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} 3931109 M VAVHOIW 15 30 ALISH3AINN
THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D.
EDITED BY TT. E. PAGE, c.H., LITT.D. ΤΕ. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. tW. H. D. ROUSE, rirt.p. L. A. POST, r.g.p. E. H. WARMINGTON, M.A., F.R.HIST.SOC.
LUCIAN IV
LUCIAN
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY A. M. HARMON
OF YALE UNIVERSITY
IN EIGHT VOLUMES
LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS MCMLXI
First printed 1925 Reprinted 1953, 1961
Printed in Great Britain
CONTENTS
PAGE NOTE Ὁ. ὦ. A OMA P ee Eme Va. SEN mE DUM ud vi LIST OF LUCIAN'S WORKS p εφ. c Ru ἃ vii ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS . . . . . . . . 1 MENIPPUS, OR THE DESCENT INTO HADES . . . . 71 ON FUNERALS (De Luctu) . . . . . . . . . 11]
A PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING (Rhetorum praeceptor) 133 ALEXANDER THE FALSE PROPHET. . . . . . . 1733 ESSAYS IN PORTRAITURE (Imagines). . . . . . 255 ESSAYS IN PORTRAITURE DEFENDED (Pro Imaginibus) . | 297 THE GODDESSE OF SURRYE (De Syria Dea) ο, dr aa Boar
INDEX 4 e wo ας Woo 4h 7€ Rowe de sex. 413
NOTE
In the constitution of this volume there are two departures from the order in which Lucian’s writings are presented in the Codex Vaticanus 90. The Asinus, which there follows the Menippus, has been left out of this volume and relegated to the last; and Pro Imaginibus, which in the MS. is separated by six pieces from Jmagines, has been brought forward and placed directly after it.
LIST OF LUCIAN’S WORKS
SHOWING THEIR DIVISION INTO VOLUMES IN THIS EDITION
VoruME I
Phalaris I and II—Hippias or the Bath—Dionysus— Heracles—Amber or The Swans—The Fly—Nigrinus— Demonax—The Hall—My Native Land—Octogenarians—A True Story I and JJ—Slander—The Consonants at Law—The Carousal or The Lapiths.
VoLuME IT
The Downward Journey or The Tyrant—Zeus Catechized —Zeus Rants—The Dream or The Cock—Prometheus— Icaromenippus or The Sky-man—Timon or The Misanthrope —Charon or The Inspector—Philosophies for Sale.
VoLuME III
The Dead Come to Life or The Fisherman—The Double Indictment or Trials by Jury—On Sacrifices—The Ignorant Book Collector—The Dream or Lucian's Career—The Parasite —The Lover of Lies—The Judgement of the Goddesses— On Salaried Posts in Great Houses.
VotumeE IV
Anacharsis or Athleties—Menippus or The Descent into Hades—On Funerals—A Professor of Public Speaking— Alexander the False Prophet—Essays in Portraiture—Essays in Portraiture Defended—The Goddess of Surrye.
Vil
LIST OF LUCIAN’S WORKS
VoLuME V
The Passing of Peregrinus— The Runaways—Toxaris or Friendship—The Dance—Lexiphanes—The Eunuch—Astro- logy—The Mistaken Critic—The Parliament of the Gods— The Tyrannicide—Disowned.
VoLUME VI
Historia—Dipsades—Saturnalia—Herodotus—Zeuxis—Pro Lapsu—A pologia—Harmonides—Hesiodus—Scytha—Hermo- timus—Prometheus Es—Navigium.
VoLuME VII
Dialogues of the Dead—Dialogues of the Sea-Gods— Dialogues of the Gods (exc. Deorum Judicium cf. Vol. III)— Dialogues of the Courtesans.
VoLuME VIII
Soloecista—Lucius or the Ass—Amores—Halcyon—Demos- thenes— Podagra — Ocy pus — Cyniscus— Philopatris — Chari- demus—Nero.
viil
THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
Taking us back to the early sixth century, Lucian lets us listen to a conversation about Greek athletics between Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, and that legendary figure, the Scythian Anacharsis, who came to Greece in the qnest of wisdom just as Solon himself had gone to Egypt and Lycurgus of Sparta to Crete.
K. G. Jacob, who tried to make out that Lucian was an ardent reformer, laid great stress on this dialogue as a tract designed to restore the importance of athletics in Greek educa- tion by recalling how much they meant in the good old days But Lucian, who in any case was no laudator temporis acti, says nothing of any significance elsewhere to indicate either that he thought athletics especially in need of reform or that he felt any particular interest in them; and if the Anacharsis had been written for any such purpose, surely it would have ended with the conversion of the Scythian to the standpoint of the Greck.
Let us say rather that Lucian, who was especially interested in Anacharsis and Solon, as we see from his Scythian, wished, perhaps for the edification of an Athenian audience, to present tlem in conversation, and shrewdly picks athletics for their theme as that feature of Greek civilization which would be most striking and least intel- ligible to the foreigner, the ‘child of Nature.’
The conversation takes place in the Lyceum at Athens The opening sentence assumes that Anacharsis has just been enquiring about something else, and now turns to a new topic.
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ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ H ΠΕΡΙ ΤΥΜΝΑΣΙΩΝ
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
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Available in photographs: ΓΝ.
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
ANACHARSIS
AND why are your young men doing all this, Solon? Some of them, locked in each other's arms, are tripping one another up, while others are choking and twisting each other and grovelling together in the mud, wallowing like swine. Yet, in the begin- ning, as soon as they had taken their clothes off, they put oil on themselves and took turns at rubbing each other down very peacefully—I saw it. Since then, I do not know what has got into them that they push one another about with lowered heads and butt their foreheads together like rams. And see there! That man picked the other one up by the legs and threw him to the ground, then fell down upon him and will not let him get up, shoving him all down into the mud ; and now, after winding his legs about his middle and putting his forearm underneath his throat, he is choking the poor fellow, who is slapping him sidewise on the shoulder, by way of begging off, I take it, so that he may not be strangled completely. Even out of consideration for the oil, they do not avoid getting dirty; they rub off the ointment, plaster themselves with mud, mixed with streams of
1 The under man is trying to break his opponent's hold, a “ half Nelson,” by striking him on the upper arm.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
γέλωτα ἐμοὶ γοῦν παρέχουσιν ὥσπερ ail ἐγχέλυες ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν διολισθαίνοντες.
"Κτεροι δὲ ἐν τῷ αἰθρίῳ τῆς αὐλῆς τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο δρῶσιν, οὐκ ἐν πηλῷ οὗτοί γε, ἀλλὰ ψάμμον ταύτην βαθεῖαν ὑποβαλόμενοι ἐν τῷ ὀρύγματι πάττουσίν τε ἀλλήλους καὶ αὐτοὶ ἑκόντες ἐπα- μῶνται τὴν κόνιν ἀλεκτρυόνων δίκην, ὡς ἀφυκτό- τεροι εἶεν ἐν ταῖς συμπλοκαῖς, οἶμαι, τῆς ψάμμου τὸν ὄλισθον ἀφαιρούσης καὶ βεβαιοτέραν ἐν ξηρῷ παρεχούσης τὴν ἀντίληψιν.
Οἱ δὲ ὀρθοστάδην κεκονιµένοι καὶ αὐτοὶ παίουσιν ἀλλήλους προσπεσόντες καὶ λακτίξουσιν. οὑτοσὶ γοῦν καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας ἔοικεν ἀποπτύσειν ὁ κακο- δαίμων, οὕτως αἵματος αὐτῷ καὶ ψάμμου ἀναπέ- πλησται τὸ στόμα, πύξ, ὡς ὁρᾷς, παταχθέντος εἰς τὴν γνάθον. ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ὁ ἄρχων οὑτοσὶ διί- στησιν. αὐτοὺς καὶ λύει τὴν μάχην---τεκμαίρομαι yap τῇ πορφυρίδι τῶν ἀρχόντων τινὰ τοῦτον εἶναι---ὁ δὲ καὶ ἐποτρύνει καὶ τὸν πατάξαντα ἐπαινεῖ.
Ἴλλλοι δὲ ἀλλαχόθι πάντες ἐγκονοῦσι καὶ ava- πηδῶσιν ὥσπερ θέοντες ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μένοντες καὶ εἰς τὸ ἄνω συναλλ.όμενοι λακτίζουσιν τὸν ἀέρα,
Γαῦτα οὖν ἐθέλω εἰδέναι τίνος ἀγαθοῦ ἂν εἴη ποιεῖν' ὡς ἔμοιγε pavia μᾶλλον ἐοικέναι δοκεῖ τὸ πρᾶγμα, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις ἂν ῥᾳδίως μεταπεί- σειέ µε ὡς οὐ Med M. οἱ ταῦτα δρῶντες.
αἱ Jacobitz: οἱ MSS. 2 ἀγαθοῦ vulg.: ἀγαθὸν MSS.
1 « The exercise is that known in the modern gymnasium as ‘knees up,’ and is apparently the same as that described by Seneca ( Ep. xv.) as the * fuller's jump,’ from its resemblance
4
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
sweat, and make themselves a laughing-stock, to me at least, by slipping through each others hands like eels.
Another set is doing the same in the uncovered part of the court, though not in mud. They have a layer of deep sand under them in the pit, as you see, and not only besprinkle one another but of their own accord heap the dust on themselves like so many cockerels, in order that it may be harder to break away in the clinches, I suppose, because the sand takes off the slipperiness and affords a firmer grip on a dry surface.
Others, standing upright, themselves covered with dust, are attacking each other with blows and kicks. This one here looks as if he were going to spew out his teeth, unlucky man, his mouth is so full of blood and sand ; he has had a blow on the jaw,as you see. Buteven the official there does not separate them and break up the fight —I assume from his purple cloak that he is one of the officials; on the contrary, he urges them on and praises the one who struck the blow.
Others in other places are all exerting themselves ; they jump up and down as if they were running, but stay in the same place; andthey spring high up and kick the air.!
I want to know, therefore, what good it can be to do all this, because to me at least the thing looks more like insanity than anything else, and nobody can easily convince me that men who act in that way are not out of their minds.
to the action of a fuller jumping up and down on the clothes in his tub.” E. N. Gardiner, Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals, p. 296.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ΣΟΛΩΝ
Καὶ εἰκότως, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, τοιαῦτά σοι τὰ γιγνόμενα φαίνεται, ξένα γε ὄντα καὶ πάμπολυ τῶν Σκυθικῶν ἐθῶν ἀπαδοντα, καθάπερ καὶ ὑμῖν πολλὰ εἰκὸς εἶναι μαθήματα καὶ ἐπιτηδεύματα τοῖς ΄Ελλησιν ἡμῖν ἀλλόκοτα εἶναι δόξαντα ἄν, εἴ τις ἡμῶν ὥσπερ σὺ νῦν ἐπισταίη αὐτοῖς. πλὴν ἀλλὰ θάρρει, ὦγαθέ' οὐ γὰρ μανία τὰ γυγνόμενά ἐστιν οὐδ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὕβρει οὗτοι παίουσιν ἀλλήλους. καὶ κυλίουσιν ἐν τῷ πηλῷ ἢ ἐπιπάττουσιν τὴν κόνιν, ἀλλ. ἔχει τινὰ χρείαν οὐκ ἀτερπῆ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ ἀκμὴν οὐ μικρὰν ἐπάγει, τοῖς σώμασιν: ἣν γοῦν ἐνδιατρίψῃς, ὦ ὥσπερ οἷμαί σε ποιήσειν, τῇ Ἑλλάδι, οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν εἷς καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσῃ τῶν πεπήλω- μένων ἢ κεκονιμένων' οὕτω σοι τὸ πρᾶγμα ἡδύ τε ἅμα καὶ λυσιτελὲς εἶναι δόξει.
ANAXAPZIZ
"Amare, ὦ Σόλων, t ὑμῖν ταῦτα γένοιτο τὰ ὠφέ- Mua καὶ τερπνά, ἐμὲ δὲ εἴ τις ὑμῶν τοιοῦτό τι διαθείη, εἴσεται ὡς οὐ μάτην παρεζώσμεθα τὸν ἀκινάκην. ἀτὰρ εἰπέ μοι, τί ὄνομα ἔθεσθε τοῖς γιγνομένοις, ἢ τί φῶμεν ποιεῖν αὐτούς;
ΣΟΛΩΝ
‘O μὲν χώρος αὐτός, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, γυμνάσιον ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν ὀνομάξεται καὶ ἔστιν ἱερὸν ᾿Απόλλωνος τοῦ Λυκείου. καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα. δὲ αὐτοῦ ὁρᾷς, τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ στήλῃ. κεκλιμένον, τῇ ἀριστερᾷ μὲν τὸ τόξον ἔχοντα, ἡ δεξιὰ δὲ ὑπὲρ τῆς κεφαλῆς ava- 6
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
SOLON
It is only natural, Anacharsis, that what they are doing should have that appearance to you, since it is unfamiliar and very much in contrast with Seythian customs. In like manner you yourselves probably have much in your education and training which would appear strange to us Greeks if one of us should look in upon it as you are doing now. But have no fear, my dear sir; it is not insanity, and it is not out of brutality that they strike one another and tumble each other in the mud, or sprinkle each other with dust. The thing has a certain usefulness, not unattended by pleasure, and it gives much strength to their bodies. As a matter of fact, if you stop for some time, as I think you will, in Greece, before long you yourself will be one of the muddy or dusty set ; so delightful and at the same time so profitable will the thing seem to you.
ANACHARSIS
Get out with you, Solon! You Greeks may have those benefits and pleasures. For my part, if one of you should treat me like that, he will find out that we do not carry these daggers at our belts for nothing! But tell me, what name do you give to these performances? What are we to say they are doing ?
SOLON
The place itself, Anacharsis, we call a gymnasium, and it is consecrated to Lyceian Apollo; you see his statue—the figure leaning againstthe pillar, with thc bow in his left hand; his right arm bent back above
THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
κεκλασμένη ὥσπερ ἐκ καμάτου μακροῦ ἀναπαυό- μενον δείκνυσι τὸν θεόν. τῶν γυμνασμάτων δὲ τούτων τὸ μὲν ἐν τῷ πηλῷ ἐκεῖνο πάλη καλεῖται, οἱ δ᾽ ἐν τῇ κόνει παλαίουσι καὶ αὐτοί, τὸ δὲ παίειν ἀλλήλους ὀρθοστάδην παγκρατιάξειν λέγομεν. καὶ ἄλλα δὲ ἡμῖν ἐστι γυμνάσια τοιαῦτα πυγμῆς καὶ δίσκου καὶ τοῦ ὑπεράλλεσθαι, ὧν ἁπάντων ἀγῶνας προτίθεμεν, καὶ ὁ κρατήσας ἄριστος εἶναι δοκεῖ τῶν καθ αὑτὸν καὶ ἀναιρεῖται τὰ ἆθλα.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ Τὰ δὲ ἆθλα τίνα ὑμῖν ταῦτά ἐστιν; ΣΟΛΩΝ
, , bi ’ , 7 , ^
Ολυμπίασι μὲν στέφανος ἐκ κοτίνου, ]σθμοῖ δὲ ἐκ πίτυος, ἐν Νεμέᾳ δὲ σελίνων πεπλεγμένος, Πυθοῖ δὲ μῆλα τῶν ἱερῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, παρ᾽ ἡμῖν δὲ τοῖς Παναθηναίοις τὸ ἔλαιον τὸ ἐκ τῆς μορίας.
τί ἐγέλασας, © ᾿Ανάχαρσι; 7) διότι μικρά σοι εἶναι ταῦτα δοκεῖ;
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ Οὔκ, ἀλλὰ πάνσεμνα, ὦ Σόλων, κατέλεξας τὰ ἆθλα καὶ ἄξια τοῖς τε διαθεῖσιν αὐτὰ φιλοτιμεῖ- σθαι ἐπὶ τῇ μεγαλοδωρεᾷ καὶ τοῖς ἀγωνισταῖς αὐτοῖς ὑπερεσπουδακέναι περὶ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν
1 Solon’s statement is not quite full enough. The pan- cratiuin included not only boxing, but kicking and wrestling, and was practised not only upright but on the ground. It was a rough and tumble affair, in which only gouging and biting were barred. Some, at least, of the wrestlers in the mud were engaged, strictly speaking, in the pancratium, as the choking and striking show.
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ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
his head indicates that the god is resting, as if after long exertion. As for these forms of athletics, that one yonder in the mud is called wrestling, and the men in the dust are wrestling too. When they stand upright and strike one another, we call it the pan- cratium.! We have other such athletic exercises, too—boxing, throwing the discus, and jumping— in all of which we hold contests, and the winner is considered best in his class and carries off the prizes.
ANACHARSIS And these prizes of yours, what are they?
SOLON
At the Olympic games, a wreath made of wild olive, at the Isthmian one of pine, and at the Nemean one of parsley, at the Pythian some of the apples sacred to Apollo, and with us at the Panathenaea, the oil from the holy olive.? What made you laugh, Anacharsis? Because you think these prizes trivial ?
ANACHARSIS
No, the prizes that you have told off are absolutely imposing, Solon; they may well cause those who have offered them to glory in their munificence and the contestants themselves to be tremendously eager
2 The one planted on the Acropolis by Athena. As to the prize in the Pythia, it may have been apples before the re- organization of the games in 586. But in that year the competition had prizes **in kind,” spoils of the Crisaean war (χρηματίτης ἀπὸ λαφύρων : Marmor Parium) ; and from 582 it was στεφανίτης, like the other three Panhellenic Festivals, with a wreath of laurel.
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τηλικούτων, ὥστε μήλων ἕνεκα καὶ σελίνων τοσαῦ- τα προπονεῖν καὶ κινδυνεύειν ἀγχομένους πρὸς ἀλλήλων καὶ κατακλωμένους, ὡς οὐκ ἐνὸν ἀπραγ- μόνως εὐπορῆσαι μήλων ὅτῳ ἐπιθυμία ἡ σελίνῳ ἐστεφανῶσθαι Ù πίτυϊ μήτε πηλῷ καταχριόµενον τὸ πρόσωπον μήτε λακτιξόμενον εἰς τὴν γαστέρα ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνταγωνιστῶν.
ΣΟΛΩΝ
᾿Αλλ, ὦ ἄριστε, οὐκ εἰς ψιλὰ τὰ διδόµενα ἡμεῖς ἀποβλέπομεν. ταῦτα μὲν γάρ ἐστι σημεῖα τῆς νίκης καὶ γνωρίσματα οἵτινες οἱ κρατήσαντες. ἡ δὲ παρακολουθοῦσα τούτοις δόξα τοῦ παντὸς ἀξία τοῖς νενικηκόσιν, ὑπὲρ ἧς καὶ λακτίξεσθαι καλῶς ἔχει τοῖς θηρωμένοις τὴν εὔκλειαν ἐκ τῶν πόνων. οὐ γὰρ ἀπονητὶ προσγένοιτο ἂν αὕτη, ἀλλὰ χρὴ τὸν ὀρεγόμενον αὐτῆς πολλὰ τὰ δυσχερῆ ἀνασχόμενον ἐν τῇ ἀρχὴ τότ᾽ ἤδη τὸ λυσιτελὲς καὶ ἡδὺ τέλος ἐκ τῶν καμάτων περιμένειν.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ Τοῦτο φής, ὦ Σόλων, τὸ τέλος ἡδὺ καὶ λυσι- τελές, ὅτι πάντες αὐτοὺς ὄψονται ἐστεφανωμένους καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ ἐπαινέσονται πολὺ πρότερον οἰκτείραντες ἐπὶ ταῖς πληγαῖς, οἱ δὲ εὐδαιμονή- σουσιν ἀντὶ τῶν πόνων μῆλα καὶ σέλινα ἔχοντες.
ΣΟΛΩΝ v Ῥ ΄ - ε ’ vy ` Arepos el, φημί, τῶν ἡμετέρων ἔτι μετὰ μικρὸν δὲ ἄλλα σοι δόξει περὶ αὐτῶν, ἐπειδὰν
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ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
to carry off such guerdons, so that they will go through all these preliminary hardships and risks, getting choked and broken in two by one another, for apples and parsley, as if it were not possible for anyone who wants them to get plenty of apples without any trouble, or to wear a wreath of parsley or of pine without having his face bedaubed with mud or letting himself be kicked in the belly by his opponent ! SOLON
But, my dear fellow, it is not the bare gifts that we have in view! They are merely tokens of the victory and marks to identify the winners. But the reputation that goes with them is worth everything to the victors, and to attain it, even to be kicked is nothing to men who seek to capture fame through hardships. Without hardships it cannot be acquired ; the man who covets it must put up with many un- pleasantnesses in the beginning before at last he can expect the profitable and delightful outcome of his exertions.
ANACHARSIS
By this delightful and profitable outcome, Solon, you mean that everybody will see them wearing wreaths and will applaud them for their victory after having pitied them a long time beforehand for their hard knocks, and that they will be felicitous to have apples and parsley in compensation for their hard- ships!
SOLON
You are still unacquainted with our ways, I tell you. After a little you will think differently about
II
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
εἰς τὰς πανηγύρεις ἀπιὼν ὁρᾷς τοσοῦτο πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων συλλεγόμενον ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν τῶν τοιού- των καὶ θέατρα μυρίανδρα συμπληρούμενα καὶ τοὺς ἀγωνιστὰς ἐπαινουμένους, τὸν δὲ καὶ νική- σαντα αὐτῶν ἰσόθεον νομιζόμενον.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
Αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ὦ Σόλων, καὶ τὸ οἴκτιστόν ἐστιν, εἰ μὴ ἐπ᾿ ὀλίγων ταῦτα πάσχουσιν, ἀλλὰ ἐν τοσούτοις θεαταῖς καὶ μάρτυσι τῆς ὕβρεως, οἳ δηλαδὴ εὐδαιμονίξουσιν αὐτοὺς αἵματι ῥαινομένους ὁρῶντες ἢ ἀγχομένους ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντιπάλων" ταῦτα yàp. τὰ εὐδαιμονέστατα πρόσεστι τῇ νίκῃ, αὐτῶν. παρ ἡμῖν δὲ τοῖς Σκύθαις ἤν τις, ὦ Σόλων, ἡ πατάξῃ τινὰ τῶν πολιτῶν ἢ 7 ἀνατρέψῃ προσπεσὼν ἢ θοϊμάτια. περιρρήξῃ, μεγάλας οἱ πρεσβῦται τὰς ζημίας ἐπάγουσι, κἂν ἐπ᾿ ὀλίγων μαρτύρων τοῦτο πάθη τις, οὔτι γε ἐν τηλικούτοις θεάτροις, οἷα σὺ διηγῇ τὸ Ἰσθμοῖ καὶ τὸ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν ἀγωνιστὰς οἰκτείρειν μοι ἔπεισιν ὧν πάσχουσιν, τῶν δὲ θεατῶν οὓς φὴς ἁπαντα- χόθεν τοὺς ἀρίστους παραγίγνεσθαι εἰς τὰς πανη- γύρεις καὶ πάνυ θαυμάζω, εἰ τἀναγκαῖα παρέντες σχολάζουσιν € ἐπὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο πω δύναμαι κατανοῆσαι ὅ τι τὸ τερπνὸν αὐτοῖς, ὁρᾶν παιοµένους τε καὶ διαπληκτιξομένους ἀνθρώ- πους καὶ πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἀραττομένους καὶ συντρι- Bopévous ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων.
ΣΟΛΩΝ Ei καιρὸς ἦν, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, Ὀλυμπίων ἢ ᾿Ισθμίων ἢ Παναθηναίων, αὐτὸ ἄν σε τὸ γιγνό- 12
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
them, when you go to the games and see that great throng of people gathering to look at such spectacles, and amphitheatres filling that will hold thousands, and the contestants applauded, and the one among them who succeeds in winning counted equal to the gods.
ANACHARSIS
That is precisely the most pitiable part of it, Solon, if they undergo this treatment not before just a few but in the presence of so many spectators and wit- nesses of the brutality, who no doubt felicitate them on seeing them streaming with blood or getting strangled by their opponents; for these are the extreme felicities that go with their victory! With us Scythians, Solon, if anyone strikes a citizen, or assaults him and throws him down, or tears his clothing, the elders impose severe penalties upon him, even if the offence takes place before just a few witnesses, not to speak of such great assemblies as that at the Isthmus and that at Olympia which you describe. I assure you, I cannot help pitying the contestants for what they go through, and I am absolutely amazed at the spectators, the prominent men who come, you say, from all sides to the games, if they neglect their urgent business and fritter their time away in such matters. I cannot yet conceive what pleasure it is to them to see men struck, pummelled, dashed on the ground, and crushed by one another.
SOLON
If it were the time, Anacharsis, for the Olympic or the Isthmian or the Panathenaic games, what
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
μενον ἐδίδαξεν ὡς οὐ μάτην ἐσπουδάκαμεν ἐπὶ τούτοις. οὐ γὰρ οὕτω λέγων ἄν τις προσβι- βάσειέν σε τῇ ἡδονῇ τῶν ἐκεῖ δρωμένων, ὡς εἰ καθεζόμενος αὐτὸς ἐν μέσοις τοῖς θεαταῖς Βλέποις ἀρετὰς ἀνδρῶν καὶ κάλλη σωμάτων καὶ εὐεξίας θαυμαστὰς καὶ ἐμπειρίας δεινὰς καὶ ἐσχὺν ἄμαχον καὶ τόλμαν καὶ φιλοτιμίαν καὶ γνώμας ἀηττήτους καὶ σπουδὴν ἄλεκτον ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης. εὖ γὰρ δὴ οἶδα ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἐπαύσω ἐπαινῶν καὶ ἐπιβοῶν καὶ ἐπικροτῶν.
ANAXAPZIZ
Νὴ AC, ὦ Σόλων, καὶ ἐπιγελῶν ye προσέτι καὶ ἐπιχλευάξων" ἅπαντα γὰρ ὁπόσα κατηριθμήσω ἐκεῖνα, τὰς ἀρετὰς καὶ τὰς εὐεξίας καὶ τὰ κάλλη καὶ τόλμαν, ὁρῶ οὐδενὸς μεγάλου ἕνεκα παραπ- ολλυμένας ὑμῖν, οὔτε πατρίδος κινδυνενούσης οὔτε χώρας πορθουμένης οὔτε φίλων ἢ οἰκείων πρὸς ὕβριν ἀπαγομένων. ὥστε τοσούτῳ γελοιό- τεροι ἂν εἶεν, ἄριστοι μέν, ὡς φής, ὄντες, μάτην δὲ τοσαῦτα πάσχοντες καὶ ταλαιπωρούμενοι καὶ αἰσχύνοντες τὰ κάλλη καὶ τὰ μεγέθη τῇ ψάμμῳ καὶ τοῖς ὑπωπίοις, ὡς μήλου καὶ κοτίνου ἐγκρατεῖς γένοιντο νικήσαντες. ἡδὺ γάρ μοι ἀεὶ μεμνῆσθαι τῶν ἄθλων τοιούτων ov των. ἀτὰρ εἰπέ μοι, πάντες αὐτὰ λαμβάνουσιν οἱ ἀγωνισταί;
ΣΟΛΩΝ Οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλὰ εἷς ἐξ ἁπάντων, ὁ κρατήσας αὐτῶν.
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ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
takes place there would itself have taught you that we had not spent our energy on all this in vain, Just by talking about the delightfulness of the doings there, one cannot convince you of it as thoroughly as if you yourself, sitting in the midst of the spectators, were to see manly perfection, physical beauty, wonderful condition, mighty skill, irresistible strength, daring, rivalry, indomitable resolution, and inexpressible ardour for victory. I am very sure that you would never have stopped praising and cheering and clapping.
ANACHARSIS
No doubt, Solon; and laughing and gibing, into the bargain; for I see that all these things which you have enumerated—the perfection, the condition, the beauty, the daring—are being wasted for you without any great object in view, since your country is not in peril nor your farm-lands being ravaged, nor your friends and kinsmen insolently carried off. So the competitors are all the more ridiculous if they are the flower of the country, as you say, and yet endure so much for nothing, making themselves miserable and defiling their beautiful, great bodies with sand and black eyes to get possession of an apple and an olive-branch when they have won! You see, I like to keep mentioning the prizes, which are so fine! But tell me, do all the contestants get them ?
SOLON
Not by any means; only one among them all, the victor.
I5
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ Kira, ὦ Σόλων, ἐπὶ τῷ ἀδήλῳ καὶ ἀμφιβόλῳ τῆς νίκης τοσοῦτοι πονοῦσι, καὶ ταῦτ᾽ εἰδότες ὅτι ὁ μὲν νικῶν εἷς ἔσται πάντως, οἱ δὲ ἡττώμενοι πάμπολλοι, μάτην ἄθλιοι πληγάς, οἱ δὲ καὶ τραύ- pata λαβόντες;
ΣΟΛΩΝ
"Eoas, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, μηδέπω ἐννενοηκέναι πολιτείας ὀρθῆς πέρι μηδέν" οὐ γὰρ ἂν τὰ κάλ- λιστα τῶν ἐθῶν ἐν ψόγῳ ἐτίθεσο. ἣν δέ σοι μελήσῃ ποτὲ εἰδέναι ὅπως ἂν τὰ κάλλιστα οἰκηθείη πόλις καὶ ὅπως ἂν ἄριστοι. γένοιντο οἱ πολῖται αὐτῆς, ἐπαινέση τότε καὶ τὰς ἀσκήσεις ταύτας καὶ τὴν φιλοτιμίαν ἢ ἣν φιλοτιμούμεθα περὶ αὐτάς, καὶ elon ὅτι πολὺ τὸ χρήσιμον ἔχουσιν ἐγκαταμεμιγμένον τοῖς πόνοις, εἰ καὶ νῦν μάτην σπουδάξεσθαι δοκοῦσιν.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
Kai μήν, @ Σόλων, κατ᾽ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἀπὸ τῆς Σκυθίας ἥκω Tap ὑμᾶς τοσαύτην μὲν γῆν διο- δεύσας, μέγαν δὲ τὸν Εὔξεινον καὶ .δυσχείµερον περαιωθείς, 7 ὅπως νόμους τε τοὺς Ελλήνων ἐκμάθοιμι καὶ ἔθη τὰ παρ ὑμῖν κατανοήσαιμι. καὶ πολιτείαν τὴν ἀρίστην ἐκμελετήσαιμι. διὸ καὶ σὲ μάλιστα φίλον ἐξ ἁπάντων ᾿Αθηναίων καὶ ξένον προειλόμην κατὰ κλέος, ἐπείπερ ἤκουον νόμων τε συγγραφέα τινὰ εἶναι σε καὶ ἐθῶν τῶν ἀρίστων εὑρετὴν καὶ ἐπιτηδευμάτων ὠφελίμων εἰσηγητήν, καὶ ὅλως πολιτείας τινὸς συναρµοστήν. ὥστε οὐκ
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
ANACHARSIS
Then do so many undergo hardships upon the uncertain and precarious chance of winning, Solon, knowing too that there will surely be but one winner and very many losers, who, poor fellows, will have received blows and in some cases even wounds for nothing ?
