Lucian, Symposium, Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator), 48

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Lycinus

And now you know all about the banquet, my dear Philo; a tragedy epilogue seems called for:

Hidden power sways each hour:

Men propose, the Gods dispose:

Fail surmises, come surprises.

It was the unexpected that came to pass here, at any rate. Well, live and learn; I know now that a quiet man had better keep clear of these feasts of reason.

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

Current edition Perseus

A Feast of Lapithae (English) (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 4. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.)

Editions (1)

Συμπόσιον ἢ Λαπίθαι Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 1. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.) — 48 focus

Λυκῖνος

τοῦτό σοι τέλος, ὦ καλὲ Φίλων, ἐγένετο τοῦ συμποσίου, ἢ ἄμεινον τὸ τραγικὸν ἐκεῖνο ἐπειπεῖν,

πολλαὶ μορφαὶ τῶν δαιμονίων,

πολλὰ δʼ ἀέλπτως κραίνουσι θεοί,

καὶ τὰ δοκηθέντʼ οὐκ ἐτελέσθη·

ἀπροσδόκητα γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀπέβη καὶ ταῦτα. ἐκεῖνό γε μὴν¹ μεμάθηκα ἤδη, ὡς οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς ἄπρακτον ὄντα συνεστιᾶσθαι τοιούτοις σοφοῖς.

Translations (1)

The Carousal, or the Lapiths Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 1. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.) — 48 focus

LYCINUS

Well, Philo, that was the end of the dinner-party: it would be better, though, to say at the close as they do in the plays of Euripides:

In many shapes appear the powers above,

And many things the gods surprise us with,

While those we look for do not come about.¹

For all of it, you know, was quite unexpected. This much, however, I have at last learned, that it is not safe for a man of peace to dine with men so learned.

Lucian Symposium 48

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

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