The gods and mountains of the earth watched and whispered
Soon a culling of the young would happen
One future Emperor versus a sitting Emperor
One ascendant people against one in decline
The Persians and allies were insulted by the invasion
By the Macedonian army and sister states of Greece
Thracians and Greeks led by the divine
Two armies meet, clashed, and slaughter ensued
The gods and earth watched two armies bleed
Spilling the youth blood
Young warriors who could never be replaced, new wine
"Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school of danger and war. Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves. There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service — but how different is their cause from ours! They will be fighting for pay — and not much of at that; we, on the contrary, shall fight for Greece, and our hearts will be in it. As for our foreign troops — Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians, Agrianes — they are the best and stoutest soldiers in Europe, and they will find as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia. And what, finally, of the two men in supreme command? You have Alexander, they — Darius!" Alexander the Great as recorded Anabasis Alexandri by Arrian
