Delphi Complete Works of Lucian

by Lucian Samosata

  διπλάσιον ἀπόλαβε τὸ μίσθωμα.

  Ὑμνίς

  οὐκ ἂν ὑπομείναιμι ἀνδροφόνῳ συγκαθεύδειν.

  Λεόντιχος

  μὴ δέδιθι, ὦ Ὑμνί: ἐν Παφλαγόσιν ἐκεῖνα πέπρακται, νῦν δὲ εἰρήνην ἄγω.

  Ὑμνίς

  ἀλλ᾽ ἐναγὴς ἄνθρωπος εἶ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα κατέσταζέ σου ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς τοῦ βαρβάρου, ἣν ἔφερες ἐπὶ τῇ σαρίσῃ. εἶτ᾽ ἐγὼ τοιοῦτον ἄνδρα περιβαλῶ καὶ φιλήσω; μή, ὦ Χάριτες, γένοιτο: οὐδὲν γὰρ οὗτος ἀμείνων τοῦ δημίου.

  Λεόντιχος

  καὶ μὴν εἴ με εἶδες ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις, εὖ οἶδα, ἠράσθης ἄν.

  Ὑμνίς

  ἀκούουσα μόνον, ὦ Λεόντιχε, ναυτιῶ καὶ φρίττω καὶ τὰς σκιάς μοι δοκῶ ὁρᾶν καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα τῶν πεφονευμένων καὶ μάλιστα τοῦ ἀθλίου λοχαγοῦ ἐς δύο τὴν κεφαλὴν διῃρημένου. τί οἴει, τὸ ἔργον αὐτὸ καὶ τὸ αἷμα εἰ θεασαίμην καὶ κειμένους τοὺς νεκρούς; ἐκθανεῖν γάρ μοι δοκῶ, ἣ οὐδ᾽ ἀλεκτρυόνα πώποτε φονευόμενον εἶδον.

  Λεόντιχος

  οὕτως ἀγεννής, ὦ Ὑμνί, καὶ μικρόψυχος εἶ; ἐγὼ δὲ ᾤμην ἡσθήσεσθαί σε ἀκούουσαν.

  Ὑμνίς

  ἀλλὰ τέρπε τοῖς διηγήμασι τούτοις εἴ τινας Λημνιάδας ἢ Δαναΐδας εὕροις: ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἀποτρέχω παρὰ τὴν μητέρα, ἕως ἔτι ἡμέρα ἐστίν. ἕπου καὶ σύ, ὦ Γραμμί: σὺ δὲ ἔρρωσο, χιλιάρχων ἄριστε καὶ φονεῦ ὁπόσων ἂν ἐθέλῃς.

  Λεόντιχος [5] μεῖνον, ὦ Ὑμνί, μεῖνον — ἀπελήλυθε.

  Χηνίδας

  σὺ γάρ, ὦ Λεόντιχε, ἀφελῆ παιδίσκην κατεφόβησας ἐπισείων λόφους καὶ ἀπιθάνους ἀριστείας διεξιών: ἐγὼ δὲ ἑώρων εὐθὺς ὅπως χλωρὰ ἐγένετο ἔτι σου τὰ κατὰ τὸν λοχαγὸν ἐκεῖνα διηγουμένου καὶ συνέστειλε τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ ὑπέφριξεν, ἐπεὶ καὶ διακόψαι τὴν κεφαλὴν ἔφης.

  Λεόντιχος

  ὤιμην ἐρασμιώτερος αὐτῇ φανεῖσθαι. ἀλλὰ καὶ σύ με προσαπολώλεκας, ὦ Χηνίδα, τὸ μονομάχιον ὑποβαλών.

  Χηνίδας

  οὐκ ἔδει γὰρ συνεπιψεύδεσθαί σοι ὁρῶντα τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἀλαζονείας; σὺ δὲ πολὺ φοβερώτερον αὐτὸ ἐποίησας. ἔστω γάρ, ἀπέτεμες τοῦ κακοδαίμονος Παφλαγόνος τὴν κεφαλήν, τί καὶ κατέπηξας αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τῆς σαρίσης, ὥστε σου καταρρεῖν τὸ αἷμα;

  Λεόντιχος [6] τοῦτο μιαρὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς, ὦ Χηνίδα, ἐπεὶ τά γε ἄλλα οὐ κακῶς συνεπέπλαστο, ἄπιθι δ᾽ οὖν καὶ πεῖσον αὐτὴν συγκαθευδήσουσαν.

