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Hello everyone,

A long-standing little irritant for me seems to have been finally solved. Ever since reading Robin Lan Fox's Alexander the Great, I have been searching high and low to find a quote apparently attributed to Alexander (unfortunately the author does not cite his source). The quote? "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today".

So, here I was reading Onasander's "The General" and lo-and-behold there in the footnotes:

Alexander, on being asked how he conquered Greece, replied, 'miden anavallomenos', "By never putting anything off" (Schol. A on Homer's Iliad ii. 435)

I did a quick search to see if I could find the Scholia online, and apparently each folio of the manuscript have been digitized and are available to downloand at the Centre for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University, but I have had no luck managing this.

why so ?????

Correction to the translation, literally how Alexander held, not conquered Greece:

Which makes much better sense, for he hardly 'conquered Greece' - that had been achieved, and the subsequent system of alliances/federation set courtesy of the aftermath of Chaeronea.

It also fits in with what Alexander actually did on learning of the outbreak of rebellion by Thebes - a very rapid forced march over mountains from Pelion in northern Macedon to Thebes, arriving before the Thebans even realised he had passed Thermopylae........ He covered the 230 odd miles - on the map - in 13 days, the first week marching across the alps of Upper Macedonia, then down onto the Thessalian plain and thence via Thermopylae to Thebes. When allowance is made for the mountains being three-D rather than a flat map, this is equivalent to something of the order of 25 miles per day average, assuming no rest days, and there was probably at least one or two, if only to allow stragglers to catch up.........so a fine example of the principle supposedly enunciated by Alexander.

Xenophon wrote:Which makes much better sense, for he hardly 'conquered Greece' - that had been achieved, and the subsequent system of alliances/federation set courtesy of the aftermath of Chaeronea.

It also fits in with what Alexander actually did on learning of the outbreak of rebellion by Thebes - a very rapid forced march over mountains from Pelion in northern Macedon to Thebes, arriving before the Thebans even realised he had passed Thermopylae........ He covered the 230 odd miles - on the map - in 14 days, the first week marching across the alps of Upper Macedonia, then down onto the Thessalian plain and thence via Thermopylae to Thebes. When allowance is made for the mountains being three-D rather than a flat map, this is equivalent to something of the order of 25 miles per day average, assuming no rest days, and there was probably at least one or two, if only to allow stragglers to catch up.........

Totally agree, makes much better sense in this context.

Ah, the frustration of uncited sources!

I 'd add that some scholars think Alexander quoted some lines from Hesiod (Works and Days, 410- 412):
"Do not put your work off till to-morrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor one who puts off his work: industry makes work go well"
Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the scholar(s) who suggested this source, nor where I read it.