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After many arguments had been heard, the Macedonians condemned Philotas and the other accused persons to death. Among these was Parmenion, he who seemed to be the first of Alexander's Friends; he was not with the army, but it was thought that he had contrived the conspiracy by means of his son Philotas. [2] Philotas, then, was first tortured and confessed to the plot, and then was killed in the Macedonian manner with the other condemned persons.1

This was the occasion for bringing up the case of Alexander the Lyncestian. He was charged with the crime of plotting against the king and had been kept for three years under guard. He had been delayed a hearing because of his relationship to Antigonus, but now he was brought before the court of the Macedonians and was put to death, lacking words to defend himself.2 [3]

Alexander dispatched riders on racing camels, who travelled faster than the report of Philotas's punishment and murdered his father Parmenion.3 He had been appointed governor of Media and was in charge of the royal treasures in Ecbatana, amounting to one hundred and eighty thousand talents. [4] Alexander selected from among the Macedonians those who made remarks hostile to him and those who were distressed at the death of Parmenion, as well as those who wrote in letters sent home to Macedonia to their relatives anything contrary to the king's interests. These he assembled into one unit which he called the Disciplinary Company, so that the rest of the Macedonians might not be corrupted by their improper remarks and criticism.4

1 Either by being stoned (Curtius 6.11.10, 38) or by being pierced with javelins (Arrian. 3.26.3).

2 The arrest of Alexander was mentioned above (chap. 32.1). If the throne were vacant, he would have been the logical person to become king, so that his continued existence involved King Alexander in a certain risk. His wife was one of the many daughters of Antipater (Curtius 7.1.7), but his relationship to Antigonus is unknown. The latter was King Alexander's representative in Phrygia, but it is likely that his name is a mistake for Antipater's, since Alexander Lyncestes was his son-in-law (Curtius 7.1.7; Justin 11.7.1).

3 Polydamas and two Arab guides (Curtius 7.2.17-18). They made the thirty-days' trip in eleven days (Strabo 15.2.10).

4 Curtius 7.2.35-38; Justin 12.5.4-8. This name, the "Company of the Undisciplined," is not otherwise reported. The term could be translated also "Unassigned."

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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