Lucian of Samosata, De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 44

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[44] But if you are now willing, tell what the parasite is like in war, and whether anybody at all among the ancient heroes is said to have been a parasite.¹

SIMON

Why, my dear friend, no one is so unfamiliar with Homer, even if he is completely unlettered, as not to know that in him the noblest of the heroes are parasites! The famous Nestor, from whose tongue speech flowed like honey, was parasite to the king’ himself; and neither Achilles, who seemed and was the finest in physique, nor Diomed nor Ajax was so lauded and admired by Agamemnon as Nestor. He does not pray to have ten of Ajax or ten of Achilles, but says that he would long ago have taken Troy if he had had ten soldiers like that parasite, old as he was.² Idomeneus, too, the son of Zeus, is similarly spoken of as parasite to Agamemnon.³

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.) — 44 focus

Τυχιάδης

ἀλλʼ εἰ δοκεῖ ἤδη, φέρε καὶ σὺ τὸν παράσιτον ὁποῖός τίς ἐστιν ἐν πολέμῳ λέγε, καὶ εἰ καθόλως¹ λέγεται παράσιτός τις γενέσθαι τῶν παλαιῶν;

Σίμων

καὶ μήν, ὦ φιλότης, οὐδεὶς οὕτως² ἀνήκοος Ὁμήρου, οὐδʼ ἂν πάμπαν ἰδιώτης τύχῃ, ὃς οὐκ ἐπίσταται παρʼ αὐτῷ τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν ἡρώων παρασίτους ὄντας. ὅ τε γὰρ Νέστωρ ἐκεῖνος, οὗ ἀπὸ τῆς γλώττης ὥσπερ μέλι ὁ λόγος ἀπέρρει,³ αὐτοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως παράσιτος ἦν, καὶ οὔτε τὸν Ἀχιλλέα, ὅσπερ ἐδόκει τε καὶ ἦν τὸ σῶμα γενναιότατος, οὔτε τὸν Διομήδην οὔτε τὸν Αἴαντα ὁ Ἀγαμέμνων οὕτως ἐπαινεῖ τε καὶ θαυμάζει ὥσπερ τὸν Νέστορα. οὐδὲ γὰρ δέκα Αἴαντας εὔχεται γενέσθαι αὑτῷ οὔτε δέκα Ἀχιλλέας· πάλαι δʼ ἂν ἑαλωκέναι τὴν Τροίαν, εἰ τοιούτους ὁποῖος ἦν οὗτος ὁ παράσιτος, καίπερ γέρων ὤν, στρατιώτας εἶχεν δέκα. καὶ τὸν Ἰδομενέα τὸν τοῦ Διὸς ἔγγονον παράσιτον Ἀγαμέμνονος ὁμοίως λέγει.

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.) — 44 focus

[44] But come now, if you don’t mind, to the sponger’s military behaviour; and also tell me whether there is any sponging recorded of the ancients.

Simon

My dear fellow, the most uneducated of us has surely heard enough of Homer to know that he makes the best of his heroes spongers. The great Nestor, whose tongue distilled honeyed speech, sponged on the King; Achilles was, and was known for, the most upright of the Greeks in form and in mind; but neither for him, for Ajax, nor for Diomede, has Agamemnon such admiring praise as for Nestor. It is not for ten Ajaxes or Achilleses that he prays; no, Troy would have been taken long ago, if he had had in his host ten men like—that old sponger. Idomeneus, of Zeus’s own kindred, is also represented in the same relation to Agamemnon.

Notes on the current edition

The Parasite Tychiades

The first orators were found in Homer; notably Odysseus, Nestor, Menelaus. Alsothe beginnings of philosophy (Philod. 2, frg. xxi). So the first parasites should be found there.

Iliad 2, 371-374.

Iliad 4, 257-263.

Lucian of Samosata De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam 44

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

SIMON

Current edition Perseus

Τυχιάδης

ἀλλʼ εἰ δοκεῖ ἤδη, φέρε καὶ σὺ τὸν παράσιτον ὁποῖός τίς ἐστιν ἐν πολέμῳ λέγε, καὶ εἰ καθόλως¹ λέγεται παράσιτός τις γενέσθαι τῶν παλαιῶν;

Simon

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

SIMON

Current edition Perseus

Τυχιάδης ἀλλʼ εἰ δοκεῖ ἤδη, φέρε καὶ σὺ τὸν παράσιτον ὁποῖός τίς ἐστιν ἐν πολέμῳ λέγε, καὶ εἰ καθόλως 1 λέγεται παράσιτός τις γενέσθαι τῶν παλαιῶν;

Simon

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Τυχιάδης

ἀλλʼ εἰ δοκεῖ ἤδη, φέρε καὶ σὺ τὸν παράσιτον ὁποῖός τίς ἐστιν ἐν πολέμῳ λέγε, καὶ εἰ καθόλως¹ λέγεται παράσιτός τις γενέσθαι τῶν παλαιῶν;