Who does not desire such a victory by which we shall join places

Hear, O heirs of destiny, the words of Alexander the Great, whose ambition was as vast as the heavens and whose vision sought to bind the earth into one. He declared: “Who does not desire such a victory by which we shall join places in our Kingdom, so far divided by nature, and for which we shall set up trophies in another conquered world?” In this utterance, we behold not merely the hunger of conquest, but the yearning of a soul to unite what is scattered, to bridge the chasms of geography, and to carve from the chaos of nations a single realm of glory.

The victory Alexander speaks of is not only of swords and spears, but of the human will to overcome division. Nature, with her mountains, rivers, and seas, separates lands and peoples, and often men accept these boundaries as eternal. Yet Alexander dared to defy nature herself, believing that human resolve could conquer not only enemies but the very barriers the earth had raised. To him, conquest was not destruction but union—the weaving together of worlds.

Recall how he, a youth of Macedonia, crossed the Hellespont into Asia, declaring that Europe and Asia were no longer to be two worlds, but one under his hand. He defeated the Persian Empire, not merely to claim their riches, but to bind East and West in a single destiny. He married the daughter of Darius, and encouraged his soldiers to take Persian wives, so that his empire might be not just held by force, but fused by blood. Thus, his dream was of a kingdom joined where before there had been division, a tapestry of many peoples under one banner.

History gives us another echo of this vision in the life of Abraham Lincoln. Centuries later, in a land far from Alexander’s, a nation was divided not by mountains and rivers, but by war between brothers. Lincoln, like Alexander, longed for union—though not through conquest abroad, but through the binding of a fractured homeland. He too sought a victory that would heal division, proclaiming that a house divided against itself cannot stand. His battlefield was different, his trophies were not monuments of empire but the emancipation of the enslaved, yet the spirit was akin: to unite what had been torn apart.

But let us also see with clear eyes the peril within Alexander’s words. For ambition unchecked may seek trophies beyond reason, victories that consume rather than create. Alexander’s empire, though vast, could not long endure beyond his life. The unity he dreamed of dissolved into rival kingdoms. Thus we learn that victory alone is not enough—without wisdom, without justice, without the strength to sustain peace, conquest is but a passing flame.

The teaching for us, O seekers, is this: the greatest victory is to overcome division, whether between nations, communities, or within our own hearts. To conquer another world is not always to seize new lands, but to bridge the rifts that keep us apart. Each of us can be an Alexander when we choose to unite rather than divide, to build bridges where nature or history has drawn walls.

Practical action lies before you. Seek reconciliation where there is strife. Strive to see beyond the barriers of race, creed, or border. When faced with conflict, ask not how you may destroy, but how you may join places divided by nature. For every act of unity, every victory of compassion over hatred, is a true conquest—trophies not of stone, but of harmony and justice, set up in the hearts of men.

Thus, remember always: the noblest victory is not the dominion of the strong over the weak, but the joining of worlds once apart. To this end, live as conquerors of division, and you shall set up trophies not in fleeting empires, but in eternity itself.