Callinicus of Petra Fragments on Alexander and Persia in Greek
The work known as Fragments on Alexander and Persia is a lost oration by the 3rd-century CE rhetorician Callinicus of Petra. Its existence is recorded solely by its title in the Suda, a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, which provides no surviving content. Based on the conventions of Imperial-era sophistic rhetoric, to which Callinicus belonged as part of the Second Sophistic movement, the declamation likely addressed the character and achievements of Alexander the Great and the historical conflict between Macedonia and the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Such exercises typically explored themes of leadership, virtue, and fortune. The work's significance lies in its documentation of the enduring literary and rhetorical interest in Alexander as a paradigmatic subject during this period, illustrating the scholarly pursuits of a minor sophist from the Roman Near East. No manuscripts, papyri, or direct quotations from the oration are known.
| 11 | Οὔτε ἡ καθ’ ὑμᾶς γῆ πρὸς ἕτερον οὐδὲν εὐαρμόστως εἶχε πλὴν βασιλείας οὔτε ἡ βασιλεία πρὸς ἄλλο χωρίον οὐδὲν πλὴν ταύτης ἐχώρησεν· ἡ δὲ τῶν φόρων σύνταξις οὔθ’ ὑμετέρα πλεονεξία γίγνεται οὔτε τῶν διδόντων ζημία, ἀλλʼ εἰς τὸ μάχιμον γένος δαπανωμένη διʼ ἐκείνων πάλιν εἰς τοὺς διδόντας ἐπάνεισιν ὥστε δανείσμασι προσεοικέναι τὸ διδόμενον μᾶλλον ἢ φόρων ἀπαγωγῇ. Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν περὶ Κλέαρχον σεμνότερον διεπράξατο ἀνδρῶν κρατήσας ἀνανδρίᾳ συντρόφων, ἐκκλίνας τοὺς εἰδότας νικᾶν, πρὸς δὲ Πέρσας ἀγωνισάμενος τοὺς παιδευθέντας ἡττᾶσθαι ταὐτὸν παθὼν τοῖς ὄναρ εὐτυχοῦσιν, ἐν τῇ τῆς εὐτυχίας ἀκμῇ καταλύσας αὐτὴν καὶ τοσοῦτον ἄρξας τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον ὅσος ὑμῖν οὐκ ἀρκεῖ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐπελθεῖν. τοῖς μὲν οὖν πολλοῖς εἴρηται τυφλῶν εἶναι ζημίαν τὸ μὴ τὸν ἥλιον βλέπειν· ἐγὼ δ’ ἂν ἐπὶ τῶν θεωμένων φήσαιμι τὴν ἴσην εἶναι ζημίαν εἴ τις μὴ ταύτην θεάσαιτο. καὶ τῶν παρελθόντων εἰς φῶς ὅσοι μὲν ἀπείρατοι τῆς ὑμετέρας ἔμειναν, νόθον τινὰ βίον ὡς εἰπεῖν διαντλοῦσιν, ὅσοι δὲ ἐν πείρᾳ γεγένηνται, γνήσιοι τοῦ βίου μέτοχοι καὶ πλέον τῶν ἑτέρων διαλλάττουσιν ἢ τῶν βεβήλων οἱ τελεσθέντες. |