Lucian, Icaromenippus, Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator), 2

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Menippus

Dream, my good man? I am just come straight from Zeus. Dream, indeed!

Friend

How? What? Our Menippus a literal godsend from Heaven?

Menippus

Tis even so; from very Zeus I come this day, eyes and ears yet full of wonders. Oh, doubt, if you will. That my fortune should pass belief makes it only the more gratifying.

Friend

Nay, my worshipful Olympian, how should I, ‘a man begotten, treading this poor earth,’ doubt him who transcends the clouds, a ‘denizen of Heaven,’ as Homer says? But vouchsafe to tell me how you were uplifted, and where you got your mighty tall ladder. There is hardly enough of Ganymede in your looks to suggest that you were carried off by the eagle for a cupbearer.

Menippus

I see you are bent on making a jest of it. Well, it is extraordinary; you could not be expected to see that it is not aromance. The fact is, I needed neither ladder nor amorous eagle; I had wings of my own.

Friend

Stranger and stranger! this beats Daedalus. What, you turned into a hawk or a crow on the sly?

Menippus

Now that is not a bad shot; it was Daedalus’s wing trick that I tried.

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

Current edition Perseus

Icaromenippus, an Aerial Expedition (English) (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.)

Editions (1)

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

Μένιππος

ὄνειρον γάρ, ὦ τάν, δοκῶ σοι λέγειν ὃς ἀρτίως ἀφῖγμαι παρὰ τοῦ Διός;

Ἕταιρος

πῶς ἔφησθα; Μένιππος ἡμῖν διοπετὴς πάρεστιν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ;

Μένιππος

καὶ μὴν ἐγώ σοι παρʼ αὐτοῦ ἐκείνου τοῦ πάνυ Διὸς ἥκω τήμερον θαυμάσια καὶ ἀκούσας καὶ ἰδών· εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖς, καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ὑπερευφραίνομαι τὸ πέρα πίστεως εὐτυχεῖν.

Ἕταιρος

καὶ πῶς ἂν¹ ἔγωγε, ὦ θεσπέσιε καὶ Ὀλύμπιε Μένιππε, γεννητὸς αὐτὸς καὶ ἐπίγειος ὢν ἀπιστεῖν δυναίμην ὑπερνεφέλῳ ἀνδρὶ καὶ ἵνα καθʼ Ὅμηρον εἴπω τῶν Οὐρανιώνων ἑνί; ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνά μοι φράσον, εἰ δοκεῖ, τίνα τρόπον ἤρθης ἄνω καὶ ὁπόθεν ἐπορίσω κλίμακα τηλικαύτην τὸ μέγεθος; τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἀμφὶ τὴν ὄψιν οὐ πάνυ ἔοικας ἐκείνῳ τῷ Φρυγί, ὥστε ἡμᾶς² εἰκάζειν καὶ σὲ οἰνοχοήσοντά που ἀνάρπαστον γεγονέναι πρὸς τοῦ ἀετοῦ.

Μένιππος

σὺ μὲν πάλαι σκώπτων δῆλος εἶ, καὶ θαυμαστὸν οὐδὲν εἴ σοι τὸ παράδοξον τοῦ λόγου μύθῳ δοκεῖ προσφερές. ἀτὰρ οὐδὲν ἐδέησέ μοι πρὸς τὴν ἄνοδον οὔτε τῆς κλίμακος οὔτε παιδικὰ γενέσθαι τοῦ ἀετοῦ· οἰκεῖα γὰρ ἦν μοι τὰ πτερά.

Ἕταιρος

τοῦτο μὲν ἤδη καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸν Δαίδαλον ἔφησθα, εἴ γε πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐλελήθεις ἡμᾶς ἱέραξ τις ἢ κολοιὸς ἐξ ἀνθρώπου γενόμενος.

Μένιππος

ὀρθῶς, ὦ ἑταῖρε, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ εἴκασας· τὸ Δαιδάλειον γὰρ ἐκεῖνο σόφισμα τῶν πτερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμηχανησάμην.

Translations (1)

Icaromenippus, or the Sky-man Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 2. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.) — 2 focus

MENIPPUS

Dream, man! Do you think I’m telling you a dream? [am just back from a visit to Zeus.

