Misson and the Legend of Alexander the Great
There is also a subtext to this selection, however, linking Alexander and piracy. Many English and French documents, beginning in the middle ages, mention the legend of an encounter between Alexander and a pirate. The most notable example is written by the French poet François Villon (in Le Testament of 1461); the original source of the fable has never been
proven to be the Roman writer Valerius Maximus, or 'Valerian,' as posited here:
There was a man, Diomedes,
In the time Alexander reigned,
Who was brought to him on his knees,
Thumbs and fingers tied and chained;
He was bound this way like a thief,
As a pirate he'd roamed the sea;
Thus he came before the great chief
Who then pronounced his death decree.
The emperor began to bellow,
"Why are you a vile marauder?"
The condemned man replied in woe,
"Why do you call me a robber?
Because I maraud with my crew
In a puny little galley?
If I could arm myself like you,
Why, then an emperor I would be.
"But what's the use? Lady Fortune,
Who has brought me to this sad mess,
Remains the one who calls the tune,
And against her pull I'm helpless;
Some such excuse must be proffered,
And know that in dire poverty,
As you may have already heard,
There exists no great honesty."
When the emperor had thought
about Diomedes' words, by fiat,
He said "Your luck I'll turn about
From bad to good," and did just that;
From this time he became worthy,
And he gained wide respect thereby;
Valerian told this story,
A great Roman of times gone by.
[Translation: Stephen Eridan, 2004. http://www.inmanartz.com/villon¬es.pdf]
This anecdote was often been cited in revolutionary texts as an example of the hypocrisy of government, whereby the poor citizen is deemed a criminal despite doing no worse than the government, simply without scale or mandate. It is worth noting that poverty is named as the villain in these anecdotes, rather than the pirate.
