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Plutarch "Moralia" 1st-2nd cent. A.D.

 He took captive an excellent Indian archer that said he could shoot an arrow through a ring, and commanded him to show his skill; and when the man refused to do this, he commanded him in a rage to be put to death. The man told them that led him to execution that, not having practised for many days, he was afraid he should miss. Alexander, hearing this, wondered at him and dismissed him with rewards, because he chose rather to die than show himself unworthy of his reputation.

Athenaeus "Deipnosophists" 2nd cent. A.D.

 King Alexander also was madly devoted to boys. Dicaearchus, at any rate, in his book On the Sacrifice at Ilium says that he was so overcome with love for the eunuch Bagoas that, in full view of the entire theatre, he, bending over, caressed Bagoas fondly, and when the audience clapped and shouted in applause, he, nothing loath, again bent over and kissed him. But Carystius in Historical Notes says: “Charon of Chalcis had a beautiful boy who was dear to him. But when Alexander, at a drinking-party in the house of Craterus, praised the boy, Charon bade him kiss Alexander; and he said, “Not so! For that will not delight me so much as it will pain you.” For, passionate as this king was, he was in like measure self-controlled when it came to the observance of decency and the best form. When, for example, he had taken captive the daughters of Darius and his wife as well, a woman of very distinguished beauty, he not only kept his hands off them, but he even refrained from letting them know that they were captives, and ordered that everything be done for them just as if Darius were still king. Therefore Darius on learning this, raised his arms and prayed to the Sun that either he or Alexander might be king.

Plutarch "Sayings of Kings and Commanders" 2nd cent. A.D.

 On a time when he was offering incense to the gods with lavish hand, and often taking up handfuls of the frankincense, Leonidas, who had been his attendant in boyhood, happening to be present, said, “My boy, you may offer incense thus lavishly when you have made yourself master of the land that bears it.” And so, when Alexander had become master of it, he sent a letter to Leonidas: “I have sent to you a half-ton of frankincense and cassia, so that you may never again count any petty cost in dealing with the gods, since you know that we are now masters of the land that bears these fragrant things."

Plutarch "Sayings of Kings and Commanders" 2nd cent. A.D.

 When he was about to risk everything at Arbela against a million men arrayed against him, his friends came to him and accused the soldiers of talking together and making agreements in their tents that they would hand over none of the spoil to the royal treasury, but would keep everything for themselves. And he smiling said, “You bring good news; for I hear in this the talk of men prepared to conquer and not to flee.” And many of the soldiers came to him and said, “Be of good cheer, Sire, and do not fear the great numbers of the enemy; for they will not be able to stand the very smell of goat that clings to us.”

Plutarch "Sayings of Kings and Commanders" 2nd cent. A.D.

 On another occasion Cassander forced Python, beloved by Evius the flute-player, to kiss him, and Alexander, seeing that Evius was vexed, leapt up in anger against Cassander, exclaiming “It isn’t allowable even to fall in love with anybody, because of you and people like you.”

Quintus Curtius Rufus "The History of Alexander" 1st cent. A.D.

 Alexander, bidding them be of good courage, took the son of Darius in his embrace, and the child, not at all frightened at the sight of one whom he looked upon then for the first time, put his arms around his neck. Whereupon the king, touched by the boy's fearlessness, with a glance at Hephaestion; said: 'How I could wish that Darius had acquired some part of such a nature.' Then he left the tent.

Plutarch "Life of Eumenes" 2nd cent. A.D.

 However, Eumenes was often in collision with Alexander, and he got himself into danger through Hephaestion. In the first place, for instance, when Hephaestion assigned to Evius the flute-player the quarters which his servants had already taken up for Eumenes, Eumenes, accompanied by Mentor, came in a passion to Alexander and cried out that it was best for him to throw away his arms and be a flute-player or a tragic actor. The immediate result was that Alexander shared his indignation and heaped abuse upon Hephaestion. Soon, however, he changed his mind and was angry with Eumenes, feeling that he had indulged in insolence towards himself more than in bold words against Hephaestion.

Valerius Maximus "Memorable Doings and Sayings" 1st cent. A.D.

 By the ancient custom of Macedonia boys of the highest birth attended king Alexander when he offered sacrifice. One of these stood in front of him with a censer in his hands, and a hot coal dropped onto his arm. It so burned him that the smell of his scorched body reached the nostrils of the bystanders, but he suppressed his pain in silence and held his arm still lest he should either disturb Alexander’s sacrifice by shaking the censer or put a religious scruple upon it by uttering a groan. The more pleased the king was by the boy’s fortitude, the more he wanted to make a surer trial of his constancy, for he deliberately took longer over the sacrifice; but by so doing he did not drive him from his resolution. If Darius had set eyes upon this marvel, he would have known that there was no vanquishing soldiers of a race whose tender age he had seen to be made of stuff so stout.

Lucian "A Slip of the tongue in saultation" 2nd cent. A.D.

 Eumenes of Cardia, writing to Antipater, states that just before the battle of Issus, Hephaestion came at dawn into Alexander's tent. Either in absence of mind and confusion like mine, or else under a divine impulse, he gave the evening salutation like me--'Hail, sire; ’tis time we were at our posts.' All present were confounded at the irregularity, and Hephaestion himself was like to die of shame, when Alexander said, 'I take the omen; it is a promise that we shall come back safe from battle.'

Plutarch "Life of Alexander" 2nd cent. A.D.

 Moreover, when Philoxenus, the commander of his forces on the sea-board, wrote that there was with him a certain Theodorus, of Tarentum, who had two boys of surpassing beauty to sell, and enquired whether Alexander would buy them, Alexander was incensed, and cried out many times to his friends, asking them what shameful thing Philoxenus had ever seen in him that he should spend his time in making such disgraceful proposals. And on Philoxenus himself he heaped so much reproach in a letter, bidding him send Theodorus to perdition, merchandize and all.

He severely rebuked Hagnon also for writing to him that he wanted to buy Crobylus, whose beauty was famous in Corinth, as a present for him.

In this letter he also wrote expressly concerning himself: "As for me, indeed, it will be found not only that I have not seen the wife of Dareius or desired to see her, but that I have not even allowed people to speak to me of her beauty."

And he used to say that sleep and sexual intercourse, more than any thing else, made him conscious that he was mortal, implying that both weariness and pleasure arise from one and the same natural weakness.