FRIEND

What’s that you say? Menippus here from Heaven, dropt from the clouds?

MENIPPUS

Here I an, I tell you, just come back to-day from the very presence of your great Zeus himself, and I have seen and heard wonderful things. If you don’t believe me, I am overjoyed precisely because my good luck is beyond belief,

FRIEND

Why, my divine Menippus, my Olympian Menippus, how can a mortal groundling like myself disbelieve a sky-man—in fact, to use the words of Homer, a son of Heaven?¹ But tell ine, please, how you were carried aloft, and where you got so long a ladder; for as far as looks go you are too little like the lad of Phrygia for us to suppose that, like hii, you were snatched up by the eagle to become a cupbearer.²

MENIPPUS

You have clearly been making fun of me this long time, and it is no wonder you think that my strange story is like a fairy-tale. However, I had no need of your ladder; for my ascent, nor yet to become the eagle’s pet, for I had wings of my own.

FRIEND

You have improved on Daedalus, by what you say, if over and above all else, you have turned from a man to a hawk or a crow without our knowing it.

Lucian Icaromenippus 2

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

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Menippus

Dream, my good man? I am just come straight from Zeus. Dream, indeed!

Friend

How? What? Our Menippus a literal godsend from Heaven?

Menippus

Tis even so; from very Zeus I come this day, eyes and ears yet full of wonders. Oh, doubt, if you will. That my fortune should pass belief makes it only the more gratifying.

Menippus

I see you are bent on making a jest of it. Well, it is extraordinary; you could not be expected to see that it is not aromance. The fact is, I needed neither ladder nor amorous eagle; I had wings of my own.

Friend

Stranger and stranger! this beats Daedalus. What, you turned into a hawk or a crow on the sly?

Menippus

Now that is not a bad shot; it was Daedalus’s wing trick that I tried.

Current edition Perseus

Μένιππος

ὄνειρον γάρ, ὦ τάν, δοκῶ σοι λέγειν ὃς ἀρτίως ἀφῖγμαι παρὰ τοῦ Διός;

Ἕταιρος

πῶς ἔφησθα; Μένιππος ἡμῖν διοπετὴς πάρεστιν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ;

Ἕταιρος

τοῦτο μὲν ἤδη καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸν Δαίδαλον ἔφησθα, εἴ γε πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐλελήθεις ἡμᾶς ἱέραξ τις ἢ κολοιὸς ἐξ ἀνθρώπου γενόμενος.

Μένιππος

ὀρθῶς, ὦ ἑταῖρε, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ εἴκασας· τὸ Δαιδάλειον γὰρ ἐκεῖνο σόφισμα τῶν πτερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμηχανησάμην.

MENIPPUS

Dream, man! Do you think I’m telling you a dream? [am just back from a visit to Zeus.

FRIEND

What’s that you say? Menippus here from Heaven, dropt from the clouds?

MENIPPUS

Here I an, I tell you, just come back to-day from the very presence of your great Zeus himself, and I have seen and heard wonderful things. If you don’t believe me, I am overjoyed precisely because my good luck is beyond belief,

MENIPPUS

You have clearly been making fun of me this long time, and it is no wonder you think that my strange story is like a fairy-tale. However, I had no need of your ladder; for my ascent, nor yet to become the eagle’s pet, for I had wings of my own.

FRIEND

You have improved on Daedalus, by what you say, if over and above all else, you have turned from a man to a hawk or a crow without our knowing it.

MENIPPUS

Your guess is well-aimed, my friend, and hits the bull’s-eye; for I myself constructed wings, patterned after Daedalus’ clever invention.

Stable identifiers

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Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Menippus Dream, my good man? I am just come straight from Zeus. Dream, indeed!

Friend How? What? Our Menippus a literal godsend from Heaven?

Menippus Tis even so; from very Zeus I come this day, eyes and ears yet full of wonders. Oh, doubt, if you will. That my fortune should pass belief makes it only the more gratifying.

Menippus I see you are bent on making a jest of it. Well, it is extraordinary; you could not be expected to see that it is not aromance. The fact is, I needed neither ladder nor amorous eagle; I had wings of my own.

Friend Stranger and stranger! this beats Daedalus. What, you turned into a hawk or a crow on the sly?

Menippus Now that is not a bad shot; it was Daedalus’s wing trick that I tried.

