Lucian of Samosata, Timon, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 18

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[18]

ZEUS

Then why are you angry at them? Both sorts pay a fine penalty; for these last, like Tantalus, go hungry and thirsty and dry-lipped, merely gaping at their gold, while the others, like Phineus, have their food snatched out of their mouths by the Harpies. But be off with you now to Timon, whom you will find far more discreet.

RICHES

What, will he ever stop acting as if he were in a leaky boat and baling me out in haste before I have entirely flowed in, wanting to get ahead of the entering stream for fear that I will flood the boat and swamp him? No, and so I expect to carry water to the jar of the Danaids and pour it in without result, because the vessel is not tight but all that flows in will run out almost before it flows in, so much wider is the vent of the jar and so unhindered is the escape.¹

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.) — 18 focus

Ζεύς

τί οὖν ἀγανακτεῖς κατʼ αὐτῶν; διδόασι γὰρ ἄμφω καλὴν τὴν δίκην, οἱ μὲν ὥσπερ ὁ Τάνταλος ἄποτοι καὶ ἄγευστοι καὶ ξηροὶ τὸ στόμα, ἐπικεχηνότες μόνον τῷ χρυσίῳ, οἱ δὲ καθάπερ ὁ Φινεὺς ἀπὸ τῆς φάρυγγος τὴν τροφὴν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἁρπυιῶν ἀφαιρούμενοι. ἀλλʼ ἄπιθι ἤδη σωφρονεστέρῳ παρὰ πολὺ τῷ Τίμωνι ἐντευξόμενος.

Πλοῦτος

ἐκεῖνος γάρ ποτε παύσεται ὥσπερ ἐκ κοφίνου τετρυπημένου, πρὶν ὅλως εἰσρυῆναί με, κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐξαντλῶν, φθάσαι βουλόμενος τὴν ἐπιρροήν, μὴ ὑπέραντλος εἰσπεσὼν ἐπικλύσω αὐτόν; ὥστε ἐς τὸν τῶν Δαναΐδων πίθον ὑδροφορήσειν μοι δοκῶ καὶ μάτην ἐπαντλήσειν, τοῦ κύτους μὴ στέγοντος, ἀλλὰ πρὶν εἰσρυῆναι σχεδὸν ἐκχυθησομένου τοῦ ἐπιρρέοντος· οὕτως εὐρύτερον τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἔκχυσιν κεχηνὸς τοῦ πίθου καὶ ἀκώλυτος ἡ ἔξοδος.

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.) — 18 focus

Zeus

However, indignation is superfluous; both sets have just what they deserve—one as hungry and thirsty and drymouthed as Tantalus, getting no further than gaping at the gold; and the other finding its food swept away from its very gullet, as the Harpies served Phineus. Come, be off with you; you will find Timon has much more sense nowadays.

Plutus

Oh, of course! he will not do his best to let me run out of a leaky vessel before I have done running in! oh no, he will not be consumed with apprehensions of the inflow’s gaining on the waste and flooding him! I shall be supplying a cask of the Danaids; no matter how fast I pour in, the thing will not hold water; every gallon will be out almost before it is in; the bore of the waste-pipe is so large, and never a plug.

Notes on the current edition

Timon, or the Misanthrope

1. There are two distinct figures here. In both of them wealth is compared to water; but in the first it leaks in and is ladled out, while in the second it is ladled in and leaks out. In the first figure we want a word meaning “boat,” not ‘“basket”; and I assume therefore that κόφινος means “a coracle” here.

Lucian of Samosata Timon 18

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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ZEUS

RICHES

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

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