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[2] Some said that the king must join in battle personally, and they argued that the Persians would fight better in that event. Charidemus,1 however, the Athenian, a man generally admired for his bravery and skill as a commander—he had been a comrade-in-arms of King Philip and had led or counselled all his successes2—recommended that Dareius should on no account stake his throne rashly on a gamble, but should keep in his own hands the reserve strength and the control of Asia while sending to the war a general who had given proof of his ability.

1 Curtius 3.2.10-19, with strong reminiscences of the role of Demaratus in Herodotus. Charidemus is not mentioned in Justin, Plutarch, or Arrian except earlier, Arrian. 1.10.4-6.

2 It seems impossible that Diodorus can be right here. Charidemus was not always a dutiful Athenian, but he was one of the generals whom Alexander had demanded after the capture of Thebes, and who had had to flee like Ephialtes and Thrasybulus (chap. 25.6). It is possible that Charidemus had visited Philip's court about 354 B.C., when his patron Cersobleptes became Philip's friend, but most of Charidemus's career was spent in operations against the Macedonians (Berve, Alexanderreich, 2, no. 823).

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