  Χηνίδας

  λέγω οὖν ὡς ἐψεύσω ἅπαντα γενναῖος αὐτῇ δόξαι βουλόμενος;

  Λεόντιχος

  αἰσχρόν, ὦ Χηνίδα.

  Χηνίδας

  καὶ μὴν οὐκ ἄν ἄλλως ἀφίκοιτο. ἑλοῦ τοίνυν θάτερον ἢ μισεῖσθαι ἀριστεὺς εἶναι δοκῶν ἢ καθεύδειν μετὰ Ὑμνίδος ἐψεῦσθαι ὁμολογῶν.

  Λεόντιχος

  χαλεπὰ μὲν ἄμφω: αἱροῦμαι δ᾽ ὅμως τὴν Ὑμνίδα. ἄπιθι οὖν καὶ λέγε, ὦ Χηνίδα, ἐψεῦσθαι μέν, μὴ πάντα δέ.

  Δωρίων και Μυρτάλη.

  Δωρίων

  νῦν με ἀποκλείεις, ὦ Μυρτάλη, νῶν, ὅτε πένης ἐγενόμην διὰ σέ, ὅτε δέ σοι τὰ τοσαῦτα ἐκόμιζον, ἐρώμενος, ἀνήρ, δεσπότης, πάντ᾽ ἦν ἐγώ. ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἐγὼ μὲν αὖος ἤδη ἀκριβῶς, σὺ δὲ τὸν Βιθυνὸν ἔμπορον εὕρηκας ἐραστήν, ἀποκλείομαι μὲν ἐγὼ καὶ πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν ἕστηκα δακρύων, ὁ δὲ τῶν νυκτῶν φιλεῖται καὶ μόνος ἔνδον ἐστὶ καὶ παννυχίζεται, καὶ κυεῖν φὴς ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ.

  Μυρτάλη

  ταῦτά με ἀποπνίγει, Δωρίων, καὶ μάλιστα ὁπόταν λέγῃς ὡς πολλὰ ἔδωκας καὶ πένης γεγένησαι δἰ ἐμέ. λόγισαι γοῦν ἅπαντα ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁπόσα μοι ἐκόμισας.

  Δωρίων [2] εὖ γε, ὦ Μυρτάλη, λογισώμεθα. ὑποδήματα ἐκ Σικυῶνος τὸ πρῶτον δύο δραχμῶν: τίθει δύο δραχμάς.

  Μυρτάλη

  ἀλλ᾽ ἐκοιμήθης νύκτας δύο.

  Δωρίων

  καὶ ὁπότε ἧκον ἐκ Συρίας, ἀλάβαστρον μύρου ἐκ Φοινίκης, δύο καὶ τοῦτο δραχμῶν νὴ τὸν Ποσειδῶ.

  Μυρτάλη

  ἐγὼ δέ σοι ἐκπλέοντι τὸ μικρὸν ἐκεῖνο χιτώνιον τὸ μέχρι τῶν μηρῶν, ὡς ἔχοις ἐρέττων, Ἐπιούρου τοῦ πρωρέως ἐκλαθομένου αὐτὸ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν, ὁπότε ἐκάθευδε παρ᾽ ἐμοί.

  Δωρίων

  ἀπέλαβεν αὐτὸ γνωρίσας ὁ Ἐπίουρος πρῴην ἐν Σάμῳ μετὰ πολλῆς γε, ὦ θεοί, τῆς μάχης. κρόμμυα δὲ ἐκ Κύπρου καὶ σαπέρδας πέντε καὶ πέρκας τέτταρας, ὁπότε κατεπλεύσαμεν ἐκ Βοσπόρου, ἐκόμισά σοι. τί οὖν; καὶ ἄρτους ὀκτὼ ναυτικοὺς ἐν γυργάθῳ ξηροὺς καὶ ἰσχάδων βῖκον ἐκ Καρίας καὶ ὕστερον ἐκ Πατάρων σανδάλια ἐπίχρυσα, ὦ ἀχάριστε: καὶ τυρόν ποτε μέμνημαι τὸν μέγαν ἐκ Γυθίου.

