Οὔσης δὴ τοιαύτης τῆς ἀμφὶ τὸ δεῖπνον παρασκευῆς, ἐπόθουν μὲν οὐδὲν οἱ θεοί, πάντα γὰρ ἔχουσιν, αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν ἡρώων ἐδόκει τῷ Ἑρμῇ διαπειρᾶσθαι, καὶ τῷ Διὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀπὸ γνώμης ἦν. ἐδεῖτο δὲ καὶ ὁ Κυρῖνος ἤδη τινὰ μετάγειν ἐκεῖθεν παρ᾽ ἑαυτόν. Ἡρακλῆς δὲ εἶπεν, [B] Οὐκ ἀνέξομαι, ὦ Κυρῖνε· διὰ τί γὰρ οὐχὶ καὶ τὸν ἐμὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον παρεκάλεις; σοῦ τοίνυν, εἶπεν, ὦ Ζεῦ, δέομαι, εἴ τινα τούτων ἔγνωκας ἄγειν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἥκειν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον κέλευε. τί γὰρ οὐχὶ κοινῇ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀποπειρώμενοι τῷ βελτίονι τιθέμεθα; δίκαια λέγειν ὁ τῆς Ἀλκμήνης ἐδόκει τῷ Διί. [C] καὶ ἐπεισελθόντος αὐτοῦ τοῖς ἥρωσιν οὔτε ὁ Καῖσαρ οὔτε ἄλλος τις ὑπανίστατο· καταλαβὼν δὲ σχολάζουσαν καθέδραν, ἣν ὁ τοῦ Σεβήρου παῖς ἐπεποίητο ἑαυτῷ, ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἀπελήλατο διὰ τὴν ἀδελφοκτονίαν, ἐνεκάθισε, καὶ ὁ Σειληνὸς ἐπισκώπτων τὸν Κυρῖνον, Ὅρα, εἶπε, μή ποτε οὗτοι ἑνὸς εἰσιν(603) ἀντάξιοι τουτουὶ τοῦ Γραικοῦ. Μὰ Δία, εἶπεν ὁ Κυρῖνος, οἶμαι πολλοὺς εἶναι μὴ χείρονας. οὕτω δὲ αὐτὸν οἱ ἐμοὶ τεθαυμάκασιν ἔγγονοι, [D] ὥστε μόνον αὐτὸν ἐκ πάντων, ὅσοι γεγόνασιν ἡγεμόνες ξένοι, ὀνομάζουσι καὶ νομίζουσι μέγαν. οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ τῶν παρ᾽ ἑαυτοῖς γεγονότων οἴονται μείζονα τοῦτον, ἴσως μὲν ὑπὸ φιλαυτίας τι παθόντες, ἴσως δὲ καὶ οὕτως ἔχον· εἰσόμεθα δὲ αὐτίκα μάλα τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀποπειρώμενοι. ταῦτα μάλιστα λέγων ὁ Κυρῖνος ἠρυθρία, καὶ δῆλος ἦν ἀγωνιῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀπογόνων τῶν ἑαυτοῦ, μή του τὰ δευτερεῖα λαβόντες οἴχωνται. (When the feast had been prepared as I have described, the gods lacked nothing, since all things are theirs. Then Hermes proposed to examine the heroes personally and Zeus was of the same mind. Quirinus thereupon begged that he might summon one of their number to his side. “Quirinus,” said Heracles, “I will not have it. For why did you not invite to the feast my beloved Alexander also? Zeus, if you are minded to introduce into our presence any of these Emperors, send, I beg of you, for Alexander. For if we are to examine into the merits of men generally, why do we not throw open the competition to the better man?” Zeus considered that what the son of Alcmena said was only just. So Alexander joined the company of heroes, but neither Caesar nor anyone else yielded his place to him. However he found and took a vacant seat which the son(604) of Severus had taken for himself—he had been expelled for fratricide. Then Silenus began to rally Quirinus and said, “See now whether all these Romans can match this one Greek.”(605) “By Zeus,” retorted Quirinus, “I consider that many of them are as good as he! It is true that my descendants have admired him so much that they hold that he alone of all foreign generals is worthy to be styled ‘the Great.’ But it does not follow that they think him greater than their own heroes; which may be due to national prejudice, but again they may be right. However, that we shall very soon find out by examining these men.” Even as he spoke Quirinus was blushing, and was evidently extremely anxious on behalf of his descendants and feared that they might