I could not have blamed you for being the first to lose heart if I, your commander, had not shared in your exhausting marches and your perilous campaigns;

The Hellenes considered Macedonian domination in the Greek states as an alien rule, imported from outside by the members of other tribes, the, as Plutarch says, allophyloi (Plutarchus, Vita Arati, 16).

The Macedonian barbarian defeated the united Greek states at the battle of Chaeronea at the beginning of August 338 BC and appointed himself “Commander of the Greeks”. Philip’s army was outnumbered by the Athenian and Theban forces, yet his phalanxes overwhelmed the Athenians and Thebans.

What is for certain is that Alexander spoke Macedonian with his own Macedonian troops and used Greek in addressing the Asians and Greeks.