“But after Philip’s end, when Alexander was eager to cross over and, already
absorbed in his hopes and preparations, was hastening to gain a hold upon
Asia, Fortune, seizing upon him, blocked his way, turned him about, dragged
him back, and surrounded him with countless distractions and delays. First
she threw into the utmost commotion the barbarian elements among his
neighbours, and contrived wars with the Illyrians and Triballians. By these
wars he was drawn from his Asiatic projects as far away as the portion of
Scythia that lies along the Danube; when, by sundry manoeuvres, he had
subjugated all this territory with much danger and great struggles, he was
again eager and in haste for the crossing. Again, however, Fortune stirred
up Thebes against him, and thrust in his pathway a war with Greeks, and the
dread necessity of punishing, by means of slaughter and fire and sword, men
that were his kith and kin, a necessity which had a most unpleasant ending.”

And:

De Fortuna Alexandri by Plutarch
Loeb Classical Library, 1936:

“But Virtue was by his side and in him she engendered daring, and in his
companions strength and zeal. For men like Limnaeus and Ptolemy and
Leonnatus and all those who had surmounted the wall or had broken through it
took their stand before him and were a bulwark of Virtue, exposing their
bodies in the face of the foe and even their lives for the goodwill and love
they bore their king. Surely it is not due to Fortune that the companions of
good kings risk their lives and willingly die for them; but this they do
through a passion for Virtue, even as bees, as if under the spell of
love-charms, approach and closely surround their sovereign.
What spectator, then, who might without danger to himself have been present
at that scene, would not exclaim that he was witnessing the mighty contest
of Fortune and Virtue; that through Fortune the foreign host was prevailing
beyond its deserts, but through Virtue the Greeks were holding out beyond
their ability? And if the enemy gains the upper hand, this will be the work
of Fortune or of some jealous deity or of divine retribution; but if the
Greeks prevail, it will be Virtue and daring, friendship and fidelity, that
will win the guerdon of victory? These were, in fact, the only support that
Alexander had with him at this time, since Fortune had put a barrier between
him and the rest of his forces and equipment, fleets, horse, and camp.
Finally, the Macedonians routed the barbarians, and, when they had fallen,
pulled down their city on their heads.”

And:

http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E
/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Antony*.html

For fair use only

” On the following day Antony feasted her in his turn, and was ambitious to
surpass her splendour and elegance, but in both regards he was left behind,
and vanquished in these very points, and was first to rail at the meagreness
and rusticity of his own arrangements. Cleopatra observed in the jests of
Antony much of the soldier and the common man, and adopted this manner also
towards him, without restraint now, and boldly. For her beauty, as we are
told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those
who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm, and her
presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse and the
character which was somehow diffused about her behaviour towards others, had
something stimulating about it. There was sweetness also in the tones of her
voice; and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could readily
turn to whatever language she pleased, so that in her interviews with
Barbarians she very seldom had need of an interpreter, but made her replies
to most of them herself and unassisted, whether they were Ethiopians,
Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes or Parthians. Nay, it is said
that she knew the speech of many other peoples also, although the kings of
Egypt before her had not even made an effort to learn the native language,
and some actually gave up their Macedonian dialect.”