What makes A guy so rich carry on?

[kenny]

Companions HiI often wonder in my days of moderate toil to earn a crust,,, Just what makes Alexander carry on?I mean here we have a young man sat in the palce of Babylon the richest man on earth.The guy could relax rule and pay as many armies as he liked to take the world for him with little or no risk to himself?Still he gets back out in the feezing rains mountains hard bllody work and very risky work to say the least to go campaigning himself.What kind of metal makes such an individual I guess i wouldnt be the only one in Pothos taking it easy and been happy in Babylon.Kenny

[canto]

I don't know about the others here, but I would be hard pressed to leave Babylon. He was always out there, in the cold, the heat, without decent water, with bad food(stomach problems, talk about beans)with all that wonderful suffering. The thing is, he didn't get to enjoy any of it really. But I guess he couldn't stay in one place very long anyway. I guess pleasure could only give him so much and it wasn't enough.lightofdawn

[Avtr]

Interesting... but Kenny,Are you certain that, just because you were wealthy, you'd loll around in Babylon even with the white road, the world and the next horizon waiting?Could you truly bear to sit around and let time slip by, with new worlds outside the gates? Could you truly abide that you had let slip away the chance to see something you had never seen before, if you had the wealth and authority to do as you would?Those who find contentment in the comforts of home and hearth are able to rest quiet in spirit and thrive; but those whose restless souls seek the edges of the world and beyond, die in domestic confines and fade in the quiet of the hearth.

Hardship, suffering, hunger, illness, injury- what do those mean, in the end, to restless souls, when there are vast lands never seen, people whose customs and ideas are new and intriguing; when each day could bring a different vista, a new experience?What person would not prefer the intense, lasting bonds that form between companions on the long road over the too often short-lived, often shallow acquaintances of the easy life? It seems that it would be more unpleasant to die of boredom and the dreary sameness of each predictable day than to die of the long journey.. At least in experiencing the latter, a person lives fully up to the moment of death rather than dying slowly in spirit, visions and dreams long before the body quits.

[yiannis]

Dear Pothosians, you forget that if he wasn't THAT kind of man, he wouldn't be in Babylon to begin with...

[marcus]

That's very true, Yiannis.Also, it's quite clear that Alexander wasn't really that interested in the money and riches. He saw it as a means to an end, but he was generous to a fault, and was as happy to give it away as he was to keep it. After all, he didn't hoard it as the Persian kings had done, but embarked on major mintings.All the bestMarcus

[Avtr]

I forget nothing! ;-)That was my point. I also think more people on this site would be tempted to go along- how many here are REALLY content to sit at home?How many here have already, within the means they have, stepped out on the long road? And how much longer would they be out there if they had the means and freedom to do so? I believe many are held back not by desire but by means and the many laws and flood of paperwork that now control human movement, diminish liberties and chain the traveller. My 2 centavos worth

[canto]

Yes, all of that is one reason we love him so much. He was a dynamic man, and one can't be that sort if they just sit on their ass.Also, at least for me, if I have enough money to travel and see things I have a lot more energy. The same old, same old can make one so worn-out. But the exhilaration of conquest, discovery, and glory to be had kept Alexander on his feet.Of course that would be more rewarding, yes, at the heart of it......to really live. I wish.lightofdawn

[New Comer]

Easy : because he liked hiking.Wouldn't you like going outdoors instead of staying with a handful of silly people and their old-fashioned costumes? And - oh! - also with lots of sycophants waiting to leap on yr back?There you are.

[ruthaki]

Because he was Alexander.

[marcus]

LOL! Good answer, Ruth.Marcus