power, to silence those with whom I deign to converse.

_Robber_--I must, then, answer your question by another. How have you
passed your life?

_Alexander_--Like a hero. Ask Fame, and she will tell you. Among the
brave, the bravest; among sovereigns, the noblest; among conquerors,
the mightiest.

_Robber_--And does not Fame speak of me too? Was there ever a bolder
captain of a more valiant band? Was there ever--but I scorn to boast.
You yourself know that I have not been easily subdued.

_Alexander_--Still, what are you but a robber,--a base, dishonest
robber?

_Robber_--And what is a conqueror? Have not you too gone about the
earth like an evil genius, plundering, killing without law, without
justice, merely to gratify your thirst for dominion? What I have done
in a single province with a hundred followers, you have done to whole
nations with a hundred thousand. What; then, is the difference, but
that you were born a king, and I a private man; you have been able to
become a mightier robber than I.

_Alexander_--But if I have taken like a king, I have given like a king.
If I have overthrown empires, I have founded greater. I have cherished
arts, commerce, and philosophy.

_Robber_--I too have freely given to the poor what I took from the
rich. I know, indeed, very little of the philosophy you speak of, but