Sir: In his article on the exclusion of homo- sexuals
from the armed services, Alasdair Palmer states that 'many of the greatest fighters and commanders have been experi- enced homosexuals: Alexander the Great Plutarch evidently thought otherwise, for in the 25,000 or more words that he devot- ed to Alexander in his Lives (Dryden trans- lation, revised by A.H. Clough) the only reference to homosexuality that I can find runs:
When Philoxenus, his lieutenant on the sea- coast, wrote to him to know if he [Alexan- der)lwould buy two young boys of great beau- ty, whom one Theodorus, a Tarantine, had to sell, he was so offended that he often expos- tulated with his friends what baseness Philox- enus had ever observed in him that he would presume to make him such a reproachful offer. And he immediately wrote him a very sharp letter, telling him Theodorus and his merchandise might go with his good will to destruction. Nor was he less severe to Hagnon, who sent him word he would buy a Corinthian youth named Crobylus, as a pre- sent for him.
Does this in the least suggest that Alexander was homosexual? On the con- trary, Plutarch in other passages portrayed him as a chivalrous and disciplined hetero- sexual. So where did Alasdair Palmer find the evidence for his statement?
R. V. Jones
8 Queen's Terrace, Aberdeen, Scotland
Previous page
