Lucian, Muscae Encomium, ed. Austin Morris Harmon, 2

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[2] ἡ δὲ πτῆσις οὔτε κατὰ τὰς νυκτερίδας εἰρεσίᾳ συνεχεῖ τῶν πτερῶν οὔτε κατὰ τὰς ἀκρίδας μετὰ πηδήματος οὔτε ὡς οἱ σφῆκες μετὰ ῥοιζήματος, ἀλλʼ εὐκαμπὴς πρὸς ὅ τι ἂν μέρος ὁρμήσῃ τοῦ ἀέρος. καὶ μὴν κἀκεῖνο πρόσεστιν αὐτῇ, τὸ μὴ καθʼ ἡσυχίαν, ἀλλὰ μετʼ ᾠδῆς πέτεσθαι οὐκ ἀπηνοῦς οἵα κωνώπων καὶ ἐμπίδων, οὐδὲ τὸ βαρύβρομον τῶν μελιττῶν ἢ τῶν σφηκῶν τὸ φοβερὸν καὶ ἀπειλητικὸν ἐνδεικνυμένης, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτόν ἐστι λιγυρωτέρα, ὅσον σάλπιγγος καὶ κυμβάλων αὐλοὶ μελιχρότεροι.

Muscae Encomium. Lucian. ed. Austin Morris Harmon. Medford, MA. Perseus 4.0.

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Μυίας Ἐγκώμιον (Greek) (Lucian, Vol. 1. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.)

Translations (2)

The Fly Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 1. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.) — 2 focus

[2] She does not fly like bats with a steady, oar-like movement of the wings, or like grasshoppers with a spring, or as wasps do, with a whizzing rush, but easily directs her course to any quarter of the air she will. She has also this characteristic, that her flight is not silent but musical: the sound is not shrill like that of gnats and midges, nor deep-toned like that of bees, nor fierce and threatening like that of wasps; it is much more melodious, just as flutes are sweeter than trumpet and cymbals.

The Fly, an Appreciation Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata. Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 2 focus

[2] Its flight is accompanied neither by the incessant wing-beat of the bat, the jump of the locust, nor the buzz of the wasp, but carries it easily in any direction. It has the further merit of a music neither sullen as with the gnat kind, deep as with the bee, nor grim and threatening as with the wasp; it is as much more tuneful than they as the flute is sweeter than trumpet or cymbals.

Lucian Muscae Encomium 2

ed. Austin Morris Harmon

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