MR. BUDGE'S TRANSLATION OF THE LEGEND OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.*
• THI8 admirable translation was undertaken by Mr. Budge at the suggestion of the late Professor W. Wright, who was unquestionably the ablest English authority on Semitic lan- guages of his day. He was as conscientious as he was learned, and the fact of his making such a suggestion may be taken as presumptive evidence of the highest kind that Mr. Budge was equal to the task, and would be sure to do it well. The present writer does not know a word of Syriac ; but he is able to infer with moral certainty that this transla- tion is as accurate, as it is, from an English scholar's point of view, as near perfection as possible. He is able, there- fore, to say that Mr. Budge's hopes with regard to his work deserve to be realised. For this translation was undertaken "in the hope that it would be useful not only to students of Syriac, who will be glad of a new and amusing text to read, but also to the large and increasing number of inquirers into the folk-lore and legends connected with Alexander the Great who have not found time to learn Syriac, and to whom, necessarily, the contents of this ancient version are unknown." Mr. Budge is aware that it may be argued that the fabulous history of Alexander is sufficiently known to us from the Greek text of the work which is attributed to Callisthenes, and from the Latin translations made of it by Julius Valerius and Leo the Archpresbyter. But he thinks that a perusal of the Syriac version will reveal much of interest to the reader, and that as this version appears to represent a Greek text older than any known to us, it will be found of considerable help in determining one of the earliest forms of the Alexander story. He may be right here, and we presume that Chaucer, whom he quotes, was referring to the legend when he wrote :—
"The storie of Alisaundre is so comune
That every wight that bath discrecioun Rath herd somewhat or al of his fortune."
We presume, also, that "The Gestes of the worthie King and Emperour Alisaunder of Macedoine," referred to at p. cal., were based on some French version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes. But we are not careful to verify this presumption, as Mr. Budge expressly states that he has not tried to discuss the * The History of Alexander the Great: being the Syriac Version of the Pseudo- Callisthenes. Edited from five Manuscripts, with an English Translation and Notes, by Ernest A. Wallace Badge, M.A. Cambridge: university Press. 1889.
story from the folk-lore point of view. We shall imitate him here, and cheerfully confess, as he does, that we have not the necessary knowledge for such an attempt. And it is not quite clear that such an attempt would necessarily prove useful if carried out by an investigator, however equipped with know- ledge. The folk-lore point of view is not yet fixed, and the process of fixing it is not a lively one. Meanwhile, we are quite content to accept Mr. Budge's view that a welcome should be ready for anything which helps to throw light on the history and travels of a book which has had more readers than any other, the Bible alone excepted. The book before us throws more light on the Alexander legend than any other work in English with which we are acquainted. So we welcome it heartily, and, quite apart from folk-lore points of view, recommend it as containing a deal of pleasant and suggestive reading. It will prove, of course, a boon and blessing to students of Syriac, and the whole of the translation, together with "A Christian Legend concerning Alexander," and "A Metrical Discourse upon Alexander by Jacob of Seriigh," may be strenuously recommended to all who have studied Alexander's deeds and character in Grote and Thirlwall, and in Plutarch's Life of him. The translator says, justly enough, that the careful work of Arrian, written nearly four hundred years after Alexander's death, has remained comparatively unknown by the side of the popular legends of Alexander which have found their way all over the world.
But somehow or other, since Mitford's day at all events, and we are not quite sure that we might not say since Shakespeare's, these legends have not been read at all largely in England. Schoolboys and readers of Landor may have beard something of the silly stuff which made Alexander out to be the son of Jupiter Ammon, who lay with Xing Philip's wife in the form of a serpent. The Pseudo-Callistbenes shows that this god and snake were mere Cooke and Maskelyue tricks played by an Egyptian King, hight Nectanebus. And Landor wrongs Alexander much, if Thirlwall's estimate of Alexander's abilities be correct, though it is, of course, pretty certain that the great conqueror would be willing from motives of policy to accept divinity when thrust upon him. Schoolboys and readers of Livy may have speculated as to what would have been the result of Alexander's walking into the men's apartment, Italy, instead of into the women's apartment, Asia. But the account which we find in the Pseudo-Callisthenes will be news to schoolboys and to general readers. Having collected half- a-million of soldiers, including eighty thousand Laceda3monians of all people in the world, Alexander came by Lucania, and Sicily to Rome :—
"And as soon as the inhabitants of Rome heard of his arrival, they sent him six hundred talents of gold by the hands of their chiefs, together with the golden crown of Zeus which was in the Capitol, one hundred pounds of gold in weight, and they brought it as a gift before Alexander. They also sent one thousand horse- men as auxiliaries to Alexander's army, and they entreated him to take vengeance for them upon the Chalkidonians (Carthaginians) who had rebelled against them. Then Alexander said to them: • I will do for you this favour because of this honour which ye have done me ; and I will recompense you for this honour by subduing your enemies in war, while the victory in the war I will give to you.' Then Alexander set out from Italy, and came by sea to Africa. And when the generals of the Africans had heard the fame of him, they came to him, and entreated him saying : 'Free our city from the Romans.' Then Alexander was angry at this speech, and said to them : 'Either be yourselves brave, or pay tribute to the brave.' When they heard this speech they set their faces to war, and they all went and armed themselves, and they could not be persuaded
to coins to Alexander. Then Alexander made war upon them, and when they fought, they were unable to stand before the army of Alexander. Then they returned, and entreated him saying : 'Permit not the Romans to reign over us.' Again Alexander said to them : Ye Carthaginians, I have already said to you,
either be yourselves brave, or give tribute to the brave. Now therefore go, and whatever tribute it is right for you to give, of that give justly. for henceforward the Romans shall receive
tribute from you.' When the Carthaginians saw that they had
no remedy, they made a statue of brass to Alexander, and set it in the midst a the city; and they made a box of wood and fastened it upon a stone in front of the feet of the statue. They then collected the tribute of their country for four years, and placed it in the box ; and the Romans waited for four years, and then they came and took that tribute and carried it to Rome."
It would be safe to infer that this passage was not written in the Syriac version before Rome's success against Carthage was assured ; but in what year during or after the contest it was written, who can guess ? And strange as are some of the stories in the Pseudo-Callisthenes, akin to those which
charmed Don Quixote in his books of chivalry, there are still
stranger in the Christian legend, as may be seen from the following description of the Huns, whose kings were Gog and Magog. Alexander asked a grey-beard what was their appearance, and their clothing, and their languages. The old man answered and said to him :—
"Some of them have blue eyes, and their women have but one breast apiece ; and the women fight more than the men, for they wound a man with knives. They hang knives upon their thighs, and arms, and necks, so that if one of them should get into a fight, wherever she stretches out her hand she can lay hold of a knife. They wear dressed skins ; and they eat the raw flesh of everything which dies of theirs ; and they drink the blood of men and of animals. They do not besiege or fight against cities and fortresses, but they run to the paths and gates of fortresses and cities, and they surround the men who come to meet them out- side. They are swifter than the wind that blows, and ere the rumour of their going forth to battle is heard, they outstrip the whole world; for they are sorcerers, and they run between heaven and earth, and their chariots and swords and spears flash like fearful lightnings."
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