THE WORKS OF LUCIAN OF SAMOSATA

Complete with exceptions specified in the preface

TRANSLATED BY

H. W. FOWLER AND F. G. FOWLER

IN FOUR VOLUMES

What work nobler than transplanting foreign thought into the barren domesticsoil? except indeed planting thought of your own, which the fewest areprivileged to do.—Sarlor Resartus.

At each flaw, be this your first thought: the author doubtless said somethingquite different, and much more to the point. And then you may hiss meoff, if you will.—LUCIAN, Nigrinus, 9.

(LUCIAN) The last great master of Attic eloquence and Attic wit.—LordMacaulay.

VOLUME I

PREFACE

The text followed in this translation is that of Jacobitz, Teubner, 1901, alldeviations from which are noted.

In the following list of omissions, italics denote that the piece is marked asspurious both by Dindorf and by Jacobitz. The other omissions are mainly by wayof expurgation. In a very few other passages some isolated words and phraseshave been excised; but it has not been thought necessary to mark these in thetexts by asterisks.

Halcyon; Deorum Dialogi, iv, v, ix, x, xvii, xxii, xxiii; DialogiMarini, xiii; Vera Historia, I. 22, II. 19; Alexander, 41,42; Eunuchus; DeAstrologia; Amores; Lucius sive Asinus; RhetorumPreceptor, 23; Hippias; Adversus Indoctum, 23; Pseudologista;Longaevi; Dialogi Meretricii, v, vi, x; De Syria Dea; Philopatris;Charidemus; Nero; Tragodopodagra; Ocypus; Epigrammata.

A word may be said about four pieces that seem to stand apart from the rest. Ofthese, the Trial in the Court of Vowels and A Slip of the Tonguewill be interesting only to those who are familiar with Greek. TheLexiphanes and A Purist Purized, satirizing the pedants andeuphuists of Lucian’s day, almost defy translation, and they must be acceptedat best as an effort to give the general effect of the original.

The Notes explanatory at the end of vol. iv will be used by the readerat his discretion. Reference is made to them at the foot of the page only whenit is not obvious what name should be consulted.

The translators take this opportunity of offering their heartiest thanks to theDelegates of the Clarendon Press for undertaking this work; and, in particular,to the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Dr. Merry, who has been goodenough to read the proofs, and to give much valuable advice both on thedifficult subject of excision and on details of style and rendering. In thisconnexion, however, it should be added that for the retention of many modernphrases, which may offend some readers as anachronistic, responsibility restswith the translators alone.