The Anabasis of Alexander : $b or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great

How it begins

It is said that Philip died14 when Pythodemus was archon at Athens,15 and that his son Alexander,16 being then 9about twenty years of age, marched into Peloponnesus17 as soon as he had secured the regal power. There he assembled all the Greeks who were within the limits of Peloponnesus,18 and asked from them the supreme command of the expedition against the Persians, an office which they had already conferred upon Philip. He received the honour which he asked from all except the Lacedaemonians,19 who replied that it was an hereditary custom of theirs, not to follow others but to lead them.