Alexander Page #2

Blood makes the rain fall.

Blood makes the earth grow.

And in blood, all men are born and die.

Blood is the food of the gods below.

Come, Bucephalus.

Today we ride to our destiny.

Company, group! Regroup!

Phalanx, turn right!

Phalanx, attention!

Neoptolemus.

I remember you the day

you took the siege tower at Tyre.

You were a giant.

And today, how will you fight?

Dexippos, by Athena.

How far was it you threw your man

wrestling at the last Olympic Games?

Will you match it with your spear?

And Timander, son of Menander,

a great soldier to my father.

I still mourn your brother, Addaios,

who died so bravely at Halicarnassus.

What an honored family

you descend from, Timander.

You fight for them today.

You've all honored

your country and your ancestors.

And now we come to this

most distant place in Asia...

...where across from us, Darius

has at last gathered a vast army...

But ask yourselves...

...who is this great king

who pays assassins in gold coins...

...to murder my father, our king...

...in a most despicable

and cowardly manner?

Who is this great king, Darius,

who enslaves his own men to fight?

Who is this king but a king of air?

These men do not fight for their homes.

They fight because

this king tells them they must.

And when they fight,

they will melt away like the air...

...because they know no loyalty

to a king of slaves.

But we are not here today as slaves.

We are here today...

...as Macedonian freemen!

And though outnumbered...

...I say to you who know

the price of tyranny...

...who've carried the Persian yoke

too long...

...you have a strength

born of your hearts...

...and all their arms, their numbers...

...their chariots and all their fine horses...

...will mean nothing

in the hands of slaves.

Some of you...

...perhaps myself...

...will not live to see the sun set

over these mountains today.

For I will be

in the very thick of battle with you.

But remember this:

The greatest honor

a man can ever achieve...

...is to live with great courage

and to die with his countrymen...

...in battle for his home.

I say to you...

...what every warrior has known

since the beginning of time.

Conquer your fear...

...and I promise you,

you will conquer death.

And someday I vow to you...

...your sons and your grandsons

will look into your eyes.

And when they ask why you

fought so bravely at Gaugamela...

...you will answer...

...with all the strength

of your great, great hearts:

"I was here this day at Gaugamela...

...for the freedom...

...and glory...

...of Greece!"

Zeus be with us!

Cassander! Four columns, go!

Where does he go?

I don't know, Majesty.

Envelop him, Bessus.

Hephaistion, go!

Phalanx!

He makes a mistake, Pharnakes.

Yes, great king.

Be brave, men.

Steady on the left, lads!

Bend if you must, but never break.

And keep watching the cavalry on the left.

Pick up the pace!

Prepare to repel chariots!

Forward!

Cassander!

-Forward, men!

-Forward!

-Left turn!

-Infantry, clear! Out now!

Hold your positions!

Father! We must

fall back to the gully, Father.

No, hold.

Where is he? We're far too thin!

Get word to Alexander!

-Move!

-Yes, sir.

Come, Macedonians! Ride! Ride!

Drive for the hole!

-Drive for the hole!

-Drive for the hole!

Prince Merdicus, bring these men up.

Back and to the left!

Back and to the left!

-General!

-Get to your home! And go home fast.

I cannot see!

-Philotas! Philotas!

-Father.

Go. Tell Alexander yourself.

And if he won't listen, then survive me

and avenge this betrayal!

Pay attention, lad!

Your father still watches over you!

Darius!

Find your horses.

Darius!

Go! Go!

We can reach those mountains by sunset,

go all night and catch Darius at dawn.

Provision the horses.

Alexander!

Alexander, my father's lost.

They've overrun the flank.

They're into the baggage train.

Parmenion's crumbling.

Alexander, if you chase him,

you risk losing your army here.

And if we capture him,

we gain an empire.

You can run to the ends of the earth,

you coward...

...but you'll never run far enough!

To Parmenion!

You bleed free, my lord.

-May I tend to your wound?

-No, Hermolaus, not now.

There's far worse than me. Go to them.

Help them.

How was this done, soldier?

Spear.

But I got two of the buggers.

Your Majesty.

You're very brave.

What shall I call you?

-Glaukos, my king.

-Glaukos.

-And where's your home?

-Illyria.

Let your body go loose.

Think of home now.

Be brave again, Glaukos...

...and you will live on in glory.

Alexander.

The Persian Empire,

the greatest the world had yet known...

...was destroyed.

And Alexander, at 25,

was now king of all.

If you hesitate, she will strike.

Yes.

They are like people.

You can love them for years.

Feed them, nurture them...

...but still, they can turn on you.

Don't hurt her.

Good.

Now...

He calls me a barbarian.

He makes a mockery

of Dionysus every night.

Some called his mother,

Queen Olympias, a sorceress...

...and said that Alexander

was the child of Zeus.

Others, Dionysus.

Women are the only ones

who know Dionysus.

But truly, there was not a man

in Macedonia who didn't look...

...at father and son, side by side,

and wonder.

My little Achilles.

Stay, Alexander, down. Down.

What is it you want?

Six months. Did you miss me?

-No. Not here!

-Proud b*tch. I'm still your king.

King of what? Sheepherders?

-I am of Achilles' royal blood.

-The blood of Herakles runs in my veins.

-You are nothing but a drunken whore.

-Shut your mouth.

You 10-titted b*tch from Hades!

Which god could I curse to

have ever laid eyes on you!

Do you think people respect you?

You think they don't know your bastards?

Damn your sorceress soul! You keep him

here like one of your snakes!

I told you not! I told you not.

-You'll obey me.

-I will not.

You'll obey me, or I'll kill you

with my own hands.

Let her go! No! Stop! Papa!

-Obey me!

-Your Majesty! No!

In the name of the gods.

He will never be yours! Never!

In my womb, I carried my avenger!

in the world he grew up to...

...Ive come to believe it was in

friendship that Alexander found his sanity.

You don't need much to fight.

When you're in the front ranks of a battle,

facing some Northern barbarian tribe...

...courage won't be in

the soles of your feet, Perdiccas.

Or in the thickness

of your tunic, Philotas.

Or in the lining

of your stomach, Nearchus.

It's in the heart of a man.

You don't need to eat every day

or until you're full, Ptolemy.

You don't need to lie in bed

in a morning...

...when you can have some good bean soup,

Cassander, after a forced night march.

Come on, Alexander.

Where's your hunger

to twist Hephaistion's head off?

Is he stronger than you?

Then beat him another way.

Who will respect you as a king?

You think because of your father?

The first rule of war is to do what you

ask your men to do. No more, no less.

Good, Hephaistion. That's it.

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