Alessandro e il bianco gallo: una parodia epica tardoantica (T.Kellis inv. D/2/46)

This article provides a new critical edition with commentary of the fragment of epic parody handed down in T. Kellis inv. D/2/46, most likely a scholastic composition exercise. In the first part, a white cockerel delivers a speech in praise of Alexander the Great in his presence, only to be cooked for the army in the second part. The two sections are based on the rhetorical models of the encomium and the ethopoea respectively. In addition to the predictable elements of epic parody, the influence of the comic character of the gluttonous cook is noticeable. Some metrical and syntactical difficulties are probably due to the author's inexperience.