Lucian, Juppiter Confutatus, ed. Austin Morris Harmon, 12

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Ζεύς

σὺ δʼ ἤδη, ὦ Κυνίσκε, οὐδὲ τὰς Μοίρας τιμᾶσθαι πρὸς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀξιοῖς; ἀλλʼ ἔοικας ἅπαντα συγχεῖν προαιρεῖσθαι. ἡμεῖς δὲ εἰ καὶ μηδενὸς ἄλλου ἕνεκα, τοῦ γε μαντεύεσθαι καὶ προμηνύειν ἕκαστα τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς Μοίρας κεκυρωμένων δικαίως τιμῴμεθʼ ἄν.

Κυνίσκος

τὸ μὲν ὅλον, ἄχρηστον, ὦ Ζεῦ, προειδέναι τὰ μέλλοντα οἷς γε τὸ φυλάξασθαι αὐτὰ παντελῶς ἀδύνατον· εἰ μὴ ἄρα¹ τοῦτο φής, ὡς ὁ προμαθὼν ὅτι ὑπʼ αἰχμῆς σιδηρᾶς τεθνήξεται δύναιτʼ ἂν ἐκφυγεῖν τὸν θάνατον καθείρξας ἑαυτόν; ἀλλʼ ἀδύνατον· ἐξάξει² γὰρ αὐτὸν ἡ Μοῖρα κυνηγετήσοντα καὶ παραδώσει τῇ αἰχμῇ· καὶ ὁ Ἄδραστος ἐπὶ τὸν σῦν ἀφεὶς τὴν λόγχην ἐκείνου μὲν ἁμαρτήσεται, φονεύσει δὲ τὸν Κροίσου παῖδα, ὡς ἂν ἀπʼ ἰσχυρᾶς ἐμβολῆς³ τῶν Μοιρῶν φερομένου τοῦ ἀκοντίου ἐπὶ τὸν νεανίσκον.

Juppiter Confutatus. Lucian. ed. Austin Morris Harmon. Medford, MA. Perseus 4.0.

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Current edition Perseus

Ζεὺς ἐλεγχόμενος (Greek) (Lucian, Vol. 2. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.)

Translations (2)

Zeus Catechized Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 2. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.) — 12 focus

ZEUS

Have you gone so far, Cyniscus, as to think that even the Fates should not be honoured by men? Why, you seem inclined to upset everything. As for us gods, if for no other reason, we may fairly be honoured because we are soothsayers and foretell all that the Fates have established.

CYNISCUS

On the whole, Zeus, it does no good to have foreknowledge of future events when people are completely unable to guard against them,—unless perhaps you maintain that a man who knows in advance that he is to die by an iron spear-head can escape death by shutting himself up? No, it is impossible, for Fate will take him out hunting and deliver him up to the spear-head, and Adrastus, throwing his weapon at the boar, will miss it and slay the son of Croesus, as if the javelin were sped at the lad by a powerful cast of the Fates.¹

Zeus Cross-examined Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 12 focus

Zeus

So! You would deprive even the Fates of honour? You seem determined to reduce all to one level. Well, we Gods have at least one claim on you: we do prophesy and foretell what the Fates have disposed.

Cyniscus

Now even granting that you do, what is the use of knowing what one has to expect, when one can by no possibility take any precautions? Are you going to tell me that a man who finds out that he is to die by a steel point can escape the doom by shutting himself up? Not he. Fate will take him out hunting, and there will be his steel: Adrastus will hurl his spear at the boar, miss the brute, and get Croesus’s son; Fate’s inflexible law directs his aim.

Notes on the current edition

Ζεὺς ἐλεγχόμενος

1. εἰ μὴ ἄρα Marcilius: εἰ μὴ παρὰ γ; ἐκτδς εἰ μὴ β.

2. ἐξάξει Jensius: ἐξάγει MSS.

3. ἐμβολῆς Fritzsche: ἐντολῆς β; προστάγματος γ.

Lucian Juppiter Confutatus 12

ed. Austin Morris Harmon

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Current edition Perseus

ZEUS

Have you gone so far, Cyniscus, as to think that even the Fates should not be honoured by men? Why, you seem inclined to upset everything. As for us gods, if for no other reason, we may fairly be honoured because we are soothsayers and foretell all that the Fates have established.

Zeus

So! You would deprive even the Fates of honour? You seem determined to reduce all to one level. Well, we Gods have at least one claim on you: we do prophesy and foretell what the Fates have disposed.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

ZEUS Have you gone so far, Cyniscus, as to think that even the Fates should not be honoured by men? Why, you seem inclined to upset everything. As for us gods, if for no other reason, we may fairly be honoured because we are soothsayers and foretell all that the Fates have established.

Zeus So! You would deprive even the Fates of honour? You seem determined to reduce all to one level. Well, we Gods have at least one claim on you: we do prophesy and foretell what the Fates have disposed.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

ZEUS

Have you gone so far, Cyniscus, as to think that even the Fates should not be honoured by men? Why, you seem inclined to upset everything. As for us gods, if for no other reason, we may fairly be honoured because we are soothsayers and foretell all that the Fates have established.

Zeus

So! You would deprive even the Fates of honour? You seem determined to reduce all to one level. Well, we Gods have at least one claim on you: we do prophesy and foretell what the Fates have disposed.