Lucian of Samosata, Timon, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 1

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TIMON

Ho, Zeus, you Protector of Friends and Guests and Comrades, Keeper of the Hearth, Lord of the Lightning, Guardian of Oaths, Cloud-Compeller, Loud-thunderer and whatever else crazy poets call you, above all when they are in trouble with their verses, for then to help them out you assume a multitude of names and so shore up the weak spots in their metre and fill up the gaps in their rhythm! Where now is your pealing levin, your rolling thunder and your blazing, flashing, horrid bolt?¹ All that has turned out to be stuff and nonsense, pure poetic vapour except for the resonance of the names. That famous, far-flying, ready weapon of yours has been completely quenched in some way or other and is cold, not even retaining a tiny spark of resentment against wrong doers.

Timon. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Timon, or the Misanthrope (English) (Lucian, Vol. 2. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.)

Editions (1)

Τίμων Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 2. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.) — 1 focus

Τίμων

Ὦ Ζεῦ φίλιε καὶ ξένιε καὶ ἑταιρεῖε καὶ ἐφέστιε καὶ ἀστεροπητὰ καὶ ὅρκιε καὶ νεφεληγερέτα καὶ ἐρίγδουπε καὶ εἴ τί σε ἄλλο οἱ ἐμβρόντητοι ποιηταὶ καλοῦσι, — καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν ἀπορῶσι πρὸς τὰ μέτρα· τότε γὰρ αὐτοῖς πολυώνυμος γινόμενος ὑπερείδεις τὸ πῖπτον τοῦ μέτρου καὶ ἀναπληροῖς τὸ κεχηνὸς τοῦ ῥυθμοῦ — ποῦ σοι νῦν ἡ ἐρισμάραγος ἀστραπὴ καὶ ἡ βαρύβρομος βροντὴ καὶ ὁ αἰθαλόεις καὶ ἀργήεις καὶ σμερδαλέος κεραυνός; ἅπαντα γὰρ ταῦτα λῆρος ἤδη ἀναπέφηνε καὶ καπνὸς ἀτεχνῶς ποιητικὸς ἔξω τοῦ πατάγου τῶν ὀνομάτων. τὸ δὲ ἀοίδιμόν σοι καὶ ἑκηβόλον ὅπλον καὶ πρόχειρον οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως τελέως ἀπέσβη καὶ ψυχρόν ἐστι, μηδὲ ὀλίγον σπινθῆρα ὀργῆς κατὰ τῶν ἀδικούντων διαφυλάττον.

Translations (1)

Timon the Misanthrope Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 1. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 1 focus

Timon

O Zeus, thou arbiter of friendship, protector of the guest, preserver of fellowship, lord of the hearth, launcher of the lightning, avenger of oaths, compeller of clouds, utterer of thunder (and pray add any other epithets; those cracked poets have plenty ready, especially when they are in difficulties with” their scansion; then it is that a string of your names saves the situation and fills up the metrical gaps), O Zeus, where is now your resplendent lightning, where your deep-toned thunder, where the glowing, white-hot, direful bolt? we know now ’tis all fudge and poetic moonshine—barring what value may attach to the rattle of the names. That renowned projectile of yours, which ranged so far and was so ready to your hand, has gone dead and cold, it seems; never a spark left in it to scorch iniquity.

Notes on the current edition

Timon, or the Misanthrope

1. Cf. Eur. Phoen. 182.

Lucian of Samosata Timon 1

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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TIMON

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Notes on the current edition

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