SOLON
It seems, Anacharsis, that you have never yet done any thinking about the proper way to direct a state; otherwise you would not disparage the best of institutions. If ever you make it your object to find out how a state is to be organized in the best way possible, and how its citizens are to reach the highest degree of excellence, you will then praise these exercises and the rivalry which we display in regard to them, and you will know that they have much that is useful intermingled with the hardships, even if you now think our energy is spent on then for nothing.
ANACHARSIS
I assure you, Solon, I had no other object in coming to your country from Scythia, over such a vast stretch of land and across the wide and tempestuous Euxine, than to learn the laws of the Greeks, to observe your institutions, and to acquaint myself with the best form of polity. Thatis why I selected you in particular out of all the Athenians for my friend and host, in deference to your reputation, for I used to hear that you were a maker of laws, an inventor of excellent institutions, an introducer of advantageous practices, and in a word, the fashioner of a polity. So
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ἂν φθάνοις διδάσκων µε καὶ μαθητὴν ποιούµενος' ὡς ἔγωγε ἡδέως ἂν ἄσιτός σοι καὶ ἄποτος παρα- καθεζόµενος, εἰς ὅσον ἂν αὐτὸς διαρκοίης λέγων, κεχηνὼς ἐπακούοιμι περὶ πολιτείας τε καὶ νόμων διεξιόντος. ΣΟΛΩΝ
15 Ta μὲν πάντα οὐ ῥάδιον, ὦ ἑταῖρε, διελθεῖν ἐν βραχεῖ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ μέρη ἐπιὼν εἴσῃ ἕκαστα, ola μὲν περὶ θεῶν, οἷα δὲ περὶ γονέων ἢ περὶ γάμων ἢ τῶν ἄλλων δοκεῖ ἡμῖν. ἃ δὲ περὶ τῶν νέων γιγνώσκομεν καὶ ὅπως αὐτοῖς χρώμεθα, ἐπειδὰν πρῶτον ἄρξωνται συνιέναι τε τοῦ βελτίονος καὶ τῷ σώματι ἀνδρίξεσθαι καὶ ὑφίστασθαι τοὺς πόνους, ταῦτα ἤδη σοι διέξειμι, ὡς μάθοις οὗτινος χάριν τὰς ἀσκήσεις ταύτας προτεθείκαμεν αὐτοῖς καὶ διαπονεῖν τὸ σῶμα καταναγκάξομεν, οὐ μόνον ἕνεκα τῶν ἀγώνων, ὅπως τὰ ἆθλα δύναιντο ἆναι- ρεῖσθαι---ἐπ᾽ ἐκεῖνα μὲν γὰρ ὀλίγοι πάνυ ἐξ a ἁπάν- των χωροῦσιν-- ἀλλὰ peilov TL ἁπάσῃ TH πόλει ἀγαθὸν ἐκ τούτου καὶ αὐτοῖς ἐκείνοις προσκτώ- μενοι. κοινὸς γάρ τις ἀγὼν ἄλλος ἅπασι τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς πολίταις πρόκειται καὶ στέφανος οὐ πίτυος οὐδὲ κοτίνου ἢ σελίνων, ἀλλ᾽ ὃς ἐν αὑτῷ συλλαβὼν ἔχει τὴν ἀνθρώπου εὐδαιμονίαν, οἷον ἐλευθερίαν λέγω αὐτοῦ τε ἑκάστου ἰδίᾳ καὶ κοινῇ τῆς πατρίδος καὶ πλοῦτον καὶ δόξαν καὶ , ἑορτῶν πατρίων ἀπόλαυσιν καὶ οἰκείων σωτηρίαν, καὶ συνόλως τὰ κάλλιστα ὧν ἄν τις εὔξαιτο γενέσθαι οἱ παρὰ τῶν θεῶν. ταῦτα πάντα τῷ στεφάνῳ ὅ ὃν φημι συναναπέπλεκται καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἐκείνου περιγίγνεται ἐφ᾽ ὃν αἱ ἀσκήσεις αὗται καὶ οἱ πόνοι ἄγουσιν. 18
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
do be quick about teaching me and making a disciple of me. For my part I would gladly sit beside you without meat or drink as long as you could endure to talk, and listen to you with avidity while you described government and laws.
SOLON
To describe everything, my friend, in brief compass is not an easy task, but if you take it up a little at a time, you will find out in detail all the opinions we hold about the gods and about parents, marriage, and everything else. And I shall now tell you what we think about our young men, and how we deal with them from the time when they begin to know good from bad, to be physically mature, and to bear hardships, in order that you may learn why we pre- scribe these exercises for them and compel them to train their bodies. It is not simply on account of the contests, in order that they may be able to take the prizes—very few out of the entire number have the capacity for that—but because we seek a certain greater good from it for the entire state and for the young men themselves. There is another competition which is open to all good citizens in common, and a wreath that is not made of pine or olive or parsley, but contains in itself all human felicity,—that is to say, freedom for each individual singly and for the state in general, wealth, glory, enjoyment of ancestral feast-days, safety for one’s family, and in short, the fairest blessings that one could pray to receive from the gods. All these things are inter- woven in the wreath that I speak of and accrue from the contest to which these exercises and hardships lead.
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ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙ͂Σ
Εἶτα, ὦ θαυμάσιε Σόλων, τοιαῦτά μοι καὶ τηλικαῦτα ἔχων ἆθλα διεξιέναι, μῆλα καὶ σέλινα διηγοῦ καὶ θαλλὸν ἐλαίας ἀγρίας καὶ πίτυν;
ΣΟΛΩΝ
Καὶ μήν, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, οὐδ᾽ ἐκεῖνά σοι ἔτι δόξει μικρὰ εἶναι, ὁπόταν ἃ λέγω κα αταμάθῃς" ἀπὸ γάρ τοι τῆς αὐτῆς γνώμης γίγνεται, καὶ μέρη πάντα ταῦτά ἐστι μικρὰ τοῦ μείζονος ἐκείνου ἀγῶνος καὶ τοῦ στεφάνου ὃν. κατέλεξα τοῦ πανευδαίµονος. ὁ δὲ λόγος, οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως ὑπερβὰς τὴν τάξιν, ἐ ἐκείνων πρότερον "ἐπεμνήσθη τῶν ᾿[σθ μοῦ γιγνομένων καὶ Ὀλυμπίασι καὶ ἐν Νεμέᾳ. πλὴν ἀλλὰ νώ--- σχολὴν γὰρ ἄγομεν καὶ σύ, ὡς φής, προθυμῇ ἀκούειν---ἀναδραμούμεθα .ῥᾳδίως πρὸς, τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὸν κοινὸν ἀγῶνα δι ὃν φημι πάντα ταῦτα ἐπιτι]δεύεσθαι.
ANAXAPZIZ
"Αμεινον, ὦ Σόλων, οὕτως" Kal ὁδὸν yàp à ἂν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος μάλλον προχωροίη, καὶ τάχ᾽ ἂν ἴσως ἀπὸ τούτων πεισθείην μηδὲ ἐκείνων ἔτι καταγελᾶν, εἴ τινα ἴδοιμι σεμνυνόμενον κοτίνῳ À σελίνῳ ἐστεφανωμένον. ἀλλ. εἰ δοκεῖ, εἰς τὸ σύσκιον ἐκεῖσε ἀπελθόντες καθίσωμεν ἐπὶ τῶν θάκων, ὡς μὴ ἐνοχλοῖεν ἡμῖν ot? ἐπικεκραγότες τοῖς πα- λαίουσιν. ἄλλως τε---εἰρήσεται γάρ---οὐδὲ τὸν ἥλιον ἔτι ῥᾳδίως -ἀνέχομαι ὀξὺν καὶ Φλογμώδη ἐμπίπτογτα γυμνῆ τῇ κεφαλῇ. τὸν γὰρ πῖλόν 1 πρότερον Halim: προτέρων MSS. 2 oi Jacobs: not in MSS. 20
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
ANACHARSIS
Then, Solon, you amazing person, when you had such magnificent prizes to tell of, you spoke of apples and parsley and a sprig of wild olive and a bit of pine?
SOLON
But really, Anacharsis, even those prizes will no longer appear trivial to you when you understand what I mean. They originate in the same purpose, and are all small parts of that greater contest and of the wreath of complete felicity which I mentioned. Our conversation, departing somehow or other from the natural sequence, touched first upon the doings at the Isthmus and Olympia and Nemea. However, as we are at leisure and you are eager, you say, to hear, it will be an easy matter for us to hark back to the beginning, to the common competition which is, as I say, the object of all these practices.
ANACHARSIS
It would be better, Solon, to do so, for by keeping to the highway our talk would make greater progress, and perhaps knowing these prizes may persuade me never again to laugh at those others, if I should see a man putting on airs because he wears a wreath of wild olive or parsley. But if it is all the same to you, let us go into the shade over yonder and sit on the benches, so as not to be annoyed by the men who are shouting at the wrestlers. Besides—I may as well be frank !—I no longer find it easy to stand the sun, which is fieree and burning as it beats upon my bare head. I thought it best to leave my cap at
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
μοι ἀφελεῖν. οἴκοθεν ἔδοξεν, ὡς μὴ μόνος ἐν ὑμῖν ξενίξοιμι τῷ σχήματι. ἡ δὲ ὦ Opa τοῦ ἔτους 6 TL περ τὸ πυρωδέστατόν ἐστι, τοῦ ἀστέρος ὃν ὑμεῖς κύνα φατὲ πάντα καταφλέγοντος καὶ τὸν ἀέρα ξηρὸν καὶ διακαῆ τιθέντος, ὅ τε ἥλιος κατὰ μεσημβρίαν ἤδη ù ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ἐπικείμενος φλογ- μὸν τοῦτον οὐ φορητὸν ἐπάγει τοῖς σώμασιν. ὥστε καὶ σοῦ θαυμάξω, ὅπως γηραιὸς ἤδη ἄν- θρωπος οὔτε ἰδίεις πρὸς τὸ θάλπος ὥσπερ ἐγὼ οὔτε ὅλως ἐνοχλουμένω ἔοικας, οὐδὲ περιβλέπεις σύσκιόν τι ἔνθα ὑποδύσῃ, ἀλλὰ δέχῃ τὸν ἥλιον εὐμαρῶς. ΣΟΛΩΝ
Οἱ μάταιοι γὰρ οὗτοι πόνοι, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, καὶ αἱ συνεχεῖς ἐν τῷ πηλῷ κυβιστήσεις καὶ αἱ ὕπαιθροι ἐν τῇ ψάμμφ Ταλαιπωρίαι τοῦτο ἡμῖν τὸ ἀμυντήριον παρέχουσι πρὸς τὰς τοῦ ἡλίου Boras, καὶ οὐκέτι πίλου δεόμεθα ὃς τὴν ἀκτῖνα κωλύσει καθικνεῖσθαι τῆς κεφαλῆς.
᾽Απίωμεν δ᾽ οὖν. καὶ ὅπως μὴ καθάπερ νόμοις προσέξεις οἷς ἂν λέγω πρὸς σέ, ὡς ἐξ ἅπαντος πιστεύειν αὐτοῖς, ἀλλ᾽ ἔνθα av σοι μὴ ὀρθῶς τι λέγεσθαι δοκῇ, ἀντιλέγειν εὐθὺς καὶ διευθύνειν τὸν .λόγον. δυοῖν γὰρ θατέρου πάντως οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοιμεν, ἢ σὲ βεβαίως πεισθῆναι ἐκχέαντα ὁπόσα οἴει ἀντιλεκτέα εἶναι ἢ ἐμὲ ἀναδιδαχθῆναι ὡς οὐκ ὀρθῶς γιγνώσκω περὶ αὐτῶν. καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πᾶσα ἄν σοι ἡ πόλις ἡ ᾿Αθηναίων οὐκ
1 A great pointed cap of felt or skin was part of the Scythian costume. The Greeks went bare-headed, unless
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ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
home, so as not to be the only person among you in a foreign costume. But the season of the yearis the very fieriest, for the star which you call the Dog burns everything up and makes the air dry and parching, and the sun, now hanging overhead at midday, produces this blazing heat, insupportable to the body. I wonder, therefore, how it is that you, an elderly man, do not perspire in the heat as I do, and do not seem to be troubled by it at all; you do not even look about for a shady spot to enter, but stand the sun with ease.
SOLON
These useless exertions, Anacharsis, the continual somersaults in the mud and the open-air struggles in the sand give us our immunity from the shafts of the sun and we have no further need of a cap to keep its rays from striking our heads.
Let us go, however. And take care not to regard everything that I may say to you as a law, so as to believe it at all hazards. Whenever you think I am incorrect in anything that I say, contradict me at once and set my reasoning straight. One thing or the other, certainly, we cannot fail to accomplish : either you will become firmly convinced after you have exhausted all the objections that you think ought to be made, or else I shall be taught that I am not correct in my view of the matter. In that event the entire city of Athens could not be too quick to
they were ill, or on a journey, or regularly exposed to bad weather, like sailors and farm-labourers, who wore a similar but smaller cap.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ἂν φθάνοι χάριν ὁμολογοῦσα' ὅσα γὰρ ἂν ἐμὲ παιδεύσῃς καὶ μεταπείσῃς πρὸς τὸ Βέλτιον, ἐκείνην τὰ μέγιστα ἔση ὠφεληκώς, οὐδὲν γὰρ ^ , / , / , , 3AA , . / ἂν ἀποκρυψαίμην αὐτὴν, ἀλλ. εὐθὺς εἰς τὸ μέσον καταθήσω φέρων καὶ καταστὰς ἐν τῇ πνυκὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς ἅπαντας, “Ανδρες ᾿Αθηναῖοι, ἐγὼ μὲν ὑμῖν ἔγραψα τοὺς νόμους οἷους ᾧμην ! ὠφελιμωτάτους Y ^ f M M , e 729 > / ἔσεσθαι TH πόλει, ὁ δὲ ξένος οὗτοσί '—SetEas σέ, - 9 / vi ΄ 7 , \ LA ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι--" Σκύθης μέν ἐστι, σοφὸς δὲ ὢν
/ / AC HM / , ` μετεπαίδευσέ µε καὶ ἄλλα βελτίω µαθήµατα καὶ ἐπιτηδεύματα ἐδιδάξατο: ὥστε εὐεργέτης ὑμῶν ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀναγεγράφθω καὶ χαλκοῦν αὐτὸν ἀναστή- σατε παρὰ τοὺς ἐπωνύμους 7)? ἐν TONEL παρὰ τὴν ᾿Αθηνᾶν.͵ καὶ εὖ ἴσθι ὡς οὐκ αἰσχυνεῖται ὃ ἡ ᾿Αθηναίων πόλις παρὰ βαρβάρου καὶ ξένου τὰ συμφέροντα ἐκμανθάνοντες.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ Τοῦτ᾽ ἐκεῖνο ἦν ἄρα, ὃ ἐγὼ περὶ ὑμῶν ἤκουον τῶν ᾿Αθηναίων, ὡς εἴητε εἴρωνες ἐν τοῖς λόγοις. ἐπεὶ πόθεν ἂν ἐγὼ νομὰς καὶ πλάνης ἄνθρωπος, ἐφ᾽ ἁμάξης βεβιωκώς, ἄλλοτε ἄλλην γῆν ἀμεί- βων, πόλιν δὲ οὔτε οἰκήσας πώποτε οὔτε ἄλλοτε ἢ νῦν ἑωρακώς, περὶ πολιτείας διεξίοιμι καὶ διδάσκοιμι αὐτόχθονας ἄνδρας πόλιν ταύτην ἀρχαιοτάτην τοσούτοις ἤδη Xpovors ἐν εὐνομίᾳ κατῳκηκοτας, καὶ μαλιστα σέ ὦ Σόλων, ὦ τοῦτο ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ μάθημα, ὡς φασίν, ἐγένετο, ἐπί-
1 ὤμην Cobet: ἂν ᾧμην MSS.
? 5 O. Müller: not in MSS.
3 αἰσχυνεῖται Fritzsche: αἰσχύνηται MSS. * gé vulg.: not in MSS.
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
acknowledge its gratitude to you, because in so far as you instruct me and convert me to a better view, you will have conferred the greatest possible benefit upon her. For I could not keep anything from her, but shall at once contribute it all to the public. Taking my stand in the Pnyx, I shall say to everyone: “Men of Athens, I made you the laws which I thought would be most beneficial to the city, but this guest of mine" —and then I shall point to you, Anacharsis,—“a Scythian, indeed, but a man of learning, has converted me and taught me other better forms of education and training. Therefore let him be written down as your benefactor, aud set his statue up in bronze beside the Namesakes! or on the Acropolis beside Athena." You may be very sure that the city of Athens will not be ashamed to learn what is to her advantage from a foreign guest.
ANACHARSIS
Ah! that is just what I used to hear about you Athenians, that you never really mean what you say. For how could I, a nomad and a rover, who have lived my life on a wagon, visiting different lands at different seasons, and have never dwelt in a city or seen one until now—how could I hold forth upon statecraft and teach men sprung from the soil, who have inhabited this very ancient city for so many years in law and order? Above all, how could I teach you, Solon, who from the first, they say, have made it a special study to know how the government of a state
! The ten Athenian tribes were named after legendary heroes whose statues stood in the Potters’ Quarter.
25 VOL, IV. D
19
THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
στασθαι ὅπως ἂν ἄριστα πόλις οἰκοῖτο καὶ οἷστισιν νόμοις χρωμένη εὐδαιμονήσειε; πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο ὡς νομοθέτῃ πειστέον σοι, καὶ ἀντερῶ ἤν τί μοι δοκῇ μὴ ὀρθῶς λέγεσθαι, ὡς βεβαιότερον μάθοιμι.
Καὶ ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἤδη ἐκφυγόντες τὸν ἥλιον ἐν τῷ συνηρεφεῖ ἐσμεν, καὶ καθέδρα μάλα ἡδεῖα καὶ εὔκαιρος ἐπὶ ψυχροῦ τοῦ λίθου. λέγε οὖν τὸν λόγον ἐξ ἀρχῆς καθ ὅ τι τοὺς νέους παραλα-
ὄντες ἐκ παίδων εὐθὺς διαπονεῖτε, καὶ ὅπως ὑμῖν ἄριστοι ἄνδρες ἀποβαίνουσιν ἐκ τοῦ πηλοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀσκημάτων τούτων, καὶ τί ἡ κόνις καὶ τὰ κυβιστήματα συντελεῖ πρὸς ἀρετὴν αὐτοῖς. τοῦτο γὰρ δὴ μάλιστα ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὐθὺς ἐπόθουν ἀκοῦσαι" τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα εἰς ὕστερον διδάξη με κατὰ καιρὸν ἕκαστον ἐν τῷ μέρει. ἐκείνου μέντοι, ὦ Σόλων, μέμνησό μοι παρὰ την ῥῆσιν, ὅτι πρὸς ἄνδρα βάρβαρον € ἐρεῖς. λέγω δὲ ὡς μὴ περιπλέκῃς μηδὲ ἀπομηκύνῃς. τοὺς λόγους" δέδια γὰρ μὴ ἐπιλανθάνωμαι τῶν πρώτων, εἰ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα πολλὰ ἐπιρρέοι.᾽
ΣΟΛΩΝ
Σὺ τοῦτο, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, ταμιεύση ἄμεινον, ἔνθα ἄν σοι δοκῇ μὴ πάνυ σαφὴς ὁ λόγος εἶναι ἢ πόρρω ποι ἀποπλανᾶσθαι εἰκῆ ῥέων" ἐρήσῃ γὰρ μεταξὺ Ü τι ἂν ἐθέλῃς καὶ διακόψεις αὐτοῦ τὸ μῆκος. ἦν μέντοι μὴ ἐξαγώνια μηδὲ πόρρω τοῦ σκοποῦ τὰ λεγόμενα 7, κωλύσει οὐδέν, οἶμαι, εἰ καὶ μακρὰ λέγοιτο, ἐπεὶ καὶ τῇ βουλῇ τῇ ἐξ
1 ἐπιρρέοι Lehmann: ἐπιρρέῃ MSS, 26
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
can be conducted best and what laws it should observe to be prosperous? However, in this too, since you are a law-giver, I must obey you; so 1 shall contradict you if I think that you are incorrect in anything that you say, in order that I may learn my lesson more thoroughly.
See, we have escaped the sun and are now in the shade; here is a very delightful and opportune seat on the cool stone. So begin at the beginning and tell why you take your young men in hand and train them from their very boyhood, how they turn out excellent men as a result of the mud and the exercises, and what the dust and the somersaults contribute to their excellence. That is what I was most eager to hear at the beginning: the rest you shall teach me later, as opportunity offers, each particular in its turn. But bear this in mind, please, Solon, throughout your talk, that you will be speaking to a foreigner. I say this in order that you may not make your explanations too involved or too long, for I am afraid that I may forget the commencement if the sequel should be too profuse in its flow.
SOLON
You yourself, Anacharsis, can regulate that better, wherever you think that my discussion is not fully clear, or that it is meandering far from its channel in a random stream; for you can interpose any question that you will, and cut it short. But if what I say is not foreign to the case and beside the mark, there will be nothing, I suppose, to hinder, even if I should speak at length, since that is the
27
THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
᾿Αρείου πάγου, ἥπερ τὰς φονικὰς ἡμῖν δίκας δικάζει, πάτριον οὕτω ποιεῖν. ὁπόταν γὰρ ἀνελ.- θοῦσα εἰς τὸν πάγον συγκαθέξηται φόνου ἡ τραύματος ἐκ προνοίας ἢ πυρκαϊᾶς δικάσοντες, ἀποδίδοται λόγος ,ἑκατέρῳ τῶν κρινομένων καὶ λέγουσιν. ἐν τῷ μέρει ὁ μὲν διώκων ὁ δὲ φεύγων, 7 αὐτοὶ 5 ῥήτορας ἀναβιβάξονται τοὺς ἐροῦντας ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν. οἱ δὲ ἔ ἔστ᾽ ἂν μὲν περὶ τοῦ πράγ- ματος λέγωσιν, ἀνέχεται ἡ ἡ Βουλὴ καθ᾽ ἡσυχίαν ἀκούουσα" ἦν δέ τις ἢ φροίμιον εἴπη πρὸ, τοῦ λόγου, ὡς εὐνουστέρους ἀπεργάσαιτο αὐτούς, 7 οἶκτον 7) δείνωσιν ἔξωθεν mayn! τῷ πράγµατι--- οἷα πολλὰ ῥητόρων παῖδες ἐπὶ τοὺς δικαστὰς μηχανῶνται---παρελθὼν ὁ κῆρυξ κατεσιώπησεν εὐθύς, οὐκ ἐῶν ληρεῖν. πρὸς τὴν βουλὴν καὶ περι- πέττειν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐν τοῖς λόγοις, ὡς γυμνὰ τὰ γεγενημένα οἱ ᾿Αρεοπαγῖται βλέποιεν.
“Qore καὶ σέ, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, ᾿Αρεοπαγίτην ἐν τῷ παρόντι ποιοῦμαι ἔγωγε, καὶ κατὰ τὸν τῆς βουλῆς µου νόμον ἄκουε, καὶ σιωπᾶν κέλευε, ἦν αἴσθῃ καταρρητορευόµενος ἄχρι δ᾽ ἂν οἰκεῖα τῷ πράγματι λέγηται, ἐξέστω ἀπομηκύνειν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ὑφ᾽ ἡλίῳ ἔτι ποιησόμεθα τὴν συνουσίαν, ὡς ἄχθεσθαι εἰ ἀποτείνοιτο ἡ ῥῆσις, ἀλλὰ Tj τε σκιὰ πυκνὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς σχολὴν ἄγομεν.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
Εὐγνώμονά σου ταῦτα, ὦ Σόλων, καὶ ἔγωγε ἤδη χάριν ov μικρὰν οἶδά σοι καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις, ὅτι πάρεργον τοῦ λόγου καὶ τὰ ἐν ᾿Αρείῳ πάγῳ
1 ἐπάγῃ Fritzsche: ἐπάγοι MSS. 28
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
tradition in the court of the Areopagus, which judges our cases of manslaughter. Whenever it goes up to the Areopagus and holds a sitting to judge a case of manslaughter or premeditated wounding or arson, an opportunity to be heard is given to each party to the case, and the plaintiff and defendant plead in turn, either in person or through professional speakers whom they bring to the bar to plead in their behalf. As long as they speak about the case, the court tolerates them and listens in silence ; butif anyone prefaces his speech with an in- troduction in order to make the court more favourable, or brings emotion or exaggeration into the case— tricks that are often devised by the disciples of rhetoric to influence the judges,—then the crier appears and silences them at once, preventing them from talking nonsense to the court and from tricking the case out in words, in order that the Areopagites may see the facts bare.
So, Anacharsis, I make you an Areopagite for the present. Listen to me according to the custom of the court and tell me to be silent if you perceive that I am plying you with rhetoric. But as long as what I say is germane to the case, let me have the right to speak at length. Besides, we are not going to converse in the sun now, so that you would find it burdensome if my talk were prolonged; the shade is thick, and we have plenty of time.
ANACHARSIS
What you say is reasonable, Solon, and already | am more than a little grateful to you for incidentally teaching me about what takes place in the Areopagus,
29
THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
γιγνόμενα ἐδιδάξω με, θαυμάσια ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ ἀγαθῶν βουλευτῶν ἔ ἔργα πρὸς ἀλήθειαν οἰσόντων τὴν ψ ῆφον. ἐπὶ τούτοις οὖν ἤδη λέγε, καὶ ὁ ᾿Αρεοπαγίτης ἐγὼ-- τοῦτο γὰρ ἔθου µε--κατὰ σχῆμα τῆς βουλῆς ἀκούσομαί σου.
ΣΟΛΩΝ
90 Οὐκοῦν διὰ βραχέων προακοῦσαι χρή σε ἃ περὶ πόλεως καὶ πολιτῶν ἡμῖν δοκεῖ. πόλιν γὰρ ἡμεῖς οὐ τὰ οἰκοδομήματα ἡγούμεθα εἶναι, οἷον τείχη καὶ ἱερὰ καὶ νεωσοίκους, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὥσπερ σῶμά τι ἑδραῖον καὶ ἀκίνητον ὑπάρχειν eis ὑποδοχὴν καὶ ἀσφάλειαν τῶν πολιτευομένων, τὸ δὲ πᾶν κῦρος ἐν τοῖς πολίταις τιθέμεθα: τούτους γὰρ εἶναι τοὺς ἀναπληροῦντας. καὶ δια- τάττοντας καὶ ἐπιτελοῦντας᾽ ἕκαστα καὶ .φυλάτ- τοντας, οἷόν τι ἐν ἡμῖν ἑκάστῳ ἐστὶν ἡ ψυχή. τοῦτο δὴ τοίνυν κατανοήσαντες ἐπιμελούμεθα μέν, ὡς ὁρᾶς, καὶ τοῦ σώματος τῆς πόλεως, κατα- κοσμοῦντες αὐτὸ ὡς κάλλιστον ἡμῖν εἴη, ἔνδοθέν τε οἰκοδομήμασιν κατεσκευασμένον καὶ ταῖς ἔκτοσθεν ταύταις περιβολαῖς εἰς τὸ ἀσφαλέ- στατον πεφραγμένον. μάλιστα δὲ καὶ ἐξ à ἅπαντος τοῦτο προνοοῦμεν, ὅπως οἱ πολῖται ἀγαθοὶ μὲν τὰς ψυχάς, ἰσχυροὶ δὲ τὰ σώματα γίγνοιντο: τοὺς γὰρ τοιούτους σφίσι τε αὐτοῖς καλῶς χρή- σεσθαι ἐν εἰρήνῃ συμπολιτευομένους καὶ ἐκ πολέ- μου σώσειν τὴν πόλιν καὶ ἐλευθέραν καὶ εὐδαί- μονα διαφυλάξειν.
Τὴν μὲν δὴ πρώτην ἀνατροφὴν αὐτῶν μητράσι καὶ τίτθαις καὶ παιδαγωγοῖς ἐπιτρέπομεν ὑπὸ
39
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
which is truly admirable and what good judges would do, who intend to cast their ballot in accordance with the facts. On these conditions, therefore, proceed, and in my capacity of Areopagite, since you have made me that, I shall give you a hearing in the manner of that court.
SOLON
Then you must first let me tell you briefly what our ideas are about a city and its citizens. We consider that a city is not the buildings, such as walls and temples and docks. These constitute a firm-set, immovable body, so to speak, for the shelter and protection of the community, but the whole significance is in the citizens, we hold, for it is they who fill it, plan and carry out everything, and keep it safe; they are something like what the soul is within the individual. So, having noted this, we naturally take care of the city's body, as you see, beautifying it so that it may be as fair as possible, not only well furnished inside with buildings but most securely fenced with these external ramparts. But above all and at all hazards we endeavour to insure that the citizens shall be virtuous in soul and strong in body, thinking that such men, joined together in public life, will make good use of them- selves in times of peace, will bring the city safe out of war, and will keep it always free and prosperous.
Their early upbringing we entrust to mothers, nurses, and tutors, to train and rear them with
31
THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
παιδείαις ἐλευθερίοις ἄ ἄγειν τε καὶ τρέφειν αὐτούς, ἐπειδὰν δὲ συνετοὶ ἤδη γίγνωνται τῶν καλῶς ἐχόντων, καὶ αἰδὼς καὶ ἐρύθημα καὶ φόβος καὶ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ἀρίστων ἀναφύηται αὐτοῖς, καὶ αὐτὰ ἤδη τὰ σώματα ἀξιόχρεα δοκῇ πρὸς τοὺς M
πόνους παγιώτερα γιγνόµενα καὶ πρὸς TO ἰσχυρό- τερον συνιστάμενα, τηνικαῦτα ἤδη παραλαβόντες αὐτοὺς διδάσκοµεν, ἄλλα μὲν τῆς ψυχῆς μαθή- pata καὶ γυμνάσια προτιθέντες, ἄλλως δὲ πρὸς τοὺς πόνους καὶ τὰ σώματα ἐθίξοντες. οὐ γὰρ ἱκανὸν ἡμῖν ἔδοξε τὸ μόνον φῦναι ὡς ἔφυ ἕκαστος ἤτοι κατὰ τὸ σῶμα 7 κατὰ τὴν ψυχήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παιδεύσεως καὶ μαθημάτων ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς δεόμεθα, ὑφ᾽ ὧν τά τε εὐφυῶς διακείμενα βελτίω παρὰ πολὺ γίγνοιτο ἂν καὶ τὰ φαύλως ἔχοντα μετα- κοσμοῖτο πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον. καὶ τὸ παράδειγµα ἡμῖν παρὰ τῶν γεωργῶν, οἳ τὰ φυτὰ μέχρι μὲν πρόσγεια καὶ νήπιά ἐστι, σκέπουσιν καὶ περι- φράττουσιν ὡς μὴ βλάπτοιντο ὑπὸ τῶν πνευ- μάτων, ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἤδη παχύνηται τὸ ἔρνος, τηνικαῦτα περιτέμνουσίν τε τὰ περιττὰ καὶ παραδιδόντες αὐτὰ τοῖς ἀνέμοις δονεῖν καὶ δια- σαλεύειν καρπιμώτερα ἐξεργάξονται.
