La Lettre d’Aristée et les écrits néopythagoriciens Des conceptions différentes de la royauté

Abstract : Can we contend that the views on kingship expressed in the Letter of Aristeas find distinctive echoes in the neopythagorean fragments transmitted by Stobaeus ? This paper argues that differences outweigh similarities. Diotogenes’ systematic favour of the triads contrasts with a complete absence of system in Pseudo-Aristeas; considerations of proportionnality leading to harmony in the city in a nearly-musical fashion contrast with the conception that different ethnies living side by side in the kingdom should not mingle; majesty and fearfulness seen as major royal values contrast with affability and egalitarian manners; the affirmation in Ecphantus that the king is innately more virtuous than others contrasts with the idea that some happen to be kings by coincidence, and must resist specific temptations ; the duty of bringing men closer to God through an ascendant chain of contemplative vision contrasts with the duty of making benevolence trickle down to the lowest levels of command. The fact that the Letter insistently promotes the idea of imitating God as a way for a ruler to make the right decisions, cannot outweigh the rest of the evidence: essentially the king is shown as a man immerged in day-to-day business, which corresponds to the political ideas and interests of Alexandrian Jewry.