Lucian

Lucianus (fictional portrait). Engraving of the English painter William Faithorne

Lucian of Samosata (c. 125 – c. 190) was a satirist and philosopher, born at Samosata in the Syrian province of the Roman Empire (now in Turkey), but in later life resident in Athens. His works are written in the Attic dialect of Greek.

See also Gymnopaedia.

Quotes

Greek text cited from M. D. Macleod, Luciani Opera, vols. I–IV (Oxford, 1972–1987).

9. Life of Demonax

• εἰ κατανοήσεις τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράγματα, εὕροις ἂν αὐτὰ οὔτε ἐλπίδος οὔτε φόβου ἄξια.
  • If you will carefuly consider the affairs of mankind you will find that they are not worth either hopes or fears.
  • 9.20 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897); attributed to Demonax

13–14. True Stories

13. Book I

• κἂν ἓν γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο ἀληθεύσω λέγων ὅτι ψεύδομαι. οὕτω δ᾿ ἄν μοι δοκῶ καὶ τὴν παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων κατηγορίαν ἐκφυγεῖν αὐτὸς ὁμολογῶν μηδὲν ἀληθὲς λέγειν. γράφω τοίνυν περὶ ὧν μήτε εἶδον μήτε ἔπαθον μήτε παρ᾿ ἄλλων ἐπυθόμην, ἔτι δὲ μήτε ὅλως ὄντων μήτε τὴν ἀρχὴν γενέσθαι δυναμένων. διὸ δεῖ τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας μηδαμῶς πιστεύειν αὐτοῖς.
  • I now make the only true statement you are to expect – that I am a liar. This confession is, I consider, a full defence against all imputations. My subject is, then, what I have neither seen, experienced, nor been told, what neither exists nor could conceivably do so. I humbly solicit my readers' incredulity.
  • 13.4 (tr. H. W. Fowler, F. G. Fowler, 1905)

15. On Not Readily Believing Slander

• δεινόν γε ἡ ἄγνοια καὶ πολλῶν κακῶν ἀνθρώποις αἰτία.
  • Ignorance is a dreadful thing and has caused no end of damage to the human race.
  • 15.1 (tr. K. Sidwell, 2004)

31. The Ignorant Book-Collector

• ὦτα καὶ ὀφθαλμοὶ πολλοὶ βασιλέως.
  • A king has many ears and many eyes.
  • 31.23 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• οὐδὲ γὰρ κύων ἅπαξ παύσαιτ᾿ ἂν σκυτοφαγεῖν μαθοῦσα.
  • When once a dog has taken to gnawing your shoes, you can never break him of the habit.
  • 31.25 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

38. Menippus, or The Descent into Hades

• ἐλελήθειν δ᾿ ἐμαυτὸν εἰς αὐτό, φασί, τὸ πῦρ ἐκ τοῦ καπνοῦ βιαζόμενος.
  • The effort only shifted me from the frying-pan into the fire.
  • 38.4 (tr. H. W. Fowler, F. G. Fowler, 1905)

56. The Runaways

• ὁρμήσασα δὲ εἰς τοὺς Ἰνδοὺς τὸ πρῶτον, ἔθνος μέγιστον τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ, οὐ χαλεπῶς ἔπεισα καταβάντας ἀπὸ τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἐμοὶ συνεῖναι, ὥστε καὶ γένος ὅλον, οἱ Βραχμᾶνες, τοῖς Νεχραίοις καὶ Ὀξυδράκαις ὅμορον, οὗτοι πάντες ὑπ᾿ ἐμοὶ τάττονται καὶ βιοῦσίν γε κατὰ τὰ ἡμῖν δοκοῦντα, τιμώμενοι πρὸς τῶν περιοίκων ἁπάντων, καὶ ἀποθνῄσκουσι παράδοξόν τινα τοῦ θανάτου τρόπον.
  • Philosophy: First, then, I went to the Indians, the mightiest nation upon earth. I had little trouble in persuading them to descend from their elephants and follow me. The Brahmins, who dwell between Oxydracae and the country of the Nechrei, are mine to a man: they live according to my laws, and are respected by all their neighbours; and the manner of their death is truly wonderful.
  • 56.6 (tr. H. W. Fowler, F. G. Fowler, 1905)