Τὴν μὲν τοίνυν ψυχὴν μουσικῇ τὸ πρῶτον καὶ ἀριθμ ητικῇ. ἀναρριπίζομεν, καὶ γράμματα γρά- ψασθαι καὶ τορῶς αὐτὰ ἐπιλέξασθαι διδάσκομεν: προϊοῦσιν δὲ ἤδη σοφῶν ἀνδρῶν γνώμας καὶ ἔργα παλαιὰ καὶ λόγους ὠφελίμους ἐν μέτροις κατακοσμήσαντες, ὡς μᾶλλον μνημονεύοιεν, pa- ψᾠδοῦμεν αὐτοῖς. οἱ δὲ καὶ ἀκούοντες ἀριστείας τινὰς καὶ πράξεις ἀοιδίμους ὀρέγονται κατὰ
32
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
liberal teachings; but when at length they become able to understand what is right, when modesty, shame, fear, and ambition spring up in them, and when at length their very bodies seem well fitted for hardships as they get firmer and become more strongly compacted, then we take them in hand and teach them, not only prescribing them certain dis- ciplines and exercises for the soul, but in certain other ways habituating their bodies also to hard- ships. We have not thought it sufficient for each man to be as he was born, either in body or in soul, but we want education and disciplines for them by which their good traits may be much improved and their bad altcred for the better. We take example from the farmers, who shelter and enclose their plants while they are small and young, so that they may not be injured by the breezes: but when the stalk at last begins to thicken, they prune away the excessive growth and expose them to the winds to be shaken and tossed, in that way making them more fruitful.
Their souls we fan into flame with music and arithmetic at first and we teach them to write their letters and to read them trippingly. As they progress, we recite for them sayings of wise men, deeds of olden times, and helpful fictions, which we have adorned with metre that they may remember them better. Hearing of certain feats of arms and famous exploits, little by little they grow covetous
33
THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
μικρὸν καὶ πρὸς pinow ἐπεγείρονται, ὡς καὶ αὐτοὶ ἄδοιντο καὶ θαυμάξοιντο i ὑπὸ τῶν ὕστερον. οἷα πολλὰ Ἡσίοδός τε ἡμῖν καὶ "Όμηρος ἐ ἐποίησαν.
᾿Επειδὰν δὲ πλησιάξωσι πρὸς τὴν πολιτείαν καὶ δέη αὐτοὺς ἤδη μεταχειρίζεσθαι τὰ κοινά--- καίτοι ἔξω τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἴσως ταῦτα" οὐ yàp ὅπως τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν ἀσκοῦμεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προὔκειτο εἰπεῖν, ἀλλὰ δι ὅ τι τοῖς τοιούτοις πόνοις κατα- γυμνάξειν αὐτοὺς ἀξιοῦμεν. ὥστε αὐτὸς ἐμαυτῷ σιωπᾶν προστάπτω, οὐ περιμείνας τὸν κήρυκα οὐδὲ τὸν ᾿Αρεοπαγίτην σέ, ὃς ὑπ᾽ αἰδοῦς, οἶμαι, ἀνέχῃ ληροῦντα ἤδη τοσαῦτα ἔξω τοῦ πράγματος.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ Εἰπέ μοι, ὦ Σόλων, πρὸς δὲ δὴ τοὺς τὰ ἀναγ- καιότατα μὴ λέγοντας ἐν ᾿Αρείῳ πάγῳ, ἀλλὰ ἀποσιωπῶντας, οὐδὲν τῇ βουλῇ πρόστιμον ἐπι- νενόηται;
ΣΟΛΩΝ Ti τοῦτο ἤρου ue; οὐδέπω γὰρ δῆλον. Ἴρου p yap on
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
Ὅτι τὰ κάλλιστα καὶ ἐμοὶ ἀκοῦσαι ἥδιστα παρείς, τὰ περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς, τὰ ἧττον ἀναγκαῖα λέγειν διανοῇ, γυμνάσια καὶ διαπονήσεις τῶν σωμάτων.
ΖΟΛΩΝ
Μέμνημαι γάρ, ὦ γενναῖε, τῶν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς προρρήσεων καὶ ἀποπλανᾶν οὐ βούλομαι τὸν
44
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
and are incited to imitate them, in order that they too may be sung and admired by men of after time. Both Hesiod and Homer have composed much poetry of that sort for us.
When they enter political life and have at length to handle public affairs—but this, no doubt, is foreign to the case, as the subject proposed for discussion at the outset was not how we discipline their souls, but why we think fit to train their bodies with hardships like these. Therefore I order myself to be silent, without waiting for the crier to do it, or for you, the Areopagite; it is out of deference, I suppose, that you tolerate my saying so much that is beside the point.
ANACHARSIS
Tell me, Solon, when people do not say what is most essential in the Areopagus, but keep it to themselves, has the court devised no penalty for them?
SOLON Why did you ask me that question? I do not understand. ANACHARSIS
Because you propose to pass over what is best and for me most delightful to hear about, what concerns the soul, and to speak of what is less essential, gymnastics and physical exercises.
SOLON
Why, my worthy friend, I remember your admoni- tions in the beginning and do not wish the discussion
35
22
23
THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
λόγον, µη σου «ἐπιταράξῃ τὴν μνήμην ἐπιρρέων. πλὴν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτα ἐρῶ διὰ βραχέων, ὡς οἷόν TE TÒ yàp ἀκριβὲς τῆς περὶ αὐτῶν διασκέψεως ἑτέρου ἂν εἴη λόγου.
Ῥυθμίζομεν οὖν τὰς γνώμας αὐτῶν νόμους τε τοὺς κοινοὺς ἐκδιδάσκοντες, ot δημοσία πᾶσι προκεινται ἀναγιγνώσκειν μεγάλοις γράμμασιν ἀναγεγραμμένοι, κελεύοντες ἅ ἅ τε χρὴ ποιεῖν καὶ ὧν ἀπέχεσθαι, καὶ ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν συνουσίαις, παρ᾽ ὧν λέγειν τὰ δέοντα ἐκμανθάνουσι καὶ πράττειν τὰ δίκαια καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἴσου ἀλλήλοις συμπολιτεύεσθαι καὶ μὴ ἐφίεσθαι τῶν αἰσχρῶν καὶ ὀρέγεσθαι τῶν καλῶν, βίαιον δὲ μηδὲν ποιεῖν. οἱ δὲ ἄνδρες οὗτοι σοφισταὶ καὶ φιλόσοφοι πρὸς ἡμῶν ὀνομάξονται. καὶ μέντοι καὶ εἰς τὸ θέατρον συνάγοντες αὐτοὺς δημοσίᾳ παιδεύομεν ὑπὸ κω- μῳδίαις καὶ τραγωδίαις a ἀρετάς τε ἀνδρῶν παλαιῶν καὶ κακίας θεωμένους, ὡς τῶν μὲν ἀποτρέποιντο, ἐπ᾽ ἐκεῖνα δὲ σπεύδοιεν. τοῖς δέ γε κωμῳδοῖς καὶ λοιδορεῖσθαι καὶ ἀποσκώπτειν ἐφίεμεν. εἰς τοὺς πολίτας οὓς ἂν αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀνάξια τῆς πόλεως ἐπιτηδεύοντας αἴσθωνται, αὐτῶν τε ἐκείνων χάριν, ἀμείνους γὰρ οὕτω γίγνονται ὀνειδιζόμενοι, καὶ τῶν πολλῶν, ὡς φεύγοιεν τὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁμοίοις ἔλεγχον.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
Εἶδον, ὦ Σόλων, οὓς φὴς, TOUS τραγῳδοὺς καὶ κωμῳδούς, εἴ γε ἐκεῖνοί εἰσιν, ὑποδήματα μὲν βαρέα καὶ ὑψηλὰ ὑποδεδεμένοι, χρυσαῖς δὲ Tat- viais τὴν ἐσθῆτα πεποικιλμένοι, κράνη δὲ ἐπικεί-
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to meander out of its channel for fear of confusing your memory with its flow. However, I shall discuss this, too, in brief, as best I can. To consider it carefully would be matter for another conversation.
We harmonize their minds by causing them to learn by heart the laws of the community, which are exposed in public for everyone to read, written in large letters, and tell what one should do and what one should refrain from doing ; also by caasing them to hold converse with good men, from whom they learn to say what is fitting and do what is right, to associate with one another on an equal footing, not to aim at what is base, to seek what is noble, and to do no violence. These men we call sophists and philoso- phers. Furthermore, assembling them in the theatre, we instruct them publicly through comedies and tragedies, in which they behold both the virtues and the vices of the ancients, in order that they may recoil from the vices and emulate the virtues. The comedians, indeed, we allow to abuse and ridicule any citizens whom they perceive to be following practices that are base and unworthy of the city, not only for the sake of those men themselves, since they are made better by chiding, but for the sake of the general publie, that they may shun castigation for similar offences.
ANACHARSIS
I have seen the tragedians and comedians that you are speaking of, Solon, if I am not mistaken ; they! had on heavy, high footgear, clothing that was gay with gold stripes, and very ludicrous head-
1 The tragedians. There may be a lacuna in the text.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
μενοι παγγέλοια κεχηνότα παμμέγεθες: αὐτοὶ δὲ ἔνδοθεν μεγάλα τε ἐκεκράγεσαν καὶ διέβαινον οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅ ὅπως ἀσφαλῶς ἐν τοῖς ὑποδήμασιν. Διονύσῳ, δὲ οἶμαι τότε ἡ πόλις ἑώρταξεν. οἱ δὲ κωμῳδοὶ βραχύτεροι μὲν ἐκείνων καὶ πεξοὶ καὶ ἀνθρωπι- νώτεροι καὶ ἧττον ἐβόων, κράνη δὲ πολὺ yeot- Tepa. καὶ τὸ θέατρον γοῦν ἅπαν ἐγέλα ἐπ᾽ ᾽αὐτοῖς" ἐκείνων δὲ τῶν ὑψηλῶν σκυθρωποὶ ἅπαντες ἤκουον, οἰκτείροντες, οἶμαι, αὐτοὺς πέδας τηλι- καύτας ἐπισυρομένους. |
ΣΟΛΩΝ
Οὐκ ἐκείνους, ὠγαθέ, ὤκτειρον, ἀλλὰ ποιητὴς ἴσως ἀρχαίαν τινὰ συμφορὰν ἐπεδείκνυτο τοῖς εαταῖς καὶ ῥήσεις οἰκτρὰς ἐτραγῴδει πρὸς τὸ θέατρον ὑφ᾽ ὧν εἰς δάκρυα κατεσπῶντο οἱ ἀκού- ovres. εἰκὸς δέ σε καὶ αὐλοῦντας ἑωρακέναι τινὰς τότε καὶ ἄλλους συνάδοντας ἐν κύκλῳ συνεστῶτας. οὐδ᾽ αὐτά, ὦ ᾿Αναχαρσι, ἀχρεῖα ἄσματα καὶ αὐλήματα.
Τούτοις δ οὖν ἅπασι καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις παρα- θηγόµενοι τὰς ψυχὰς -ἀμείνους ἡμῖν γίγνονται.
24 Τὰ δὲ δὴ σώματα, ὅπερ μάλιστα ἐπόθεις ἀκοῦ- cat, ὧδε καταγυμνάζοµεν. ἀποδύσαντες αὑτά, ὡς ἔφην, οὐκέτι ἁπαλὰ καὶ τέλεον ἀσυμπαγῆ ὄντα, πρῶτον μὲν ἐθίξειν ἀξιοῦμεν πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα, συνοι- κειοῦντες αὐτὰ ταῖς ὥραις ἑκάσταις, ὡς μήτε θάλπος δυσχεραίνειν μήτε πρὸς κρύος ἀπαγο- ρεύειν, ἔπειτα δὲ Xpiopev ἐλαίῳ καὶ καταμαλάτ- τομεν, ὡς εὐτονώτερα γίγνοιτο: ἄτοπον γάρ, εἰ τὰ μὲν σκύτη νομίξομεν ὑπὸ τῷ ἐλαίῳ μαλαττό- peva δυσραγέστερα καὶ πολλῷ διαρκέστερα γίγνε- 38
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pieces with great, gaping mouths; they shouted loudly from out of these, and strode about in the footgear, managing somehow or other to do it safely. The city was then holding a feast, in honour, I think, of Dionysus. The comedians were shorter, nearer to the common level, more human, and less given to shouting, but their headpieces were far more ludicrous. In fact the whole audience laughed at them; but they all wore long faces while they listened to the tall fellows, pitying them, I suppose, because they were dragging such clogs about!
SOLON
It was not the actors that they pitied, my dear fellow. No doubt the poet was presenting some calamity of old to the spectators and declaiming mournful passages to the audience by which his hearers were moved to tears. Probably you also saw flute-players at that time, and others who sang in concert, standing in a circle. Even singing and flute-playing is not without value, Anacharsis.
By all these means, then, and others like them, we whet their souls and make them better.
As to their bodies—for that is what you were especially eager to hear about—we train them as follows. When, as I said,! they are no longer soft and wholly strengthless, we strip them, and think it best to begin by habituating them to the weather, making them used to the several seasons, so as not to be distressed by the heat or give in to the cold. Then we rub them with olive-oil and supple them in order that they may be more elastic, for since we believe that leather, when softened by oil, is harder to break and far more durable, lifeless as it
1 p. 33
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
σθαι νεκρά. γε ἤδη ὄντα, τὸ δ᾽ ἔτι ζωῆς. μετέχον σῶμα μὴ ἂν ἄμεινον ἡγοίμεθα ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐλαίου διατεθήσεσθαι.
Τοὐντεῦθεν ποικίλα τὰ γυμνάσια ἐπινοήσαντες καὶ διδασκάλους ἑκάστων ἐπιστήσαντες τὸν μέν τινα πυκτεύειν, τὸν δὲ παγκρατιάξειν διδάσκομεν, ὡς τούς τε πόνους καρτερεῖν ἐθίξοιντο καὶ ὁμόσε χωρεῖν ταῖς πληγαῖς μηδὲ ἀποτρέποιντο δέει τῶν τραυμάτων. τοῦτο δὲ ἡμῖν δύο τὰ ὠφελιμώτατα ἐξεργάξεται € ἐν αὐτοῖς, θυμοειδεῖς τε παρασκευάξον εἰς τοὺς κινδύνους καὶ τῶν σωμάτων ἀφειδεῖν καὶ προσέτι ἐρρῶσθαι καὶ καρτεροὺς εἶναι.
"Ὅσοι δὲ αὐτῶν κάτω συννενευκότες παλαίουσιν, καταπίπτειν τε ἀσφαλῶς μανθάνουσι καὶ ἀνί- στασθαι εὐμαρῶς καὶ ὠθισμοὺς καὶ περιπλοκὰς καὶ λυγισμοὺς καὶ ἄγχεσθαι δύνασθαι καὶ εἰς ὕψους ἀναβαστάσαι τὸν ἀντίπαλον, οὐκ ἀχρεῖα οὐδὲ οὗτοι ἐκμελετῶντες, ἀλλὰ ἓν μὲν τὸ πρῶτον καὶ μέγιστον ἀναμφιβόλως κτώμενοι: δυσπαθέστερα γὰρ καὶ καρτερώτερα. τὰ σώματα γίγνονται av- τοῖς διαπονούμενα. ἕτερον δὲ οὐδὲ αὐτὸ µικρον' ἔμπειροι γὰρ δὴ ἐκ τούτου καθίστανται, εἴ ποτε ἀφίκοιντο εἰς χρείαν τῶν μαθημάτων τούτων ἐν ὅπλοις: δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι καὶ πολεμίῳ ἀνδρὶ ὁ τοιοῦτος συμπλακεὶς καταρρίψει τε θᾶττον ὑπο: σκελίσας καὶ καταπεσὼν εἴσεται ὡς ῥᾷστα ἐξανί- στασθαι. πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα, à ᾿Ανάχαρσι, ἐπ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἀγῶνα ποριξόμεθα τὸν ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις καὶ ἡγούμεθα πολὺ ἀμείνοσι χρήσασθαι τοῖς οὕτως ἀσκηθεῖσιν, ἐπειδὰν πρότερον αὐτῶν γυμνὰ τὰ σώματα καταμαλάξαντες καὶ διαπονήσαντες ἐρρωμενέστερα καὶ ἀλκιμώτερα ἐξεργασώμεθα καὶ 40
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
is, it would be extraordinary if we should not think that the living body would be put in better condition by the oil.
After that, having invented many forms of ath- letics and appointed teachers for each, we teach one, for instance, boxing, and another the pancratium, in order that they may become accustomed to endure hardships and to meet blows, and not recoil for fear of injuries. This helps us by creating in them two effects that are most useful, since it makes them not only spirited in facing dangers and unmindful of their bodies, but healthy and strong into the bargain.
Those of them who put their bent heads together and wrestle learn to fall safely and get up easily, to push, grip and twist in various ways, to stand being choked, and to lift their opponent high in the air. They too are not engaging in useless exerciscs; on the contrary, they indisputably acquire one thing, which is first and greatest: their bodies become less susceptible and more vigorous through being exercised thoroughly. There is something else, too, which itself is not trivial: they become expert as a result of it, in case they should ever come to need what they have learned in battle. Clearly such a man, when he closes with an enemy, will trip and throw him more quickly, and when he is down, will know how to get up again most easily. For we make all these preparations, Anacharsis, with a view to that contest, the contest under arms, and we expect to find men thus disciplined far superior, after we have suppled and trained their bodies naked, and so have made them healthier and stronger, light and
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
κοῦφα καὶ εὔτονα καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ βαρέα τοῖς ἀντα- γωνισταῖς.
᾿Εννοεῖς γάρ, οἶμαι, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο, οἵους εἰκὸς σὺν ὅπλοις ἔσεσθαι τοὺς καὶ γυμνοὺς ἂν φόβον τοῖς δυσμενέσιν ἐμποιήσαντας, οὐ πολυσαρκίαν ἀργὸν καὶ λευκὴν ἢ ἀσαρκίαν μετὰ ὠχρότητος ἐπιδεικνυμένους οἷα γυναικῶν σώματα ὑπὸ OKLA μεμαρασμένα, τρέμοντα ἱδρῶτί τε TOAND εὐθὺς ῥεόμενα καὶ ἀσθμαίνοντα ὑπὸ τῷ κράνει, καὶ μάλιστα ἣν καὶ ὁ ἥλιος ὥσπερ νῦν τὸ Ba ς νὸν ἐπιφλέγῃ. οἷς τί ἄν τις χρήσαιτο διψῶσι καὶ τὸν κονιορτὸν οὐκ ἀνεχομένοις καὶ εἰ αἷμα ἴδοιεν, εὐθὺς ταραττομένοις καὶ è προαποθνήσκουσι πρὶν ἐντὸς Βέλους γενέσθαι καὶ εἰς χεῖρας ἐλθεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις;
Οὗτοι δὲ ἡμῖν ὑπέρυθροι εἰς τὸ μελ.άντερον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου κεχρωσμένοι καὶ ἀρρενωποί, πολὺ τὸ ἔμψυχον καὶ θερμὸν καὶ ἀνδρῶδες ἐπιφαίνοντες, τοσαύτης εὐεξίας ἀπολάμποντες,᾽ οὔτε ῥικνοὶ καὶ κατεσκληκοτες οὔτε περιπληθεῖς εἰς βάρος, ἀλλὰ εἰς τὸ σύμμετρον περιγεγραμμένοι, τὸ μὲν ἀχρεῖον τῶν σαρκῶν καὶ περιττὸν τοῖς ἱδρῶσιν ἐξαναλω- κότες, ὃ δὲ ἰσχὺν καὶ τόνον παρεῖχεν ἀμιγὲς τοῦ φαύλου περιλελειμμένον ἐρρωμένως. φυλάττοντες. ὅπερ γὰρ δὴ οἱ λικμῶντες τὸν πυρόν, τοῦτο ἡμῖν καὶ τὰ γυμνάσια ἐργάξεται ἐν τοῖς σώμασι, τὴν μὲν ἄχνην καὶ τοὺς ἀθέρας ἀποφυσῶντα, καθαρὸν δὲ τὸν καρπὸν διευκρινοῦντα καὶ προσωρεύοντα.
Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὑγιαίνειν τε ἀνάγκη καὶ ἐπὶ μήκιστον διαρκεῖν ἐν τοῖς καμάτοις' ὀψέ τε ἂν
1 ἀπολάμποντες J. F. Reitz: ἀπολάμπτοντες TE, ἀπολαύοντες Ν, να]ρ.
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elastic, and at the same time too heavy for their opponents,
You can imagine, I suppose, the consequence— what they are likely to be with arms in hand when even unarmed they would implant fear in the enemy. They show no white and ineffective corpulence or pallid leanness, as if they were women's bodies bleached out in the shade, quivering and streaming with profuse sweat at once and panting beneath the helmet, especially if the sun, as at present, blazes with the heat of noon. What use could one make of men like that, who get thirsty, who cannot stand dust, who break ranks the moment they catch sight of blood, who lie down and die before they get within a spear's cast and come to grips with the enemy ?
But these young men of ours have a ruddy skin, coloured darker by the sun, and manly faces ; they reveal great vitality, fire, and courage; they are aglow with such splendid condition; they are neither lean and emaciated nor so full-bodied as to be heavy, but symmetrical in their lines; they have sweated away the useless and superfluous part of their tissues, but what made for strength and elasticity is left upon them uncontaminated by what is worthless, and they maintain it vigorously. In fact, athletics do in our bodies just what winnowers do to wheat: they blow away the husks and the chaff, but separate the grain out cleanly and accumulate it for future use.
Consequently a man like that cannot help keeping well and holding out protractedly under exhausting labours; it would be long before he would begin
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ἰδίειν 0 τοιοῦτος ἄρξαιτο καὶ ὀλιγάκις ἂν ἀσθενῶν φανείη. ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ πῦρ τις φέρων ἅμα ἐμβάλοι εἰς πυρὸν αὐτὸν καὶ εἰς τὴν καλάμην αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς τὴν ἄχνην-- αὖθις γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸν λικμῶντα ἐπάνειμι-- θᾶττον ἄν, οἶμαι, παρὰ πολὺ ἡ καλάμη ἀναφλεγείη, ὁ δὲ πυρὸς. κατ᾽ ὀλίγον οὔτε φλογὸς μεγάλης ἀνισταμένης οὔτε ὑπὸ μιᾷ τῇ ὁρμῆ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ μικρὸν ὑποτυφόμενος χρόνῳ ὕστερον καὶ αὐτὸς ἂν κατακαυθείη.
Οὐ τοίνυν οὐδὲ νόσος οὐδὲ κάματος εἰς τοιοῦτο σῶμα ἐμπεσόντα ῥᾳδίως ἐλέγξειεν ἂν οὐδ᾽ ἐπικρα- τήσειεν εὐμαρῶς: ἔνδοθέν τε γὰρ εὖ παρεσκεύα- σται αὐτῷ καὶ τὰ ἔξω para καρτερῶς πέφρακται πρὸς αὐτά, ὡς μὴ παριέναι εἰς τὸ εἴσω, μηδὲ παραδέχεσθαι μήτε ἥλιον αὐτὸν μήτε κρύος ἐπὶ λύμη τοῦ σώματος. πρὸς τε τὸ ἐνδιδὸν ἐν τοῖς πόνοις πολὺ τὸ θερμὸν τὸ ἔνδοθεν ἐπιρρέον, ἅτε ἐκ πολλοῦ προπαρεσκευασμένον καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀναγκαίαν χρείαν ἀποκείμενον, ἀναπληροῖ εὐθὺς ἐπάρδον τη ἀκμῇ καὶ ἀκαμάτους ἐπὶ πλεῖστον παρέχεται' τὸ γὰρ προπονῆσαι πολλὰ καὶ προ- καμεῖν οὐκ ἀνάλωσιν τῆς ἰσχύος, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπίδοσιν ἐργάξεται, καὶ ἀναρριπιζομένη πλείων γίγνεται.
Καὶ μὴν καὶ δρομικοὺς εἶναι ἀσκοῦμεν αὐτοὺς εἰς μῆκός τε διαρκεῖν ἐθίζοντες καὶ εἰς τὸ ἐν βραχεῖ ὠκύτατον ἐπικουφίζοντες" καὶ ὁ δρόμος οὐ πρὸς τὸ στερρὸν καὶ ὠντίτυπον, ἀλλὰ ἐν ψάμμῳ βαθείᾳ, ἔνθα οὔτε βεβαίως ἀπερεῖσαι τὴν βάσιν οὔτε ἐπιστηρίξαι ῥάδιον ὑποσυρομένου πρὸς τὸ ὑπεῖκον τοῦ ποδός. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπεράλλεσθαι τάφρον, εἰ δέοι, ἢ εἴ τι ἄλλο ἐμπόδιον, καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο ἀσκοῦνται ἡμῖν, ἔτι καὶ µολυβδίδας χειροπληθεῖς 44
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
to sweat, and he would rarely be found ill. It is as if you should take firebrands and throw them simultaneously into the wheat itself and into its straw and chafl—for I am going back again to the winnower. The straw, I take it, would blaze up far more quickly, while the wheat would burn slowly, not with a great blaze springing up nor at a single burst, but smouldering gradually, until in course of time it too was totally consumed.
Neither illness nor fatigue, then, could easily invade and rack such a body, or readily overmaster it; for it has been well stocked within and very strongly fortified against them without, so as not to admit them, nor yet to receive either sun itself or frost to the detriment of the body. To prevent giving way under hardships, abundant energy that gushes up from within, since it has been made ready long beforehand and stored away for the emergency, fills them at once, watering them with vigour, and makes them unwearying for a very long period, for their great preliminary hardships and fatigues do not squander their strength but increase it; the more you fan its flame, the greater it becomes.
Furthermore, we train them to be good runners, habituating them to hold out for a long distance, and also making them light-footed for extreme speed in a short distance. And the running is not done on hard, resisting ground but in deep sand, where it is not easy to plant one's foot solidly or to get a purchase with it, since it slips from under one as the sand gives way beneath it. We also train them to jump a ditch, if need be, or any other obstacle, even carrying lead weights as large as they
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ἐν ταῖν χεροῖν ἔχοντες. εἶτα περὶ ἀκοντίου βολῆς eis μῆκος ἁμιλλῶνται. εἶδες δὲ καὶ ἄλλο τι ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ χαλκοῦν περιφερές, ἀσπίδι μικρᾷ ἐοικὸς ὄχανον οὐκ ἐχούσῃ οὐδὲ τελαμῶνας, καὶ ἐπειράθης γε αὐτοῦ κειμένου ἐν τῷ μέσῳ καὶ ἐδόκει σοι βαρὺ καὶ δύσληπτον ὑπὸ λειότητος. ἐκεῖνο τοίνυν ἄνω τε ἀναρριπτοῦσιν εἰς τὸν ἀέρα καὶ εἰς τὸ πόρρω, φιλοτιμούμενοι ὅστις ἐπὶ μήκιστον ἐξέλθοι καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπερβάλοιτο' καὶ ὁ πόνος οὗτος ὤμους τε αὐτῶν κρατύνει καὶ τόνον τοῖς ἄκροις ἐντίθησιν.
Ὁ πηλὸς δὲ καὶ 7) κόνις, ἅπερ σοι γελοιότερα ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔδοξεν, ἄκουσον, ὦ θαυμάσιε, ὅ ὅτου ἕνεκα ὑποβέβληται. πρῶτον μέν, ὡς μὴ ἐπὶ τὸ κρα- ταιὸν ἡ πτῶσις αὐτοῖς γίγνοιτο, ἀλλ ἐπὶ τὸ μαλακὸν ἀσφαλῶς πίπτοιεν' ἔπειτα καὶ τὸν ὅλι- σθον ἀνάγκη πλείω γίγνεσθαι, ἱδρούντων ἐν τῷ THO, ὃ σὺ ταῖς ἐγχέλεσιν εἴκαξες, οὐκ ἀχρεῖον οὐδὲ γελοῖον ὄν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο eis ἰσχὺν καὶ τόνον οὐκ ὀλίγα συντελεῖ, ὁπόταν οὕτως ἐχόντων ἀλλήλων ἀναγκάζωνται ἐγκρατῶς ἀντιλαμβά- νεσθαι καὶ συνέχειν διολισθάνοντας" αἴρεσθαί τε ἐν πηλῷ ἱδρωκότα μετ᾽ ἐλαίου, ἐκπεσεῖν καὶ διαρ- ρυῆναι τῶν χειρῶν σπουδάζοντα, μὴ μικρὸν εἶναι νόμιζε. καὶ ταῦτα πάντα, ὥσπερ ἔφ ην ἔμπροσθεν, εἰς τοὺς πολέμους καὶ χρήσιμα, εἰ δέοι φίλον τρωθέντα ῥαδίως ἀράμενον ὑπεξενεγκεῖν ἢ καὶ πολέμιον συναρπάσαντα ἥκειν μετέωρον κομί- ἕοντα. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἰς ὑπερβολὴν ἀσκοῦμεν, τὰ χαλεπώτερα προτιθέντες ὡς τὰ μικρότερα μακρῷ εὐκολώτερον φέροιεν.
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can grasp. Then too they compete in throwing the javelin for distance. And you saw another implement in the gymnasium, made of bronze, cir- cular, resembling a little shield without handle or straps; in fact, you tested it as it lay there, and thought it heavy and hard to hold on account of its smoothness. Well, they throw that high into the air and also to a distance, vying to see who can go the farthest and throw beyond the rest. This exercise strengthens their shoulders and puts muscle into their arms and legs.
