Lucian Icaromenippus 14

“No,” said I, “unless you are going to take the mist from my eyes somehow. At present my sight seems to be uncommonly blurred.” “Why,” said he, “you won’t need my services at all, for you yourself have brought the power of sharp sight with you from the earth.” “What is it, then, for I don’t know?” I said. “Don’t you know,” said he, “that you are wearing the right wing of an cagle?” “Of course,” said I, “but what is the connection between wings and eyes?” “This,” said he; “the eagle so far surpasses all the other creatures in strength of sight that he alone can look square at the sun, and the mark of the genuine royal cagle is that he can face its rays without winking an eye.” “So they say,” I replied, “and I am sorry now that when I came up here I did not take out my own eyes and put in those of the eagle. As things are, I have come in a_halffinished condition and with an equipment which is not fully royal; in fact, I am like the bastard, disowned eaglets they tell about.” ¹ “Why,” said he, “it is in your power this minute to have one eye royal, for if you choose to stand up a moment, hold the vulture’s wing still, and flap only the other one, you will become sharp-sighted in the right eye to match the wing; the other eye cannot possibly help being duller, as it is on the inferior side.” It will satisfy me,” said I, “if only the right one has the sight of an eagle; it would do just as well, for I am sure I have often seen carpenters getting on better with only one eye when they were trimming off timbers to the straight-edge.” This said, I set about doing as Empedocles advised, while he receded little by little and gradually dissolved into smoke.

‘I have no idea, unless you were to remove the mist from my eyes for me; the sight seems quite bleared.’ ‘Oh, you can do without me; the thing that gives sharp sight you have brought with you from Earth.’ ‘Unconsciously, then; what is it??. ‘Why, you know that you have on an eagle’s right wing?? ‘Of course I do; but what have wings and eyes to do with one another?? ‘Only this,’ he said; ‘the eagle is far the strongest-eyed of all living things, the only one that can look straight at the sun; the test of the true royal eagle is, his meeting its rays without blinking.’ ‘So I have heard; I wish I had taken out my own eyes when I was starting, and substituted the eagle’s. I am an imperfect specimen now I am here, not up to the royal standard at all, but like the rejected bastards.’ ‘Well, you can very soon acquire one royal eye. If you will stand up for a minute, keep the vulture wing still, and work the other, your right eye, corresponding to that wing, will gain strength. As for the other, its dimness cannot possibly be obviated, as it belongs to the inferior member.’ 'Oh, I shall be quite content with aquiline vision for the right eye only,’ I said; ‘I have often observed that carpenters in ruling their wood find one better than two.’ So saying, I proceeded to carry out my instructions at once. Empedocles began gradually to disappear, and at last vanished in smoke.