59. How to Write History

• διττοῦ δὲ ὄντος τοῦ τῆς συμβουλῆς ἔργου, τὰ μὲν γὰρ αἱρεῖσθαι, τὰ δὲ φεύγειν διδάσκει.
  • Criticism is twofold: that which teaches us what we are to choose, and that which teaches us what to avoid.
  • 59.6 (tr. T. Francklin, 1780)

• ἔτι ἀγνοεῖν ἐοίκασιν οἱ τοιοῦτοι ὡς ποιητικῆς μὲν καὶ ποιημάτων ἄλλαι ὑποσχέσεις καὶ κανόνες ἴδιοι, ἱστορίας δὲ ἄλλοι. [. . .] μέγα τοίνυν—μᾶλλον δὲ ὑπέρμεγα τοῦτο κακόν—εἰ μὴ εἰδείη τις χωρίζειν τὰ ἱστορίας καὶ τὰ ποιητικῆς, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεισάγοι τῇ ἱστορίᾳ τὰ τῆς ἑτέρας κομμώματα—τὸν μῦθον καὶ τὸ ἐγκώμιον καὶ τὰς ἐν τούτοις ὑπερβολάς, ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις ἀθλητὴν τῶν καρτερῶν τούτων καὶ κομιδῇ πρινίνων ἁλουργέσι περιβάλοι καὶ τῷ ἄλλῳ κόσμῳ τῷ ἑταιρικῷ καὶ φύκιον ἐντρίβοι καὶ ψιμύθιον τῷ προσώπῳ. Ἡράκλεις ὡς καταγέλαστον αὐτὸν ἀπεργάσαιτο αἰσχύνας τῷ κόσμῳ ἐκείνῳ.
  • These men seem not to know that poetry has its particular rules and precepts; and that history is governed by others directly opposite. [. . .] He is unpardonable, therefore, who cannot distinguish one from the other; but lays on history the paint of poetry, its flattery, fable, and hyperbole: it is just as ridiculous as it would be to clothe one of our robust wrestlers, who is as hard as an oak, in fine purple, or some such meretricious garb, and put paint on his cheeks; how would such ornaments debase and degrade him!
  • 59.8 (tr. T. Francklin, 1780)

• καὶ τοίνυν ἡ ἱστορία, εἰ μὲν ἄλλως τὸ τερπνὸν παρεμπορεύσαιτο, πολλοὺς ἂν τοὺς ἐραστὰς ἐπισπάσαιτο, ἄχρι δ᾿ ἂν καὶ μόνον ἔχῃ τὸ ἴδιον ἐντελές—λέγω δὲ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας δήλωσιν—ὀλίγον τοῦ κάλλους φροντιεῖ.
  • History, when she adds pleasure to utility, may attract more admirers; though as long as she is possessed of that greatest of perfections, truth, she need not be anxious concerning beauty.
  • 59.9 (tr. T. Francklin, 1780)

• οὐδὲ τερπνὸν ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ κομιδῇ μυθῶδες.
  • In history, nothing fabulous can be agreeable.
  • 59.10 (tr. T. Francklin, 1780)

• ἑκάστου γὰρ δὴ ἴδιόν τι καλόν ἐστιν· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἐναλλάξειας, ἀκαλλὲς τὸ αὐτὸ παρὰ τὴν χρῆσιν γίγνεται.
  • Everything has a beauty peculiar to itself; but if you put one instead of another, the most beautiful becomes ugly, because it is not in its proper place.
  • 59.11 (tr. T. Francklin, 1780)

• εἰ πρόσθε μὲν ἔφευγεν ἐσθλός τις, 'ἐδίωκε δέ μιν μέγ᾿ ἀμείνων'.
  • If the brave should fly, he who pursues must be braver.
  • 59.14 (tr. T. Francklin, 1780); referencing Homer, Iliad XXII.158.

• φημὶ τοίνυν τὸν ἄριστα ἱστορίαν συγγράφοντα δύο μὲν ταῦτα κορυφαιότατα οἴκοθεν ἔχοντα ἥκειν, σύνεσίν τε πολιτικὴν καὶ δύναμιν ἑρμηνευτικήν, τὴν μὲν ἀδίδακτόν τι τῆς φύσεως δῶρον, ἡ δύναμις δὲ πολλῇ τῇ ἀσκήσει καὶ συνεχεῖ τῷ πόνῳ καὶ ζήλῳ τῶν ἀρχαίων προσγεγενημένη ἔστω.
  • I say, therefore, that he who would write history well must be possessed of these two principal qualifications, a fine understanding and a good style: one is the gift of nature, and cannot be taught; the other may be acquired by frequent exercise, perpetual labour and an emulation of the ancients.
  • 59.34 (tr. T. Francklin, 1780)

