Note 308 — Chapter VII · —The affair of Biton and Boxus at Baktra—Embassy from the Sudracae and Malli proffering submission—Alexander entertains his army and the embassy at a sumptuous banquet—Single combat between a Macedonian and an Athenian champion

It is uncertain whether the Macedonians were of the same blood as the Greeks. Their kings undoubtedly were, but Grote, influenced by his antipathy to Alexander, who had crushed the liberties of Greece, considered him little better than a barbarian, “who had at most put on some superficial varnish of Hellenic culture.” See on this point Freeman’s Historical Essays, vol. ii. pp. 192-201, 3rd ed.