  Μυρτάλη

  πέντε ἴσως δραχμῶν, ὦ Δωρίων, πάντα ταῦτα

  Δωρίων [3] ὦ Μυρτάλη, ὅσα ναύτης ἄνθρωπος ἐδυνάμην μισθοῦ ἐπιπλέων. νῦν γὰρ ἤδη τοίχου ἄρχω τοῦ δεξιοῦ καὶ σὺ ἡμῶν ὑπερορᾷς, πρῴην δὲ ὁπότε τὰ Ἀφροδίσια ἦν, οὐχὶ δραχμὴν ἔθηκα πρὸς τοῖν ποδοῖν τῆ Ἀφροδίτης σοῦ ἕνεκεν ἀργυρᾶν; καὶ πάλιν τῇ μητρὶ εἰς ὑποδήματα δύο δραχμὰς καὶ Λυδῇ ταύτῃ πολλάκις εἰς τὴν χεῖρα νῦν μὲν δύο, νῦν δὲ τέτταρας ὀβολούς. ταῦτα πάντα συντεθέντα οὐσία ναύτου ἀνδρὸς ἦν.

  Μυρτάλη

  τὰ κρόμμυα καὶ οἱ σαπέρδαι, ὦ Δωρίων;

  Δωρίων

  ναί: οὐ γὰρ εἶχον πλείω κομίζειν: οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἤρεττον, εἴ γε πλουτῶν ἐτύγχανον. τῇ μητρὶ δὲ οὐδὲ κεφαλίδα μίαν σκορόδ�
�υ ἐκόμισα πώποτε. ἡδέως δ᾽ ἂν ἔμαθον ἅτινά σοι παρὰ τοῦ Βιθυνοῦ τὰ δῶρα

  Μυρτάλη

  τουτὶ πρῶτον ὁρᾷς τὸ χιτώνιον; ἐκεῖνος ἐπρίατο, καὶ τὸν ὅρμον τὸν παχύτερον.

  Δωρίων

  ἐκεῖνος; ᾔδειν γάρ σε πάλαι ἔχουσαν.

  Μυρτάλη

  ἀλλ᾽ ὃν ᾔδεις, πολὺ λεπτότερος ἦν καὶ σμαράγδους οὐκ εἶχε. καὶ ἐλλόβια ταυτὶ καὶ δάπιδα, καὶ πρῴην δύο μνᾶς, καὶ τὸ ἐνοίκιον κατέβαλεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, οὐ σάνδαλα Παταρικὰ καὶ τυρὸν Γυθιακὸν καὶ φληνάφους.

  Δωρίων [4] ἀλλὰ ἐκεῖνο οὐ λέγεις, οἵῳ ὄντι συγκαθεύδεις αὐτῷ; ἔτη μὲν ὑπὲρ τὰ πεντήκοντα πάντως, ἀναφαλαντίας καὶ τὴν χρόαν οἷος κάραβος. οὐδὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτοῦ ὁρᾷς; αἱ μὲν γὰρ χάριτες, ὦ Διοσκόρω, πολλαί, καὶ μάλιστα ὁπόταν ᾄδῃ καὶ ἁβρὸς εἶναι θέλῃ, ὄνος αὐτολυρίζων, φασίν. ἀλλὰ ὄναιο αὐτοῦ ἀξία γε οὖσα καὶ γένοιτο ὑμῖν παιδίον ὅμοιον τῷ πατρί, ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς εὑρήσω Δελφίδα ἢ Κυμβάλιόν τινα τῶν κατ᾽ ἐμὲ ἢ τὴν γείτονα ὑμῶν τὴν αὐλητρίδα ἢ πάντως τινά. δάπιδας δὲ καὶ ὅρμους καὶ διμναῖα μισθώματα οὐ πάντες ἔχομεν.

  Μυρτάλη

  ὦ μακαρία ἐκείνη, ἥτις ἐραστὴν σέ, ὦ Δωρίων, ἕξει: κρόμμυα γὰρ αὐτῇ οἴσεις ἐκ Κύπρου καὶ τυρόν, ὅταν ἐκ Γυθίου καταπλέῃς.

