CHAPTER XII.

 Callisthenes Refuses to Prostrate¹ Himself.

By making these and other remarks of a similar kind, Callisthenes greatly annoyed Alexander, but spoke² the exact sentiments of the Macedonians. When the king perceived this, he sent to prevent the Macedonians from making any farther mention of the ceremony of prostration³. But after the discussion silence ensued; and then the most honourable⁴ of the Persians arose in due order and prostrated⁵ their bodies before him. But when one of the Persians seemed to have performed the ceremony in an awkward way, Leonnatus, one of the Companions, laughed at his posture⁶ as mean. Alexander at the time was angry with him for this, but was afterwards reconciled to him.561 The following account has also been given:—Alexander drank from a golden goblet⁷ the health of the circle of guests, and handed it first to those with whom he had concerted the ceremony of prostration. The first who drank from the goblet rose up and performed the act of prostration, and received a kiss from him. This ceremony proceeded from one to another in due order. But when the pledging of health came to the turn of Callisthenes, he rose up and drank from the goblet, and drew near, wishing to kiss the king without performing the act of prostration. Alexander happened then to be conversing⁸ with Hephaestion, and consequently did not observe whether Callisthenes performed the ceremony properly or not. But when Callisthenes was approaching to kiss him, Demetrius, son of Pythonax, one of the Companions, said that he was doing so without having prostrated himself. So the king would not permit him to kiss him; whereupon the philosopher said:—“I 229am going away only with the loss of a kiss.” I by no means approve any of these proceedings⁹, which manifested both the insolence¹⁰ of Alexander on the present occasion and the churlish nature of Callisthenes. But I think that, so far as regards himself, it would have been quite sufficient if he had given his opinion discreetly¹¹, magnifying as much as possible the exploits of the king, with whom no one thought it a dishonour¹² to associate. Therefore I consider that not without reason Callisthenes became odious¹³ to Alexander on account of the unseasonable freedom of speech in which he indulged,562 as well as from the egregious¹⁴ fatuity¹⁵ of his conduct. I surmise¹⁶ that this was the reason why such easy credit was given to those who accused him of participating in the conspiracy¹⁷ formed against Alexander by his pages, and to those also who affirmed that they had been incited¹⁸ to engage in the conspiracy by him alone. The facts of this conspiracy were as follows:—

1 prostrate   

v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的

参考例句：

• She was prostrate on the floor.她俯卧在地板上。
• The Yankees had the South prostrate and they intended to keep It'so.北方佬已经使南方屈服了,他们还打算继续下去。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 prostration   

n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳

参考例句：

• a state of prostration brought on by the heat 暑热导致的虚脱状态
• A long period of worrying led to her nervous prostration. 长期的焦虑导致她的神经衰弱。

4 honourable   

adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的

参考例句：

• I don't think I am worthy of such an honourable title.这样的光荣称号，我可担当不起。
• I hope to find an honourable way of settling difficulties.我希望设法找到一个体面的办法以摆脱困境。

5 prostrated   

v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力

参考例句：

• He was prostrated by the loss of his wife. 他因丧妻而忧郁。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They prostrated themselves before the emperor. 他们拜倒在皇帝的面前。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

7 goblet   

n.高脚酒杯

参考例句：

• He poured some wine into the goblet.他向高脚酒杯里倒了一些葡萄酒。
• He swirled the brandy around in the huge goblet.他摇晃着高脚大玻璃杯使里面的白兰地酒旋动起来。

8 conversing   

v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I find that conversing with her is quite difficult. 和她交谈实在很困难。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were conversing in the parlor. 他们正在客厅谈话。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

10 insolence   

n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度

参考例句：

• I've had enough of your insolence, and I'm having no more. 我受够了你的侮辱，不能再容忍了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• How can you suffer such insolence? 你怎么能容忍这种蛮横的态度？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 discreetly   

ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地

参考例句：

• He had only known the perennial widow, the discreetly expensive Frenchwoman. 他只知道她是个永远那么年轻的寡妇，一个很会讲排场的法国女人。
• Sensing that Lilian wanted to be alone with Celia, Andrew discreetly disappeared. 安德鲁觉得莉莲想同西莉亚单独谈些什么，有意避开了。

12 dishonour   

n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩

参考例句：

• There's no dishonour in losing.失败并不是耻辱。
• He would rather die than live in dishonour.他宁死不愿忍辱偷生。

13 odious   

adj.可憎的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• The judge described the crime as odious.法官称这一罪行令人发指。
• His character could best be described as odious.他的人格用可憎来形容最贴切。

14 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

15 fatuity   

n.愚蠢，愚昧

参考例句：

• This is no doubt the first step out of confusion and fatuity.这无疑是摆脱混乱与愚味的第一步。
• Therefore,ignorance of history often leads to fatuity in politics.历史的无知，往往导致政治上的昏庸。

16 surmise   

v./n.猜想，推测

参考例句：

• It turned out that my surmise was correct.结果表明我的推测没有错。
• I surmise that he will take the job.我推测他会接受这份工作。

17 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

18 incited   

刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He incited people to rise up against the government. 他煽动人们起来反对政府。
• The captain's example incited the men to bravery. 船长的榜样激发了水手们的勇敢精神。