Lucian, Icaromenippus, ed. Austin Morris Harmon, 24

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Μένιππος

μεταξύ τε προϊὼν ἀνέκρινέ με περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ πραγμάτων, τὰ πρῶτα μὲν ἐκεῖνα, πόσου νῦν ὁ πυρός ἐστιν ὤνιος ἐπὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, καὶ εἰ σφόδρα ὑμῶν ὁ πέρυσι χειμὼν καθίκετο, καὶ εἰ τὰ λάχανα δεῖται πλείονος ἐπομβρίας. μετὰ δὲ ἠρώτα εἴ τις ἔτι λείπεται τῶν ἀπὸ Φειδίου καὶ διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν ἐλλείποιεν Ἀθηναῖοι τὰ Διάσια τοσούτων ἐτῶν, καὶ εἰ τὸ Ὀλυμπίειον¹ αὐτῷ² ἐπιτελέσαι διανοοῦνται, καὶ εἰ συνελήφθησαν οἱ τὸν ἐν Δωδώνῃ νεὼν σεσυληκότες.

ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τούτων ἀπεκρινάμην, εἰπέ μοι, Μένιππε, ἔφη, περὶ δὲ ἐμοῦ οἱ ἄνθρωποι τίνα γνώμην ἔχουσι; τίνα, ἔφην, δέσποτα, ἢ τὴν εὐσεβεστάτην, βασιλέα σε πάντων εἶναι θεῶν; παίζεις ἔχων, ἔφη· τὸ δὲ φιλόκαινον αὐτῶν ἀκριβῶς οἶδα, κἂν μὴ λέγῃς. ἦν γάρ ποτε χρόνος, ὅτε καὶ μάντις ἐδόκουν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἰατρὸς καὶ πάντα ὅλως ἦν ἐγώ,

μεσταὶ δὲ Διὸς πᾶσαι μὲν ἀγυιαί,

πᾶσαι δ' ἀνθρώπων ἀγοραί·

καὶ ἡ Δωδώνη τότε καὶ ἡ Πῖσα λαμπραὶ καὶ περίβλεπτοι πᾶσιν ἦσαν, ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ καπνοῦ τῶν θυσιῶν οὐδὲ ἀναβλέπειν μοι δυνατόν· ἐξ οὗ δὲ ἐν Δελφοῖς μὲν Ἀπόλλων τὸ μαντεῖον κατεστήσατο, ἐν Περγάμῳ δὲ τὸ ἰατρεῖον ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς καὶ τὸ Βενδίδειον ἐγένετο ἐν Θρᾴκῃ καὶ τὸ Ἀνουβίδειον ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ τὸ Ἀρτεμίσιον ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, ἐπὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἅπαντες θέουσι καὶ πανηγύρεις ἀνάγουσι καὶ ἑκατόμβας παριστᾶσι καὶ χρυσᾶς πλίνθους ἀνατιθέασιν³ ἐμὲ δὲ παρηβηκότα ἱκανῶς τετιμηκέναι νομίζουσιν, ἂν διὰ πέντε ὅλων ἐτῶν θύσωσιν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ. τοιγαροῦν ψυχροτέρους ἄν μου τοὺς βωμοὺς ἴδοις τῶν Πλάτωνος νόμων ἢ τῶν Χρυσίππου συλλογισμῶν.

Icaromenippus. Lucian. ed. Austin Morris Harmon. Medford, MA. Perseus 4.0.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities; Harvard Library Arcadia Fund; Google Digital Humanities Awards Program.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

Icaromenippus, or the Sky-man Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 2. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.) — 24 focus

MENIPPUS

As he walked along he asked me about things on earth, first the usual questions, how much wheat now costs in Greece, whether the last winter hit us hard and whether the crops needed more rain. Then he inquired whether any of the descendants of Phidias were still left, why the Athenians had omitted the Diasia for so many years, whether they had any idea of finishing the Olympieion for him and whether the men who robbed his temple in Dodona had been arrested.¹

When I had answered these questions, he said:

“Tell me, Menippus, what opinion do men hold about me?

“Tell me, Menippus, what opinion do men hold about me?” “What opinion should they hold, sir,” said I, “except the highest possible one, that you are king of all the gods?” “You are fond of your joke,” said he, “but I am thoroughly acquainted with their craze for novelty even without your telling me. There was once a time when they looked upon me as a prophet and a healer, and I was all in all; “Yea, full of Zeus were all the streets And all the marts of men.’ At that time Dodona and Pisa were rich and highly regarded by all, and I could not even see for the smoke of the sacrifices. But since Apollo founded his oracle at Delphi and Asclepius his hospital in Pergamos and the temple of Bendis arose in Thrace and the temple of Anubis in Egypt and the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, these are the places where they all run and celebrate feast-days and bring hecatombs, and offer up ingots of gold, while I, they think, being past my prime, am sufficiently honoured if they sacrifice to me once every four whole years at Olympia. Consequently, you can see for yourself that my altars are more frigid than the Laws of Plato or the Syllogisms of Chrysippus.”

Icaromenippus, an Aerial Expedition Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 24 focus

Menippus

As he went, he put questions to me about earthly affairs, beginning with, What was wheat a quarter in Greece? had we suffered much from cold last winter? and did the vegetables want more rain? Then he wished to know whether any of Phidias’s kin were alive, why there had been no Diasia at Athens all these years, whether his Olympieum was ever going to be completed, and had the robbers of his temple at Dodona been caught? I answered all these questions, and he proceeded:—‘Tell me, Menippus, what are men’s feelings towards me?’ ‘What should they be, Lord, but those of absolute reverence, as to the King of all Gods?’ ‘Now, now, chaffing as usual,’ he said; ‘I know their fickleness very well, for all your dissimulation. There was a time when I was their prophet, their healer, and their all,

And Zeus filled every street and gathering-place.

In those days Dodona and Pisa were glorious and far-famed, and I could not get a view for the clouds of sacrificial steam. But now Apollo has set up his oracle at Delphi, Asclepius his temple of health at Pergamum, Bendis and Anubis and Artemis their shrines in Thrace, Egypt, Ephesus; and to these all run; theirs the festal gatherings and the hecatombs. As for me, I am superannuated; they think themselves very generous if they offer me a victim at Olympia at four-year intervals. My altars are cold as Plato’s Laws or Chrysippus’s Syllogisms.’

Notes on the current edition

Ἰκαρομένιππος ἢ Ὑπερνέφελος

1. Ὀλυμπίειον Cobet: Ὀλύμπειον, Ὀλύμπιον MSS.

2. αὐτῷ Seager: αὐτῶν MSS.

3. καὶ χρυσᾶς πλίνθονς ἀνατιθέασι margin of Γ: not elsewhere.

Lucian Icaromenippus 24

ed. Austin Morris Harmon

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