  Κοχλὶς καὶ Παρθενὶς.

  Κοχλίς

  τί δακρύεις, ὦ Παρθενί, ἢ πόθεν κατεαγότας τοὺς αὐλοὺς φέρεις;

  Παρθενίς

  ὁ στρατιώτης ὁ Αἰτωλὸς ὁ μέγας ὁ Κροκάλης ἐρῶν ἐρράπισέ με αὐλοῦσαν εὑρὼν παρὰ τῇ Κροκάλῃ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀντεραστοῦ αὐτοῦ Γόργου μεμισθωμένην καὶ τούς τε αὐλούς μου συνέτριψε καὶ τὴν τράπεζαν μεταξὺ δειπνούντων ἀνέτρεψε καὶ τὸν κρατῆρα ἐξέχεεν ἐπεισπαίσας: καὶ τὸν μὲν ἀγροῖκον ἐκεῖνον τὸν Γόργον ἀπὸ τοῦ συμποσίου κατασπάσας τῶν τριχῶν ἔπαιον περιστάντες αὐτός τε ὁ στρατιώτης — Δεινόμαχος, οἶμαι, καλεῖται — καὶ ὁ συστρατιώτης αὐτοῦ: ὥστε οὐκ οἶδα εἰ βιώσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὦ Κοχλί: αἷμά τε γὰρ ἐρρύη πολὺ ἀπὸ τῶν ῥινῶν καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον ὅλον ἐξῴδηκεν αὐτοῦ καὶ πελιδνόν ἐστιν.

  Κοχλίς [2] ἐμάνη ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἢ μέθη τις ἦν καὶ παροινία τὸ πρᾶγμα;

  Παρθενίς

  ζηλοτυπία τις, ὦ Κοχλί, καὶ ἔρως ἔκτοπος: ἡ Κροκάλη δέ, οἶμαι, δύο τάλαντα αἰτήσασα, εἰ βούλεται μόνος ἔχειν αὐτήν, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐδίδου ὁ Δεινόμαχος, ἐκεῖνον μὲν ἀπέκλεισεν ἥκοντα προσαράξασά γε αὐτῷ τὰς θύρας, ὡς ἐλέγετο, τὸν Γόργον δὲ Οἰνοέα τινά γεωργὸν εὔπορον ἐκ πολλοῦ ἐρῶντα καὶ χρηστὸν ἄνθρωπον προς2ιεμένη ἔπινε μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ κἀμὲ παρέλαβεν αὐλήσουσαν παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς. ἤδη δὲ προχωροῦντος τοῦ πότου ἐγὼ μὲν ὑπέκρεκόν τι τῶν Λυδίων. ὁ γεωργὸς δὲ ἤδη ἀνίστατο ὀρχησόμενος, ἡ Κροκάλη δὲ ἐκρότει, καὶ πάντα ἦν ἡδέα: ἐν τοσούτῳ δὲ κτύπος ἠκούετο καὶ βοὴ καὶ ἡ αὔλειος ἠράσσετο, καὶ μετὰ μικρὸν ἐπεισέπαισαν ὅσον ὀκτὼ νεανίσκοι μάλα καρτεροὶ καὶ ὁ Μεγαρεὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς. εὐθὺς οὖν ἀνετέτραπτο πάντα καὶ ὁ Γόργος, ὥσπερ ἔφην, ἐπαίετο καὶ ἐπατεῖτο χαμαὶ κείμενος: ἡ Κροκάλη δὲ οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως ἔφθη ὑπεκφυγοῦσα παρὰ τὴν γείτονα Θεσπιάδα: ἐμὲ δὲ ῥαπίσας ὁ Δεινόμαχος, Ἐκφθείρου, φησί, κατεαγότας μοι τοὺς αὐλοὺς προσρίψας. καὶ νῦν ἀποτρέχω φράσουσα ταῦτα τῷ δεσπότῃ: ἀπέρχεται δὲ καὶ ὁ γεωργὸς ὀψόμενός τινας φίλους τῶν ἀστικῶν, οἳ παραδώσουσι τοῖς πρυτανεῦσι τὸν Μεγαρέα.

