Plutarch, De Alexandri magni fortuna aut virtute
Frank Cole Babbitt, Ed.

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But Alexander took his breakfast at daybreak [p. 451] seated¹; he dined late in the evening ; he drank only after sacrificing to the gods ; he played dice with Medius when he had a fever²; he played games while travelling, at the same time also learning to wield a bow and mount a chariot. For himself he married Roxanê,³ the only woman he ever loved; but Stateira,⁴ the daughter of Darius, he married for imperial and political reasons, since the union of the two races was highly advantageous. But as for the other Persian women, he was as much their superior in self-control as in valour he was superior to Persian men. For he looked at no woman against her will⁵ and those that he looked at he passed by more readily than those that he did not look at; and although he bore himself humanely toward all other persons, it was toward fair youth alone that he conducted himself haughtily. He would not listen to a single word in praise of the beauty of the wife⁶ of Darius, who was a very handsome woman; but when she died, he graced her funeral with such a royal pomp and bewailed her death so feelingly that his self-control was questioned amid his display of humanity, and his goodness incurred the charge of wrongdoing. For Darius⁷ was disturbed by suspicion of Alexander's power and youth ; for he also was still one of those who believed Alexander's victory to be through Fortune. But when he had tested the matter from every angle, and recognized the truth, ‘Then,’ said he, ‘the lot of the Persians is not so utterly wretched, nor will anyone say that we are altogether cowardly or unmanly in [p. 453] that we have been overcome by such a man. But for my part I pray the gods for fair fortune and for might in war, that I may surpass Alexander in bestowing favours ; and I am possessed by an ambitious and emulous desire to prove myself more humane than Alexander. But if my power be spent, do thou, O Zeus, ancestral god of the Persians, and ye other gods that guard our kingship, grant that none other than Alexander take his seat upon the throne of Cyrus.’ This was Darius's way of adopting Alexander, invoking the gods as witnesses.