Historian: Alexander the Great should not be judged by appeal to current notions of justice  Alexander, an ancient figure of heroic stature, should be judged by the standards of his own culture  That is, did he live up to his culture' s ideals of leadership  Did Alexander elevate the contemporary standards of justice  Was he, in his day, judged to be a just and wise ruler
Student: But you cannot tell whether or not Alexander raised the contemporary standards of justice without invoking standards other than those of his own culture
showing that the principle the historian invokes, when applied to Alexander, does not justify the assertion that he was heroic