Lucian of Samosata, Nigrinus, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 31

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[31] He thought he could guess what they had done in life when they issued such injunctions touching the hereafter: “It is they,” said he, “who buy expensive dainties and let wine flow freely at dinners in an atmosphere of saffron and perfumes, who glut themselves with roses in midwinter, loving their rarity and unseasonableness and despising what is seasonable and natural because of its cheapness’; it is they who drink myrrh.” And that was the point in which he criticised them especially, that they do not even know how to give play to their desires, but transgress in them and obliterate the boundary-lines, on all sides surrendering their souls to luxury to be trodden under foot, and as they say in tragedy and comedy, “forcing an entrance alongside the door." ¹ These he called unidiomatic pleasures.

Nigrinus. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Νιγρίνου Φιλοσοφία Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 1. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.) — 31 focus

[31] εἰκάζειν οὖν ἠξίου, τί πέπρακται τούτοις παρὰ τὸν βίον, εἰ τοιαῦτα περὶ τῶν μετὰ τὸν βίον ἐπισκήπτουσι· τούτους γὰρ εἶναι τοὺς τὸ πολυτελὲς ὄψον ὠνουμένους καὶ τὸν οἶνον ἐν τοῖς συμποσίοις μετὰ κρόκων τε καὶ ἀρομάτων ἐκχέοντας, τοὺς μέσου χειμῶνος ἐμπιπλαμένους ῥόδων καὶ τὸ σπάνιον αὐτῶν καὶ παρὰ καιρὸν ἀγαπῶντος, τῶν δʼ ἐν καιρῷ καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ὡς εὐτελῶν ὑπερηφανοῦντας, τούτους εἶναι¹ τοὺς καὶ τὰ μύρα πίνοντας· ὃ καὶ μάλιστα διέσυρεν αὐτῶν, ὅτι μηδὲ χρῆσθαι ἴσασιν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, ἀλλὰ κἀν ταύταις παρανομοῦσι καὶ τοὺς ὅρους συγχέουσι, πάντοθεν τῇ τρυφῇ παραδόντες αὑτῶν τὰς ψυχὰς πατεῖν, καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἐν ταῖς τραγῳδίαις τε καὶ κωμῳδίαις λεγόμενον, ἤδη καὶ παρὰ θύραν εἰσβιαζόμενοι. σολοικισμὸν² οὖν ἐκάλει τοῦτο τῶν ἡδονῶν.

Translations (1)

Nigrinus Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 1. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 31 focus

[31] ‘Of their doings in this world,’ said he, ‘you may form some idea from their injunctions with reference to the next. These are they who will pay a long price for an entrée; whose floors are sprinkled with wine and saffron and spices; who in midwinter smother themselves in roses, ay, for roses are scarce, and out of season, and altogether desirable; but let a thing come in its due course, and oh, ’tis vile, ’tis contemptible. These are they whose drink is of costly essences.’ He had no mercy on them here. ‘Very bunglers in sensuality, who know not her laws, and confound her ordinances, flinging down their souls to be trampled beneath the heels of luxury! As the play has it, door or window, all is one to them.

Notes on the current edition

Nigrinus

1. The phrase does not occur in any of the extant plays. As Greek houses were generally of sun-dried brick, it was not difficult to dig through the wall, but only an inveterate ‘wall-digger’ (housebreaker) would choose that method of entry when the door was unlocked.

Lucian of Samosata Nigrinus 31

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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