As for the mud and the dust, which you thought rather ludicrous in the beginning, you amazing person, let me tell you why it is put down. In the first place, so that instead of taking their tumbles on a hard surface they may fall with im- punity on a soft one; secondly, their slipperiness is necessarily greater when they are sweaty and muddy. This feature, in which you compared them to eels, is not useless or ludicrous; it contrib- utes not a little to strength and muscle when both are in this condition and each has to grip the other firmly and hold him fast while he tries to slip away. And as for picking up a man who is muddy, sweaty, and oily while he does his best to break away and squirm out of your hands, do not think it a trifle! All this, as I said before, is of use in war, in case one should need to pick up a wounded friend and carry him out of the fight with ease, or to snatch up an enemy and come back with him in one's arms. So we train them beyond measure, setting them hard tasks that they may manage smaller ones with far greater ease.
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29 Tiv μέντοι κόνιν ἐπὶ τὸ ἐναντίον χρησίμην οἰόμεθα εἶναι, ὡς μὴ διολισθάνοιεν συμπλεκόμενοι. ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ἐν τῷ πηλῷ ἀσκηθῶσιν συνέχειν τὸ διαδιδρᾶσκον ὑπὸ γλισχρότητος, ἐθίξονται ἐκφεύ- γειν αὐτοὶ ληφθέντες ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἀφύκτῳ ἐχόμενοι. καὶ μὴν καὶ τὸν ἱδρῶτα συνέχειν δοκεῖ ἡ κόνις ἀθρόον ἐκχεόμενον ἐπι- παττομένη, καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ διαρκεῖν ποιεῖ τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ κώλυμα γίγνεται μὴ βλάπτεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνέμων ἀραιοῖς τότε καὶ ἀνεῳγόσιν τοῖς σώμασιν ἐμπιπτόντων. ἄλλως τε καὶ τὸν ῥύπον ἀποσμῆ καὶ στιλπνότερον ποιεῖ τὸν ἄνδρα. καὶ ἔγωγε ἡδέως ἂν παραστησάμενος πλησίον τῶν τε λευκῶν τινα ἐκείνων καὶ ὑπὸ σκιᾷ δεδιῃτημένων καὶ ὃν ἂν ἕλη τῶν ἐν τῷ Λυκείῳ γυμναζομένων, ἀποπλύνας! τὴν κόνιν καὶ τὸν πηλόν, ἐροίμην ἄν σε ποτέρῳ ἂν ὅμοιος εὔξαιο γενέσθαι" οἶδα γὰρ ὡς αὐτίκα ἕλοιο ἂν ἐκ πρώτης προσόψεως, ei καὶ μὴ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων πειραθείης ἑκατέρου, συνε- στηκὼς καὶ συγκεκροτημένος εἶναι μᾶλλον ἢ θρύπτεσθαι καὶ διαρρεῖν καὶ λευκὸς εἶναι ἀπορίᾳ καὶ φυγῇ εἰς τὰ εἴσω τοῦ αἵματος.
30 Ταῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, ἃ τοὺς νέους ἡμεῖς ἀσκοῦμεν οἰόμενοι φύλακας ἡμῖν τῆς πόλεως ἀγαθοὺς γενέσθαι καὶ ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ βιώσεσθαι δι αὐτούς, κρατοῦντες μὲν τῶν δυσμενῶν εἰ ἐπίοιεν, φοβεροὶ δὲ τοῖς περιοίκοις ὄντες, ὡς ὑποπτήσσειν τε καὶ ὑποτελεῖν ἡμῖν τοὺς πλείστους αὐτῶν. ἐν εἰρήνῃ τε αὖ πολὺ ἀμείνοσιν αὐτοῖς χρώμεθα περὶ μηδὲν τῶν αἰσχρῶν φιλοτιμουμένοις μηδ᾽ ὑπ
1 ἀποπλύνας Dindorf: ἀποπλῦναι MSS.
48
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
The dust we think to be of use for the opposite purpose, to prevent them from slipping away when they are grasped. After they have been trained in the mud to hold fast what eludes them because of its oiliness, they are given practice in escaping out of their opponent’s hands when they themselves are caught, even though they are held in a sure grip. Moreover, the dust, sprinkled on when the sweat is pouring out in profusion, is thought to check it; it makes their strength endure long, and hinders them from being harmed by the wind blowing upon their bodies, which are then unresisting and have the pores open. Besides, it rubs off the dirt and makes the man cleaner. I should like to put side by side one of those white-skinned fellows who have lived in the shade and any one you might select of the athletes in the Lyceum, after 1 had washed off the mud and the dust, and to ask you which of the two you would pray to be like. I know that even without testing each to see what he could do, you would immediately choose on first sight to be firm and hard rather than delicate and mushy and white because your blood is scanty and withdraws to the interior of the body.
That, Anacharsis, is the training we give our young men, expecting them to become stout guardians of our city, and that we shall live in freedom through them, conquering our foes if they attack us and keeping our neighbours in dread of us, so that most of them will cower at our feet and pay tribute. In peace, too, we find them far better, for nothing that is base appeals to their ambitions
? λευκὸς C. C. Reitz: λευκὸν MSS. 49
əl
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ἀργίας εἰς ὕβριν τρεπομένοις, ἀλλὰ Trepi τὰ τοιαῦτα διατρίβουσιν καὶ ἀσχόλοις οὖσιν ἐν αὐτοῖς. καὶ ὅπερ ἔφην τὸ κοινὸν ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὴν ἄκραν πόλεως εὐδαιμονίαν, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, ὁπότε] εἰς τε εἰρήνην καὶ εἰς πόλεμον τὰ ἄριστα παρεσκευασμένη phai- VOLTO ἡ νεότης περὶ τὰ κάλλιστα ἡμῖν σπουδά- ζοντες.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
Οὐκοῦν, ὦ Σόλων, ἤν ποτε ὑμῖν ἐπίωσιν οἱ πολέμιοι, χρισάμενοι τῷ ἐλαίῳ καὶ κονισάμενοι πρόιτε καὶ αὐτοὶ πὺξ τὰς χεῖρας ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς προ- βεθλημένοι, κἀκεῖνοι δηλαδὴ ὑποπτήσσουσιν ὑμᾶς καὶ φεύγουσιν δεδιότες μὴ σφίσι κεχηνόσι πώσσητε τὴν ψάμμµον εἰς τὸ στόμα ἢ περιπηδήσαντες, ὡς κατὰ νώτου γένησθε, περιπλέξητε αὐτοῖς τὰ σκέλη περὶ τὴν γαστέρα καὶ διάγχητε ὑπὸ τὸ κράνος ὑποβαλόντες τὸν πῆχυν. καὶ νὴ Ar οἱ μὲν τοξεύ- σουσι δῆλον ὅ ὅτι καὶ ἀκοντιοῦσιν, ὑμῶν δὲ ὦ ὥσπερ ἀνδριάντων οὐ καθίξεται τὰ θέλη κεχρωσμένων πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον καὶ πολὺ τὸ αἷμα πεπορισμένων. οὐ γὰρ καλάμη καὶ ἀθέρες ὑμεῖς ἐστε, ὡς τώχιστα ἐνδιδόναι πρὸς τὰς πληγάς, ἀλλὰ ὀψέ ποτε ἂν καὶ μόλις κατατεμνόμενοι βαθέσι τοῖς τραύμασιν αἷμα ὀλίγον ὑποδείξαιτε." τοιαῦτα yap φής, εἶ μὴ πάνυ παρήκουσα τοῦ παραδείγματος. ἢ τὰς πανοπλίας ἐκείνας τότε ἀναλήψεσθε τὰς τῶν κωμῳδῶν τε καὶ τραγωδῶν, καὶ ἦν προτεθῇ ὑμῖν ἔξοδος, ἐκεῖνα τὰ κράνη περιθήσεσθε τὰ κεχηνότα,
1 ὁπότε Dindorf: ὁπόταν MSS. 2 ὑποδείξαιτε Fritzsche: ὑποδείξετε MSS,
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ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
and idleness does not incline them to arrogance, but exercises such as these give them diversion and keep them occupied. The chief good of the public and the supreme felicity of the state, which I mentioned before, are attained when our young men, striving at our behest for the fairest objects, have been most efficiently prepared both for peace and for war.
ANACHARSIS
Then if the enemy attack you, Solon, you your- selves will take the field rubbed with oil and covered with dust, shaking your fists at them, and they, of course, will cower at your feet and run away, fearing that while they are agape in stupefaction you may sprinkle sand in their mouths, or that after jumping behind them so as to get on their backs, you may wind your legs about their bellies and strangle them by putting an arm under their helmets. Yes, by Zeus, they will shoot their arrows, naturally, and throw their spears, but the missiles will not affect you any more than as if you were statues, tanned as you are by the sun and supplied in abundance with blood. You are not straw or chaff, so as to give in quickly under their blows; it would be only after long and strenuous effort, when you are all cut up with deep wounds, that you would show a few drops of blood. ‘This is the gist of what you say, unless I have completely mis- understood your comparison. Or else you will then assume those panoplies of the comedians and tragedians, and if a sally is proposed to you, you will put on those wide-mouthed headpieces in order
51
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ὡς φοβερώτεροι εἴητε τοῖς ἐναντίοις μορμολυττό- μενοι αὐτούς, καὶ ὑποδήσεσθε τὰ ὑψηλὰ ἐκεῖνα δηλαδή: φεύγουσί τε γάρ, ἣν δέῃ, κοῦφα, καὶ ἣν διώκητε, ἄφυκτα τοῖς πολεμίοις ἔσται, ὑμῶν οὕτω μεγάλα διαβαινόντων ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὅρα μὴ ταῦτ ἐν ὑμῖ ; 1 pa pn a μὲν ὑμῖν τὰ κομψά λῆρος 7 καὶ παιδιὰ ἄλλως καὶ διατριβαὶ ἀργοῦ- σι καὶ ῥᾳθυμεῖν ἐθέλουσι τοῖς νεανίσκοις. εὖ δὲ βούλεσθε πάντως ἐλεύθεροι καὶ εὐδαίμονες εἶναι, ἄλλων ὑμῖν. γυμνασίων δεήσει καὶ ἀσκήσεως ἀληθινῆς τῆς ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις, καὶ ἡ ἅμιλλα οὐ πρὸς ἀλλήλους μετὰ παιδιᾶς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς δυσμενεῖς ἔσται μετὰ κινδύνων μελετῶσι τὴν ἀρετήν. ὥστε ἀφέντας τὴν κόνιν καὶ τὸ ἔλαιον δίδασκε αὐτοὺς τοξεύειν καὶ ἀκοντίζειν μὴ κοῦφα διδοὺς τὰ ἀκόντια καὶ οἷα διαφέρεσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἄνεμον, ἀλλ᾽ ἔστω λόγχη βαρεῖα μετὰ συριγμοῦ ἑλιττομένη καὶ λίθος χειροπληθὴς καὶ σάγαρις καὶ γέρρον ἐν τῇ ἀριστερᾷ καὶ θώραξ καὶ , κράνος.
33 ‘Os δὲ νῦν ἔχετε, θεῶν τινος εὐμενείᾳ σώξεσθαί μοι δοκεῖτε, οἳ μηδέπω ἀπολώλατε ὑπό τινων ὀλίγων ψιλῶν ἐπιπεσόντων. ἰδού γέ τοι qv. σπα- σάμενος TO μικρὸν τοῦτο ξιφίδιον τὸ παρὰ τὴν ζώνην μόνος ἐπεισπέσω τοῖς νέους ὑμῶν ἅπασιν, αὐτοβοεὶ ἂν ἕλοιμι τὸ γυμνάσιον φυγόντων ἐκείνων καὶ οὐδενὸς ἀντιβλέπειν τῷ σιδήρῳ TON- μῶντος, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας à ἂν περιιστά- μενοι καὶ περὶ τοὺς κίονας κατακρυπτόμενοι γέλωτα ἄν μοι παράσχοιεν δακρύοντες οἱ πολλοὶ καὶ τρέμοντες. καὶ ror’ ἂν ἴδοις οὐκέτι ἐρυθ ριῶν- τας αὐτοὺς τὰ σώματα οἷοι νῦν εἶσιν, ἀλλὰ
52
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that you may be more formidable to your opponents by playing bogey-man, and will of course wear those high shoes, for they will be light to run away in, if need be, and hard for the enemy to escape from, if you go in pursuit, when you take such great strides in chase of them.
No, I am afraid that all these clever tricks of yours are silliness, nothing but child’s play, amuse- ments for your young men who have nothing to do and want to lead an easy life. If you wish, whatever betides, to be free and happy, you will require other forms of athletics and real training, that is to say, under arms, and you will not compete against each other in sport, but against the enemy, learning courage in perilous conflict. So let them give up the dust and the oil; teach them to draw the bow and throw the spear; and do not give them light javelins that can be deflected by the wind, but let them have a heavy lance that whistles when it is hurled, a stone as large as they can grasp, a double axe, a target in their left hand, a breastplate, and a helmet.
In your present condition, it seems to me that you are being saved by the grace of some god or other, seeing that you have not yet been wiped out by the onfall of a handful of light-armed troops. Look here, if I should draw this little dirk at my belt and fall upon all your young men by myself, I should capture the gymnasium with a mere hurrah, for they would run away and not one would dare to face the steel ; no, they would gather about the statues and hide behind the pillars, making me laugh while most of them cried and trembled. Then you would see that they were no longer ruddy-bodied as they
99
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ὠχροὶ ἅπαντες αὐτίκα γένοιντ᾽ ἂν ὑπὸ τοῦ δέους μεταβαφέντες. οὕτως ὑμᾶς ἡ εἰρήνη διατέθεικε Babeta οὖσα, ὡς μὴ ἂν ῥᾳδίως ἀνασχέσθαι λόφον ἕνα κράνους πολεμίου ἰδόντας.
ΣΟΛΩΝ
Ov ταῦτα ἔφασαν, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, Θρᾳκῶν τε ὅσοι μετ᾽ Εὐμόλπου ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἐστράτευσαν καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες ὑμῶν αἱ μετὰ Ἱππολύτης ἐλάσασαι ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν οὐδὲ οἱ ἄλλοι ὅσοι ἡμῶν ἐν ὅπλοις ἐπειράθησαν. ἡμεῖς γάρ, ὦ μακάριε, οὐκ ἐπείπερ οὕτω γυμνὰ τὰ σώματα ἐκπονοῦμεν τῶν νέων, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἄνοπλα ἐξάγομεν ἐπὶ τοὺς κινδύνους, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὰν καθ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἄριστοι γένωνται, ἀσκοῦνται τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο σὺν τοῖς ὅπλοις, καὶ πολὺ ἄμεινον χρήσαιντ᾽ ἂν αὐτοῖς οὕτω διακείμενοι.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ Καὶ ποῦ τοῦτο ὑμῖν ἐστι τὸ γυμνάσιον τὸ ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις; οὐ γὰρ εἶδον ἔγωγε ἐν τῇ πόλει τοι- οὗτον οὐδέν, ἅπασαν αὐτὴν ἐν κύκλῳ περιελθών.
ΣΟΛΩΝ
᾿Αλλὰ ἴδοις ἄν, ὦ ᾿Ανά αρσι, ἐπὶ πλέον ἡμῖν συνδιατρίψας, καὶ ὅπλα ἑκάστῳ μάλα πολλά, οἷς χρώμεθα ὁ ὁπόταν ἀναγκαῖον 7, καὶ λόφους καὶ φάλαρα καὶ ἵππους, καὶ ἱππέας σχεδὸν τὸ τέταρ- τον τῶν πολιτῶν. τὸ μέντοι ὁπλοφορεῖν ἀεὶ καὶ ἀκινάκην παρεξῶσθαι περιττὸν ἐν εἰρήνῃ. οἰόμεθα εἶναι, καὶ πρόστιμόν y ἔστιν, ὅστις ἐν ἄστει
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are now; they would all turn pale on the instant, dyed to another hue by fright. Profound peace has brought you to such a pass that you could not easily endure to see a single plume of a hostile helmet.
SOLON
The Thracians who campaigned against us with Eumolpus did not say so, Anacharsis, nor your women who marched against the city with Hippolyta,! nor any others who have tested us under arms. It does not follow, my unsophisticated friend, that because our young men’s bodies are thus naked while we are developing them, they are therefore undefended by armour when we lead them out into dangers. When they become efficient in them- selves, they are then trained with arms and can make far better use of them because they are so well conditioned.
ANACHARSIS
Where do you do this training under arms? I have not seen anything of the sort in the city, though I have gone all about the whole of it.
SOLON
But you would see it, Anacharsis, if you should stop with us longer, and also arms for every man in great quantity, which we use when it is necessary, and crests and trappings and horses, and cavalrymen amounting to nearly a fourth of our citizens. But to bear arms always and carry a dirk at one's belt is, we think, superfluous in time of peace ; in fact, there is a penalty prescribed for anyone who carries
1 The Amazons.
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σιδηροφοροίη μηδὲν δέον 7) ὅπλα ἐξενέγκοι 1 εἰς τὸ ημόσιον. ὑμεῖς δὲ συγγνωστοὶ ἐν ὅπλοις ἀεὶ βιοῦντες" τό τε γὰρ ἐν ἀφράκτω οἰκεῖν ῥάδιον εἰς ἐπιβουλήν, καὶ οἱ πὀολεμοιξ μάλα πολλοί, καὶ ἄδηλον ὁπότε τις ἐπιστὰς κοιμώμενον κατα- σπάσας ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμάξης φονεύσειεν" į τε πρὸ, ἀλλήλους ἀπιστία, αὐθαιρέτως καὶ μὴ ἐν νόμῳ συμπολιτευομένων, ἀναγκαῖον ἀεὶ τὸν σίδηρον ποιεῖ, ὡς πλησίον εἶναι ἀμυνοῦντα, εἴ τις βιάζοιτο.
ANAXAPZIZ
Eira, ὦ Σόλων, σιδηροφορεῖν μὲν οὐδενὸς ἀναγκαίου ἕνεκα περιττὸν ὑμῖν δοκεῖ, καὶ τῶν ὅπλων φείδεσθε, ὡς μὴ. διὰ χειρὸς ὄντα φθείροιτο, ἀλλὰ φυλάττετε ἀποκείμενα ὡς χρησόμενοι τότε, τῆς χρείας ἐπιστάσης' τὰ δὲ σώματα τῶν νέων οὐδενὸς δεινοῦ ἐπεύγοντος καταπονεῖτε παίοντες καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἱδρώτων καταναλίσκοντες, οὐ τα- μιευόμενοι. πρὸς τὸ ἀναγκαῖον τὰς ἀλκὰς αὐτῶν, ἀλλ. εἰκῆ ἐν τῷ πηλῷ καὶ τῇ κόνει ἐκχέοντες;
ΣΟΛΩΝ
"Eoas, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, τοιόνδε τι δυνάμεως πέρι ἐννοεῖν, ὡς οἴνῳ ἢ ὕδατι ἡ ἄλλῳ τῶν ὑγρῶν ὁμοίαν αὐτὴν οὖσαν. δέδιας οὖν μὴ ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀγγείου κεραμεοῦ λάθῃ διαρρυεῖσα ἐν τοῖς πόνοις
: ; ἐξενέγκοι vulg.: ἐξενέγκῃ MSS.
3 πολέμιοι du Soul. But the allusion is to the tribal struggles so familiar to readers of Horace. Cf. Herod. 4, 65.
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ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
weapons unnecessarily within the city limits or brings armour out into a public place. As for your people, you may be pardoned for always living under arms. Your dwelling in unfortified places makes it easy to attack you, and your wars are very numerous, and nobody knows when someone may come upon him asleep, drag him down from his wagon, and kill him. Besides, your distrust of one another, inasmuch as your relations with each other are adjusted by individual caprice and not by law, makes steel always necessary, so as to be at hand for defence if anyone should use violence.
ANACHARSIS
Then is it possible, Solon, that while you think it superfluous to carry weapons without urgent reason, and are careful of your arms in order that they may not be spoiled by handling, keeping them in store with the intention of using them some day, when need arises; yet when no danger threatens you wear out the bodies of your young men by mauling them and wasting them away in sweat, not husbanding their strength until it is needed but expending it fruitlessly in the mud and dust?
SOLON
Apparently, Anacharsis, you think that strength is like wine or water or some otherliquid: Anyhow, you are afraid that during exertions it may leak away unnoticed as if from an earthen jar, and then
3 φείδεσθε du Soul: φείδεσθαι MSS. 51
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κάτα ἡμῖν κενὸν καὶ Enpov οἴχηται τὸ σῶμα καταλιποῦσα ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ἔνδοθεν ἀναπληρού- μενον. τὸ δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει σοι, ἀλλὰ ὅσῳ τις ἂν αὐτὴν ἐξαντλῇ τοῖς πόνοις, τοσῷδε μᾶλλον ἐπιρρεῖ κατὰ τὸν περὶ τῆς “Ύδρας μῦθον, εἴ τινα ἤκουσας, ὡς ἀντὶ μιᾶς κεφαλῆς τμηθείσης δύ᾽ ἀεὶ ἄλλαι ἀνεφύοντο. ἦν δὲ a ἀγύμναστος ἐξ a ἀρχῆς καὶ ἄτονος Ù μηδὲ διαρκῆ τὴν ὕλην ἔχῃ ὑπο- βεβλημένην, τότε ὑπὸ τῶν ,καμάτων βλάπτοιτο ἂν καὶ καταμαραίνοιτο, οἷόν τι ἐπὶ πυρὸς καὶ λύχνου γίγνεται. ὑπὸ γὰρ τῷ αὐτῷ φυσήματι τὸ μὲν πῦρ ἀνακαύσειας ἂν καὶ μεῖζον ἐν βραχεῖ ποιήσειας παραθήγων τῷ πνεύματι, καὶ τὸ τοῦ λύχνου φῶς ἀποσβέσειας οὐκ ἔχον. ἀποχρῶσαν τῆς ὕλης τὴν χορηγίαν, ὡς διαρκῆ | εἶναι πρὸς τὸ ἀντιπνέον' οὐ γὰρ ἀπ᾽ ἰσχυρᾶς, οἶμαι, τῆς ῥίζης ἀνεφύετο.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
36 Ταυτὶ uév,! ὦ Σόλων, οὐ πάνυ συνίημι" λεπτό- τερα yap ἢ κατ᾽ ἐμὲ εἴρηκας, ἀκριβοῦς τινος φροντίδος καὶ διανοίας ὀξὺ δεδορκυίας δεόµενα. ἐκεῖνο δέ μοι πάντως εἰπέ, τίνος ἕνεκα οὐχὶ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι. τοῖς Ὀλυμπίασι καὶ ᾿Ισθμοῖ καὶ Πυθοῖ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ὁπότε πολλοί, ὡς φής, συνίασιν ὀψόμενοι τοὺς νέους ἀγωνιξομένους,Σ οὐδέποτε ἐν ὅπλοις ποιεῖσθε τὴν ἅμιλλαν, ἀλλὰ γυμνοὺς εἰς τὸ μέσον παραγαγόντες λακτιξο- μένους καὶ παιομένους ἐπιδείκνυτε καὶ νικήσασι μῆλα καὶ κότινον δίδοτε; ἄξιον γὰρ εἰδέναι τοῦτό γε, οὗτινος ἕνεκα οὕτω ποιεῖτε.
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be gone, leaving our bodies empty and dry, since they are not filled up again with anything from within. As a matter of fact, this is not the case, my friend: the more one draws it out by exertions, the more it flows in, like the fable of the Hydra, if you have heard it, which says that when one head was cut off, two others always grew up in its place. But if a man is undeveloped from the beginning, and untempered, and has an insufficient substratum of reserve material, then he may be injured and reduced in flesh by exertions. Something similar is the case with a fire and a lamp; for with one and the same breath you can start the fire afresh and speedily make it greater, stimulating it with your blowing, and you can put out the light of the lamp, which has not an adequate supply of fuel to maintain itself against the opposing blast: the root from which it sprang was not strong, I suppose.
ANACHARSIS
I do not understand this at all, Solon; what you have said is too subtle for me, requiring keen intellect and penetrating discernment. But do by all means tell me why it is that in the Olympic and Isthmian and Pythian and the other games, where many, you say, come together to see the young men competing, you never match them under arms but bring them out naked and show them receiving kicks and blows, and when they have won you give them apples and parsley. It is worth while to know why you do so.
! μὲν Dindorf : yap MSS. 3 ἀγωνιζομένους Jacobitz: ἀγωνισομένους MSS.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ZOAQN
‘Hyovpeba γάρ, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, τὴν εἰς τὰ γυμνάσια προθυμίαν οὕτως ἂν πλείω ἐγγενέσθαι αὐτοῖς, εἰ τοὺς ἀριστεύοντας ἐν τούτοις ἴδοιεν τιμωμένους καὶ ἀνακηρυττομένους ἐν μέσοις τοῖς "Ελλησι. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὡς εἰς τοσούτους ἀποδυσόμενοι εὐεξίας τε ἐπιμελοῦνται, ὡς μὴ αἰσχύνοιντο γυμνωθέντες, καὶ -ἀξιονικότατον ἕκαστος αὑτὸν ἀπεργάξεται. καὶ τὰ ἆθλα, ὥσπερ ἔμπροσθεν εἶπον, οὐ μικρά, ὁ ἔπαινος ὁ παρὰ τῶν θεατῶν καὶ τὸ ἐπισημότατον γενέσθαι καὶ δεί- κνυσθαι τῷ δακτύλῳ a ἄριστον εἶναι τῶν καθ᾽ αὑτὸν δοκοῦντα. τοιγάρτοι πολλοὶ τῶν θεατῶν, οἷς καθ᾽ ἡλικίαν ἔτι ἄσκησις, ἀπίασιν οὐ μετρίως ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων ἀρετῆς καὶ πόνων ἐρασθέντες. ὡς εἴ γέ τις, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, τὸν τῆς εὐκλείας ἔρωτα ἐκβά- λοι ἐκ τοῦ βίου, τί ἂν ἔτι ἀγαθὸν ἡμῖν γένοιτο, ? τίς ἄν τι λαμπρὸν ἐργάσασθαι ἐπιθυμήσειεν; νῦν δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τούτων εἰκάζειν παρέχοιεν ἄν σοι, ὁποῖοι ἐν πολέμοις ὑπὲρ πατρίδος καὶ παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ ἱερῶν γένοιντ᾽ ἂν ὅπλα ἔχοντες οἱ κοτίνου πέρι καὶ μήλων γυμνοὶ τοσαύτην προ- θυμίαν εἰς τὸ νικῶν εἰσφερόμενοι.
Καίτοι τί ἂν πάθοις, εἰ θεάσαιο καὶ ὀρτύγων καὶ ἀλεκτρυόνων ἀγῶνας παρ᾽ ἡμῖν καὶ σπουδὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις οὐ μικρά»; ? γελάσῃ δῆλον ὅτι, καὶ μάλιστα ἦν μάθης ὡς ὑπὸ νόμῳ αὐτὸ δρῶμεν καὶ προστέτακται πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν ἡλικία παρεῖναι καὶ ὁρᾶν τὰ ὄρνεα διαπυκτεύοντα μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀπαγορεύσεως; ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τοῦτο γελοῖον" ὑποδύεται γάρ τις ἠρέμα ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὁρμὴ εἰς
6ο
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
SOLON
We think, Anacharsis, that their zeal for the athletic exercises will be increased if they see those who excel in them receiving honours and having their names proclaimed before the assembled Greeks. For this reason, expecting to appear unclothed before so many people, they try to attain good physical condition so that they may not be ashamed of themselves when they are stripped, and each makes himself as fit to win as he can. Furthermore, the prizes, as ] said before, are not trivial—to be praised by the spectators, to become a man of mark, and to be pointed at with the finger as the best of one's class. Therefore many of the spectators, who are still young enough for training, go away im- moderately in love with manfulness and hard work as a result of all this. Really, Anacharsis, if the love of fame should be banished out of the world, what new blessing should we ever acquire, or who would want to do any glorious deed? But as things are, even from these conteststhey give you an oppor- tunity to infer what they would be in war, defending country, children, wives, and fanes with weapons and armour, when contending naked for parsley and apples they bring into it so much zeal for victory.
What would your feelings be if you should see quail-fights and cock-fights here among us, and no little interest taken in them? You would laugh, of course, particularly if you discovered that we do it in compliance with law, and that all those of military age are required to present themselves and watch the birds spar to the uttermost limit of exhaustion. Yet this is not laughable, either: their souls are gradually penetrated by an appetite for dangers, in order that
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
τοὺς κινδύνους, ὡς μὴ ἀγεννέστεροι καὶ ἀτολμό- τεροι, φαίνοιντο τῶν ἀλεκτρυόνων μηδὲ προαπα- γορεύοιεν ὑπὸ τραυμάτων ἢ καμάτου ἢ του ἄλλου δυσχερ οὓς.
Τὸ δὲ δὴ. ἐν ὅπλοις πειρᾶσθαι αὐτῶν καὶ ὁρᾶν τυτρωσκομένους---ἄπαγε' θηριῶδες γὰρ καὶ δεινῶς σκαιὸν καὶ προσέτι γε ἀλυσιτελὲς ἀποσφάττειν τοὺς ἀρίστους καὶ οἷς ἄν τις ἄμεινον χρήσαιτο κατὰ τῶν δυσμενῶν.
38 ᾿Επεὶ δὲ φής, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, καὶ τὴν ἄλλην EN- λάδα ἐπελεύσεσθαι, μέμνησο ἦν ποτε καὶ εἰς Λακε- δαίμονα ἔλθῃς, μὴ καταγελάσαι μηδὲ € ἐκείνων μηδὲ οἴεσθαι μάτην πονεῖν αὐτούς, ὁπόταν ἢ σφαίρας πέρι ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ συμπεσόντες παίωσιν ἀλλήλους ù, εἰς χωρίον εἰσελθόντες ὕδατι περιγεγραμμένον, εἰς φάλαγγα διαστάντες, τὰ πολεμίων ἀλλήλους ἐργάξωνται γυμνοὶ καὶ αὐτοί, ἄχρις ἂν ἐκβάλωσι τοῦ περιγράµµατος τὸ ἕτερον σύνταγμα οἱ ἕτεροι, τοὺς κατὰ Λυκοῦργον οἱ καθ᾽ Ἡρακλέα ἢ ἔμ- παλιν, συνωθοῦντες εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ' τὸ γὰρ ἀπὸ τούτου εἰρήνη λοιπὸν καὶ οὐδεὶς ἂν ἔτι. παίσειε. μάλιστα δὲ ἣν ὁρᾷς μαστιγουμένους αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τῷ βωμῷ καὶ αἵματι ῥεομένους, πατέρας δὲ καὶ μητέρας παρεστώσας οὐχ ὅπως ἀνιωμένας ἐπὶ τοῖς γιγνομένοις ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπειλούσας, εἰ μὴ ἀντέχοιεν πρὸς τὰς πληγάς, καὶ ἱκετευούσας ἐπὶ μήκιστον διαρκέσαι πρὸς τὸν πόνον καὶ ἐγκαρ- τερῆσαι τοῖς δεινοῖς. πολλοὶ γοῦν καὶ ἐναπέ- θανον τῷ ἀγῶνι μὴ ἀξιώσαντες ἀπαγορεῦσαι ζῶντες. ἔτι ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς τῶν οἰκείων μηδὲ εἶξαι τοῖς σώμασιν' ὧν καὶ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας ὄψει τιµω- μένους δημοσίᾳ ὑπὸ τῆς Σπάρτης ἀνασταθέντας. 62
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
they may not seem baser and more cowardly than the cocks, and may not show the white feather early on account of wounds or weariness or any other hardship.
