Coenus
Koinos
Coenus son of Polemocrates, a senior Macedonian phalanx commander from Philip II's generation, is attested throughout the campaign from Issus onward as a battalion (*taxis*) commander of the Macedonian heavy infantry. He is given the set-piece speech at the Hyphasis in July 326 when Alexander proposed to cross into the Ganges plain and the army refused: Arr. *Anab.* 5.27.1–9 reproduces it in full — the single extended subordinate oration in the *Anabasis* — in which Coenus speaks 'not for the Companions, who have had more than they could desire, but for the rest of the army', enumerating eight years of march, depleted veterans, rotting boots, and the men's longing to see wives and children, closing with the line Arrian chose to preserve verbatim: 'Nothing is so right for a man of good fortune as to know how to use his fortune, and nothing is so great for you, king, as to know when to stop' (Arr. 5.27.9). Alexander, who dismissed the assembly in anger and shut himself in his tent for three days, consulted Aristander over omens he knew would come back unfavourable, then accepted the turn. Coenus died of disease a few days after the Hyphasis, during the retrace to the Hydaspes; Alexander buried him with full royal honours, acknowledging in that gesture what the refusal had cost (Arr. *Anab.* 6.2.1; Plut. *Alex.* 62.5).