Current edition Perseus

Μένιππος ὄνειρον γάρ, ὦ τάν, δοκῶ σοι λέγειν ὃς ἀρτίως ἀφῖγμαι παρὰ τοῦ Διός;

Ἕταιρος πῶς ἔφησθα; Μένιππος ἡμῖν διοπετὴς πάρεστιν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ;

Ἕταιρος τοῦτο μὲν ἤδη καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸν Δαίδαλον ἔφησθα, εἴ γε πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐλελήθεις ἡμᾶς ἱέραξ τις ἢ κολοιὸς ἐξ ἀνθρώπου γενόμενος.

Μένιππος ὀρθῶς, ὦ ἑταῖρε, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ εἴκασας· τὸ Δαιδάλειον γὰρ ἐκεῖνο σόφισμα τῶν πτερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμηχανησάμην.

MENIPPUS Dream, man! Do you think I’m telling you a dream? [am just back from a visit to Zeus.

FRIEND What’s that you say? Menippus here from Heaven, dropt from the clouds?

MENIPPUS Here I an, I tell you, just come back to-day from the very presence of your great Zeus himself, and I have seen and heard wonderful things. If you don’t believe me, I am overjoyed precisely because my good luck is beyond belief,

MENIPPUS You have clearly been making fun of me this long time, and it is no wonder you think that my strange story is like a fairy-tale. However, I had no need of your ladder; for my ascent, nor yet to become the eagle’s pet, for I had wings of my own.

FRIEND You have improved on Daedalus, by what you say, if over and above all else, you have turned from a man to a hawk or a crow without our knowing it.

MENIPPUS Your guess is well-aimed, my friend, and hits the bull’s-eye; for I myself constructed wings, patterned after Daedalus’ clever invention.

Stable identifiers

Menippus

Dream, my good man? I am just come straight from Zeus. Dream, indeed!

Friend

How? What? Our Menippus a literal godsend from Heaven?

Menippus

Tis even so; from very Zeus I come this day, eyes and ears yet full of wonders. Oh, doubt, if you will. That my fortune should pass belief makes it only the more gratifying.

Menippus

I see you are bent on making a jest of it. Well, it is extraordinary; you could not be expected to see that it is not aromance. The fact is, I needed neither ladder nor amorous eagle; I had wings of my own.

Friend

Stranger and stranger! this beats Daedalus. What, you turned into a hawk or a crow on the sly?

Menippus

Now that is not a bad shot; it was Daedalus’s wing trick that I tried.

Μένιππος

ὄνειρον γάρ, ὦ τάν, δοκῶ σοι λέγειν ὃς ἀρτίως ἀφῖγμαι παρὰ τοῦ Διός;

Ἕταιρος

πῶς ἔφησθα; Μένιππος ἡμῖν διοπετὴς πάρεστιν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ;

Ἕταιρος

τοῦτο μὲν ἤδη καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸν Δαίδαλον ἔφησθα, εἴ γε πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐλελήθεις ἡμᾶς ἱέραξ τις ἢ κολοιὸς ἐξ ἀνθρώπου γενόμενος.

Μένιππος

ὀρθῶς, ὦ ἑταῖρε, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ εἴκασας· τὸ Δαιδάλειον γὰρ ἐκεῖνο σόφισμα τῶν πτερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμηχανησάμην.

MENIPPUS

Dream, man! Do you think I’m telling you a dream? [am just back from a visit to Zeus.

FRIEND

What’s that you say? Menippus here from Heaven, dropt from the clouds?

MENIPPUS

Here I an, I tell you, just come back to-day from the very presence of your great Zeus himself, and I have seen and heard wonderful things. If you don’t believe me, I am overjoyed precisely because my good luck is beyond belief,

MENIPPUS

You have clearly been making fun of me this long time, and it is no wonder you think that my strange story is like a fairy-tale. However, I had no need of your ladder; for my ascent, nor yet to become the eagle’s pet, for I had wings of my own.

FRIEND

You have improved on Daedalus, by what you say, if over and above all else, you have turned from a man to a hawk or a crow without our knowing it.

MENIPPUS

Your guess is well-aimed, my friend, and hits the bull’s-eye; for I myself constructed wings, patterned after Daedalus’ clever invention.