As for testing them under arms, and watching them get wounded—no! It is bestial and terribly cruel and, more than that, unprofitable to kill off the most efficient men who can be used to better advantage against the enemy.
As you say that you intend to visit the rest of Greece, Anacharsis, bear it in mind if ever you go to Sparta not to laugh at them, either, and not to sup- pose that they are exerting themselves for nothing when they rush together and strike one another in the theatre over a ball, or when they go into a place surrounded by water, divide into companies and treat one another like enemies, naked as with us, until one company drives the other out of the enclosure, crowding them into the water—the Heraclids driving out the Lycurgids, or the reverse—after which there is peace in future and nobody would think of striking a blow. Above all, do not laugh if you see them getting flogged at the altar and dripping blood while their fathers and mothers stand by and are so far from being distressed by what is going on that they actually threaten to punish them if they should not bear up under the stripes, and beseech them to endure the pain as long as possible and be staunch under the torture. As a matter of fact, many have died in the competition, not deigning to give in before the eyes of their kinsmen while they still had life in them, or even to move a muscle of their bodies; you will see honours paid to their statues, which have been set up at public cost by the state of Sparta.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
"Ocav τοίνυν ὁρᾷς κἀκεῖνα, μήτε μαίνεσθαι ὑπολάβῃς αὐτοὺς μήτε εἴπῃς, ὡς οὐδεμιᾶς ἕ ἕνεκα αἰτίας ἀναγκαίας ταλαιπωροῦσι, μήτε τυράννου βιαξομένου μήτε πολεμίων διατιθέντων. εἴποι yap av σοι καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων Λυκοῦργος ὁ νομο- θέτης αὐτῶν πολλὰ τὰ εὔλογα καὶ ἃ συνιδὼν κολάξει αὐτούς, οὐκ ἐχθρὸς ὢν οὐδὲ ὑπὸ μίσους αὐτὸ δρῶν οὐδὲ τὴν νεολαίαν τῆς πόλεως εἰκῆ παραναλίσκων, ἀλλὰ καρτερικωτάτους καὶ παν- τὸς δεινοῦ κρείττονας ἀξιῶν εἶναι. τοὺς σώζειν μέλλοντας τὴν πατρίδα. καίτοι κἂν μὴ 0 Av- κοῦργος εἴπη, ἐννοεῖς, οἶμαι, καὶ αὐτὸς ὡς οὐκ ἄν ποτε ληφθεὶς ὁ ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐν πολέμῳ ἀπόρρητόν τι ἐξείποι τῆς Σπάρτης αἰκιζομένων τῶν ἐχθρῶν, ἀλλὰ καταγελῶν αὐτῶν μαστιγοῖτο ἂν ἁμιλλώ- μενος πρὸς τὸν παίοντα, ὁπότερος) ἀπαγορεύσειεν.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ 39 ʻO Λυκοῦργος δὲ καὶ αὐτός, ὦ Σόλων, ἐμαστι- ^ 3 > ο f 4 , [4 A » ^ γοῦτο ἐφ᾽ ἡλικίας, ἢ ἐκπρόθεσμος ὢν ἤδη τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἀσφαλῶς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐνεανιεύσατο;
ΣΟΛΩΝ
Πρεσβύτης ἤδη å ὢν ἔγραψε τοὺς νόμους αὐτοῖς Κρήτηθεν ἀφικόμενος. ἀποδεδημήκει δὲ παρὰ τοὺς Κρῆτας, ὅτι ἤκουεν εὐνομωτάτους εἶναι, Μίνωος τοῦ Διὸς νομοθετήσαντος ἐν αὐτοῖς.
1 ὁπότερος A.M.H.: ὧς πρότερος MSS. 64
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
When you see all that, do not suppose them crazy, and do not say that they are undergoing misery with- out any stringent reason, since it is due neither to a tyrant's violence nor to an enemy's maltreatment. Lycurgus, their law-giver, could defend it by telling you many good reasons which he has discerned for punishing them; he is not unfriendly to them, and does not do it out of hatred, nor is he wantonly wasting the young blood of the city, but he desires that those who are destined to preserve their country should be tremendously staunch and superior to every fear. Yet, even if Lycurgus does not say so, you see for yourself, I suppose, that such a man, on being captured in war, would never betray any Spartan secret under torture inflicted by the enemy, but would laugh at them and take his whipping, matching himself against his flogger to see which would give in.
ANACHARSIS
But how about Lycurgus himself, Solon? Did he get flogged in his youth, or was he then over the age. limit for the competition, so that he could introduce such an innovation with impunity ?
SOLON
He was an old man when he made the laws for them on his return from Crete. He had gone to visit the Cretans because he was told that they enjoyed the best laws, since Minos, a son of Zeus, had been their law-giver.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ Τί οὖν, ὦ Σόλων, οὐχὶ καὶ σὺ ἐμιμήσω Λυ- κοῦργον καὶ μαστιγοῖς τοὺς νέους; καλὰ γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα καὶ ἄξια ὑμῶν ἐστιν.
ΣΟΛΩΝ ej e ^ [d / > , ’ - X Οτι ἡμῖν ἱκανά, ὦ ᾿Ανάχαρσι, ταῦτα τὰ ^ y ^ \ γυμνάσια οἰκεῖα ὄντα' ζηλοῦν δὲ τὰ ξενικὰ οὐ πάνυ ἀξιοῦμεν.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
Οὔκ; ἀλλὰ συνίης, οἶμαι, οἷόν τί ἐστι µαστι- γοῦσθαι γυμνὸν ἄνω τὰς χεῖρας ἐπαίροντα μηδενὸς ἕνεκα ὠφελίμου ἢ αὐτῷ ἑκάστῳ ἢ κοινῇ τῇ πόλει. ὡς ἔγωγε ἦν ποτε ἐπιδημήσω τῇ Σπάρτῃ καθ᾿ ὃν καιρὸν ταῦτα δρῶσι, δοκῶ por τάχιστα κατα- - λευσθήσεσθαι δημοσίᾳ πρὸς αὐτῶν, ἐπιγελῶν ἑκάστοις, ὁπόταν ὁρῶ τυπτοµένους καθάπερ κλέπτας ἢ λωποδύτας 1j HT ἄλλο τοιοῦτον ἐργα- σαμένους. ἀτεχνῶς γὰρ ἐλλεβόρου δεῖσθαί «μοι δοκεῖ ἡ πόλις αὐτῶν καταγέλαστα ὑφ᾽ αὑτῆς πάσχουσα.
ΣΟΛΩΝ
Μὴ ἐρήμην, ὦ γενναῖε, μηδὲ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀπόν- των μόνος αὐτὸς λέγων οἴου κρατεῖν" ἔσται γάρ τις ὁ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων σοι τὰ εἰκότα ἐν Σπάρτη ἀντερῶν.
Πλὴν ἀλλὰ ἐπείπερ ἐγὼ τὰ ἡμέτερα. σοι διεξε- λήλυθα, σὺ δὲ οὐ πάνυ ἀρεσκομένῳ αὐτοῖς ἔοικας, οὐκ ἄδικα αἰτήσει» ἔοικα παρὰ σοῦ ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ μέρει διεξέλθῃς πρός με ὃν
66
ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
ANACHARSIS
Then why is it, Solon, that you have not imitated Lycurgus and do not flog your young men? It isa splendid practice, and worthy of you Athenians !
SOLON
Because we are content, Anacharsis, with these exercises, which are our own; we do not much care to copy foreign fashions.
ANACHARSIS
No: you understand, I think, what it is like to be flogged naked, holding up one’s arms, for no advan- tage either to the individual himself or to the city in general. Oh, if ever I am at Sparta at the time when they are doing this, I expect I shall very soon be stoned to death by them publicly for laughing at them every time I see them getting beaten like robbers or sneak-thieves or similar malefactors. Really, it seems to me that the city stands in need of hellebore 1 if it mishandles itself so ridiculously.
SOLON
Do not think, my worthy friend, that you are win- ning your case by default, or in the absence of your adversaries, as the only speaker. There will be someone or other in Sparta who will reply to you properly in defence of this.
However, as I have told you about our ways and you do not seem to be much pleased with them, I do not think it will be unfair to ask you to tell me in
1 The specific for insanity.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
τρόπον ὑμεῖς οἱ Σκύθαι διασκεῖτε τοὺς νέους τοὺς παρ᾽ ὑμῖν καὶ οἷστισι γυμνασίοις ἀνατρέφετε καὶ όπως ὑμῖν ἄνδρες ἀγαθοὶ γίγνονται.
ΑΝΑΧΑΡΣΙΣ
Δικαιότατα μὲν οὖν, ὦ Σόλων, καὶ ἔγωγε διηγήσομαι. τὰ Σκυθῶν νόμιμα, οὐ σεμνὰ ἴσως οὐδὲ καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς, οἵ ye οὐδὲ κατὰ κόρρης πατα- x? ἦναι τολμήσαιμεν ἂν μίαν TAUTA δειλοὶ yap ἐσμεν' ἀλλὰ εἰρήσεταί γε ὁποῖα ἂν ae εἰς αὔριον μέντοι, εἰ δοκεῖ, ὑπερβαλώμεθα τὴν συνουσίαν, ὡς ἅ τε αὐτὸς ἔφης ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐννοήσαιμι καθ' ἡσυχίαν a τε χρὴ εἰπεῖν συναγάγοιμι τῇ μνήμῃ ἐπελθών. τὸ δὲ νῦν ἔχον ἀπίωμεν ἐπὶ τούτοις: ἑσπέρα γὰρ ἤδη.
1} Fritzsche; εἴη MSS,
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ANACHARSIS, OR ATHLETICS
your turn how you Scythians discipline your young men, what exercises you use in bringing them up, and how you make them good men.
ANACHARSIS
It is entirely fair, to be sure, Solon, and [ shall tell you the Scythian customs, which are not imposing, perhaps, or on the same plane as yours, since we should not dare to receive a single blow in the face ; we are cowards! They shall be told, however, no matter what they are. But let us put off the discussion, if you will, till to-morrow, so that I may quietly ponder a little longer over what you have said, and get together what I must say, going over it in my memory. At present, let us go away with this understanding, for it is now evening.
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“a Uy Με
MENIPPUS . OR THE DESCENT INTO HADES
MENIPPUS, who in the /caromenippus (II. 267) described his ascent to Heaven to discover the truth about the nature of the universe, now tells the story of his descent into Hades to find out the right way to live. Utterly perplexed by the philosophers, who neither agree in their doctrines nor practise what they preach, he goes below to consult Teiresias, who tells him to disregard them; that the ordinary man’s way of living is best.
The unity of the dialogue is badly marred because Lucian has given it a double point, aiming it not only at the philosophers but at the rich. Indced, it is not the philo- sophers but the rich and powerful who are getting on badly in Hades, and against whom a decree is naan by the assembly of the dead.
This curious defect arises, I believe, from the way in which Lucian adapted his model, the Necyia of the real Menippus. Helm argues, to be sure, that the Menippus is a mere epitome and revision of the Necyia, but in my opinion the Necyia must have been a satire against wealth and power, in which Menippus told how he (or someone else) had learned, by his own observation and from the lips of Teire- sias, that kings and millionaires fared ill in the hereafter, and that the life of the ordinary man was preferable to theirs. This Cynic sermon Lucian parodies and turns against the philo- sophers, retaining the response of Teiresias, but twisting its point so that the ‘‘ordinary man” is now contrasted, not with kings and plutocrats, but with philosophers. He ought to have carried out this idea by recasting the whole show in Hades ; but he wanted to work in a decree of the dead, which could not be directed against the philosophers without steal- ing the thunder of Teiresias. So he aimed it at the rich, and retained the stage setting of Menippus to lead up to it.
The dialogue probably was written in A.D. 161—162 (p. 90, note) Helm’s discussion (Lucian und Menipp, 15 ff.) contains much valuable comment, especially upon the magic ritual.
On Menippus, see the /ndex.
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ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ H NEKTOMANTEIA
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
"OQ χαῖρε μέλαθρον πρὀπυλά θ᾽ ἑστίας ἐμῆς, ὡς ἄσμενος σ᾽ ἐσεῖδον ἐς φάος uoXov.
ΦΙΛΟΣ Οὐ Μένιππος οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κύων ; οὐ μὲν οὖν ἄλλος, εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ παραβλέπω' Μένιππος ὅλος.] τί οὖν αὐτῷ Βούλεται τὸ ἀλλόκοτον τοῦ σχήματος, πῖλος καὶ λύρα καὶ -λεοντὴ ; ; πλὴν ἀλλὰ προσιτέον γε αὐτῷ. χαῖρε, Q Μένιππε' πόθεν ἡ ἡμῖν ἀφῖξαι ; πολὺς γὰρ χρόνος οὐ πέφηνας ἐν τῇ πόλει."
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ "Hw νεκρῶν κευθμῶνα καὶ σκότου πύλας ’ 65) 0 1 » ^ λιπών, ἵν᾽ “Atdns χωρὶς wkiorat θεῶν. ΦΙΛΟΣ “Ἡράκλεις, ἐλελήθει Μένιππος ἡμᾶς ἀποθα- vov, Kata ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἀναβεβίωκεν ; Available in photographs T, ΡΝ, 1 Graevius: Μενίππους ὅλους 78.
2 Cf. Dial. Meretr. 10. 1. : οὐ γὰρ ἑωρακα πολὺς ἤδη χρόνοι αὐτὸν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν.
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MENIPPUS OR THE DESCENT INTO HADES
MENIPPUS
All hail, ye halls and portals of my home! What joy you give mine eyes, to light returned !!
A FRIEND
Isn't this Menippus the Cynic? Assuredly nobody else, unless ] cannot see straight ; Menippus all over. Then what is the meaning of that strange costume— a felt cap, a lyre, and a lion's skin? Anyhow, I must go up to him. Good day, Menippus; where under the sun have you come from? It is a long time since you have shown yourself in the city.
MENIPPUS
I come from Dead Men's Lair and Darkness Gate Where Hades dwells, remote from other gods.?
FRIEND
Heracles! Did Menippus die without our knowing it, and has he now come to life all over again?
! Euripides, Hercules Furens, 593-4. ? Euripides, Hecuba, 1; spoken by Polydorus as prologue.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
MENITIIIOZ Οὐκ, ἀλλ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἔμπνουν ᾿Αἴδης p ἐδέξατο. ΦΙΛΟΣ
Τίς δὴ αἰτία σοι τῆς καινῆς καὶ παραδόξου ταύτης ἀποδημίας ; ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
/ , 9 ^ * s ^ ^ / Νεότης μ᾽ ἐπῆρε καὶ θράσος τοῦ νοῦ πλέον.
ΦΙΛΟΣ
Παῦσαι, μακάριε, τραγῳδῶν καὶ λέγε οὑτωσί πως ἁπλῶς καταβὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἰαμβείων, τίς ἡ στολή ; ; τί σοι τῆς κάτω πορείας ἐδέησεν ; ; ἄλλως γὰρ οὐχ ἡδεῖά τις οὐδὲ ἀσπάσιος ἡ ὁδός.
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
"Q φιλότης, χρειώ με κατήγαγεν εἰς ᾿Αἴδαο ψυχῇ χρησόμενον Θηβαίου Τειρεσίαο.
ΦΙΛΟΣ
Οὗτος, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ παραπαίεις' οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὕτως ἐμμέτρως ἐρραψώδεις πρὸς ἄνδρας φίλους.
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
Μὴ θαυμάσης, ὦ ἑταῖρε' νεωστὶ γὰρ Εὐριπίδη καὶ Ὁμήρῳ συγγενόμενος οὐκ οἷδ᾽ ὅπως ἀνεπλή- σθην τῶν ἐπῶν καὶ αὐτόματά μοι τὰ μέτρα ἐπὶ
1 Attributed to Euripides; play unknown, perhaps the Peirithous (Nauck, Trag. Graec. Fragm., p. 663).
2 Perhaps from the lost Andromeda of Euripides (Nauck, p. 403).
3 Odyssey 11, 164. Lucian substitutes ‘‘ Friend” for Homer's ** Mother.”
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MENIPPUS
MENIPPUS Nay, I was living when I went to Hell.1
FRIEND
What reason had you for this novel and surprising trip? MENIPPUS Youth spurred me, and I had more pluck than sense.? FRIEND
My dear fellow, do stop your play-acting; come off your blank-verse, and tell me in plain language like mine what your costuine is, and why you had to go down below. Certainly it is not a pleasant and attractive journey!
MENIPPUS
Friend, 'twas necessity drew me below to the kingdom of Hades,
There to obtain, from the spirit of Theban Teiresias, counsel.3
FRIEND
Man, you are surely out of your mind, or you would not recite verse in that way to your friends!
MENIPPUS
Don't be surprised, my dear fellow. I have just been in the company of Euripides and Homer, so that somehow or other I have become filled with poetry, and verses come unbidden to my lips.4
t The Greek words form a trimeter, possibly borrowed from some comedy.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
^ \ 2 τὸ στόμα ἔρχεται. ἀτὰρ εἰπέ μοι, πῶς τὰ ὑπὲρ γῆς ἔχει καὶ τί ποιοῦσιν οἱ ἐν τῇ πόλει ;
ΦΙΛΟΣ Καινὸν οὐδέν, ἀλλ. οἷα καὶ πρὸ τοῦ' ἁυπάξου- σιν, ἐπιορκοῦσιν, τοκογλυφοῦσιν, ὀβολοστα- τοῦσιν. ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
"Αθλιοι καὶ κακοδαίµονες' οὐ γὰρ ἴσασιν οἷα ἔναγχος κεκύρωται παρὰ τοῖς κάτω καὶ οἷα κεχειροτόνηται τὰ ψηφίσματα κατὰ τῶν πλου- σίων, ἃ μὰ τὸν Κέρβερον οὐδεμία μηχανὴ τὸ διαφυγεῖν αὐτούς.
ΦΙΛΟΣ
Ti dys; δέδοκταί τι νεώτερον τοῖς κάτω περὶ τῶν ἐνθάδε ;
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
Νὴ Δία, καὶ πολλά yer ἀλλ᾽ οὐ θέμις ἐκφέρειν αὐτὰ πρὸς ἅπαντας οὐδὲ ἐξαγορεύειν τὰ ἀπόρρητα, μὴ καί τις ἡμᾶς γράψηται γραφὴν ἀσεβείας ἐπὶ τοῦ “Ῥαδαμάνθυος.
ΦΙΛΟΣ
Μηδαμῶς, ὦ Μένιππε, πρὸς τοῦ Διός, μὴ φθονήσῃς τῶν λόγων φίλῳ ἀνδρί πρὸς γὰρ, εἰδότα σιωπᾶν ἐρεῖς, τά T. ἄλλα καὶ πρὸς μεμυημένον.
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ Χαλεπὸν μὲν ἐπιτάττεις τὸ ἐπίταγμα καὶ οὐ πάντη εὐσεβές: πλὴν ἀλλὰ σοῦ γε ἕνεκα τολμητέον. ἔδοξε δὴ τοὺς πλουσίους τούτους 76
MENIPPUS
But tell me, how are things going on earth, and what are they doing in the city ?
FRIEND
Nothing new ; just what they did before—stealing, lying under oath, extorting usury, and weighing pennies.
MENIPPUS
Poor wretches! They do not know what decisions have been made of late in the lower world, and what ordinances have been enacted against the rich ; by Cerberus, they cannot possibly evade them!
FRIEND
What is that? | Has any radical legislation been passed in the lower world affecting the upper?
MENIPPUS
Yes, by Zeus, a great deal; but it is not right to publish it broadcast and expose their secrets. Some- one might indict me for impiety in the court of Rhadamanthus.
FRIEND
Oh, no, Menippus! In Heaven's name don't withhold your story from a friend! You will be telling à man who knows how to keep his mouth shut, and who, moreover, has been initiated into
the mysteries. MENIPPUS
It is a perilous demand that you are imposing upon me, and one not wholly consistent with piety. However, for your sake I must be bold. The motion, then, was passed that these rich men with
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«ai πολυχρημάτους καὶ τὸ χρυσίον κατάκλειστον ὥσπερ τὴν Δανάην φυλάττοντας---
ΦΙΛΟΣ
Μὴ πρότερον εἴπῃς, ὦγαθέ, τὰ δεδογμένα πρὶν ἐκεῖνα διελθεῖν ἃ μάλιστ᾽ ἂν ἡδέως ἀκούσαιμί σου, τίς ἡ ἐπίνοιά σοι τῆς καθόδου ἐγένετο, τίς δ᾽ ὁ τῆς πορείας ἡγεμών, εἶθ᾽ ἑξῆς ἅ τε εἶδες ἅ τε ἤκουσας παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς: εἰκὸς yàp. δὴ φιλόκαλον ὄντα σε μηδὲν τῶν ἀξίων θέας ἢ ἀκοῆς παρα-
λιπεῖν.
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
3 Ὑπουργητέον καὶ ταῦτά cot τί γὰρ ἂν καὶ πάθοι τις, ὁπότε φίλος ἀνὴρ βιάζοιτο ; καὶ δὴ πρῶτά σοι δίειμι τὰ περὶ τῆς γνώμης τῆς ἐμῆς, ὅθεν ὡρμήθην πρὸς τὴν κατάβασιν. ἐγὼ γάρ, ἄχρι μὲν ἐν παισὶν ἦν, ἀκούων Ὁμήρου καὶ Ἡσιόδου πολέμους καὶ στάσεις διηγουμένων οὐ μόνον τῶν ἡμιθέων, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν ἤδη τῶν θεῶν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ μοιχείας αὐτῶν καὶ βίας καὶ ἁρπα- yas καὶ δίκας καὶ πατέρων ἐξελάσεις καὶ ἀδελφ v γάμους, πάντα ταῦτα ἐνόμιζον εἶναι καλὰ καὶ οὐ παρέργως ἐκινούμην πρὸς αὐτά. ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰς ἄνδρας τελεῖν ἠρξάμην, πάλιν av ἐνταῦθα ἤκουον τῶν νόμων τἀναντία τοῖς ποιηταῖς κελευόντων, μήτε μοιχεύειν μήτε στασιάζειν μήτε ἁρπάξειν. ἐν μεγάλῃ οὖν καθειστήκειν ἀμφι- βολίᾳ, οὐκ εἰδὼς ὅ ὅ τι χρησαίμην ἐμαυτῷ" οὔτε γὰρ ἄν ποτε τοὺς θεοὺς μοιχεῦσαι καὶ στασιάσαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἡγούμην εἰ μὴ ὡς περὶ καλῶν τούτων ἐγίγνωσκον, οὔτ᾽, ἂν τοὺς νομοθέτας τἀναντία παραινεῖν εἰ μὴ λυσιτελεῖν ὑπελάμβα-
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MENIPPUS
great fortunes who keep their gold locked up as closely as Danae-——
FRIEND
Don't quote the motion, my dear fellow, before telling me what I should be especially glad to hear from you; that is to say, what was the purpose of your going down, who was your guide for the journey, and then, in due order, what vou saw and heard there; for it is to be expected, of course, that as a man of taste you did not overlook anything worth seeing or hearing.
MENIPPUS
I must meet your wishes in that, too, for what is a man to do when a friend constrains him? First, then, I shall tell you about my decision— what impelled me to go down. While I was a boy, when I read in Homer and Hesiod about wars and quarrels, not only of the demigods but of the gods themselves, and besides about their amours and assaults and abductions and lawsuits and banishing fathers and marrying sisters, I thought that all these things were right, and I felt an uncommon impulsion toward them. But when I came of age, I found that the laws contradicted the poets and forbade adultery, quarrelling, and theft. So I was plunged into great uncertainty, not knowing how to deal with my own case; for the gods would never have committed adultery and quarrelled with each other, I thought, unless they deemed these actions right, and the lawgivers would not recommend the opposite course unless they supposed it to be advantageous.
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vov. ἐπεὶ δὲ διηπόρουν, ἔδοξέ µοι ἐλθόντα παρὰ τοὺς καλουμένους τούτους φιλοσόφους ἐγχειρίσαι τε ἐμαυτὸν καὶ δεηθῆναι αὐτῶν χρῆσθαί μοι ὅ τι βούλοιντο καί τινα ὁδὸν ἁπλῆν καὶ βέβαιον ὑπο- δεῖξαι τοῦ Βίου. Ταῦτα μὲν δὴ φρονῶν προσῄειν αὐτοῖς, ἐλελή- ειν Ò ἐμαυτὸν εἰς αὐτό, paci, τὸ πῦρ ἐκ τοῦ καπνοῦ βιαζόμενος. παρὰ γὰρ δὴ τούτοις μάλιστα εὕρισκ.,ν ἐπισκοπῶν τὴν ἄγνοιαν καὶ τὴν ἀπορίαν πλείονα, ὥστε μοι τάχιστα χρυσοῦν ἀπέδειξαν οὗτοι τὸν τῶν ἰδιωτῶν τοῦτον βίον. ᾿Αμέλει ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν παρήνει τὸ πᾶν ἥδεσθαι καὶ μόνον τοῦτο ἐκ παντὸς μετιέναι' τοῦτο γὰρ εἶναι τὸ εὔδαιμον. ὁ δέ τις ἔμπαλιν, πονεῖν τὰ πάντα καὶ μοχθεῖν καὶ τὸ σῶμα καταναγκάξειν ῥυπῶντα καὶ αὐχμῶντα καὶ πᾶσι δυσαρεστοῦντα κοὶ λοιδορούμενον, συνεχὲς ἐπιρραψωδῶν τὰ τάνδημα ἐκεῖνα τοῦ Ἡσιόδου περὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἔπη καὶ τὸν ἱδρῶτα καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον ἀνάβασιν. ἄλλος καταφρονεῖν χρημάτων παρ- εκελεύετο καὶ ἀδιάφορον οἴεσθαι τὴν κτῆσιν αὐτῶν' ὁ δέ τις ἔμπαλιν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον ἀπεφαίνετο. περὶ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ κόσμου τί χρὴ καὶ λέγειν; ὅς γε ἰδέας καὶ ἀσώματα καὶ ἀτόμους καὶ κενὰ καὶ τοιοῦτόν τινα ὄχλον ὀνομά- των ὁσημέραι παρ᾽ αὐτῶν. ἀκούων ἐναυτίων. καὶ τὸ πάντων ἀτοπώτατον, ὅτι περὶ τῶν ἐναντιωτά- των ἕκαστος αὐτῶν λέγων σφόδρα νικῶντας καὶ πιθανοὺς λόγους ἐπορίζετο, ὥστε µήτε τῷ θερμὸν τὸ αὐτὸ πρᾶγμα λέγοντι μήτε τῷ ψυχρὸν ἀντι-
* Works and Days, 287 sq.; Lucian is always making fun of the philosophers for quoting this. 80
MENIPPUS
Since I was in a dilemma, I resolved to go to the men whom they call philosophers and put myself into their hands, begging them to deal with me as they would, and to show me a plain, solid path in life.
That was what I had in mind when I went to them, but I was unconsciously struggling out of the smoke, as the proverb goes, right into the fire! For I found in the course of my investigation that among these men in particular the ignorance and the per- plexity was greater than elsewhere, so that they speedily convinced me that the ordinary man’s way of living is as good as gold.
For instance, one of them would recommend me to take my pleasure always and to pursue that under all circumstances, because that was happiness; but another, on the contrary, would recommend me to toil and moil always and to subdue my body, going dirty and unkempt, irritating everybody and calling names; and to clinch his argument he was per- petually reciting those trite lines of Hesiod’s about virtue, and talking of “sweat,” and the “climb to the summit.” ! Another would urge me to despise money and think it a matter of indifference whether onc has it or not, while someone else, on the con- trary, would demonstrate that even wealth was good. As to the universe, what is the use of talking about that? * Ideas," *incorporealities," ‘atoms,’ * voids," and a multitude of such terms were dinned into my ears by them every day until it made me queasy. And the strangest thing was that when they expressed the most contradictory of opinions, each of them would produce very effective and plausible arguments, so that when the selfsame thing was called hot by one and cold by another,
8t
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
/ y M ^ 9) , ’ ^ e , 5 λέγειν ἔχειν, καὶ ταῦτ᾽ εἰδότα σαφῶς ὡς οὐκ ἄν ^ y ` . , , ^ / ποτε θερμὸν εἴη τι καὶ ψυχρὸν ἐν ταὐτῷ χρόνῳ. 9 ^ » ^ 4 ἀτεχνῶς οὖν ἔπασχον τοῖς νυστάξουσι τούτοις a ὅμοιον, ἄρτι μὲν ἐπινεύων, ἄρτι δὲ ἀνανεύων ἔμπαλιν.
Πολλῷ δὲ τούτων ἐκεῖνο ἀλογώτερον' τοὺς γὰρ αὐτοὺς τούτους εὕρισκον ἐπιτηρῶν ἐναντιώτατα - - f ^ τοῖς αὑτῶν λόγοις ἐπιτηδεύοντας. τοὺς γοῦν καταφρονεῖν παραινοῦντας χρημάτων ἑώρων ἀπρὶξ ἐχομένους αὐτῶν καὶ περὶ τόκων διαφερομένους καὶ ἐπὶ μισθῶ παιδεύοντας καὶ πάντα ἕνεκα
’ τούτων ὑπομένοντας, τούς τε τὴν δόξαν aro- βαλλομένους αὐτῆς ταύτης χάριν τὰ πάντα καὶ πράττοντας καὶ λέγοντας, ἡδονῆς τε αὖ σχεδὸν - / \ / ἅπαντας κατηγοροῦντας, ἰδίᾳ δὲ μόνῃ ταύτῃ προσηρτημένους. ^ ^ [4 ^
Σφαλεὶς οὖν καὶ τῆσδε τῆς ἐλπίδος ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐδυσχέραινον, ἠρέμα παραμυθούμενος ἐμαυτὸν ο M ^ N ^ N / US ὅτι μετὰ πολλῶν καὶ σοφῶν καὶ σφόδρα ἐπὶ
/ / συνέσει διαβεβοηµένων ἀνόητός τέ εἰμι καὶ τἀληθὲς ἔτι ἀγνοῶν περιέρχομαι. καί μοί ποτε ^ 4 e Ld > ^
διαγρυπνοῦντι τούτων ἕνεκα ἔδοξεν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα ἐλθόντα δεηθῆναί τινος τῶν μάγων τῶν Ζωροά- στρου μαθητῶν καὶ διαδόχων’ ἤκουον È αὐτοὺς ἐπῳδαῖς τε καὶ τελεταῖς τισιν ἀνοίγειν τοῦ Αιδου
M / M 4 ^ A / , ^ τὰς πύλας καὶ κατάγειν ὃν ἂν βούλωνται ἀσφαλῶς καὶ ὀπίσω αὖθις ἀναπέμπειν. ἄριστον οὖν ἡγούμην εἶναι παρά τινος τούτων διαπραξάμενον
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MENIPPUS
it was impossible for me to controvert either of them, though I knew right well that nothing could ever be hot and cold at the same time. So in good earnest I acted like a drowsy man, nodding now this way and now that.!
