ALEXANDER THE GREAT------AN IRONY ?

Alexander offered to give half his kingdom to anyone who could make him live just for as much time as would enable him to see his mother. But the physicians replied that, even if he gave the whole kingdom, they could not add one single breath to his life. Tears welled up in the emperor’s eyes, who said with a deep sigh: “Alas! Had I known that breath is so costly a thing, I would never have wasted them in useless pursuits”. Then he dictated that , during his funeral procession , his hands be kept out of his coffin with palms turned upwards so that people might take a lesson from the Great Alexander , who had planned to conquer the world, but was going away from it empty-handed.