Curtius Rufus, Histories of Alexander the Great

289 Pages·2009·1.23 MB·English

by  J. E. Atkinson

CLARENDON ANCIENT HISTORY SERIES
General Editors
BRIANBOSWORTH MIRIAMGRIFFIN
DAVIDWHITEHEAD SUSANTREGGIARI
The aim of the CLARENDON ANCIENT HISTORY SERIES is to
provideauthoritativetranslations,introductions,andcommentaries
to a wide range of Greek and Latin texts studied by ancient histor-
ians. Thebookswillbeofinteresttoscholars,graduatestudents,and
advancedundergraduates.
CURTIUS RUFUS
Histories of Alexander the Great
Book 10
Translatedby
J. C. YARDLEY
withIntroductionandHistoricalCommentaryby
J. E. ATKINSON
1
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Preface
Curtius Rufus’ Histories of Alexander the Great Book 10 justiWes a
specialedition,asitincludesthefullestaccountofeventsinBabylon
immediatelyafterAlexander’sdeath.Thisisnottosay that Curtius’
account is therefore the best guide to what really happened at that
time,butthefullnessofCurtius’versiondoessetitapartandcallsfor
separate treatment. It also covers some key events in the last 18
months of Alexander’s life, including the ‘reign of terror’ and the
mutinyof the Macedonian troops; and it gives Curtius’ Wnal assess-
mentofAlexander’squalitiesandfailures.
CurtiusdrawsattentiontosimilaritiesbetweentheeventsinBaby-
lon and the situation in Rome before the accession of the new
emperor, whoever he may be; he is also careful to point out where
thecomparisonstops.ThusCurtiusintendedhistexttobeseenasof
somerelevancetothereadersofhisday.Throughouttheworkthere
isevidenceofRomancolouring,butBook10hasspecialsigniWcance
in this regard, and indeed has to be studied by anyone interested in
lookingforevidenceofCurtius’dates.Sothehistoricalproblemsare
notlimitedtotheperiodwhichisthesubjectofCurtius’history.
WhileCurtiushasbeenvariouslydatedtoperiodsfromthetimeof
Augustus’ establishment of the Principate through to the fourth
century, most scholars treat him as a writer of the Wrst century, or
possiblyof the early second century. I must declare that in myview
theemperoreulogizedin10.9.1–5isClaudius,butinthiscommen-
taryIhavetriedtobeeven-handed,recognizingthatthereisastrong
counter-viewthatCurtiuswroteearlyinthereignofVespasian,and
thatotheremperorsareseriouspossibilities.
ThisworkhasgenerallybeenlocatedsomewherebetweenLivyand
Tacitus in linguistic, literary, and historiographical terms, and it
therefore has some importance as a Latin text of the Wrst century.
ThusIhavenoted,ortransmittedfromearlierstudies,usages,inter-
textual references, and common motifs that link Curtius with other
writersoftheperiod,suchasValeriusMaximus,VelleiusPaterculus,
Seneca,Lucan,andSiliusItalicus,aswellasLivyandTacitus.
vi Preface
The Histories is a literary work, and this book provides ample
scope for demonstrating the literary nature of Curtius’ historiog-
raphy.Rutz,MacLCurrie,Baynhamandothershaveshownwhatcan
be achieved by looking at Curtius’ narrative style. I have therefore
soughttomarry thisapproachwiththemorehistoricalapproach.
The major sources on Alexander the Great are well covered by
commentaries in English, with Bosworth’s commentary on Arrian
(2 volumes in print, and the third in progress) and Brunt’s well
annotated edition of Arrian in the Loeb series, Hamilton’s Plutarch
Alexander,C.B.Welles’seditionofDiodorus,Bk.17(withthemore
limited scope of the traditional Loeb edition), and Heckel’s com-
mentary on Yardley’s translation of Justin in their Justin, Epitome of
the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, vol. 1: Books 11–12. I have
published commentaries on Curtius Books 3 to 4 and 5 to 7.2, and
the remainder is covered in the second volume of my edition of
Curtius for the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla/Mondadori series on
Greek and Latin authors, but that is in Italian and the commentary
on Book 10 is on a much smaller scale than what is oVered here.
Otherwise there is not a generally available commentary in English
onBook10:Dempsie’sadmirablecommentaryhasunfortunatelynot
madethetransitionfromitsappearanceasathesisfortheUniversity
of St Andrews to a published version. His work complements this
volume in that he places greater emphasis on issues of textual
problems,language,andliterary parallels.
The translation is an adaptation of John Yardley’s version in the
Penguinseries,andIamverygratefultohimforallowingmetouse
hisworkandforhisassistanceinsomerephrasingtosuittheneedsof
this commentary. Some adaptation was also necessary because he,
underinstructionsfromthePenguinserieseditor,hadusedtheBude´
textproducedby Bardon (1965), while I haveworked to the critical
edition which I produced for Mondadori. I based my version on
Mu¨ller’s edition of 1954, which is generally regarded as superior to
Bardon’stext,butislessaccessible.ThetextusedheredoesnotreXect
thenumeroustextualemendationsproposedbyDempsie(1991)and
