The volume is a translation of selected works of three authors: Seneca the Elder (Suas. 1 & 4), Dio Chrysostom (Or. 2 & 4) and Lucian (Dial. mort. 12, 13 & 25) with individual introductions and collected notes. The work also includes a foreword, a brief chronology and map of Alexander's expedition, two appendices, a table of critical notes and a catalogue (with comment, but not translation) of 24 declamations on the subject of Alexander.
Research on the reception of Alexander, as opposed to the historical Alexander, has been steadily increasing in recent years, with R. Stoneman, Alexander the Great: a Life in Legend (2007) and D. Spencer, The Roman Alexander: Reading a Cultural Myth (2002) proving to be definitive monographs. In this environment, it is an ideal time for P.'s edition to be published. P.'s extensive research on ancient rhetoric – his two volume La rhétorique de l'éloge dans le monde Gréco-romain (1993) and La rhétorique dans l'Antiquité (2000) – more than qualify him for the task.
P.'s translations are a close rendering of the original Greek and Latin, and his translation of Lucian faithfully renders the dialogues in a jocular tone. The introductions give a useful overview of the content and context of the translated texts, as well as previous editions and translations. P.'s introduction to Dio Chrysostom is considerably longer than those to the other authors (25 pages compared with ten for Seneca, six for Lucian), but given that Dio's orations are more extensive texts, this decision is justified. The notes are concise, but appropriate for the nature of the volume. P. usefully directs the reader to relevant secondary scholarship, occasionally noting deeper issues such as manuscript variations (the table on p. 229 helpfully collates these).
P.'s work demonstrates the considerable variance of Roman rhetorical responses to Alexander, from the serious consideration of what makes a good king (p. 37), to playful remarks about Alexander's perceived divinity (p. 112). As such, the volume acts as a beneficial companion piece to Spencer (2002), contextualising and further analysing some of Spencer's chosen passages, as well as those Spencer did not include.
The only downside is the lack of translations of the additional 24 declamations, with P. only giving a short commentary on each. The ‘La roue à livres’ document series is intended to provide convenient access to hard-to-find resources, and the lack of translations therefore seems an oversight: how is a non-specialist meant to read C. Walz, Rhetores Graeci (1802–57), with Ancient Greek text and Latin introduction and notes? Because Seneca, Dio and Lucian have all been translated into French before, including translations of the catalogued declamations would have been particularly welcome, as some have no French translation published (‘sujets’ 4, 7, 9, 16, 23). That being said, P.'s catalogue is a useful update on R. Kohl's survey De scholasticarum declamationum argumentis ex historia petitis (1915), including two new papyrus fragments, and a passage of Philostratus which Kohl neglected (‘sujets’ 3, 7, 9).
P.'s volume will be of considerable use to undergraduate students studying the Roman reception of Alexander, as well as Roman rhetoric. In particular it provides a good starting point via P.'s author-specific introductions, with suitable notification of relevant further reading.
