And at nightfall, Alexander ordered everyone to leave the house. Among those he dismissed were Kombaphe and Roxiane, his wife. And from the house there was an exit toward the river called the Euphrates, which runs through Babylon. He ordered it opened and that no one be at the places they customarily stood guard. And when it was the middle of the night, he got up from his bed, put out the light, and crawled on all fours toward the river. And he saw his wife, Roxiane, advancing toward him. He had been planning to act in a manner worthy of his great courage. She followed his final journey in the dark. And Alexander, scarcely making a sound, would groan, and Roxiane was directed to the cry. And he stopped and was still. And his wife embraced him and said, “Are you abandoning and leaving me, Alexander, by committing suicide?” And he said: “Roxiane, it is a small deprivation for you that my glory be taken away from you. But still let no one hear about this.” And he turned away from Roxiane and went back home in concealment.

And when it was day, he ordered Perdikkas and Ptlomeos and Lysimachos to come in. He told them that no one else should approach him until he wrote a will about his affairs. And they went out. And then he seated near him the will makers, Kombaphe and Hermogenes, who were young men. And Perdikkas thought that Alexander would leave all his goods to Ptlomeos because he had often spoken to him of Ptlomeos’ lucky birth. And Olympias, too, had made it clear that Ptlomeos had been fathered by Philip. So he had made him promise privately that he would in turn be a recipient of Alexander’s possessions at the time of the division of his goods. And when night fell, the secretaries began to write. And the king ordered that Perdikkas and Loukias and Ptlomeos and Lysimachos be summoned to him. And they came into the palace.

And suddenly a great shout arose from all the Macedonians. And they all rushed upon the palace saying that they would kill the guards unless they showed them their king. And Alexander heard the noise of the uproar and Perdikkas came and informed him of what the Macedonians were saying. He ordered that his couch be lifted and put in a place where the army might pass and see him and that the soldiers be brought in, clad in a single garment, and taken out the other door, so that they make no trouble amongst themselves and start fighting. The Macedonians entered and passed close by him and gave him encouragement. And there was no one who was not grieved over what had happened to such a great and world-conquering king.