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Lucian

A Friend

Friend

What a haughty and dignified Lucian returns to us from his journey! He will not vouchsafe us a glance; he stands aloof, and will hold no further communion with us. Altogether a supercilious Lucian! The change is sudden. Might one inquire the cause of this altered demeanour?

Lucian

’Tis the work of Fortune.

Friend

Of Fortune!

Lucian

As an incidental result of my journey, you see in me a happy man; ‘thrice-blest,’ as the tragedians have it.

Friend

Dear me. What, in this short time?

Lucian

Even so.

Friend

But what does it all mean? What is the secret of your elation? I decline to rejoice with you in this abridged fashion; I must have details. Tell me all about it.

Lucian

What should you think, if I told you that I had exchanged servitude for freedom; poverty for true wealth; folly and presumption for good sense?

Nigrinus. Lucian. Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator). Medford, MA, USA. 2023-08-01.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

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

Νιγρίνου Φιλοσοφία

ὡς σεμνὸς ἡμῖν σφόδρα καὶ μετέωρος ἐπανελήλυθας. οὐ τοίνυν προσβλέπειν ἡμᾶς ἔτι ἀξιοῖς οὔθ’ ὁμιλίας μεταδίδως οὔτε κοινωνεῖς τῶν ὁμοίων λόγων, ἀλλʼ ἄφνω μεταβέβλησαι καὶ ὅλως ὑπεροπτικῷ τινι ἔοικας. ἡδέως δʼ ἂν παρὰ σοῦ πυθοίμην, ὅθεν οὕτως ἀτόπως ἔχεις καὶ τί τούτων αἴτιον.

Τί γὰρ ἄλλο γε, ὦ ἑταῖρε, ἢ εὐτυχία;

πῶς λέγεις;

ὁδοῦ πάρεργον ἥκω σοι εὐδαίμων τε καὶ μακάριος γεγενημένος καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς ὄνομα, τρισόλβιος.

Ἡράκλεις, οὕτως ἐν βραχεῖ;

καὶ μάλα.

τί δέ, τὸ μετὰ¹ τοῦτο, ἐστὶν ἐφʼ ὅτῳ καὶ κομᾷς; ἵνα μὴ ἐν κεφαλαίῳ μόνῳ εὐφραινώμεθα, ἔχωμεν δέ τι καὶ ἀκριβὲς εἰδέναι τὸ πᾶν ἀκούσαντες.

οὐ θαυμαστὸν εἶναί σοι δοκεῖ πρὸς Διός, ἀντὶ μὲν δούλου με ἐλεύθερον, ἀντὶ δὲ πένητος ὡς ἀληθῶς πλούσιον, ἀντὶ δὲ ἀνοήτου τε καὶ τετυφωμένου γενέσθαι μετριώτερον;

Translations (1)

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

THE WISDOM OF NIGRINUS

A

How very lordly and exalted you are since you came back! Really, you don’t deign to notice us any more, you don’t associate with us, and you don’t join in our conversations: you have changed all of a sudden, and, in short, have a supercilious air. I should be glad to find out from you how it comes that you are so peculiar, and what is the cause of all this?

B

Nothing but good fortune, my dear fellow.

A

What do you mean?

B

I have come back to you transformed by the wayside into a happy and a blissful man—in the language of the stage, “thrice blessed.”

A

Heracles! in so short a time?

B

Yes, truly.

A

But what is the rest of it? What is it that you are puffed up about? Let us enjoy something more than a mere hint: let us have a chance to get at the facts by hearing the whole story.

B

Don’t you think it wonderful, in the name of Zeus, that once a slave, I am now free! « once poor, now rich indeed”; once witless and befogged, now saner?¹

Lucian Nigrinus 1

Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator)

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Lucian

A Friend

Friend

Lucian

Friend

Lucian

Friend

Lucian

Friend

Lucian

Current edition Perseus

Νιγρίνου Φιλοσοφία

THE WISDOM OF NIGRINUS

A

B

A

B

A

B

A

B

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