Identity and Transformation in the Plays of Alexis Piron by Connon Derek F

Author:Connon, Derek F.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Notes to Chapter 4

1. The first public performance of this tragedy was on 18 February 1730, with a subsequent performance at Versailles on 2 March 1730 at which it was well received, but Pascale Veréb records an earlier unsuccessful performance at Versailles in 1729.

2. As the full title — Epitoma historiarum philippicarum Pompei Trogi (Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus) — tells us, this is an abridged version of a longer original, but since that is now lost, Justinus's work stands alone. In very recent years, translators have begun to take an interest in this text, but for a long time the only available English translation was that published in 1853 by the Reverend John Selby Watson (London: Bohn). The standard published French translation has long been that from 1936 by Emile Chambry and Lucienne Thély-Chambry (Abrégé des histoires philippique s de Trogue Pompée, 2 vols (Paris: Garnier, [1936])), and both because this version is useful in being a parallel text with the Latin original and because, after beginning with Piron's own French translation, it seems logical to continue in the same language, it is from there that subsequent quotations are taken. To facilitate consultation of the Latin original, I have used the referencing system traditional for this text of Book, Chapter, Section; references will be found in the text. It is generally Books XI and XII, where the life of Alexander the Great is recounted, that are of most interest to us, although the specific text claimed by Piron as his source is an isolated retrospective reference from Book XV, Chapter iii.

3. As we shall see, he includes incidents not found in Justinus, proving a wider knowledge of Greek history of the period, as we would expect of someone who had had the benefit of an eighteenth-century classical education. It is perhaps most probable that he was familiar with the Históriáé Alexandri Magni Macedonis of Quintus Curtius.

4. Plutarch, for instance, says that accounts note either that he was hanged, or that he died of disease in prison, and depicts Lysimachus as an opponent not a supporter (Alexander, §55, in Greek Lives: A Selection of Nine Greek Lives, trans, by Robin Waterfield, introduction and notes by Philip A. Städter (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)); of battles with lions he makes no mention.

5. Plutarch confirms the historical accuracy of this part of Justinus's narrative (.Alexander, §§50-52).

6. 'Alexandre, désireux de s'attribuer une origine divine [...], se fit précéder d'émissaires chargés de suborner les prêtres et de leur dicter les réponses qu'il désirait. Dès son entrée dans le temple, les prêtres le saluent comme fils de Jupiter Hammon' (XI. xi. 6—7).

7. Although we will also note below some minor details in the case of Fernand Cortés.

8. See Plutarch, Alexander, §52.

9. See Plutarch, Alexander, §16.

10. See Plutarch, Alexander, §55.

11. Léonide's name, which would appear to be a feminization of Leonidas, is related to this issue of nationality. The most famous bearer of this name was the king of Sparta who died at

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