(1995),buttheyaregenerallyofmoreconcerntothestudentofLatin
and palaeography than to the historian, and would not materially
aVect this commentary. W. S. Watt was more inclined to venture
emendations that had a bearing on the historical meaning, and we
Preface vii
wereabletoexchangeideasoveraperiodoftime.Itwasalsomygood
fortune to be able to seek advice from Michael Winterbottom
on textual and linguistic matters. I was further sensitized to the
problems of interpretation by collaboration with Tristano Gargiulo,
while he was engaged in translating the Latin text—and then my
commentary—into Italian. By the end of that exercise we were
notching up several Email messages per day, and my admiration
for theskillofthetranslatorgrewevenstronger.
The Commentary is intended to meet the requirements of the
Series to serve senior undergraduates, graduate students and
scholars. As a function of the Wrst degree is to awaken interest in
research and to introduce research methodology, it is indeed hoped
thatthisvolumewillbeusefulattheundergraduatelevel.Ittherefore
errs on the side of fullness to serve as a stand-alone edition (as
opposed to a volume in a series of commentaries on the author),
and,whereappropriateandpossible,asaone-stopreferenceworkfor
the‘hit-and-run’user.
It is hoped that the references and bibliography provide an
adequate introduction to the scholarly debate on the various
issues raised by the text. Further references can be picked up
from Holger Koch’s excellent survey of a century of Curtian
scholarship (1899–1999), and from surveys in Aufstieg und Nie-
dergang der ro¨mischen Welt, Teil II, Band 32.4 and 34. 4, by Rutz
(1986) and Atkinson (1998b) respectively. On historical matters
the bibliography can be supplemented from i.a. Bosworth (2002),
Roisman (2003), and Heckel (2006), and of course by judicious
use of the Web.
My greatest debt of gratitude is to Ernst Badian, who got me
interested in Alexander studies as an undergraduate in Durham,
and who generously acted for the University of Cape Town as my
doctoral supervisor, and later enabled me to spend a period of
sabbaticalleaveatHarvard. MyworkmustalsoreXect theinXuence
of my Wrst Head of Department, in what was then the University
Collegeof RhodesiaandNyasaland,Tom Carney, whose wide range
ofresearchinterests,analyticaltechniques,andsheerindustrywerea
powerful challenge and inspiration. Over the years I have been
fortunate to have had, at various times or over extended periods,
encouragement and advice, not to mention a wealth of oVprints,
viii Preface
from a great number of scholars working in the Weld of Alexander
and related studies, including Elizabeth Baynham (best known for
her monograph on Curtius, and the local organizer of the highly
successfulsymposiumonAlexanderstudiesheldinNewcastle,NSW,in
1997),EdmundBloedow,ErnstFredricksmeyer,JonGissel,Waldemar
Heckel, Simon Hornblower,DianeSpencer, ShapurShahbazi, Adrian
Tronson, the late Ursula Vogel-Wiedemann, Gerhard Wirth, Ian
Worthington, and John Yardley (to whom I am very grateful for his
workontheLatinofTrogus,Justin,andCurtius,andalsoforhisrolein
organizingastimulatingsymposiumonAlexanderinOttawa).
I must also thank my colleague at UCT, David Wardle, who has
beenaneverreliableguidetocurrentscholarshipontheearlyRoman
Empire,andaverysharpandcriticalreaderofwhateverdraftsIhave
triedoutonhim.
IamverygratefultoMiriamGriYnandDavidWhitehead,whoas
editors of the Clarendon Ancient History Series, looked at and
commented on sections of this work. Most of all I must expressmy
deepest gratitude to Brian Bosworth for his special role in initiating
thisprojectandguidingmetoitsfruition.Thoughovertheyearswe
havedisagreedonmanypointsofinterpretation,theinXuenceofhis
amazing range of publications and the depth of his scholarship will
beapparentonalmostevery pageofthiscommentary.
As ever it should not be assumed that those I have thanked for
looking at my work approve of the style and content of all that
appears here. I carry the responsibility for any errors, omissions,
oddities,andobscuritiesthatremain.
AttheinstitutionallevelIamindebtedtoAlexd’Angelo,theHead
of the Humanities Section of the UCT Library, who is indeed an
information scientist, but has still remained a librarian, and a very
helpful one. I am also very grateful to the staV of the library of the
Institute of Classical Studies in London, who have given me ready
assistance in the precious periods of time when I have been able to
workthere.
MywifeValerie,appropriatelyne´eAlexander,hashadtocopewith
hergreatnamesakeformostofourmarriedlife,andfromtypewriter
andwaxedstencilstoPentiumwhateverandUSBs.Nodoubtshewill
bepleasedto seethe backof himnow that,from theCape,wehave
Preface ix
deliveredhim,ifnottoCairo,atleasttoMemphis.Iamverygrateful
toherforherpatienceandpracticalassistanceover theyears.
J.A.
UniversityofCapeTown
Rondebosch,S.Africa
April2008