Lucian of Samosata, Judicium vocalium, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 11

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[11] Not only does he injure his own kinsfolk of the alphabet, but he has already attacked the human race also; for he does not allow them to talk straight with their tongues. Indeed , jurymen—for speaking of men has suddenly put mein mind of the tongue—he has banished me from this member too, as far as in him lay, and makes glotta out of glossa. O Tau, thou very plague o’ the tongue! But I shall attack him another time and advise men of his sins against them, in trying to fetter their speech, as it were, and to mangle it. A man on seeing something pretty (καλόν) wants to call it so, but Tau interferes and makes him say something else (ταλόν), ¹ wanting to have precedence in everything. Again, another is talking about a palm-branch (κλῆμα), but Tau, the very criminal (τλήμων), turns the palm-branch into a crime (τλῆμα). And not only does he injure ordinary people, but even the Great King, in whose honour, they say, even land and sea give place and depart from their own natures—even he is plotted against by Tau, who instead of Cyrus makes him out something of a cheese (Κῦρος—τυρός).

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

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

The Consonants at Law Sigma Vs. Tau, in the Court of the Seven Vowels (English) (Lucian, Vol. 1. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.)

Editions (1)

Δίκη Συμφώνων Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 1. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.) — 11 focus

[11] τὸ δὲ ἄρα οὐ τὸ ὁμόφυλον τῶν στοιχείων μόνον ἀδικεῖ γένος, ἀλλʼ ἤδη καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπειον μεταβέβηκε τουτονὶ τὸν τρόπον· οὐ γὰρ ἐπιτρέπει γε αὐτοὺς κατʼ εὐθὺ φέρεσθαι ταῖς γλώσσαις· μᾶλλον δέ, ὦ δικασταί, μεταξὺ γάρ με πάλιν τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράγματα ἀνέμνησε περὶ τῆς γλώσσης, καὶ¹ ταύτης με τὸ μέρος² ἀπήλασε καὶ γλῶτταν ποιεῖ τὴν γλῶσσαν. ὦ γλώσσης ἀληθῶς νόσημα Ταῦ. ἀλλὰ μεταβήσομαι πάλιν ἐπʼ ἐκεῖνο καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συναγορεύσω ὑπὲρ ὧν εἰς αὐτοὺς πλημμελεῖ· δεσμοῖς γάρ τισι στρεβλοῦν καὶ σπαράττειν αὐτῶν τὴν φωνὴν ἐπιχειρεῖ. καὶ ὁ μέν τι καλὸν ἰδὼν καλὸν εἰπεῖν αὐτὸ βούλεται, τὸ δὲ παρεισπεσὸν ταλὸν εἰπεῖν αὐτοὺς ἀναγκάζει ἐν ἅπασι προεδρίαν ἔχειν ἀξιοῦν· πάλιν ἕτερος περὶ κλήματος διαλέγεται, τὸ δὲ — τλῆμον γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθῶς — τλῆμα πεποίηκε τὸ κλῆμα. καὶ οὐ μόνον γε τοὺς τυχόντας ἀδικεῖ, ἀλλʼ ἤδη καὶ τῷ μεγάλῳ βασιλεῖ, ᾧ καὶ γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν εἶξαί φασι καὶ τῆς αὑτῶν φύσεως ἐκστῆναι, τὸ δὲ καὶ τούτῳ ἐπιβουλεύει καὶ Κῦρον αὐτὸν ὄντα Τῦρόν τινα ἀπέφηνεν.

Translations (1)

Trial in the Court of Vowels Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 1. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 11 focus

[11] But his wrongs are not even limited to us, his own species; he has now extended his operations to mankind, as I shall show. He does not permit their tongues to work straight. (But that mention of mankind calls me back for a moment, reminding me how he turns γλῶσσα into γλῶττα, half robbing me of the tongue itself. Ay, you are a disease of the tongue in every sense, Tau.) But I return from that digression, to plead the cause of mankind and its wrongs. The prisoner’s designs include the constraint, racking, and mutilation of their utterance. A man sees a beautiful thing, and wishes to describe it as καλόν, but in comes Tau, and forces the man to say ταλόν: he must have precedence everywhere, of course. Another man has something to say about a vine, and lo, before it is out, it is metamorphosed by this miserable creature into misery; he has changed κλῆμα to τλῆμα, with a suggestive hint of τλήμων. And, not content with middle-class victims, he aims at the Persian king himself, the one for whom land and sea are said to have made way and changed their nature: Cyrus comes out at his bidding as Tyrus.

Notes on the current edition

The Consonants at Law Sigma Vs. Tau, in the Court of the Seven Vowels

1. One would expect a pun here, but ταλόν is not in the dictionaries.

Lucian of Samosata Judicium vocalium 11

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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