But there was something else, far more unreason- able than that. I found, upon observing these same people, that their practice directly opposed their preaching. For instance, I perceived that those who recommended scorning money clove to it tooth and nail, bickered about interest, taught for pay, and underwent everything for the sake of money; and that those who were for rejecting public opinion aimed at that very thing not only in all that they did, but in all that they said. Also that while almost all of them inveighed against pleasure, they privately devoted themselves to that alone.
Disappointed, therefore, in this expectation, I was still more uncomfortable than before, although I con- soled myself somewhat with the thought that if I was still foolish and went about in ignorance of the truth, at all events I had the company of many wise men, widely renowned for intelligence. So one time, while I lay awake over these problems, I resolved to go to Babylon and address myself to one of the Magi, the disciples and successors of Zoroaster, as I had heard that with certain charms and ceremonials they could open the gates of Hades, taking down in safety anyone they would and guiding him back again. Consequently I thought best to arrange with one of
1 More literally, “now inclining my head forward, and now tossing it backward ” ; that is, assenting one moment and dissenting the next. To express disagreement, the head was (and in Greece is now) thrown back, not shaken.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
τὴν κατάβασιν ἐλθόντα παρὰ Τειρεσίαν τὸν Βοιώτιον μαθεῖν παρ αὐτοῦ ἅτε μάντεως καὶ σοφοῦ, τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἄριστος βίος καὶ ὃν ἄν τις ἕλοιτο εὖ φρονῶν.
Καὶ δὴ ἀναπηδήσας ὡς εἶχον τάχους ἔτεινον εὐθὺ Βαβυλῶνος: ἐλθὼν δὲ συγγίγνομαί τινι τῶν Χαλδαίων σοφῷ ἀνδρὶ καὶ θεσπεσίῳ τὴν τέχνην, πολιῷ μὲν τὴν κόμην, γένειον δὲ μάλα σεμνὸν καθειμένῳ, τοὔνομα δὲ ἦν αὐτῷ Μιθρο- βαρξάνη». δεηθεὶς δὲ καὶ καθικετεύσας μόγις ἐπέτυχον Tap αὐτοῦ, ἐφ᾽ ὅτῳ βούλοιτο μισθῷ, καθηγήσασθαί μοι τῆς ὁδοῦ. παραλαβὼν δέ με ὁ ἀνὴρ πρῶτα μὲν ἡμέρας ἐννέα καὶ εἴκοσιν ἅμα τῇ σελήνη ἀρξάμενος ἔλουε κατάγων ἕωθεν ἐπὶ
τὸν Εὐφράτην πρὸς ἀνίσχοντα τὸν ἥλιον, ῥῆσίν
τινα μακρὰν ἐπιλέγων ἧς οὐ σφόδρα κατήκονον" ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ φαῦλοι τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι κηρύκων ἐπίτροχόν τι καὶ ἀσαφὲς ἐφθέγγετο. πλὴν ἐῴκει γέ τινας ἐπικαλεῖσθαι δαίμονας. μετὰ δ᾽ οὖν τὴν ἐπῳδὴν τρὶς ἄν μου πρὸς τὸ πρόσωπον ἀποπτύσας, ἐπανῇει πάλιν οὐδένα. τῶν ἀπαντών- των προσβλέπων. καὶ σιτία μὲν ἦν ἡμῖν τὰ ἀκρόδρυα, ποτὸν δὲ γάλα καὶ μελίκρατον καὶ τὸ τοῦ Χοάσπου ὕδωρ, εὐνὴ δὲ ὑπαίθριος ἐπὶ τῆς πόας.
᾿Επεὶ δ᾽ ἅλις εἶχε τῆς προδιαιτήσεως, περὶ μέσας νύκτας ἐπὶ τὸν Τίγρητα ποταμὸν ἀγαγὼν ἐκάθηρέν τέ µε καὶ ἀπέμαξε καὶ περιήγνισεν δαδὶ καὶ σκίλλῃ, καὶ ἄλλοις πλείοσιν, ἅμα καὶ τῆν ἐπῳδὴν ἐκείνην ὑποτονθορύσας. εἶτά µε ὅλον καταμαγεύσας καὶ περιελθῶν, ἵνα μὴ βλαπτοίμην ὑπὸ τῶν φασμάτων, ἐπανάγει εἰς 84
MENIPPUS
these men for my going down, and then to call upon Teiresias of Boeotia and find out from him in his capacity of prophet and sage what the best life was, the life that a man of sense would choose.
Well, springing to my feet, I made straight for Babylon as fast as I could go. On my arrival l conversed with one of the Chaldeans, a wise man of miraculous skill, with grey hair and a very majestic beard; his name was Mithrobarzanes. By dint of supplications and entreaties, I secured his reluctant consent to be my guide on the journey at whatever price he would. So the man took me in charge, and first of all, for twenty-nine days, beginning with the new moon, he took me down to the Euphrates in the early morning, toward sunrise, and bathed me; after which he would make a long address which I could not follow very well, for like an incompetent announcer at the games, he spoke rapidly and indis- tinctly. It is likely, however, that he was invoking certain spirits. Anyhow, after the incantation he would spit in my face thrice and then go back again without looking at anyone whom he met. We ate nuts, drank milk, mead, and the water of the Choaspes, and slept out of doors on the grass.
When he considered the preliminary course of dieting satisfactory, taking me to the Tigris river at midnight he purged me, cleansed me, and con- secrated me with torches and squills and many other things, murmuring his incantation as he did so. Then after he had becharmed me from head to foot and walked all about me, that I might not be harmed by the phantoms, he took me home again, just as
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
τὴν οἰκίαν, ὡς εἶχον, ἀναποδίζοντα, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἀμφὶ πλοῦν εἴχομεν. αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν μαγικήν τινα ἐνέδυ στολὴν τὰ πολλὰ ἐοικυῖαν τῇ Μηδικῇ, ἐμὲ δὲ τουτοισὶ φέρων ἐνεσκεύασε, τῷ πίλῳ καὶ τῇ λεοντῇ καὶ προσέτι τῇ λύρᾳ, καὶ παρεκελεύ- σατο, ἤν τις ἔρηταί µε τοὔνομα, Μένιππον μὴ λέγειν, “Ἡρακλέα δὲ ἢ Ὀδυσσέα ἢ Ὀρφέα.
ΦΙΛΟΣ
Ὡς δὴ τί τοῦτο, ὦ Μένιππε ; οὐ γὰρ συνίημι τὴν αἰτίαν οὔτε τοῦ σχήματος οὔτε τῶν ὀνομάτων.
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
Καὶ μὴν πρὀδηλόν γε τοῦτο καὶ οὐ παντελῶς ἀπόρρητον" ἐπεὶ γὰρ οὗτοι πρὸ ἡμῶν ζῶντες εἰς "Αιδου κατεληλύθεσαν, ἡγεῖτο, εἴ µε ἀπεικάσειεν αὐτοῖς, ῥᾳδίως ἂν τὴν τοῦ Αἰακοῦ φρουρὰν δια- λαθεῖν καὶ ἀκωλύτως ἂν παρελθεῖν ἅτε συνηθέ- στερον, τραγικῶς μάλα παραπεμπόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ σχήματος.
Ἤδη & οὖν ὑπέφαινεν ἡμέρα, καὶ κατελθόντες ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν περὶ ἀναγωγὴν ἐγιγνόμεθα. παρεσκεύαστο δ᾽ αὐτῷ καὶ σκάφος καὶ ἱερεῖα καὶ μελίκρατον καὶ ἄλλα ὅσα πρὸς τὴν τελετὴν χρήσιμα. ἐμβαλόμενοι οὖν ἅπαντα τὰ παρε- σκευασµένα οὕτω δὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ
, , Ld λ , βαίνομεν ἀχνύμενοι, θαλερὸν κατὰ δάκρυ χέοντες.
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[ was, walking backward. After that, we made ready for the journey. He himself put on a magician’s gown very like the Median dress, and speedily costumed me in these things which you see—the cap, the lion’s skin, and the lyre besides ; and he urged me, if anyone should ask my name, not to say Menippus, but Heracles or Odysseus or Orpheus.
FRIEND
What was his object in that, Menippus? I do not understand the reason either for the costume or for the names.
MENIPPUS
Why, that, at any rate, is obvious and not at all shrouded in mystery. Since they had been before us in going down to Hades alive, he thought that if he should make me look like them, I might easily slip by the frontier-guard of Aeacus and go in un- hindered as something of an old acquaintance ; for thanks to my costume they would speed me along on my journey just as they do in the plays.!
Well, day was just beginning to break when we went down to the river and set about getting under way. He had provided a boat, victims, mead, and everything else that we should need for the ritual. So we shipped all the stores, and at length ourselves
* Gloomily hied us aboard, with great tears falling profusely.” 3
1 There were many comedies with this motive. The only one extant is the Frogs of Aristophanes, where Dionysus descends in the costume of Heracles.
3 Odyssey, 11, 5.
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Kai μέχρι μέν τινος ὑπεφερόμεθα ἐ ἐν τῷ TOTAM, εἶτα δὲ εἰσεπλεύσαμεν εἰς τὸ ἕλος καὶ THY λίμνην εἰς ἣν o Εὐφράτης ἀφανίξεται. περαιωθέντες δὲ καὶ ταύτην ἀφικνούμεθα εἰς τι χωρίον ἔρημον καὶ ὑλῶδες καὶ ἀνήλιον, εἰς ὃ καὶ δὴ ἀποβάντες--- ἡγεῖτο δὲ ὁ Μιθροβαρξάνης---βόθρον τε ὠρυξάμεθα καὶ τὰ μῆλα κατεσφάξαμεν καὶ τὸ αἷμα περὶ αὐτὸν ἐσπείσαμεν. ὁ δὲ μάγος ἐν τοσούτῳ δᾷδα καιομένην ἔχων οὐκέτ᾽ ἠρεμαίᾳ τῇ φωνῇ, παμ- μέγεθες᾽ δέ, ὡς οἷός τε ἦν, ἀνακραγὼν δαίμονάς T€ ὁμοῦ πάντας ἐπεβοᾶτο καὶ Ποινὰς καὶ ᾿Ερινύας
καὶ αν Ἑκάτην καὶ ἐπαινὴν M epaiei ieia παραμιγνὺς ἅμα βαρβαρικά τινα καὶ ἄσημα ὀνόματα καὶ πολυσύλλαβα.
ΙΟ [ὐθὺς οὖν ἅπαντα ἐκεῖνα ἐσαλεύετο καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπῳδῆς τοὔδαφος ἀνερρήγνυτο καὶ ὑλακὴ τοῦ Κερβέρου πόρρωθεν ἠκούετο καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα ὑπερκατηφὲς ἦν καὶ σκυθρωπὀν.
ἔδδεισεν δ᾽ ὑπένερθεν ἄναξ ἐνέρων ᾿Αἰδωνεύς---- κατεφαίνετο γὰρ ἤδη τὰ πλεῖστα, καὶ ἡ λίμνη καὶ ὁ Ἡνριφλεγέθων. καὶ τοῦ Πλούτωνος τὰ βασίλεια. κατελθόντες Ò ὅμως διὰ τοῦ χάσματος τὸν μὲν “Ῥαδάμανθυν εὕρομεν τεθνεῶτα μικροῦ δεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ δέους: 0 δὲ Κέρβερος ὑλάκτησε μέν τι καὶ παρεκίνησε, ταχὺ δέ μου. κρούσαντος τὴν λύραν παραχρῆμα ἐκηλήθη ὑπὸ τοῦ μέλους. ἐπεὶ δὲ πρὸς τὴν λίμνην ἀφικόμεθα, μικροῦ μὲν οὐδὲ ἐπεραιώθημεν' ἦν γὰρ πλῆρες ἤδη, τὸ πορθμεῖον καὶ οἰμωγῆς ἀνάπλεων, τραυματίαι δὲ πάντες
eo
1 Source of the verse unknown. 2 Iliad, 20, 61. 88
MENIPPUS
For a space we drifted along in the river, and then we sailed into the marsh and the lake in which the Euphrates loses itself. After crossing this, we came to a deserted, woody, sunless place. There at last we landed with Mithrobarzanes leading the way; we dug a pit, we slaughtered the sheep, and we sprinkled their blood about it. Meanwhile the magician held a burning torch and no longer muttered in a low tone but shouted as loudly as he could, invoking the spirits, one and all, at the top of his lungs; also the Tormentors, the Furies,
* Hecate, queen of the night, and eery Perse- phoneia." 1
With these names he intermingled a number of foreign-sounding, meaningless words of many syllables.
In a trice the whole region began to quake, the ground was rent asunder by the incantation, barking of Cerberus was audible afar off, and things took on a monstrously gloomy and sullen look.
* Aye, deep down it affrighted the king of the dead, Aidoneus’’—?
for by that time we could see almost everything— the Lake, and the Hiver of Burning Fire, and the palace of Pluto. But in spite of it all, we went down through the chasm, finding Rhadamanthus almost dead of fright. Cerberus barked a bit, to be sure, and stirred slightly, but when I hastily touched my lyre he was at once bewitched by the music. When we reached the lake, however, we came near not getting across, for the ferry was already crowded and full of groaning. Only
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e ἐπέπλεον, 0 μὲν τὸ σκέλος, ὁ δὲ τὴν κεφαλήν, 0 δὲ ἄλλο τι συντετριμμένος, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, ἔκ τινος πολέμου παρόντες. / > "Όμως 8 οὖν ὁ βέλτιστος Χάρων ὡς εἶδε τὴν ^ ’ λεοντῆν, οἰηθείς µε τὸν Ἡρακλέα εἶναι, εἰσεδέξατο καὶ διεπόρθμευσέν τε ἄσμενος καὶ ἀποβᾶσι διεσήμηνε τὴν ἀτραπόν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἦμεν ἐν τῷ ’ / ` e / ε / M σκότῳ, προῄει μὲν ὁ Μιθροβαρζάνης, εἱπόμην δὲ ἐγὼ κατόπιν ἐχόμενος αὐτοῦ, ἕως πρὸς λειμῶνα ΄ 3 4 ^ 3 , £ μέγιστον ἀφικνούμεθα τῷ ἀσφοδέλῳ κατάφυτον, ἔνθα δὴ περιεπέτοντο ἡμᾶς τετριγυῖαι τῶν νεκρῶν af αἱ σκιαί. κατ᾽ ὀλίγον δὲ προϊόντες παραγιγνό- ^ f μεθα πρὸς τὸ τοῦ Μίνωος δικαστήριον' ἐτύγχανε M € M 3^. X / ΔΝ e ^ / δὲ ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ θρόνου τινὸς ὑψηλοῦ καθήμενος, / s 5 ^ M , / N παρειστήκεσαν δὲ αὐτῷ Ποιναὶ καὶ ᾿Βρινύες καὶ / 'AXdaTopes. ἑτέρωθεν δὲ προσήγοντο πολλοί , ^ e ΄ ^ / $4. / τινες ἐφεξῆς, ἁλύσει μακρᾷ δεδεµένοι' ἐλέγοντο δὲ εἶναι μοιχοὶ καὶ πορνοβοσκοὶ καὶ τελῶναι καὶ κόλακες καὶ συκοφάνται καὶ τοιοῦτος ὅμιλος τῶν ^ / πάντα κυκώντων ἐν τῷ βίῳ. χωρὶς δὲ οὗ τε πλούσιοι καὶ τοκογλύφοι προσῄεσαν ὠχροὶ καὶ ΄ , ^ προγάστορες καὶ ποδαγροί, κλοιὸν ἕκαστος αὐτῶν καὶ κόρακα διτάλαντον ἐπικείμενος. ἐφεστῶτες οὖν ἡμεῖς ἑωρῶμέν τε τὰ γιγνόμενα καὶ ἠκούομεν τῶν ἀπολογουμένων: κατηγόρουν δὲ αὐτῶν καινοί 4 τινες καὶ παράδοξοι ῥήτορες.
1 Supposed to refer to the disasters of A.D. 161 in the Parthian war.
go
MENIPPUS
wounded men were aboard, one injured in the leg, another in the head, and so on. They were there, in my opinion, through some war or other.!
However, when good old Charon saw the lion-skin he thought that I was Heracles, so he took me in, and not only ferried me across gladly but pointed out the path for us when we went ashore. Since we were in the dark, Mithrobarzanes led the way and I followed after, keeping hold of him, until we reached a very large meadow overgrown with asphodel, where the shades of the dead flitted squeaking about us. Going ahead little by little, we came to the court of Minos. As it chanced, he himself was sitting on a lofty throne, while beside him stood the Tormentors, the Furies, and the Avengers. From one side a great number of men were being led up in line, bound together with a long chain; they were said to be adulterers, procurers, tax-collectors, toadies, informers, and all that crowd of people who create such confusion in life. In a separate company the millionaires and the money-lenders came up, pale, pot-bellied, and gouty, each of them with a neck-iron and a hundred-pound “crow” upon him.? Standing by, we looked at what was going on, and listened to the pleas of the defendants, who were prosecuted by speakers of a novel and surprising sort.
2 We are left to conjecture as to the nature of Lucian’s “crow,” for the word does not seem to be used elsewhere in a similar application. The extreme weight, however, suggests something resembling a ball-and-chain, a weight attached by a hook to a chain which perhaps was fastened to the neck-iron. It would have to be carried in the hand.
ΟΙ
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
ΦΙΛΟΣ
Τίνες οὗτοι, πρὸς Διός; μὴ γὰρ ὀκνήσης καὶ τοῦτο εἰπεῖν. ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
Οἶσθά που ταυτασὶ τὰς πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον aro- . ^ τελουμένας σκιὰς ὑπὸ τῶν σωμάτων ;
ΦΙΛΟΣ
Πάνν μὲν οὖν.
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
Αὗται τοίνυν, ἐπειδὰν ἀποθάνωμεν, κατη- Ὑοροῦσί τε καὶ καταμαρτυροῦσι καὶ διελέγχουσι τὰ πεπραγμένα ἡμῖν παρὰ τὸν βίον, καὶ σφόδρα τινὲς ἀξιόπιστοι δοκοῦσιν ἅτε ἀεὶ συνοῦσαι καὶ
μηδέποτε ἀφιστάμεναι τῶν σωμάτων.
Ὁ 8 οὖν Μίνως ἐπιμελῶς ἐξετάζων ἀπέπεμπεν ἕκαστον εἰς τὸν τῶν ἀσεβῶν χῶρον δίκην ὑφέξοντα κατ ἀξίαν τῶν τετολ.μημένων, καὶ μάλιστα ἐκείνων ἥπτετο τῶν ἐπὶ πλούτοις τε καὶ ἀρχαῖς τετυφωμένων καὶ μονονουχὶ καὶ προσκυνεῖσθαι περιµενόντων, τήν τε ὀλιγοχρόνιον ἀλαξονείαν αὐτῶν. καὶ τὴν ὑπεροψίαν μυσαττόμενος, καὶ ὅτι μὴ ἐμέμνηντο θνητοί τε ὄντες αὐτοὶ καὶ θνητῶν ἀγαθῶν τετυχηκύτες. οἳ δὲ ἀποδυσάμενοι τὰ λαμπρὰ ἐκεῖνα πάντα, πλούτους λέγω καὶ γένη καὶ δυναστείας, γυμνοὶ κάτω νενευκότες παρει- στήκεσαν ὥσπερ τινὰ ὄνειρον ἀναπεμπαξόμενοι τὴν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν εὐδαιμονίαν: ὥστ᾽ ἔγωγε ταῦτα ὀρῶν ὑπερέχαιρον κ καὶ εἴ τινα γνωρίσαιμι αὐτῶν, προσιὼν ἂν ἡσυχῆ πως ὑπεμίμνησκον οἷος ἣν παρὰ τὸν βίον καὶ ἡλίκον ἐφύσα τότε, ἡνίκα
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FRIEND
Who were they, in Heaven’s name? Don’t hesitate to tell me that also.
MENIPPUS
You know these shadows that our bodies cast in the sunshine?
FRIEND Why, to be sure!
MENIPPUS
Well, when we die, they prefer charges and give evidence against us, exposing whatever we have done in our lives; and they are considered very trustworthy because they always keep us company and never leave our bodies.
But to resume, Minos would examine each man carefully and send him away to the Place of the Wicked, to be punished in proportion to his crimes ; and he dealt most harshly with those who were swollen with pride of wealth and place, and almost expected men to bow down and worship them; for he resented their short-lived vainglory and super- ciliousness, and their failure to remember that they themselves were mortal and had become possessed of mortal goods. So, after stripping off all their quondam splendour—wealth, I mean, and lineage and sovereignty—they stood there naked, with hanging heads, reviewing, point by point, their happy life among us as if it had been a dream. For ny part I was highly delighted to see that, and whenever I recognized one of them, I would go up and quietly remind him what he used to be in life and how puffed up he had been then, when many men
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M \ [:d 4... ^ ’ ’ πολλοὶ μὲν ἕωθεν ἐπὶ τῶν πυλώνων παρειστήκεσαν \ / ^ ΄ τὴν πρόοδον αὐτοῦ περιμένοντες ὠθούμενοί τε καὶ ἀποκλειόμενοι πρὸς τῶν οἰκετῶν: ὁ δὲ μόλις ἄν ποτε ἀνατείλας αὐτοῖς πορφυροῦς τις ἢ περίχρυσος / ,
ἢ διαποίκιλος εὐδαίμονας dero καὶ μακαρίους ἀποφαίνειν τοὺς προσειπόντας, εἰ 1 τὸ στῆθος ἡ A \ / ^ ^ τὴν δεξιὰν προτείνων δοίη καταφιλεῖν. ἐκεῖνοι
μὲν οὖν ἠνιῶντο ἀκούοντες.
Τῷ δὲ Μίνῳ μία τις καὶ πρὸς χάριν ἐδικάσθη:
b! ΄ 4 z / . τὸν γάρ τοι Σικελιώτην Διονύσιον πολλά γε καὶ δεινὰ καὶ ἀνόσια ὑπό τε Δίωνος κατηγορηθέντα καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς σκιᾶς καταμαρτυρηθέντα παρελθὼν ᾿Αρίστιππος ὁ Κυρηναῖος---ἄγουσι ὃ αὐτὸν ἐν τιμῇ καὶ δύναται μέγιστον ἐν τοῖς κάτω---μικροῦ δεῖν τῇ Χιμαίρᾳ προσδεθέντα ἕ παρέλυσε τῆς καταδίκης λέγων πολλοῖς αὐτὸν τῶν πεπαιδευ- μένων πρὸς ἀργύριον γενέσθαι δεξιόν.
᾿Αποστάντες δὲ ὅμως τοῦ δικαστηρίου πρὸς τὸ
/ κολαστήριον ἀφικνούμεθα. ἔνθα δή, ὦ φιλότης, M \ 3 \ . . > ^ ` > ^
πολλὰ καὶ ἐλεεινὰ ἦν καὶ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ ἰδεῖν: μαστίγων τε γὰρ ὁμοῦ ψόφος ἠκούετο καὶ οἰμωγὴ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ πυρὸς ὀπτωμένων καὶ στρέβλαι καὶ κύφωνες καὶ τροχοί, καὶ ἡ Χίμαιρα ἐσπάραττεν
ASIN 7: 20 7 > ΄ / e καὶ ὁ Κέρβερος ἐδάρδαπτεν. ἐκολάζοντό τε ἅμα πάντες, βασιλεῖς, δοῦλοι, σατράπαι, πένητες, πλούσιοι, πτωχοί, καὶ μετέμελε πᾶσι τῶν TE-
^ ,
τολμημένων. ἐνίους δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ ἐγνωρίσαμεν
1 ei Dindorf : ἢ B, ἣν y.
? προτεθέντα Seager, Fritzsche, But compare Horace Carm. i. 27, 23-24:
Vix illigatum te triformi Pegasus expediet Chimaera.
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stood at his portals in the early morning awaiting his advent, hustled about and locked out by his servants, while he himself, bursting upon their vision at last in garments of purple or gold or gaudy stripes, thought that he was conferring happiness and bliss upon those who greeted him if he proffered his right hand or his breast, to be covered with kisses. They chafed, I assure you, as they listened !
But to return to Minos, he gave one decision by favour; for Dionysius of Sicily had been charged with many dreadful and impious crimes by Dion as prosecutor and the shadow as witness, but Aristippus of Cyrene appeared—they hold him in honour, and he has very great influence among the people of the lower world—and when Dionysius was within an ace of being chained up to the Chimera, he got him let off from the punishment by saying that many men of letters had found him obliging in the matter of money.!
Leaving the court reluctantly, we came to the place of punishment, where in all truth, my friend, there were many pitiful things to hear and to see. The sound of scourges could be heard, and there- withal the wails of those roasting on the fire; there were racks and pillories and wheels; Chimera tore and Cerberus ravened. They were being punished all together, kings, slaves, satraps, poor, rich, and beggars, and all were sorry for their excesses. Some of them we even recognized when we saw them, all
! Aristippus had lived at the court of Dionysius the Younger. Among the men of letters there present were Plato, Xenocrates, Speusippos, and Aeschines the Socratic.
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ἰδόντες, ὁπόσοι ἦσαν τῶν ἔναγχος τετελευτηκότων' οἱ δὲ ἐνεκαλύπτοντό τε καὶ ἀπεστρέφοντο, εἶ δὲ καὶ προσβλέποιεν, μάλα δουλοπρεπές τι καὶ κολακευτικὀν, καὶ ταῦτα πῶς οἴει βαρεῖς ὄντες καὶ ὑπερόπται παρὰ τὸν βίον ; τοῖς μέντοι πένησιν ἡμιτέλεια τῶν κακῶν ἐδίδοτο, καὶ διαναπαυόμενοι πάλιν ἐκολάζοντο. καὶ μὴν κἀκεῖνα εἶδον τὰ μυθώδη, τὸν ᾿Ιξίονα καὶ τὸν Σίσυφον καὶ τὸν Φρύγα T άνταλον, χαλεπῶς γε ἔχοντα, καὶ τὸν γηγενῆ Τιτυόν, Ἡράκλεις oos ἔκειτο γοῦν τόπον ἐπέχων ἀγροῦ.
Διελθόντες δὲ καὶ τούτους els TO πεδίον εἰσβάλλομεν τὸ ᾿Αχερούσιον, εὑρίσκομέν τε αὐτόθι τοὺς ἡμιθέους τε καὶ τὰς npwivas καὶ τὸν ἄλλον ὅμιλον τῶν νεκρῶν κατὰ ἔθνη καὶ κατὰ φῦλα διαιτωµένους, τοὺς μὲν, παλαιούς τινας καὶ εὐρωτιῶντας καὶ ὥς φησιν | Όμηρος, ἀμενηνούς, τοὺς δ᾽ ἔτι νεαλεῖς καὶ συνεστηκότας, καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους αὐτῶν διὰ τὸ πολυαρκὲς τῆς ταριχείας. τὸ μέντοι διαγιγνώσκειν ἕκαστον οὐ πάνυ τι ἦν ῥῴδιον'. ἅπαντες γὰρ ἀτεχνῶς ἀλλήλοις γίγνονται ὅμοιοι τῶν ὀστῶν γεγυμνωμένων. πλὴν ἀλλὰ μόγις τε καὶ διὰ πολλοῦ ἀναθεωροῦντες αὐτοὺς ἐγιγνώσκομεν. ἔκειντο © ἐπ᾽ ἀλλήλοις ἀμαυροὶ καὶ ἄσημοι καὶ οὐδὲν ἔτι τῶν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν καλῶν φυλάττοντες. ἀμέλει πολλῶν ἐν ταὐτῷ σκελετῶν κειμένων καὶ πάντων ὁμοίως φοβερόν τι καὶ διάκενον δεδορκότων καὶ γυμνοὺς τοὺς ὀδόντας
4
1 χαλεπῶς ye ἔχοντα A. M.H. : χαλεπῶς τε ἔχοντα T. Not in PN. Fritzsche reads χαλέπ᾽ ἄλγε᾽ ἔχοντα.
! A reflection (purposely bald and prosaic, in order to
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that were recently dead. But they covered their faces and turned away, and if they so much as cast a glance at us, it was thoroughly servile and obsequious, even though they had been unimaginably oppressive and haughty in life. Poor people, how- ever, were getting only half as much torture and resting at intervals before being punished again, Moreover, I saw all that is told of in the legends— Ixion, Sisyphus, Tantalus the Phrygian, who was certainly in a bad way, and earthborn Tityus— Heracles, how big he was! Indeed, he took up land enough for a farm as he lay there !2
After making our way past these people also, we entered the Acherusian Plain, where we found the demigods and the fair women and the whole crowd of the dead, living by nations and by clans, some of them ancient and mouldy, and, as Homer says, “impalpable,” while others were still well preserved and substantial, particularly the Egyptians, thanks to the durability of their embalming process. It was not at all easy, though, to tell them apart, for all, without exception, become precisely alike when their bones are bare. However, with some difficulty and by dint of long study we made them out. But they were lying one atop of another, ill-defined, unidentified, retaining no longer any trace of earthly beauty. So, with many skeletons lying together, all alike staring horridly and vacuously and baring
fetch a smile) of Homer's χαλέπ᾽ ἄλγὲ ἔχοντα (Odyssey, 11, 582).
2 He covered nine pelethra; Odyssey, 11, 577; unfortunately we do not know how mnch a Homeric pelethron was. But when Athena took the measure of Ares, who could shout as loud as nine or ten thousand soldiers, it was but seven pelethra (77. 5, 860; 21, 407).
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προφαινόντων, ἠπόρουν πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ᾧτινι δία- κρίναιμι τὸν Θερσίτην ἀπὸ τοῦ καλοῦ Nig£os ἡ 7) τὸν μεταίτην " Ipov a ἀπὸ τοῦ Φαιάκων βασιλέως 1) Πυρρίαν τὸν μάγειρον ἀπὸ τοῦ ᾿Αγαμέμνονος. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔτι τῶν παλαιῶν γνωρισμάτων αὐτοῖς παρέμενεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμοια τὰ ὀστᾶ Hv, ἄδηλα καὶ av- επίγραφα καὶ ὑπ᾽ οὐδενὸς ἔτι διακρίνεσθαι δυνά- μενα.
