Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son ... - Historia Antigua

212 RECEPTION OF FATHER AND SON
correct one, by the discovery of the water of life at the end of it, by the
wealthy jewels picked up en route, and then, most emphatically, by
the arch set up and inscribed by Alexander upon his return: “Whosoever
want to enter the Land of the Blessed, journey to the right-hand
side, lest you meet your doom.” For Alexander both the bad and the
good source are alike on the right, but that is, as we have seen, quite
compatible with the bulk of the tablet set.
5. Tree Imagery
Tree imagery is important to the tablets. 20 Fourteen of them (L1–L6a)
give us a cypress tree adjacent either to the good source or the bad
source, and fi ve of them specify more closely that it is a white or
shining ( leukos) tree (L1–4, L6). Additionally, a further eight tablets,
none of which themselves mention trees, are shaped in the form of
leaves, leaves which have been variously identifi ed as those of laurel,
myrtle, or ivy (L7a–b, L16a–e, L16j). The last possibility is interesting
in view of the anonymous third-century B.C. poem addressed to the
tragedian Philicus, which bids him process to the “Islands of the
Blessed” while rolling out well-sung words from an ivy-clad head. 21
It has, furthermore, been suggested that the puzzling opening phrase
of the Hipponion tablet (L1) should be read not as “This is the task for
Memory” but as “This is the leaf for Memory” (i.e., thrion, not ergon). 22
We are forcibly reminded, in this respect, of the golden bough that
Aeneas takes down into the underworld with him, before turning
right (Verg. Aen. 6.133–636). There is no obvious sign of a tree in the
Romance, but we do perhaps miss one in it: where, after all, are we to
imagine that the birdlike creatures that address Alexander and turn
him back live?
6. The Guards
In the case of four tablets the bearer is confronted and interrogated by
the “guards” ( phulakes) of the lake of Memory (L1–4). We are given
no physical description of these guards whatsoever. However, while
one of the tablets says that they are “in front of” the lake of Memory
(epiprosthen, L3) the other three specify that they are “over”
(epuperthen) it (L1–2, L4). The meaning of this word is simple and
clear, but it has caused the translators diffi culties. Bernabé and
Jiménez San Cristóbal translate it to mean that the guards are on the
banks of the lake, and therefore “above” it in this sense. This seems a