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For, as the people of the Paralus say,1 and those who have been ambassadors to Alexander—and the story is sufficiently credible—there is one Aristion, a man of Plataean status,2 son of Aristobulus the apothecary, known perhaps to some of you. This young man, distinguished for extraordinary beauty of person, once lived a long time in Demosthenes' house (what he used to do there or what was done to him, is a scandal that is in dispute, and the story is one that would be quite improper for me to repeat). Now I am told that this Aristion, his origin and personal history being unknown to the king, is worming himself into favour with Alexander and getting access to him. Through him Demosthenes has sent a letter to Alexander, and has secured a certain degree of immunity for himself, and reconciliation; and he has carried his flattery to great lengths.

1 The citizen crew of the dispatch-ship Paralus.

2 The “Plataean status” was that of foreigners (slaves in some cases) who had received citizenship in return for services to the state. The status was named “Plataean” after those Plataean exiles who were made Athenian citizens after the destruction of Plataea in the fifth year of the Peloponnesian war.

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