16 Τοιγάρτοι ἐκεῖνα ὁρῶντί μοι ἐδόκει ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων Bios πομπῇ τινι μακρᾷ προσεοικέναι, χορηγεῖν δὲ καὶ διατάττειν ἕκαστα ἡ Τύχη, διά- φορα καὶ ποικίλα τοῖς πομπευταῖς τὰ σ ήματα προσάπτουσα' τὸν μὲν γὰρ λαβοῦσα, εἰ τύχοι, βασιλικῶς διεσκεύασεν, τιάραν τε ἐπιθεῖσα καὶ δορυφόρους παραδοῦσα. καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν στέψασα τῷ διαδήματι, τῷ δὲ οἰκέτου σχῆμα περιέθηκεν" τὸν δέ τινα καλὸν εἶναι ἐκόσμησεν, τὸν δὲ ἄμορφον καὶ γελοῖον παρεσκεύασεν: παντοδαπὴν yap, οἶμαι, δεῖ γενέσθαι τὴν θέαν. πολλάκις δὲ καὶ διὰ μέσης τῆς πομπῆς μετέβαλε τὰ ἐνίων σχήματα οὐκ ἐῶσα εἰς τέλος διαπομπεῦσαι ὡς ἐτάχθησαν, ἀλλὰ μεταμφιέσασα τὸν μὲν Ν.ροῖσον ἡ ἠνάγκασε τὴν τοῦ οἰκέτου καὶ αἰχμαλώτου σκευὴν ἀναλα- βεῖν, τὸν δὲ Μαιάνδριον τέως ἐν τοῖς οἰκέταις πομπεύοντα τὴν τοῦ Πολυκράτους τυραννίδα µετενέδυσε. καὶ μέχρι μέν τινος εἴασε χρῆσθαι τῷ σχήματι" ἐπειδὰν δὲ ὁ τῆς πομπῆς καιρὸς παρέλθῃ, τηνικαῦτα ἕκαστος ἀποδοὺς τὴν σκευὴν καὶ ἀποδυσάμενος τὸ σχῆμα μετὰ τοῦ σώματος ἐγένετο οἷόσπερ TV πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι, μηδὲν τοῦ πλησίον διαφέρων. ἔνιοι δὲ ὑπ ἀγνωμοσύνης, ἐπειδὰν ἀπαιτῇ τὸν κόσμον ἐπιστᾶσα ἡ Τύχη, 98
MENIPPUS
their teeth, [ questioned myself how I eould dis- tinguish Thersites from handsome Nireus, or the mendieant Irus from the King of the Phaeacians, or the cook Pyrrhias from Agamemnon; for none of their former means of identification abode with them, but their bones were all alike, undefined, unlabelled, and unable ever again to be distinguished by anyone.
So as I looked at them it seemed to me that human life is like a long pageant, and that all its trappings are supplied and distributed by Fortune, who arrays the participants in various costumes of many eolours. Taking one person, it may be, she attires him royally, placing a tiara upon his head, giving him body-guards, and encireling his brow with the diadem; but upon another she puts the costume of a slave. Again, she makes up one person so that he is handsome, but eauses another to be ugly and ridieulous. I suppose that the show must needs be diversified. And often, in the very middle of the pageant, she exehanges the eostumes of several players; instead of allowing them to finish the pageant in the parts that had been assigned to them, she re-apparels them, forcing Croesus to assume the dress of a slave and a eaptive, and shift- ing Maeandrius, who formerly paraded among the servants, into the imperial habit of Polyerates. For a brief space she lets them use their eostumes, but when the time of the pageant is over, each gives back the properties and lays off the eostume along with his body, becoming what he was before his birth, no different from his neighbour. Some, how- ever, are so ungrateful that when Fortune appears to them and asks her trappings baek, they are vexed
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ἄχθονταί τε καὶ ἀγανακτοῦσιν ὥσπερ οἰκείων τινῶν στερισκόµενοι καὶ οὐχ ἃ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐχρή- σαντο ἀποδιδόντες.
Οἶμαι δέ σε καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς πολλάκις ἑωρακέναι τοὺς τραγικοὺς ὑποκριτὰς: τούτους πρὸς τὰς χρείας τῶν δραμάτων ἄρτι. μὲν Κρέοντας, ἐνίοτε δὲ Πριάμους γιγνομένους ἡ ᾿Αγαμέμνονας, καὶ ὁ αὐτός, εἰ τύχοι, μικρὸν. ἔμπροσθεν μάλα σεμνῶς τὸ τοῦ Κέκροπος 7 ᾿Ερεχθέως σχῆμα μιμησάμενος μετ᾽ ὀλίγον οἰκέτης προῆλθεν ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ κεκελευσ μένος. ἤδη δὲ πέρας ἔχοντος τοῦ δράματος ἀποδυσάμενος ἕ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν τὴν χρυσόπαστον ἐκείνην ἐσθῆτα καὶ τὸ προσωπεῖον ἀποθέμενος καὶ καταβὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐμβατῶν πένης καὶ ταπεινὸς περίεισιν, οὐκέτ᾽ ᾿Αγαμέμνων ὁ ᾿Ατρέως οὐδὲ Κρέων ὁ Μενοικέως, ἀλλὰ Hoos Δαρικλέους Σουνιεὺς ὀνομαζόμενος ἢ .Χάτυρος Θεογείτονος Μαραθώνιος. τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράγματά ἐστιν, ὡς τότε μοι ὁρῶντι
ἔδοξεν. ΦΙΛΟΣ
Εἰπέ μοι, ὦ ὦ Μένιππε, οἱ δὲ τοὺς πολυτελεῖς τούτους καὶ ὑψηλοὺς τάφους ἔχοντες ὑπὲρ γῆς καὶ στήλας καὶ εἰκόνας καὶ ἐπιγράμματα οὐδὲν τιμιώτεροι παρ αὐτοῖς εἰσι τῶν ἰδιωτῶν νεκρῶν ;
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ Ληρεῖς, ὦ οὗτος" εἰ γοῦν ἐθεάσω τὸν Μαύσωλον αὐτόν,---λέγω δὲ τὸν Κᾶρα, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ τάφου περιβόητον---εὗ aida ὅτι οὐκ ἂν ἐπαύσω γελῶν, οὕτω ταπεινὸς ἔρριπτο ἐν παραβύστῳ που 100
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and indignant, as if they were being robbed of their own property, instead of giving back what they had borrowed for a little time.
I suppose you have often seen these stage-folk who act in tragedies, and according to the demands of the plays become at one moment Creons, and again Priams or Agamemnons; the very one, it may be, who a short time ago assumed with great dignity the part of Cecrops or of Erectheus soon appears as a servant at the bidding of the poet. And when at length the play comes to an end, each of them strips off his gold-bespangled robe, lays aside his mask, steps out of his buskins, and goes about in poverty and humility, no longer styled Agamemnon, son of Atreus, or Creon, son of Menoeceus, but Polus, son of Charicles, of Sunium, or Satyrus, son of Theo- giton, of Marathon. That is what human affairs are like, it seemed to me as I looked.
FRIEND
But tell me, Menippus; those who have such expensive, high monuments on earth, and tomb- stones and statues and inscriptions—are they no more highly honoured there than the common dead ?
MENIPPUS Nonsense, man! If you had seen Mausolus him- self—I mean the Carian, so famous for his monument —l know right well that you would never have stopped laughing, so humbly did he lie where he
1 Polus aud Satyrus were famous actors, both of the fourth century B.C.
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
λανθάνων ἐν τῷ λοιπῷ δήμῳ τῶν νεκρῶν, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, τοσοῦτον ἀπολαύων τοῦ μνήματος, Tap ὅσον ἐβαρύνετο τηλικοῦτον ἄχθος ἐπικείμενος" ἐπειδὰν γάρ, ὦ ἑταῖρε, ὁ Αἰακὸς ἀπομετρήσῃ ἑκάστῳ τὸν τόπον»-- δίδωσι δὲ τὸ μέγιστον οὐ πλέον ποδός---ἀνάγκη ἀγαπῶντα κατακεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸ μέτρον συνεσταλμένον. πολλῷ ὃ ἂν οἶμαι μᾶλλον ἐγέλασας, εἰ ἐθεάσω τοὺς παρ᾽ ἡμῖν βασιλέας καὶ σατράπας πτωχεύοντας παρ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἤτοι ταριχοπωλοῦντας ὑπ᾽ ἀπορίας ? τὰ πρῶτα διδάσκοντας γράμματα καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ τυχόντος ὑβριξομένους καὶ κατὰ κόρρης παιο- μένους ὥσπερ τῶν ἀνδραπόδων τὰ ἀτιμότατα. Φίλιππον γοῦν τὸν Μακεδόνα ἐγὼ θεασάμενος οὐδὲ κρατεῖν ἐμαυτοῦ δυνατὸς ἦν: ἐδείχθη δέ μοι ἐν γωνία τινὶ μισθοῦ ἀκούμενος τὰ σαθρὰ τῶν ὑποδημάτων. πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλους ὂν ἰδεῖν ἐν ταῖς τριόδοις μεταιτοῦντας, Ξέρξας λέγω καὶ Δαρείους καὶ Πολυκράτας.
ΦΙΛΟΣ
"Ατοπα διηγῇ τὰ περὶ τῶν βασιλέων καὶ μικροῦ δεῖν ἄπιστα. τί δὲ ὁ Σωκράτης ἔπραττεν καὶ Διογένης καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τῶν σοφῶν ;
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
Ὁ μὲν Σωκράτης κἀκεῖ περίεισιν διελέγχων ἅπαντας: σύνεστι ὃ αὐτῷ Παλαμήδης καὶ Ὄδυσ- σεὺς καὶ Νέστωρ καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος λάλος νεκρός. ἔτι μέντοι ἐπεφύσητο αὐτῷ καὶ διῳδήκει ἐκ τῆς φαρμακοποσίας τὰ σκέλη. ὁ δὲ βέλτιστος Διο- γένης παροικεῖ μὲν Σαρδαναπάλλῳ τῷ ᾿Ασσυρίῳ 102
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was flung, in a cubby-hole, inconspicuous among the rest of the plebeian dead, deriving, in my opinion, only this much satisfaction from his monument, that he was heavy laden with such a great weight resting upon him. When Aeacus measures off the space for each, my friend—and he gives at most not over a foot—one must be content to lie in it, huddled together to fit its compass. But you would have laughed much more heartily, I think, if you had seen our kings and satraps reduced to poverty there, and either selling salt fish on account of their needi- ness or teaching the alphabet, and getting abused and hit over the head by all comers, like the meanest of slaves. |n fact, when I saw Philip of Macedon, I could not contro] my laughter. He was pointed out to me in a corner, cobbling worn-out sandals for pay! Many others, too, could be seen begging at the cross-roads—your Xerxeses, I mean, and Dariuses and Polycrateses.
FRIEND
What you say about the kings is extraordinary and almost incredible. But what was Socrates doing, and Diogenes, and the rest of the wise men?
MENIPPUS
As to Socrates, there too he goes about cross- questioning everyone. His associates are Palamedes, Odysseus, Nestor, and other talkative corpses. His legs, I may say, were still puffed up and swollen from his draught of poison. And good old Diogenes lives with Sardanapalus the Assyrian, Midas the
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καὶ Μίδα τῷ Φρυγὶ καὶ ἄλλοις τισὶ τῶν πολυτε- λῶν" ἀκούων δὲ -οἰμωξόντων αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν παλαιὰν τύχην ἀναμετρουμένων γελᾷ τε καὶ τέρπεται, καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ὕπτιος κατακείμενος ἄδει μάλα τραχείᾳ καὶ ἀπηνεῖ τῇ φωνῇ τὰς οἰμωγὰς αὐτῶν ἐπικαλύπτων, ὥστε ἀνιᾶσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ διασκέπτεσθαι μετοικεῖν οὐ φέροντας τὸν Διογένην.
ΦΙΛΟΣ
TavTi μὲν ἑκανῶς' τί δὲ τὸ ψήφισμα ἦν, ὅπερ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἔλεγες κεκυρῶσθαι κατὰ τῶν πλουσίων;
ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ
Εὖ γε ὑπέμνησας: ov γὰρ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως περὶ τού- του λέγειν προθέμενος πάμπολυ ἀπεπλανήθην τοῦ λόγου.
, Διατρίβοντος γάρ, μου παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς .προὔθεσαν οἱ πρυτάνεις ἐκκλησίαν περὶ τῶν κοινῇ συμφερόν- TOV ἰδὼν οὖν πολλοὺς συνθέοντας ἀναμίξας ἐμαυτὸν τοῖς νεκροῖς εὐθὺς εἷς καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν τῶν > ^ ’ M 5 ` x ἐκκλησιαστῶν. διῳκήθη μὲν οὖν καὶ ἄλλα, τελευταῖον δὲ τὸ περὶ τῶν πλουσίων' ἐπεὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν κατηγόρητο πολλὰ καὶ δεινά, βία καὶ > , M e / M , / / ἀλαξονεία καὶ ὑπεροψία καὶ ἀδικία, τέλος ἀναστάς τις τῶν δημαγωγῶν ἀνέγνω ψήφισμα τοιοῦτον.
ΨΗΦΙΣΜΑ
, \ N j Επειδὴ πολλὰ καὶ παράνομα οἱ πλούσιοι δρῶσι παρὰ τὸν βίον ἁρπάζοντες καὶ βιαζόὀµενοι καὶ πάντα τρόπον τῶν πενήτων καταφρονοῦντες,
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Phrygian, and several other wealthy men. As he hears them lamenting and reviewing their former good-fortune, he laughs and rejoices; and often he lies on his back and sings in a very harsh and un- pleasant voice, drowning out their lamentations, so that the gentlemen are annoyed and think of chang- ing their lodgings because they cannot stand Diogenes.
FRIEND
Well, enough of this, but what was the motion that in the beginning you said had been passed against the rich?
MENIPPUS
Thanks for reminding me. Somehow or other, in spite of my intention to speak about that, I went ` very much astray in my talk.
During my stay there, the city fathers called a publie meeting to discuss matters of general interest ; so when I saw many people running in the same direction, I mingled with the dead and speedily became one of the electors myself. Well, various business was transacted, and at last that about the rich. After many dreadful charges of violence and mendacity and superciliousness and injustice had been brought against them, at length one of the demagogues rose and read the following motion,
(Μοτιον)
“Whereas many lawless deeds are done in life by the rich, who plunder and oppress and in every way humiliate the poor,
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“«Δεδόχθω τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ, ἐπειδὰν ἀποθάνωσι, τὰ μὲν σώματα αὐτῶν κολάξεσθαι καθάπερ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων πονηρῶν, τὰς δὲ ψυχὰς ἀναπεμφθείσας ἄνω εἰς τὸν βίον καταδύε- σθαι εἰς τοὺς ὄνους, ἄχρις ἂν ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ δια- γάγωσι μυριάδας € ἐτῶν πέντε καὶ εἴκοσιν, ὄνοι ἐξ ὄνων γιγνόμενοι καὶ ἀχθοφοροῦντες καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν πενήτων ἐλαυνόμενοι, τοὐντεῦθεν δὲ λοιπὸν ἐξεῖναι αὐτοῖς ἀποθανεῖν.
«Εἶπε τὴν γνώμην Κρανίων Σκελετίωνος Νεκυ- σιεὺς φυλῆς ᾿Αλιθαντίδος.᾽
Τούτου ἀναγνωσθέντος τοῦ ψηφίσματος ἐπε- ψήφισαν μὲν αἱ ἀρχαί, ἐπεχειροτόνησε δὲ τὸ πλῆθος καὶ ἐβριμήσατο 7 Βριμὼ καὶ ὑλάκτησεν o Képßepos' οὕτω γὰρ ἐντελῆ γίγνεται καὶ κύρια τὰ ἐγνωσμένα.
Ταῦτα μὲν δή σοι τὰ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. ἐγὼ δέ, οὗπερ ἀφίγμην ἕνεκα, τῷ Τειρεσίᾳ προσελθὼν ἱκέτευον αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα διηγησάμενος εἰπεῖν πρός με ποῖόν τινα ἡγεῖται τὸν ἄριστον βίον. ὁ δὲ γελάσας--ἔστι δὲ τυφλόν τι γερόντιον καὶ ὠχρὸν καὶ λεπτόφωνον--'Ὦ τέκνον,’ φησί, «τὴν μὲν αἰτίαν οἶδά σοι τῆς ἀπορίας ὅτι παρὰ τῶν σοφῶν ἐγένετο οὐ ταὐτὰ γιγνωσκόντων ἑαυ- τοῖς: ἀτὰρ οὐ θέμις λέγειν πρὸς σέ’ ἀπείρηται ΤΕ
ὑπὸ τοῦ “Ῥαδαμάνθυος. "o EE Μηδαμῶς,᾽ ἔφην, “ πατέριον, ἀλλ᾽ εἰπὲ καὶ μὴ περιίδῃς µε σοῦ τυφλότερον περιιόντα ἐν TQ βίῳ.᾽ ὁ δὲ δή µε
, N M ` ^ LA , / ἀπαγαγων καὶ πολυ TOV ἄλλων ἀποσπάσας N / € ^ ἤρεμα προσκύψας πρὸς τὸ οὓς φησίν, Ὁ τῶν ^ > 7 ἰδιωτῶν ἄριστος βίος, καὶ σωφρονέστερος} παυσά-
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* Be it resolved by the senate and people, that when they die their bodies be punished like those of the other malefactors, but their souls be sent - back up into life and enter into donkeys until they shall have passed two hundred and fifty thousand years in the said condition, transmigrating from donkey to donkey, bearing burdens, and being driven by the poor; and that thereafter it be permitted them to die.
* On motion of Scully Fitzbones of Corpsebury, Cadavershire."
After this motion had been read, the officials put it to the vote, the majority indicated assent by the usual sign, Brimo brayed and Cerberus howled. That is the way in which their motions are enacted and ratified.
Well, there you have what took place at the meeting. For my part, I did what I came to do. Going to Teiresias, I told him the whole story and besought him to tell me what sort of life he con- sidered the best. He laughed (he is a blind little old gentleman, pale, with a piping voice) and said: * My son, I know the reason for your perplexity ; it came from the wise men, who are not consistent with themselves. But it is not permissible to tell you, for Rhadamanthus has forbidden it." “Don’t say that, gaffer,” said I. ‘Tell me, and don't allow me to go about in life blinder than you are." So he took me aside, and after he had led me a good way apart from the others, he bent his head slightly toward my ear and said: “The life of the common sort is best, and you will act more wisely if you
1 καὶ σωφρονέστερος y: ws τῆς ἀφροσύνης B.
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μενος τοῦ μετεωρολογεῖν καὶ τέλη καὶ ἀρχὰς ἐπισκοπεῖν καὶ καταπτύσας τῶν σοφῶν τούτων συλλογισμῶν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα λῆρον ἡγησάμενος τοῦτο μόνον ἐξ ἅπαντος θηράση, å ὅπως τὸ παρὸν εὖ θέμενος παραδράμῃς γελῶν τὰ πολλὰ καὶ περὶ μηδὲν ἐσπουδακώς.
> N ^ ὣς εἰπὼν πάλιν ὥρτο κατ᾽ ἀσφοδελὸν λειμῶνα.
᾿Εγὼ δὲ--καὶ γὰρ Ίδη ὀψὲ ἦν---'"Αγε δή, ὦ Μιθροβαρξάνη,᾽ φημί, i arb διαμέλλομεν καὶ οὐκ ἄπιμεν αὖθις εἰς τὸν βίον”; ὁ δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα, » Θάρρει,᾽ φησίν, “' ὢ Μένιππε" ταχεῖαν γάρ σοι καὶ ἀπράγμονα ὑποδείξω ἀτραπόν. καὶ δὴ ἀγαγών με πρός τι χωρίον τοῦ ἄλλου ζοφερώτερον δείξας τῇ χειρὶ πόρρωθεν ἀμαυρὸν καὶ λεπτὸν ὥσπερ διὰ κλειθρίας φῶς ela peor, ' “Exetvo,” ἔφη, “ ἐστὶν τὸ ἱερὸν τὸ Τροφωνίου, κἀκεῖθεν κατίασιν οἱ ἀπὸ Βοιωτίας. ταύτην οὖν ἄνιθι καὶ εὐθὺς ἔσῃ ἐπὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος.” ἡσθεὶς δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐγὼ καὶ τὸν μάγον ἀσπασάμενος χαλεπῶς μάλα διὰ τοῦ στομίου ἀνερπύσας οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως ἐν Λεβαδείᾳ γίγνομαι.
τοῦ
MENIPPUS
stop speculating about heavenly bodies and discussing final causes and first causes, spit your scorn at those clever syllogisms, and counting all that sort of thing nonsense, make it always your sole object to put the present to good use and to hasten on your way, laughing a great deal and taking nothing seriously.”
“5ο he spoke, and betook him again through the asphodel meadow.” 1
As it was late by then, I said: “Come, Mithro- barzanes, why do we delay? Why not go back to life again?” To this he replied: “Never fear, Menippus; I will show you a quick and easy short cut." And then, taking me to a place murkier than the rest of the region and pointing with his finger to a dim and slender ray of light coming in as if through a keyhole, a long way off, he said : “ That is the sanctuary of Trophonius, where the people from Boeotia come down. So go up by that route and you will be in Greece directly.” Delighted with his words, I embraced the sorcerer, very laboriously crawled up through the hole somehow, and found myself in Lebadeia.
1 Apparently a cento from Homer; cf. Odyssey, 11, 539.
του
"Fw Γ᾽ -—
ON FUNERALS
In the introductory note on Sacrifices (III. 153) it has been indicated that Sacrifices and Funerals are closely related. There is reason, I think, to believe that Sacrifices was written later than Funerals, to be read in public as a continuation of that piece. After the lecture it was put into circulation as a separate piece because Funerals was already in the hands of the public, and because the supplement seemed independent enough to stand alone. Thus, without ignoring the fact that the two pieces have come down to us separate, we may account for the further fact that the first sentence of one takes up the last sentence of the other as if it had been meant to do so (see the note on p. 131).
Though Lucian here follows the Cynic pattern pretty closely, and may indeed be drawing directly upon Bion the Borysthenite (p. 128, note 1), there is a difference. He can- not forget his inborn artistry and his rhetorical training. So, instead of preaching at his hearers, he lectures to them, censuring *'the many" for the delectation of ‘‘the best." Moreover, his constant desire for novelty in literary form finds characteristic expression. In an inconspicuous way he employs once more a ‘‘frame’”’ device, somewhat as in the Prometheus. The most usual form of this device, and the oldest, is that in which dialogue ‘‘ frames" narrative, as in Lucian's Lover of Lirs, and Plato's Phaedo. Inthe Prometheus, dialogue forms a setting for plea and counter-plea—the accusa- tion of Hermes and the defence of Prometheus. Here, in a setting of diatribe, we come upon threnody and para- threnody —the father’s lament, and the dead son's reply. It may be remarked also that the source and ch&racter of the reply contribute a truly Lucianic fillip of surprise.
III
ΠΕΡΙ TIEN@OTS
"Αξιὸόν γε παρατηρεῖν τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ἐν τοῖς πένθεσι γιγνόμενα καὶ λεγόμενα καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν παραμυθουμένων δῆθεν αὐτοὺς αὖθις λεγό- μενα, καὶ ὡς ἀφόρητα ἡγοῦνται τὰ συμβαίνοντα σφίσι τε αὐτοῖς οἱ ὀδυρόμενοι καὶ ἐκείνοις οὓς ὀδύρονται, οὐ μὰ τὸν Πλούτωνα καὶ Φερσεφόνην κατ᾽ οὐδὲν ἐπιστάμενοι σαφῶς οὔτε εἰ πονηρὰ ταῦτα καὶ λύπης ἄξια οὔτε εἰ! τοὐναντίον ἡδέα καὶ βελτίω τοῖς παθοῦσι, νόμῳ δὲ καὶ συνηθείᾳ τὴν λύπην ἐπιτρέποντες. ἐπειδὰν τοίνυν amo- θάνῃ τις, οὕτω ποιοῦσιν-- μᾶλλον δὲ πρότερον εἰπεῖν βούλομαι ἅστινας περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θανάτου δόξας ἔχουσιν: οὕτω γὰρ ἔσται φανερὸν οὗτινος ἕνεκα τὰ περιττὰ ἐκεῖνα ἐπιτηδεύουσιν.
'O μὲν δὴ πολὺς ὅμιλος, οὓς ἰδιώτας οἱ σοφοὶ καλοῦσιν, Ὁμήρῳ τε καὶ Ἡσιόδῳ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις μυθοποιοῖς περὶ τούτων πειθόμενοι καὶ νόμον θέμενοι τὴν ποίησιν αὐτῶν, τόπον τινα ὑπὸ τῇ γῇ βαθὺν “Αιδην ὑπειλήφασιν, μέγαν δὲ καὶ πολύ- χωρον τοῦτον εἶναι καὶ ξοφερὸν καὶ ἀνήλιον, οὐκ oió ὅπως αὐτοῖς φωτίξεσθαι δοκοῦντα πρὸς τὸ καὶ καθορᾶν τῶν ἐνόντων ἕκαστον: βασιλεύειν δὲ
Codices available in photographs: Γ, UPN.
1 οὔτε ei vulg. : εἴτε ei y; ἤ B.
ON FUNERALS
TRULY, it is well worth while to observe what most people do and say at funerals, and on the other hand what their would-be comforters say ; to observe also how unbearable the mourners consider what is happening, not only for themselves but for those whom they mourn. Yet, I swear by Pluto and Persephone, they have not one whit of definite knowledge as to whether this experience is un- pleasant and worth grieving about, or on the con- trary delightful and better for those who undergo it. No, they simply commit their grief into the charge of custom and habit. When someone dies, then, this is what they do—but stay! First I wish to tell you what beliefs they hold about death itself, for then it will become clear why they engage in these superfluous practices.
The general herd, whom philosophers call the laity, trust Homer and Hesiod and the other myth- makers in these matters, and take their poetry for a law unto themselves. So they suppose that there is a place deep under the earth called Hades, which is large and roomy and murky and sunless; I don’t know how they imagine it to be lighted up so that everything in it can be seen. The king of the
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τοῦ χάσματος ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Διὸς Πλούτωνα κεκλη- μένον, ὧς μοι τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα δεινῶν τις ἔλεγε, διὰ τὸ πλουτεῖν τοῖς νεκροῖς τῇ προσηγορίᾳ τετιμημένον. τοῦτον δὲ τὸν Πλούτωνα τὴν παρ᾽ αὐτῷ πολιτείαν καὶ τὸν κάτω βίον καταστήσασθαι τοιοῦτον: κεκληρῶσθαι μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἄρχειν τῶν ἀποθανόντων, καταδεξάµενον δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ παρα- λαβόντα κατέχειν δεσμοῖς ἀφύκτοις, οὐδενὶ τὸ παράπαν τῆς ἄνω ὁδοῦ ὑφιέμενον πλὴν ἐξ ἅπαντος τοῦ αἰῶνος πάνυ ὀλίγων ἐπὶ μεγίσταις αἰτίαις. περιρρεῖσθαι δὲ τὴν χώραν αὐτοῦ ποταμοῖς μεγάλοις τε καὶ φοβεροῖς καὶ ἐκ μόνων τῶν ὀνομάτων: Κωκυτοὶ γὰρ καὶ Πνυριφλεγέθοντες καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα κέκληνται. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, ἡ ᾿Αχερουσία λίμνη πρόκειται, πρώτη δεχομένη τοὺς ἀπαντῶντας, ἣν οὐκ ἔνι διαπλεῦσαι U παρελθεῖν ἄνευ τοῦ πορθµέως' βαθεῖά τε γὰρ περᾶσαι τοῖς ποσὶν καὶ διανήξασθαι πολλή, καὶ ὅλως οὐκ ἂν αὐτὴν διαπταίη οὐδὲ τὰ νεκρὰ τῶν ὀρνέων. πρὸς δὲ αὐτῆ τῇ καθόδῳ καὶ πύλη οὔση ἀδαμαντίνη ἀδελφιδοῦς τοῦ βασιλέως Αἰακὸς ἕστηκε τὴν φρουρὰν ἐπιτετραμμένος καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτῷ κύων τρικέφαλος μάλα κάρχαρος, τοὺς μὲν ἀφικνουμένους φίλιόν τι καὶ εἰρηνικὸν προσβλέ- πων, τοὺς δὲ πειρῶντας ἀποδιδράσκειν ὑλακτῶν καὶ τῷ χάσματι δεδιττόμενος. περαιωθέντας δὲ τὴν λίμνην εἰς τὸ εἰσω λειμὼν ὑποδέχεται μέγας
1 The Greeks derived the name Plouton (Pluto) from ploutein (to be rich), and generally held that it was given to Hades because he owned and dispensed the riches that are in the earth. So Lucian in the Timon (21). Here, how-
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abyss is a brother of Zeus named Pluto, who has been honoured with that appellative, so I was told by one well versed in such matters, because of his wealth of corpses.1 This Pluto, they say, has organized his state and the world below as follows. He himself has been allotted the sovereignty of the dead, whom he receives, takes in charge, and retains in close custody, permitting nobody whatsoever to go back up above, except, in all time, a very few for most important reasons. His country is sur- rounded by great rivers, fearful even in name; for they are-called “ Wailing,” * Burning Fire," and the like. But the principal feature is Lake Acheron, which lies in front and first receives visitors; it cannot be crossed or passed without the ferryman, for it is too deep to ford afoot and too broad to swim across—indeed, even dead birds cannot fly across it!? Hard by the descent and the portal, which is of adamant, stands the king's nephew, Aeacus, who is commander of the guard ; and be- side him is a three-headed dog, very long-fanged, who gives a friendly, peaceable glance to those who come in, but howls at those who try to run away and frightens them with his great mouth. After passing the lake on going in, one comes next to a
ever, we have in substance the view of Cornutus (5): ** He was called Pluto because, of all that is perishable, there is nothing which does not at last go down to him and become his property.”
2 Many places on earth, men thought, exhaled vapours so deadly that birds, attempting to cross them, fell dead ; the most famous of these ‘‘ Plutonia” was the lake near Cumae, called "Aopvos par excellence, whence Avernus. Iflive birds could not fly across Avernus, surely the ghost of a bird could not fly across Acheron.
