The Alexandreis: A Twelfth-Century Epic

by Walter of Châtillon

Walter of Châtillon’s Latin epic on the life of Alexander the Great was a twelfth- and thirteenth-century “” scribes produced over two hundred manuscripts. The poem follows Alexander from his first successes in Asia Minor, through his conquest of Persia and India, to his progressive moral degeneration and his poisoning by a disaffected lieutenant. The Alexandreis exemplifies twelfth-century discourses of world domination and the exoticism of the East. But at the same time it calls such dreams of mastery into question, repeatedly undercutting as it does Alexander’s claims to heroism and virtue and by extension, similar claims by the great men of Walter’s own generation. This extraordinarily layered and subtle poem stands as a high-water mark of the medieval tradition of Latin narrative literature. Along with David Townsend’s revised translation, this edition provides a rich selection of historical documents, including other writings by Walter of Châtillon, excerpts from other medieval Latin epics, and contemporary accounts of the foreign and “exotic.”

Genres: Poetry, Medieval, Epic

282 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1182

About the author

Philippe Gautier de Châtillon, Philippus Galtherus in Latin. French writer and theologian who wrote in Latin. 1135-1201

Reviews

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

"O gods, O Fortune! What mad course is this?
Will you permit your scion’s death, whom you
have so long shielded? If you cannot change
Fate’s will that he of Macedonia should die,
at least reveal these butchers’ plot; replace
this with another death. You have the power:
exchange these agents of mortality,
exchange poison for a sword. More firmly
He dies by arms, who by arms greatly erred.
Yet in plain light, perhaps, the gods could not
subdue the one whom surreptitious venom
could kill in secret; worthily, therefore
he falls by hidden crime, and no man’s steel."

[Alper Yılmaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The life and superhuman exploits of Alexander the Great are related with great embellishment, though with a surprising amount of satire and critique on the side. I feel as though if Walter had committed fully to the subversive side of this poem, instead of using it to occasionally undermine some of the unchristian aspects of Alexander's life as per the obligation of the times he lived and wrote in (such as Alexander's death resulting from his enlarged hubris, as also seen in the Faust legend), this poem would have been one to rival the Iliad and the Aeneid. As it stands, though, Walter sits in the Latin epic canon as an anti-Lucan: Where Lucan made up for his lack of poetic skill through the genius of his rhetoric, Walter fails to convince, but is damn good with language and storytelling.

While I feel as though David Townsend's translation sufficed, I found his use of the pentameter to be much too liberal for the epic genre. It often distracted from the grandiosity of the work, the amount to which he was willing to stretch a line, sometimes including fully trochaic lines and even 12 syllable lines with feminine endings, which really is the worst case scenario for the iambic pentameter. Still, his introduction and what notes he penned and included were a great help, and he himself was clearly well acquainted with poetic flourish befitting an epic in the Greco-Roman tradition, so his language wasn't a point of complaint.

[EJ Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. David Townsend has provided the definitive English poetry translation of Walter of Chatillon's Alexandreis, and in doing so he has produced a work which exemplifies the artistic talent of both its author and its translator. This edition perfectly captures the grandeur, pathos, and nuance of its Latin roots and shows that while difficult, an excellent Anglophonic version of a Latin epic can be achieved.

Without a doubt the real value of The Alexandreis lies in its subtly. Like The Aeneid, it is an original work steeped in a massive tradition, but Walter works within the confines of the genre to create a piece which at once revels in its cultural milieu while leaving its own distinctive mark. The Alexandreis celebrates the glories of martial valor and fame while lamenting their cost in human suffering and ultimate futility. Townsend brings these values to the forefront, employing English poetics with a versatility which mirrors the original Latin. Townsend is especially to be commended for his efforts to stray somewhat from direct translation in order to inject references from the English canon into his translation, allowing audiences less familiar with the Classic canon to better approximate the sense of place and context implicit within the Latin original.

While a solid grasp of the historical Alexander would certainly be a useful boon, it is not necessary for enjoying The Alexandreis as Townsend has provided handy and extensive end notes for reference. One may wish that he had opted for footnotes for ease of use, but this minor quibble is the only fault to be found in this incredible work.

I would recommend Dr. David Townsend's The Alexandreis to fans of Classical epics like The Iliad or The Aeneid who would be interested in sampling the unique flavors imparted to the genre by medieval culture. Fans of Germanic epics may also enjoy it as a more scholastic and pious treatment of the epics of the Middle Ages.

[univocity · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bitter Goliard flaunts his formidable classical erudition-- particularly of the blood-stained pessimism of the Silver Age epics (Statius, Lucan)-- and comes as close as we've got to writing a medieval Pharsalia.

[Lulu]

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