  Κοχλίς [3] ταῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἀπολαῦσαι τῶν στρατιωτικῶν τούτων ἐρώτων, πληγὰς καὶ δίκας: τὰ δὲ ἄλλα ἡγεμόνες εἶναι καὶ χιλίαρχοι λέγοντες, ἤν τι δοῦναι δέῃ, Περίμεινον, φασί, τὴν σύνταξιν, ὁπόταν απολάβω τὴν μισθοφοράν, καὶ ποιήσω πάντα. ἐπιτριβεῖεν δ᾽ οὖν ἀλαζόνες ὄντες: ἔγω γ᾽ οὖν εὖ ποιῶ μὴ προσιεμένη αὐτοὺς τὸ παράπαν. ἁλιεύς τις ἐμοὶ γένοιτο ἢ ναύτης ἢ γεωργὸς ἰσότιμος κολακεύειν εἰδὼς μικρὰ καὶ κομίζων πολλά, οἱ δὲ τοὺς λόφους ἐπισείοντες οὗτοι καὶ τὰς μάχας διηγούμενοι, ψόφοι, ὦ Παρθενί.

  The Biographies

  Florence, 1498 — the first printed edition of Lucian’s works was issued in Florence in 1499.

  INTRODUCTION TO LUCIAN by H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler

  CONTENTS

  1, LIFE OF LUCIAN

  2. PROBABLE ORDER OF WRITINGS

  3. CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE TIME

  4. LUCIAN AS A WRITER

  1, LIFE OF LUCIAN

  With the exception of a very small number of statements, of which the truth is by no means certain, all that we know of Lucian is derived from his own writings. And any reader who prefers to have his facts at first rather than at second hand can consequently get them by reading certain of his pieces, and making the natural deductions from them. Those that contain biographical matter are, in the order corresponding to the periods of his life on which they throw light, The Vision, Demosthenes, Nigrinus, The Portrait-study and Defence (in which Lucian is Lycinus), The Way to write History, The double ndictment (in which he is The Syrian), The Fisher (Parrhesiades), Swans and Amber, Alexander, Hermotimus (Lycinus), Menippus and Icaromenippus (in which Menippus represents him), A literary Prometheus, Herodotus, Zeuxis, Harmonides, The Scythian, The Death of Peregrine, The Book-fancier, Demonax, The Rhetorician’s Vade mecum, Dionysus, Heracles, A Slip of the Tongue, Apology for ‘The dependent Scholar.’ Of these The Vision is a direct piece of autobiography; there is intentional but veiled autobiography in several of the other pieces; in others again conclusions can be drawn from comparison of his statements with facts known from external sources.

  Lucian lived from about 125 to about 200 A.D., under the Roman Emperors Antoninus Pius, M. Aurelius and Lucius Verus, Commodus, and perhaps Pertinax. He was a Syrian, born at Samosata on the Euphrates, of parents to whom it was of importance that he should earn his living without spending much time or money on education. His maternal uncle being a statuary, he was ap
prenticed to him, having shown an aptitude for modelling in the wax that he surreptitiously scraped from his school writing-tablets. The apprenticeship lasted one day. It is clear that he was impulsive all through life; and when his uncle corrected him with a stick for breaking a piece of marble, he ran off home, disposed already to think he had had enough of statuary. His mother took his part, and he made up his mind by the aid of a vision that came to him the same night.

  It was the age of the rhetoricians. If war was not a thing of the past, the shadow of the pax Romana was over all the small states, and the aspiring provincial’s readiest road to fame was through words rather than deeds. The arrival of a famous rhetorician to lecture was one of the important events in any great city’s annals; and Lucian’s works are full of references to the impression these men produced, and the envy they enjoyed. He himself was evidently consumed, during his youth and early manhood, with desire for a position like theirs. To him, sleeping with memories of the stick, appeared two women, corresponding to Virtue and Pleasure in Prodicus’s Choice of Heracles — the working woman Statuary, and the lady Culture. They advanced their claims to him in turn; but before Culture had completed her reply, the choice was made: he was to be a rhetorician. From her reminding him that she was even now not all unknown to him, we may perhaps assume that he spoke some sort of Greek, or was being taught it; but he assures us that after leaving Syria he was still a barbarian; we have also a casual mention of his offering a lock of his hair to the Syrian goddess in his youth.