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τῷ ἀσφοδέλω κατάφυτος καὶ ποτὸν µνήµης πολέ- piov Λήθης γοῦν διὰ τοῦτο ὠνόμασται. ταῦτα γὰρ ἀμέλει διηγήσαντο τοῖς πάλαι ἐκεῖθεν ἀφιγμένοι ᾿Αλκηστίς τε καὶ Πρωτεσίλαος οἱ Θετταλοὶ καὶ Θησεὺς ὁ τοῦ Αἰγέως καὶ 6 τοῦ € , > 7 / ` ` > / Ομήρου Ὀδυσσεύς, μάλα σεμνοὶ καὶ ἀξιόπιστοι μάρτυρες, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν οὐ πιόντες τῆς πηγῆς’ οὐ γὰρ ἃ ἂν ἐμέμνηντο αὐτῶν.
6 Ὁ μὲν οὖν Πλούτων, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι ἔφασαν, καὶ ἡ Φερσεφόνη δυναστεύουσι καὶ τὴν τῶν ὅλων δεσποτείαν ἔ ἔχουσιν, ὑπηρετοῦσι δ᾽ αὐτοῖς καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν συνδιαπράττουσιν ὄχλος πολύς, ᾿Ἐρινύες τε καὶ Ποιναὶ καὶ Φόβοι καὶ ὁ Ἑρμῆς, οὗτος μέν
T ye. οὐκ ἀεὶ συμπαρών. ὕπαρχοι δὲ καὶ σατράπαι καὶ δικασταὶ κάθηνται δύο, Μίνως τε καὶ ‘Padd- μανθυς οἱ Κρῆτες, ὄντες viol τοῦ Διός. οὗτοι δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἀγαθοὺς τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ δικαίους καὶ κατ ἀρετὴν βεβιωκότας, ἐπειδὰν συναλισθῶσι πολλοί, καθάπερ εἰς ἀποικίαν τινὰ πέμπουσιν εἰς τὸ ' HAvotov πεδίον τῷ ἀρίστῳ βίῳ συνεσομένους.
8 ἂν δέ τινας τῶν πονηρῶν λάβωσι, ταῖς ᾿Ερινύσι παραδόντες εἰς τὸν τῶν ἀσεβῶν χῶρον εἰσπέμ- πουσι κατὰ λόγον τῆς ἀδικίας κολασθησομένους. ἔνθα δὴ τί κακῶν οὐ πάσχουσι στρεβλούμενοί τε καὶ καιόμενοι καὶ ὑπὸ γυπῶν ἐσθιόμενοι καὶ τροχῷ συμπεριφερόμενοι" καὶ λίθους avaru- λίοντες ; ; ὁ μὲν γὰρ TávraXos € ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ τῇ λίμνῃ αὖος ἕστηκεν κινδυνεύων Ú ὑπὸ δίψ.ους ὁ 0 κακοδαίμων
9 ἀποθανεῖν. οἱ δὲ τοῦ μέσου βίου, πολλοὶ ὄντες οὗτοι, ἐν τῷ λειμῶνι πλανῶνται ἄνευ τῶν σωμάτων σκιαὶ γενόμενοι καὶ ὑπὸ τῇ adn καθάπερ καπνὸς
l συμπεριφερόµενοι Délin de Ballou: συμφερόμενοι MSS. 116
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great meadow overgrown with asphodel, and to a spring that is inimical to memory; in fact, they call it “Oblivion” for that reason. All this, by the way, was told to the ancients by people who came back from there, Alcestis and Protesilaus of Thessaly, Theseus, son of Aegeus, and Homer's Odysseus, highly respectable and trustworthy wit- nesses, who, I suppose, did not drink of the spring, or else they would not have remembered it all
Well, Pluto and Persephone, as these people said, are the rulers and have the general over-lordship, with a great throng of understrappers and assistants in administration—Furies, Tormentors, Terrors, and also Hermes, who, however, is not always with them.! As prefects, moreover, and satraps and judges, there are two that hold court, Minos and Rhadamanthus of Crete, who are sons of Zeus. "These receive the good, just men who have lived virtuously, and when many have been collected, send them off, as if to a colony, to the Elysian Fields to take part in the best life. But if they come upon any rascals, turning them over to the Furies, they send them to the Place of the Wicked, to be punished in proportion to their wickedness. There—ah! what punishment do they not undergo? They are racked, burned, devoured by vultures, turned upon a wheel; they roll stones uphill; and as for Tantalus, he stands on the very brink of the lake with a parched throat, like to die, poor fellow, for thirst! But those of the middle way in life, and they are many, wander about in the meadow without their bodies, in the form of shadows that vanish like smoke in your
1 Hermes had to serve two masters, Zeus and Pluto. See Downward Journey, 1-2 (ii, 5).
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ἀφανιζόμενοι. τρέφονται δὲ ἄρα ταῖς παρ᾽ ἡμῖν χοαῖς καὶ τοῖς καθαγιξομένοις ἐπὶ τῶν τάφων" ὡς εἴ τῳ μὴ εἴη καταλελειμμένος ὑπὲρ γῆς φίλος ἡ συγγενής, ἄσιτος οὗτος νεκρὸς καὶ λιμώττων ἐν αὐτοῖς πολιτεύεται.
Ῥαῦτα οὕτως ἰσχυρῶς περιελήλυθε τοὺς πολλοὺς ὥστε ἐπειδάν τις ἀποθάνῃ τῶν οἰκείων, πρῶτα μὲν φέροντες ὀβολὸν εἰς τὸ στόμα κατέθη- καν αὐτῷ, μισθὸν τῷ πορθμεῖ τῆς ναυτιλίας γενησόμενον, οὐ πρότερον ἐξετάσαντες ὁποῖον τὸ νόμισμα νομίξεται καὶ διαχωρεῖ παρὰ τοῖς κάτω, καὶ εἰ δύναται παρ᾽ ἐκείνοις ᾿Αττικὸς ἡ Μακεδονικὸς 7 Αὐγιναῖος ὀβολός, οὐδ᾽ ὅτι πολὺ κἄλλιον ἦν μὴ ἔχειν τὰ πορθμεῖα καταβαλεῖν οὕτω γὰρ ἂν οὐ παραδεξαμένου τοῦ πορθµέως ἀναπόμπιμοι πάλιν εἰς τὸν βίον ἀφικνοῦντο.
Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ λούσαντες αὐτούς, ὡς οὐχ ἱκανῆς τῆς κάτω λίμνης λουτρὸν εἶναι τοῖς ἐκεῖ, καὶ μύρῳ τῷ καλλίστῳ χρίσαντες τὸ σῶμα πρὸς δυσωδίαν ἤδη βιαζόμενον καὶ στεφανώσαντες τοῖς ὡραίοις ἄνθεσι προτίθενται λαμπρῶς ἀμφιέσαντες, iva μὴ ῥιγῷεν δῆλον ὅτι παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν μηδὲ γυμνοὶ βλέποιντο τῷ Κερβέρῳ.
Οἰμωγαὶ δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ κωκυτὸς γυναικῶν καὶ παρὰ πάντων δάκρυα καὶ στέρνα τυπτόμενα καὶ σπαραττοµένη κόμη καὶ φοινισσόμεναι παρειαί' καί που καὶ ἐσθὴς καταρρήγνυται καὶ κόνις ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ πάσσεται, καὶ οἱ ζῶντες οἰκτρότεροι τοῦ νεκροῦ" οἱ μὲν γὰρ χαμαὶ κυλινδοῦνται πολλάκις καὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀράτ-
τουσι πρὸς τὸ ἔδαφος, ὁ ὃ εὐσχήμων καὶ καλὸς καὶ καθ’ ὑπερβολὴν ἐστεφανωμένος ὑψηλὸς πρό- 118
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fingers. They get their nourishment, naturally, from the libations that are poured in our world and the burnt-offerings at the tomb; so that if anyone has not left a friend or kinsman behind him on earth, he goes about his business there as an unfed corpse, in a state of famine.
So thoroughly are people taken in by all this that when one of the family dies, immediately they bring an obol and put it into his mouth, to pay the ferryman for setting him over. They do not stop to consider what sort of coinage is customary and current in the lower world, and whether it is the Athenian or the Macedonian or the Aeginetan obol that is legal tender there; nor, indeed, that it would be far better not to be able to pay the fare, since in that case the ferryman would not take them and they would be escorted back to life again.
Then they bathe them (as if the lake down below were not big enough for the people there to bathe in); and after anointing with the finest of perfume that body which is already hasting to corruption, and crowning it with pretty flowers, they lay them in state, clothed in splendid raiment, which, very likely, is intended to keep them from being cold on the way and from being seen undressed by Cerberus.
Next come cries of distress, wailing of women, tears on all sides, beaten breasts, torn hair, and bloody cheeks. Perhaps, too, clothing is rent and dust sprinkled on the head, and the living are in a plight more pitiable than the dead ; for they roll on the ground repeatedly and dash their heads against the floor, while he, all serene and handsome and
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8 / κειται καὶ μετέωρος ὥσπερ εἰς πομπὴν κεκοσµη- μένος. *, 13 Ei8 ἡ μήτηρ ἢ kai νὴ Δία ὁ πατὴρ ἐκ μέσων τῶν συγγενῶν προελθὼν καὶ περιχυθεὶς αὐτῷ--- f προκείσθω γάρ τις νέος καὶ καλός, ἵνα καὶ 3 f X 9 , , ^ e^ > ` , ἀκμαιότερον τὸ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ δρᾶμα ᾖ--φωνὰς ἀλλο- κότους καὶ ματαίας ἀφίησι, πρὸς ἃς ὁ νεκρὸς 2 N 2 / > X % f / f E αὐτὸς ἀποκρίναιτ ἄν, εἰ λάβοι φωνήν' φήσει yap e 4 , ὁ πατὴρ γοερὸν τι φθεγγόμενος καὶ παρατείνων ἕκαστον τῶν ὀνομάτων, “Τέκνον ἥδιστον, οἴχῃ μοι καὶ τέθνηκας καὶ πρὸ ὥρας ἀνηρπάσθης, μόνον ἐμὲ τὸν ἄθλιον καταλιπών, οὐ γαμήσας, οὐ παιδοποιησάµενος, οὐ στρατευσάμενος, οὐ γεωργήσας, οὐκ εἰς γῆρας ἐλθών' οὐ κωμάσῃ ΄ > be. / / , ` 3 / πάλιν οὐδὲ ἐρασθήσῃ, τέκνον, οὐδὲ ἐν συμποσίοις μετὰ τῶν ἡλικιωτῶν μεθυσθήσῃ." ^ M N 8 ^ ’ >? . 14 Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα φήσει οἰόμενος τὸν N ^ ^ vtov δεῖσθαι μὲν ἔτι τούτων καὶ ἐπιθυμεῖν καὶ `Y . ’ > δύ ὃ / μετὰ τὴν τελευτήν, οὐ δύνασθαι δὲ μετέχειν αὐτῶν. καίτοι τί ταῦτα hnui; πόσοι γὰρ καὶ [£d ` L4 e . « , r ἵππους καὶ παλλακίδας, οἱ δὲ καὶ οἰνοχόους > [4 \ 5 ^ . ` s , ἐπικατέσφαξαν καὶ ἐσθῆτα καὶ τὸν ἄλλον κόσμον συγκατέφλεξαν ἢ συγκατώρυξαν ὡς χρησομένοις ἐκεῖ καὶ ἀπολαύσουσιν αὐτῶν κάτω ; € , 9 7 ε - ε A ^ 15 Ὁ ὃ οὖν πρεσβύτης ὁ πενθῶν οὑτωσὶ ταῦτα πάντα ὁπόσα εἴρηκα καὶ ἔτι τούτων πλείονα οὔτε τοῦ παιδὸς ἕνεκα τραγῳδεῖν ἔοικεν---οἶδε γὰρ οὐκ ἀκουσόμενον οὐδ᾽ ἂν μεῖξον ἐμβοήση τοῦ 4 ^ ^ M Στέντορος---οὔτε μὴν αὑτοῦ' φρονεῖν γὰρ οὕτω 120
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elaborately decked with wreaths, lies in lofty, exalted state, bedizened as for a pageant.
Then his mother, or indeed his father comes forward from among the family and throws himself upon him; for let us imagine a handsome young man upon the bier, so that the show that is acted over him may be the more moving. The father utters strange, foolish outcries to which the dead man himself would make answer if he could speak. In a plaintive tone, protracting every word, he will say: “ Dearest child, you are gone from me, dead, reft away before your time, leaving me behind all alone, woe is me, before marrying, before having children, before serving in the army, before working on the farm, before coming to old age; never again will you roam the streets at night, or fall in love, my child, or drink deep at wine-parties with your young friends."
He will say all that, and more in the same tenor, thinking that his son still needs and wants this sort of thing even after death, but cannot get it. But that is nothing. Have not many sacrificed horses, concubines, sometimes even cup-bearers, over their dead, and burned or buried with them clothing and other articles of personal adornment, as if they would use them there and get some good of them down below 2
But as to the old man who mourns after this fashion, it is not, in all probability, on account of his son that he does all this melodramatic ranting that I have mentioned, and more than I have men- tioned ; for he knows that his son will not hear him even if he shouts louder than Stentor. Nor yet is it on his own account; for it would have been enough
I2I VOL. IV. E
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Kal γιγνώσκειν ἱκανὸν ἦν καὶ ἄνευ τῆς βοῆς' οὐδεὶς γὰρ δὴ .πρὸς ἑαυτὸν δεῖται βοᾶν. λοιπὸν οὖν ἐστιν αὐτὸν τῶν παρόντων ἕνεκα ταῦτα ληρεῖν οὔθ᾽ 6 TL πέπονθεν αὐτῷ ὁ παῖς εἰδότα οὔθ᾽ ὅποι Kex ape, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ τὸν βίον αὐτὸν ἐξετάσαντα ὁποῖός ἐστιν' οὐ γὰρ ἂν τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ μετάστασιν ὥς τι τῶν δεινῶν ' ἐδυσχέραινεν. Εἴποι Ò ἂν οὖν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ παῖς παραιτησά- μενος τὸν Αἰακὸν καὶ τὸν ᾿Αἰδωνέα πρὸς ὀλίγον τοῦ στομίου ὑπερκῦψαι καὶ τὸν πατέρα παῦσαι ματαιάξοντα, “`Q κακόδαιμον ἄνθρωπε, τί κέκραγας; τί δέ μοι παρέχεις πράγματα ; παῦσαι τιλλόμενος τὴν κόμην καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς ἀμύσσων. τί μοι λοιδορῇ καὶ ἄθλιον ἀποκαλεῖς καὶ δύσμορον πολύ σου βελτίω καὶ μακαριώτερον γεγενημένον; ἢ τί σοι δεινὸν πάσχειν δοκῶ ; ; 7 διότι μὴ τοιουτοσὶ γέρων ἐγενόμην οἷος εἶ σύ, φαλακρὸς μὲν τὴν κεφαλήν, τὴν δὲ ὄψιν ἐρρυτιδωμένος, κυφὸς καὶ τὰ γόνατα νωθής, καὶ ὅλως ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου σαθρὸς πολλὰς τριακάδας καὶ ὀλυμπιάδας ἀναπλήσας, καὶ τὰ τελευταῖα δὴ ταῦτα παραπαίων ἐπὶ τοσούτων μαρτύρων ; ; ὦ μάταιε, τί σοι χρηστὸν εἶναι δοκεῖ παρὰ τὸν βίον οὗ μηκέτι μεθέξομεν ; ἢ τοὺς πότους ἐρεῖς δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τὰ δεῖπνα καὶ ἐσθῆτα καὶ ἀφροδίσια, καὶ δέδιας μὴ τούτων ἐνδεὴς γενό- pevos ἀπόλωμαι. οὐκ ἐννοεῖς δὲ ὅ ὅτι τὸ μὴ διψῆν τοῦ πιεῖν πολὺ κάλλιον καὶ τὸ μὴ πεινῆν τοῦ φαγεῖν καὶ τὸ μὴ ῥιγοῦν" τοῦ ἀμπεχόνης εὐπορεῖν ; Φέρε τοίνυν, ἐπειδὴ ἔοικας ἀγνοεῖν, διδάξομαί σε θρηνεῖν ἀληθέστερον, καὶ δὴ ἀναλαβὼν ἐξ
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to think this and have it in mind, without his shouting—nobody needs to shout at himself. Con- sequently it is on account of the others present that he talks this nonsense, when he does not know what has happened to his son nor where he has gone; in fact he has not even considered what life itself is, or else he would not take on so about the leaving of it, as if that were something dreadful.
If his son should receive permission from Aeacus and Aidoneus to put his head out of the mouth of the pit for a moment and stop his father’s silliness, he would say: “ Unfortunate man, why do you shriek? Why do you trouble me? Stop tearing your hair and marring the skin of your face! Why do you call me names and speak of me as wretched and ill-starred when I have become far better off and happier than you? What dreadful misfortune do you think I am undergoing? Is it that I did not get to be an old man like you, with your head bald, your face wrinkled, your back bent, and your knees trembling,—like you, who in short are rotten with age after filling out so many months and so many Olympiads, and who now, at the last, go out of your mind in the presence of so many witnesses? Foolish man, what advantage do you think there is in life that we shall never again partake of? You will say drinking, no doubt, and dinners, and dress, and love, and you are afraid that for the want of all this I shall die! But are you unaware that not to thirst is far better than drinking, not to hunger than eating, and not to be cold than to have quantities of clothing?
* Come now, since you apparently do not know how to mourn, I will teach you to do it more truth-
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ὑπαρχῆς Boa, ü Τέκνον ἄθλιον, οὐκέτι διψήσεις, οὐκέτι πεινήσεις οὐδὲ ῥιγώσεις. οἴχῃ μοι kako- δαίμων ἐκφυγὼν τὰς νόσους, οὐ πυρετὸν ἔτι δεδιώς, οὐ πολέμιον, οὐ τύραννον οὐκ ἔρως σε ἀνιάσει οὐδὲ συνουσία διαστρέψει, οὐδὲ σπαθή- σεις ἐπὶ τούτῳ δὶς 7) τρὶς τῆς ἡμέρας, ὦ τῆς συμφορᾶς. οὐ .καταφρονηθήσῃ γέρων γενόμενος οὐδὲ ὀχληρὸς ἔσῃ τοῖς νέοις βλεπόμενος,᾽ ἂν ταῦτα λέγῃς, ὧ πάτερ, οὐκ οἴει πολὺ ἀληθέστερα καὶ γενναιότερα l ἐκείνων. ἐρεῖν ;
'AXN apa μὴ τόδε σε ἀνιᾷ, καὶ διανοῇ τὸν παρ ἡμῖν. ζόφον καὶ τὸ πολὺ σκότος, κάτα δέδιας μή σοι ἀποπνιγῶ κατακλεισθεὶς é ἐν τῷ μνήματε ; : χρὴ δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα λογίξεσθαι ὅτι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν διασαπέντων ἢ καὶ νὴ Δία καέντων μετ᾽ ὀλίγον, el ye καῦσαί µε διεγνώκατε, οὔτε σκότος οὔτε φῶς ὁρᾶν δεησόμεθα.
Κ αὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἴσως μέτρια" τί δέ µε ὁ κωκυτὸς ὑμῶν ὀνίνησι καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸν αὐλὸν αὕτη στερ- νοτυπία καὶ 7) τῶν γυναικῶν περὶ τὸν θρῆνον ἀμετρία ; PE δὲ ὁ ὑπὲρ τοῦ τάφου λίθος ἐστε- φανωμένος ; ἢ τί ὑμῖν δύναται τὸν ἄκρατον ἐπιχεῖν ; 7) νομίξετε καταστάξειν αὐτὸν πρὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ μέχρι τοῦ "Αιδου διίξεσθαι ; τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν καθαγισμῶν καὶ αὐτοὶ ὁρᾶτε, οἶμαι, ὡς τὸ μὲν νοστιμώτατον τῶν παρεσκευασµένων ὁ καπνὸς παραλαβὼν à ἄνω εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν οἴχεται μηδέν τι ἡμᾶς ὀνῆσαν τοὺς κάτω, τὸ δὲ κατα- λειπόμενον, ἡ κόνις, ἀχρεῖον, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ τὴν
1 γενναιότερα Jacobs: γελοιότερα MSS.
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fully. Begin afresh, and cry, ‘Poor child, never again will you be thirsty, never again hungry or cold! You are gone from me, poor boy, escaping diseases, no longer fearing fever or foeman or tyrant. Love shall not vex you nor its pleasures rack you, nor shall you squander your strength in them twice and thrice a day, woe is me! You shall not be scorned in your old age, nor shall the sight of you offend the young!’ If you say this, father, don't you think it will be far more true and more manly than what you said before ?
* But perhaps it is something else that worries you. You are thinking of the gloom where we are, and the profound darkness, and so you fear that I may be stifled in the close custody of the tomb. On that point you should reflect that as my eyes will very soon be corrupted or even burned, if you have decided to burn me, I shall have no need either for darkness or for light as far as seeing is concerned.
“That fear, however, is perhaps reasonable enough; but what good do you think I get from your wailing, and this beating of breasts to the music of the flute, and the extravagant conduct of the women in lamenting? Or from the wreathed stone above my grave? Or what, pray, is the use of your pouring out the pure wine? You dont think, do you, that it will drip down to where we are and get all the way through to Hades? As to the burnt offerings, you yourselves see, I think, that the most nourishing part of your provender is carried off up to Heaven by the smoke without doing us in the lower world the least bit of good, and that what is left, the ashes, is useless, unless
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σποδὸν ἡμᾶς σιτεῖσθαι πεπιστεύκατε. οὐχ οὕτως Y σον »ν € ^ ΄ 3 / ἄσπορος οὐδὲ ἄκαρπος ἡ τοῦ Πλούτωνος ἀρχή, οὐδὲ ἐπιλέλοιπεν ἡμᾶς ὁ ἀσφόδελος, iva παρ᾽ ὑμῶν τὰ σιτία μεταστελλώμεθα. ὥστε μοι νὴ τὴν Τισιφόνην πάλαι δὴ ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἐποιεῖτε καὶ ἐλέγετε παμμέγεθες ἐπῄει ἀνακαγχάσαι, διε-
’ A ς nm? ` ^ » A κώλυσε δὲ ἡ ὀθόνη καὶ τὰ ἔρια, οἷς µου τὰς σιαγόνας ἀπεσφίγξατε.᾽
» ὣς ἄρα μιν εἰπόντα τέλος θανάτοιο κάλυψε.
Πρὸς Διός, ἐὰν λέγῃ ταῦτα ὁ νεκρὸς ἐπιστραφείς, , / CN > 9 3 a > ^ ,7 ἀνακλίνας αὑτὸν ἐπ᾽ ἀγκῶνος, οὐκ ἂν οἰόμεθα δικαιότατα ἂν αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν ; ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως οἱ μάταιοι ^ ’ καὶ βοῶσι καὶ μεταστειλάμενοί τινα θρήνων b σοφιστὴν πολλὰς συνειλοχότα παλαιὰς συμφορὰς τούτῳ συναγωνιστῇ καὶ χορηγῷ τῆς ἀνοίας kata- ^ ^ . \ ΄ χρῶνται, ὅπη ἂν ἐκεῖνος ἐξάρχῃ πρὸς τὸ μέλος ἐπαιάζοντες. . ’ . ’ e , N e / Καὶ μέχρι μὲν θρήνων o αὐτὸς ἅπασι νόμος ^ b / . ` 3 . 7 , τῆς ἀβελτερίας: TO δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου διελόμενοι e κατὰ ἔθνη τὰς ταφὰς ὁ μὲν Έλλην ἔκαυσεν, ὁ δὲ f » έ \ 2 . ftp , t V Πέρσης ἔθαψεν, ὁ δὲ ᾿Ινδὸς ὑάλῳ περιχρίει, ὁ δὲ « f / ΄ δὲ e 5 , Σκύθης κατεσθίει, ταριχεύει δὲ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος: T / / \ 3 ΄ ΄ M N οὗτος μέν γε---λέγω δὲ ἰδών---ξηράνας τὸν νεκρὸν σύνδειπνον καὶ συμπότην ἐποιήσατο. πολλάκις δὲ καὶ δεομένῳ χρημάτων ἀνδρὶ Αἰγυπτίῳ ἔλυσε
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you believe that we eat dust. Pluto’s realm is not so devoid of seed and grain, nor is there any dearth of asphodel among us, so that we must import our food from you. So, by Tisiphone, the inclination seized me long ago to burst out in a tremendous guffaw over what you were doing and saying; but I was prevented by the winding-sheet and by the fillets with which you have bound up my jaws."
“These words spoken, at once the doom of death overwhelmed him." !
By Heaven, if the dead man should face them, raising himself upon his elbow, and say all this, don't you think he would be quite right? Never- theless, the dolts not only shriek and scream, but they send for a sort of professor of threnodies, who has gathered a repertory of ancient bereavements, and they use him as fellow-actor and prompter in their silly performance, coming in with their groans at the close of each strain that he strikes up!
Up to that point, the wailing, the same stupid custom prevails everywhere; but in what follows, the burial, they have apportioned out among them- selves, nation by nation, the different modes. The Greek burns, the Persian buries, the Indian encases in glass,? the Scythian eats, the Egyptian salts. And the latter—I have seen whereof I speak—after drying the dead man makes him his guest at table! Many a time, too, when an Egyptian wants money,
1 Πἱαᾶ, 16, 502.
2 See Herodotus, 3, 24, regarding this practice among the Ethiopians, also discussed by Ctesias (Diodorus 2, 15) To Lucian, ὕαλος certainly meant glass, and perhaps to Hero- dotus also. What the substance really was is uncertain.
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\ , / 3} 7 a « , * A € A , τὴν ἀπορίαν ἐνέχυρον ἢ ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἢ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν καιρῷ γενόμενος.
Y s \ \ l \ ^
Χώματα μὲν γὰρ καὶ πυραμίδες καὶ στῆλαι καὶ ἐπιγράμματα πρὸς ὀλίγον διαρκοῦντα πῶς οὐ περιττὰ καὶ παιδιαῖς προσεοικότα ; καίτοι καὶ ἀγῶνας ἔνιοι διέθεσαν καὶ λόγους ἐπιταφίους ^ ^ εἶπον ἐπὶ τῶν μνημάτων ὥσπερ συναγορεύοντες À ^ ^ ^ ^ ἢ μαρτυροῦντες παρὰ τοῖς κάτω δικασταῖς τῷ νεκρώ.
, N ^ / * / \ /
Επὶ πᾶσι τούτοις τὸ περίδειπνον, καὶ πάρεισιν
ε ^ οἱ προσήκοντες καὶ TOUS γονέας παραμυθοῦνται τοῦ τετελευτηκότος καὶ πείθουσι γεύσασθαι, οὐκ X ^ \ 7 3 0 3 A T / 3 Ν ἀηδῶς μὰ Δία οὐδ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἁναγκαξομένους, ἀλλὰ ἤδη ὑπὸ λιμοῦ τριῶν ἑξῆς ἡμερῶν ἀπηυδηκότας. καί, “Μέχρι μὲν τίνος, a οὗτος, ὀδυρόμεθα ;
/ ἔασον ἀναπαύσασθαι τοὺς τοῦ μακαρίτου δαί- povas’ εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸ παράπαν κλάειν διέγνωκας, αὐτοῦ γε τούτου ἕνεκα χρὴ μὴ ἀπόσιτον εἶναι, A iva Kal διαρκέσῃς πρὸς τοῦ πένθους τὸ μέγεθος.᾽ τότε δὴ TOTE ῥαψωδοῦνται πρὸς ἁπάντων δύο τοῦ
Ὁμήρου στίχοι"
A 4 > YF A / , / , καὶ γάρ T ἠὔκομος Νιόβη ἐμνήσατο σίτου" ‘
και
/ ^ 3 γαστέρι δ᾽ οὔπως ἐστὶ νέκυν πενθῆσαι Αχαιούς.
1 Compare Teles (Hense,? p. 31, 1. 9: a lacuna in the text precedes): ‘‘and we hesitate D» look at or to touch (the dead), but they make mummies of them and keep them in the house as something handsome, and accept dead men as security. So opposed is their way to ours." As Teles is almost certainly quoting this from Bion, it seems likely that Lucian drew from that source. But he had also read. Herodotus, 2, 136.
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his brother or his father helps him out of his straits by becoming security at the critical juncture.!
Regarding grave-mounds, pyramids, tombstones, and epitaphs, all of which endure but a brief space, are they not superfluous and akin to child's play ?? Some people, moreover, even hold competitions and deliver funeral orations at the monuments, as if they were pleading or testifying on behalf of the dead man before the judges down below !
As the finishing touch to all this, there is the funeral feast, and the relatives come in, consoling the parents of the departed, and inducing them to taste something. The parents themselves, I must say, do not find it disagreeable to be constrained, but are already done up with three days of con- tinuous fasting. It is: “Man dear, how long are we to lament? Let the spirits? of the departed rest! But if you have absolutely decided to keep on weeping, for that very reason you must not abstain from food, in order that you may prove equal to the magnitude of your sorrow.” Then, ah! then, two lines of Homer are recited by everyone:
* Verily Niobe also, the fair-tressed, thought of her dinner,” 4
and
* Mourning the dead by fasting is not to be done by Achaeans,’’5
2 Compare Teles (Hense, p. 31, 1. 8): '* But it seems to me that this (closing the eyes of the dead) is just child's play on our part." 3 The ‘‘ Di Manes? 9 4 Iliad, 24, 602.
5 Iliad, 19, 225; it is impossible, argues Odysseus, for the Greek army to fast (for Patroclus) and fight at the same time,
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THE WORKS OF LUCIAN
οἱ δε ἅπτονται μέν, αἰσχυνόμενοι δὲ τὰ πρῶτα καὶ δεδιότες εἰ φανοῦνται μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τῶν φιλτάτων τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις πάθεσιν ἐμμένοντες.
Ταῦτα καὶ πολὺ τούτων γελοιότερα εὕροι τις ἂν ἐπιτηρῶν ἐν τοῖς πένθεσι γιγνόμενα διὰ τὸ τοὺς πολλοὺς τὸ μέγιστον τῶν κακῶν τὸν θάνατον οἴεσθαι.
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So they break bread, of course, but do it at first in shame, and in fear that they will disclose themselves to be still subject to human appetites after the death of their dearest.
You will find, if you take note, that these things and others still more ridiculous are done at funerals, for the reason that people think death the greatest of misfortunes.!
1 The first words of Sacrifices seem to take up this sentence. They may be translated: ‘‘ And as to sacrifices, what the dolts do "—4& μὲν γὰρ ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις οἱ μάταιοι πράττουσι,
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A PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
A SATIRE upon the new fashion in oratory, and one of its foremost representatives,
The traditional course of training in rhetoric, fully de- scribed by the Latin Quintilian, was too arduous, it seems,