• τοῦ δὴ συγγραφέως ἔργον ἕν—ὡς ἐπράχθη εἰπεῖν. [. . .] ἓν γάρ, ὡς ἔφην, τοῦτο ἴδιον ἱστορίας, καὶ μόνῃ θυτέον τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, εἴ τις ἱστορίαν γράψων ἴοι, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἀμελητέον αὐτῷ, καὶ ὅλως πῆχυς εἷς καὶ μέτρον ἀκριβές, ἀποβλέπειν μὴ εἰς τοὺς νῦν ἀκούοντας ἀλλ᾿ εἰς τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα συνεσομένους τοῖς συγγράμμασιν.
  • The historian's one task is to tell the thing as it happened. [. . .] For history, I say again, has this and this only for its own: if a man will start upon it, he must sacrifice to no God but Truth; he must neglect all else; his sole rule and unerring guide is this—to think not of those who are listening to him now, but of the yet unborn who shall seek his converse.
  • 59.39 (tr. H. W. Fowler, F. G. Fowler, 1905)

• τοιοῦτος οὖν μοι ὁ συγγραφεύς. ἔστω ἄφοβος, ἀδέκαστος, ἐλεύθερος, παρρησίας καὶ ἀληθείας φίλος, ὡς ὁ κωμικὸς φησίν, τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων, οὐ μίσει οὐδὲ φιλίᾳ νέμων οὐδὲ φειδόμενος ἢ ἐλεῶν ἢ αἰσχυνόμενος ἢ δυσωπούμενος, ἴσος δικαστής, εὔνους ἅπασιν ἄχρι τοῦ μὴ θατέρῳ τι ἀπονεῖμαι πλεῖον τοῦ δέοντος, ξένος ἐν τοῖς βιβλίοις καὶ ἄπολις, αὐτόνομος, ἀβασίλευτος, οὐ τί τῷδε δόξει λογιζόμενος, ἀλλὰ τί πέπρακται λέγων.
  • The good historian, then, must be thus described: he must be fearless, uncorrupted, free, the friend of truth and of liberty; one who, to use the words of the comic poet, calls a fig a fig, and a skiff a skiff, neither giving nor withholding from any, from favour or from enmity, not influenced by pity, by shame, or by remorse; a just judge, so far benevolent to all as never to give more than is due to any in his work; a stranger to all, of no country, bound only by his own laws, acknowledging no sovereign, never considering what this or that man may say of him, but relating faithfully everything as it happened.
  • 59.41 (tr. T. Francklin, 1780)

• ἅπαν γὰρ ἀτεχνῶς τὸ λοιπὸν σῶμα τῆς ἱστορίας διήγησις μακρά ἐστιν. ὥστε ταῖς τῆς διηγήσεως ἀρεταῖς κατακεκοσμήσθω, λείως τε καὶ ὁμαλῶς προϊοῦσα καὶ αὑτῇ ὁμοίως ὥστε μὴ προὔχειν μήτε κοιλαίνεσθαι.
  • The body of the history is only a long narrative, and as such it must go on with a soft and even motion, alike in every part, so that nothing should stand too forward, or retreat too far behind.
  • 59.55 (tr. T. Francklin, 1780)

70. Hermotimus, or Concerning the Sects

• οἷς ἂν τύχωμεν προσπταίοντες καὶ ὅ τι ἂν πρῶτον ἐς τὰς χεῖρας ἔλθῃ, τοῦτο εἶναι τὸ ζητούμενον ὑπολαμβάνοντες διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι τἀληθές. εἰ δὲ καὶ εὕροιμεν ἄλλως κατά τινα ἀγαθὴν τύχην περιπεσόντες αὐτῷ, οὐχ ἕξομεν βεβαίως εἰδέναι εἰ ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν ὃ ζητοῦμεν. πολλὰ γάρ ἐστιν ὅμοια αὑτοῖς, λέγοντα ἕκαστον αὐτὸ εἶναι τἀληθέστατον.
  • Whatever we knock against and get hold of we shall be taking for the thing we want, because the truth is hidden from us. Even if a mere piece of luck brings us straight to it, we shall have no grounded conviction of our success; there are so many similar objects, all claiming to be the real thing.
  • 70.49 (tr. H. W. Fowler, F. G. Fowler, 1905)