Lucian of Samosata, De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 14

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[14] Again, the other arts attain to this end late, reaping their harvest of pleasure only after their apprenticeship; for “the road to them leadeth uphill’ and is long.¹ Parasitic alone of them all derives profit from the art immediately, in the apprenticeship itself, and no sooner does it begin than it is at its end.

Moreover, the other arts, not merely in certain cases but in every case, have come into existence to provide support and nothing else, while the parasite has his support immediately, as soon as he enters upon his art. Do not you see that while the farmer does not farm for the sake of farming, nor the builder build for the sake of building, the parasite does not aim at something different; his work and its object are one and the same thing.

De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

The Parasite Tychiades (English) (Lucian, Vol. 3. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ Παρασίτου ὅτι Τέχνη ἡ Παρασιτική Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 3. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.) — 14 focus

Σίμων

καὶ¹ μὴν αἱ ἄλλαι τέχναι τὸ τέλος² ὕστερον τοῦτο ἔχουσι, μετὰ τὸ μαθεῖν καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς ἡδέως ἀπολαμβάνουσαι·³ πολλὴ γὰρ καὶ ὄρθιος οἶμος ἐς αὐτάς·⁴ ἡ δὲ παρασιτικὴ μόνη τῶν ἄλλων εὐθὺς ἀπολαύει τῆς τέχνης ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ μανθάνειν, καὶ ἅμα τε ἄρχεται καὶ ἐν τῷ τέλει ἐστίν.

καὶ μέντοι τῶν ἄλλων τεχνῶν οὐ τινές, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαι ἐπὶ μόνην τὴν τροφὴν γεγόνασιν, ὁ δὲ παράσιτος εὐθὺς ἔχει τὴν τροφὴν ἅμα τῷ ἄρξασθαι τῆς τέχνης. ἢ οὐκ ἐννοεῖς ὅτι ὁ μὲν γεωργὸς γεωργεῖ οὐ τοῦ γεωργεῖν ἕνεκα καὶ ὁ τέκτων τεκταίνεται οὐχὶ τοῦ τεκταίνεσθαι ἕνεκα, ὁ δὲ παράσιτος οὐχ ἕτερον μέν τι διώκει, ἀλλὰ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ἔργον μὲν ἐστὶν αὐτοῦ καὶ οὗ ἕνεκα γίγνεται;

Translations (1)

The Parasite: a Demonstration that Sponging is a Profession Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 14 focus

[14] Again, with the other arts the result comes only after the learning is done; their fruits alone are agreeable; ‘long and steep the road thereto.’ Sponging is once more an exception, in that profit and learning here go hand in hand; you grasp your end as soon as you begin. And whereas all other arts aré practised solely for the sustenance they will ultimately bring, the sponger has his sustenance from the day he starts. You realize, of course, that the farmer’s object in farming is something else than farming, the carpenter’s something different from abstract carpentering; but the sponger has no ulterior object; occupation and pre-occupation are for him one and the same.

Notes on the current edition

The Parasite Tychiades

The quotation is from Hesiod, Works and Days290, and refers to the road that leads to virtue. The scholasticus, the grey-headed student, was a familiar figure; see Lucian’s Hermotimus.

Lucian of Samosata De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam 14

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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