attentively—not all poetry, however, but only the most beautiful and majestic, such as we know Homer's alone to be, and of Hesiod's the portions akin to Homer's, and perhaps sundry edifying passages in other poets." 

"And so, too, with music," continued Alexander; "for I should not be willing to learn all there is in music, but only enough for playing the cithara or the lyre when I sing hymns in honor of the gods and worship them, and also, I suppose, in chanting the praises of brave men. It would surely not be becoming for kings to sing the odes of Sappho or Anacreon, whose theme is love; but if they do sing odes, let it be some of those of Stesichorus or Pindar, if sing they must. But perhaps Homer is all one needs even to that end." 

"What!" exclaimed Philip, "do you think that any of Homer's lines would sound well with the cithara or the lyre?" 

And Alexander, glaring at him fiercely like a lion, said: "For my part, father, I believe that many of Homer's lines would properly be sung to the trumpet—not, by heavens, when it sounds the retreat, but when it peals forth the signal for the charge, and sung by no chorus of women or maids, but by a phalanx under arms. They are much to be preferred to the songs of Tyrtaeus,​ which the Spartans use." 

At this Philip commended his son for having spoken worthily of the poet and well. 

"And indeed," Alexander continued, "Homer illustrates the very point we have just mentioned. He has represented Achilles, for instance, when he was loitering in the camp of the Achaeans, as singing no ribald or even amorous ditties—though he says, to be sure, that he was in love with Briseis; nay, he speaks of him as playing the cithara, and not one that he had bought, I assure you, or brought from his father's house, but one that he had plucked from the spoils when he took Thebe​ and slew Eëtion, the father of Hector's wife. Homer's words are: 

To soothe his mood he sang

The deeds of heroes. 

"Which means that a noble and princely man should never forget valor and glorious deeds whether he be drinking or singing, but should without ceasing be engaged in some great and some admirable action himself, or in recalling deeds of that kind."