Classica et Christiana, 16/2, 2021 /553
Violenza e mitezza: Alessandro Magno e i Bramani nel Commonitorium Palladii [Violence and Mildness: Alexander the Great and the Brahmans in the Commonitorium Palladii]
Raffaella TABACCO
ABSTRACT
Violence and Meekness: Alexander the Great and the Brahmans in the Commonitorium Palladii. In the dialogue with Alexander the Great the Brahmans reproach him for doing violence to everyone and for being himself a victim of the violence that the passions of his soul inflict on him. The Macedonian wars of conquest are read primarily not as a political tool to prevail over the enemy, but as an inability to dominate one’s insatiable desires. The elements of the traditional tyrant’s topos are found in the dialogue, and in particular the vicious circle of cruelty and fear. The meekness of the Brahmans, on the other hand, even if it is strong enough to make Alexander’s violence vain, nevertheless is characterized more as a method of salvation than as a positive action towards society and refers to God rather than the surrounding world. This ascetic and religious approach is connected on the one hand to the Indian religions of redemption, on the other to the Greek cynical tradition, and lends itself to an assimilation with Christian asceticism, in a superficial Christianization of the dialogue.
KEYWORDS
Commonitorium Palladii, Brahmanism, Alexander the Great, Greek-Latin ancient Translations, Cynic philosophy, Violence, Late antique Latin literature